The Manitoba Celebrate 150 is going ahead in Virden with new plans and a hope for a fall celebration.
May 12, 1970 is considered Manitoba’s genesis and 2020 is the 150th birthday year. The celebration was derailed when the coronavirus became a pandemic.
Now, several projects have been lined up by the Virden Boost Committee as Virden Economic Development Manager Liza Park explains:
In 2019, the Virden Boost Committee, with input from the community, where successful recipients of the Manitoba Celebrate 150 grant in the amount of $25,000. The proposed event was ambitious but included funding from the Town and sponsorship and event revenue to make it successful. Unfortunately, due to Covid all Celebrate 150 events were postponed.
In May of 2021, the Provincial Manitoba 150 Committee reframed the concept of celebration from “ways to celebrate” to “reasons to celebrate”. This allowed for projects to be considered if their proposed events could still come to fruition with current pandemic restrictions. Other options included transferring the funds to another Celebrate 150 project or cancel the project and return unused funds.
In an effort to the retain the grant for the community and reframe the idea of the Virden Manitoba 150 Celebration, a revised proposal was submitted. This included the painting of two more murals downtown, the creation of a Unity Art placemaking project and a community celebration event slated for the fall of 2021, pending current health restrictions at that time.
The revision was accepted by the Provincial Manitoba Celebrate 150 committee in July, 2021 and the Virden Boost Committee are very excited to move forward with the planning.
A Request for Quotations to help conceptualize and paint two more murals downtown opens on July 23rd. More information about this tender can be found at http://virden.ca/p/tenders-and-requests
For more information about the projects and event you can follow Virden Boost Committee Facebook group or contact Liza Park at: edm@virden.ca or call 204-748-2440.
Parks says, “We are looking forward to celebrating this event with our community later this fall.”
ABOUT
Boost Committee includes EDM for Virden Liza Park, EDO for Wallace-Woodworth Tiffany Cameron, Exec. Director of Arts Mosaic Christa Milne, businessman Clayton Murray, Settlement Services and APPLE coordinator Bea Norton, and Town Councillor Grant Gardiner make up the Boost committee.
