Dear Editor
I will not be able to purchase the Ashcroft Opera House as I and many others had hoped. I am sorry that this opportunity for its renewal must pass us by.
I want to thank the Winding Rivers Arts and Performance Society and the rest of the arts community, and the many people who have talked with me around town and elsewhere. Your hard questions, advice, support, wise counsel and good friendship have sustained six months of work, and helped to build a solid plan for a successful social venture. And I want to thank the Mayor and Council of the Village, the board and staff at Gold Trail School District, the CEO of Northern Development Initiative Trust, directors on the TNRD board, and staff at the BC Co-operatives Association, the Social Ventures Institute, Interior Savings Credit Union, Community Futures, the British Columbia Arts Council and the Department of Canadian Heritage for their advice and encouragement. Everyone wants this project to happen. Everyone has contributed to making it stronger and more likely to succeed.
Circumstances made the deal infeasible this time, but there will be other chances. In the meantime, the arts and culture and music communities in Ashcroft will keep growing and working together. And when the time is right (to borrow a phrase from yesterday’s rodeo), we’ll get ‘er done.
John Kidder
Ashcroft