When the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Rotary Club was looking for a way to recognize the many community organizations and volunteer groups in the area, their thoughts turned to a parade.
The group already honours volunteers with its annual Citizens of the Year awards, presented to people in Ashcroft, Cache Creek, and Area “I” of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District; a youth volunteer from the region is also recognized. However, the group realized that with the cancellation of the annual Rodeo Parade in Ashcroft, there was a gap that could be filled, which would not only give people a reason to come together but would also give community groups a chance to advertise themselves.
Thus it was that the first Rotary Club Spring Parade took place in Ashcroft on April 20, and organizer Joris Ekering is pleased with the response.
“I think the parade was wonderful, and if you go by Facebook a lot of people thought so,” he says.
The parade was open to businesses and individuals as well, with participants encouraged to eschew vehicles and walk the route along Railway Avenue. Ekering says that he had some expectations of what the participation would be like, and wasn’t far off.
“It ended up being about what I thought. I had counted on 20 participants and we got 16, as I was being optimistic, but we were close. I’m hoping we can bring it back next year, and I’m going to aim for 32 participants. We want to repeat it and do better.”
The goal was to highlight the area’s many service organizations and show what’s available. “One of Rotary’s aims is celebrating volunteerism, so in that sense we were glad so many service-oriented groups were there. That was fantastic. I didn’t even know we had a tennis club, so even I learned something from it.
“And what was there was the tip of the iceberg, so that’s why we’re hoping for 32 next year.”
Ekering admits that they were hoping to get more businesses, and that was his only disappointment. “We hoped that more businesses would participate, so next year we hope for more.”
The parade was followed by music in the Heritage Park, which many onlookers and parade participants stayed around to enjoy in the perfect April weather. “Music was a great thing to do, so people could have some fun in the park,” says Ekering.
He adds that another goal of the parade was to get the Rotary name out into the community. The organization provides annual bursaries to graduating students at Desert Sands Community School and also sends area students to the Youth Excellence Society’s leadership camp on Vancouver Island. For more information about the camp, contact Ron Hood, one of the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Rotary club founders, at (250) 453-0044.
This year’s Citizens of the Year celebration is coming up at the Cache Creek Community Hall from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, May 9, and all are invited to honour the 2023 recipients: Deb Tedford (Ashcroft), Wendy Coomber (Cache Creek), Marg and Arnie Oram (Area “I”), and Evelyn White and Monique Kopanyas (youth recipients). Tickets for the event, which includes sweet and savoury refreshments, are $25 each and are available from Interior Savings in Ashcroft, the Royal Bank in Cache Creek, and online at www.eventbrite.ca.
The Ashcroft-Cache Creek Rotary Club meets every second Thursday for a lunch meeting at the Starhouse Restaurant in Cache Creek, and Ekering says that the club is open to everyone to join. “There are no restrictions of any kind. In its prime it used to be just for business people, but we’ve long since gone away from that.”
Reflecting on what he hopes will be the club’s first spring parade of many, Ekering says “The weather was fantastic — not too hot or too cold — and it was a beautiful setting. It was one of the best days of my life in Ashcroft. It was wonderful.“