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MERRITT HERALD FREE
THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2014 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
KEEPING IT CLEAN Members of the Smart Step Youth Organization city squad and the Community Policing Office canvassed the downtown core on Aug. 19 to clean up graffiti for the fifth annual Paint Our City Clean campaign. Gabrielle Smith (left) and Michelle Schultz of Smart Step clean graffiti off of a wall outside the Adelphi Hotel. Merritt RCMP Const. Tracy Dunsmore told the Herald they’ve noticed less graffiti to clean up than last year, but the numbers aren’t necessarily trending downwards; rather, they fluctuate from year to year. Dunsmore said this initiative fosters community pride in the Smart Step participants. Michelle Schultz of Smart Step city squad said participating in Paint Our City Clean shows that youth like herself can have a positive impact on the community. In all, 30 locations were cleaned up during Paint Our City Clean. Michael Potestio/Herald
Low attendance, volunteer turnout at festival By Michael Potestio THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
Sturgis Canada closed a day early because of low attendance and a shortage of volunteers, according to the music festival and motorcycle rally’s president Joan Hansen. Approximately 1,100 tickets were sold in advance of the festival, which ran Aug. 21 to 23 at the old Mountainfest site. Hansen said there For all your landscaping needs call the professionals at
were some tickets sold at the gate, but the final ticket count was not known as of press time. She said she estimates there were about 2,000 people at the festival site on Saturday night, when headliner Burton Cummings played. In terms of volunteers, Hansen said they had about 100 confirmed, but only about 45 actually showed up. As for those who bought tickets
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for Sunday’s shows, Hansen said they are working on a plan, and are leaning toward offering some sort of credit as opposed to a full refund. “We’re not going to make any promises at this point, but we’re working on a plan,” Hansen said. Hansen said weather may have been an influencing factor in the low turnout as the area did see some rain. “We didn’t have a whole lot of
people show up from Merritt on the Thursday — the free day — but it could possibly be weather-related as well, which I’m thinking it is,” Hansen said. She didn’t say whether or not the festival will return to Merritt next year, as organizers will need to evaluate if the Merritt-area site is a viable location based on the numbers. Hansen said she’d like to hear
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from the people and business owners in Merritt to see if Sturgis Canada has their support. “I don’t want to come back if there’s no support,” Hansen said. “We’ve already heard a lot of people want us back, but we’d like to know from the business perspective whether it was even profitable for the town.”
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