Since one of the Athabasca area's main economies is tourism, what's going to happen if some of the tourist draws fade away?
A lot of things seem to be up in the air this week after the Athabasca and District Chamber of Commerce confirmed that, because of a variety of reasons, including deciding to focus on three events this year, they're going to pass along the Canada Day parade (see page 3A for the story). With this situation, along with the hot potato that is the Visitors Information Centre, there ends up being more questions than answers.
Not the least of which is: since one of the Athabasca area's main economies is tourism, what's going to happen if some of the tourist draws fade away? The River Rats Festival - and the Canada Day parade that's become attached to it - is one of the big summer festivals in northern Alberta (less now than in the past, but still well-attended). Without the parade, an important part of the festival will be missing. The plan is for the Chamber to hand over the reins, but it has every marking of becoming another Visitor Information Centre - something people think should probably be around, but no one really wants to take charge of it.
On the other side of the problem is the not-so-secret volunteer crunch in Athabasca and the surrounding area. In a meeting in Boyle late last year, only a few people came out to represent the various volunteer organizations around the village - and they were on all of the local boards. It's not as obvious in Athabasca - it's a bigger place - but it's still pretty easy to learn the names of most people on the volunteer boards.
Although it might not have happened yet, the lack of volunteers or the overworking of the volunteers who come out can lead to them burning out or just stretching themselves too thinly. And when volunteers run everything that's important in town - including tourism-related things - this could be an issue.
This isn't a problem that has an easy fix. There are only a finite number of people that seem to be able to help with planning and putting together of the various events around town, and most of them are more than willing to help with everything - so there's been no real reason for more people to come out.
That being said, with a dearth of volunteers and question marks hanging over the parade and the information centre, maybe more people should take part in figuring out where the community is going.
