Town of Bonnyville approves several funding requests

 The Town of Bonnyville recently approved several funding requests.

On April 12, Council received funding requests at the regular meeting and passed a motion to be an elite $15,000 Sponsor for the Bonnyville Agriculture Society and their upcoming events.

At the meeting, the Ag Society council discussed the importance of the society’s events to the Town of Bonnyville.

“I think everybody knows the importance of these events in our community and loves attending them,” councillor Neil Langridge said. “Things have changed over the past few years about what the events have looked like, and the requests are coming through.”

Councillor Langridge noted, “In the past years before the COVID time, the request from the town for the society was always around the $500 mark. Whereas last year it was increased to $7,500. And then again, I do understand there was no specific ask from Terry (Ag Society), and the top sponsor would be the $15,000 Elite.”

Members on behalf of the AEG Society told Council, “Over the last few years, we’ve always been fortunate to have many businesses support the Ag Society.”

“This year, we’re seeing a little more reluctance. I guess. Last year we saw a little bit do to the economy. Now we see a lot of groups asking for a lot of money. Unfortunately, it’s due to, you know; you see, the closure of the Bonneville Bingo Association, many clubs are missing money. Many businesses are trying to spread out their money,” AEG members explained. “Our event keeps increasing costs. We keep doing capital projects, and we use the budgets throughout the year, and we hope to have great success this year.”

AEG members explained, “This year, we’ve already purchased cowl panels and shoots, and we closed the entire building last year. So we have a capital budget that we use. With the town, we’d like to see increased funding just because we do see less funding from other communities.”

The administration recommended that the council approve an elites level sponsorship for $15,000; the sponsorship package is for both events that the AEG will be hosting, including the WPA and the CPRA. The administration explained that sponsorship levels start at $500 for the supporter sponsorship and up to $15,000 for the elite sponsorship. The reason for the recommendation was that this event would be located within the town of Bonnyville, and these two events have a direct economic impact on our community.

Council unanimously approved.

A motion was also passed to support the Kehewin Cree Nation’s Cultural Powwow yearly for $1,000; however, Council members who won’t be attending the Lac La Biche County’s Healthier Community Golf Tournament were passed on sponsoring up to $750.