Last weekend’s annual Filomi Days celebration was not only a ton of fun, but an object lesson in what can be achieved when residents pull together for a cause.
Months ago, when representatives of the Port Hardy Chamber approached Council with concerns that nobody was stepping forward to take on leadership of the annual summer festival, they were told, essentially, “If you hold it, the volunteers will step up.”
And they did just that. In a big way.
The usual suspects were there, of course: Rotary Club with its Rubber Duck Derby, Dunlop’s Home Hardware with boat-building contest and race; Masons Rainbow Lodge 180 with the Kids’ Fishing Derby, Dave Stevenson, who lined up a slate of entertainers on the portable stage, and many more.
And others stepped up to fill potential voids. With the annual Soapbox Derby threatened with cancellation, the TriPort Motor Sports Club jumped in to hold the races.
Members of the Triport Dragon Boat Society disbursed members to paddle on crews of down-Island visitors who were short-handed.
And help came even from beyond Port Hardy. When Sue (Burns) Gauthier was prevented from running the memorial street hockey tournament held in her brother Brian’s memory, her sister, Corrina Edmondson of Victoria, took it on.
Divided, we may fall. But united, we Filomi.