The province is offering $137,000 in funding for 17 upcoming events in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.
New Democrat MLAs Lisa Beare and Bob D’Eith say that funding will help ensure local fairs, festivals, and events can provide fun and excitement for residents and visitors alike.
“Pitt Meadows Day is always full of energy,” said Lisa Beare, MLA for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows. “With this funding, we are supporting communities of all sizes to host local events and celebrate the things that make them great.”
The events include Pitt Meadows Day, the Maple Ridge Caribbean Festival, Country Fest 2024, and the 2024 BC Summer Games in Maple Ridge.
“As Parliamentary Secretary for Arts and Film, I am thrilled to see our government yet again supporting the local events that we all love,” said Bob D’Eith, MLA for Maple Ridge-Mission. “Supporting fairs, festivals, and events, especially on a local level, helps to foster community, supports artists, and bolsters the local economy.”
The NDP government recently came under fire for its dispersal of grants in Maple Ridge, as local event organizers questioned how a small, first-year event, got $250,000 all to itself – an amount that has been given to only the largest festivals and events in the province, such as the Abbotsford Air Show.
READ ALSO: Maple Ridge festival organizer wants accountability for grant money
The Music Talks Music Festival received a quarter of a million dollars under the BC Fairs, Festivals and Events Recovery Fund. It was a poorly attended show in Memorial Peace Park, and benefited from a government fund created to help festivals and events bounce back from COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.
Music Talks, despite getting such huge government support, appears to have been a one-off. It is not on this year’s grant list, and no 2024 festival has been announced.
The local events to receive funding this year in Maple Ridge are:
• Acknowledging Indigenous Resilience $2,000
• BC Masters $2,000
• Canadian Multiculturalism Day $3,500
• Celebrate Earth Day $2,000
• Country Fest 2024 $7,900
• Golden Ears Winter Club King Cash $2,000
• Haney Neptunes Invitational $2,000
• Maple Ridge 2024 BC Summer Games $72,100
• Maple Ridge Caribbean Festival $6,600
• MapleRidge150 $53,600
• Music on the Wharf $2,000
• RMSC Spring Invitational $2,400
And in Pitt Meadows:
• BC Women’s Open Golf Tournament $8,600
• Canada Day $2,000
• Christmas in Pitt Meadows $2,000
• Pitt Meadows Day $9,100
• She Plays Golf Festival $9,100
Across B.C., $15 million in funding will support 1,114 fairs, festivals, and events in 2024 and 2025, according to the NDP government.
