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Pitt Meadows pulls out of Ridge Meadows Home Show

Council votes to save $5,000 plus staff time
15462145_web1_180426-MRN-M-Home-Show-sign
Rik Watson puts up a sign recently for the Ridge Meadows Home Show along Dewdney Trunk Road near 207 Street. (THE NEWS/files)

Pitt Meadows council is pulling out of the Maple Ridge Home Show.

As part of budget discussions held on Jan. 23, council directed staff to no longer register the city as an exhibitor at the Maple Ridge Home Show, to save $5,000 and staff time.

“It’s a significant amount of work, really, for staff to organize and attend the event,” noted CAO Mark Roberts, adding that staff don’t see value in attending.

Coun. Tracy Miyashita agreed.

“This home show is a ton of work for staff, and everybody who stands there to work the display. And I found most of the time, it wasn’t our residents.”

She said it would be a better use of staff time to interact with the public at other events, such as Pitt Meadows Day and Canada Day.

Coun. Nicole MacDonald also wanted the city to pull out.

“It’s $5,000, too, and at a time where we’re looking to cut costs and be responsible. This is what I would say is an extra, and then you add the cost of staff time,” she said.

Coun. Gwen O’Connell also supported leaving the event.

“I think $5,000 is a very, very conservative number,” she said, adding the city should consider staff time in the total cost for the event. “It’s weeks getting ready for this.”

She noted when the city had a tourism office, it had more staff available to prepare for the event, and man the booth, but that has been cut.

Mayor Bill Dingwall spoke for the Pitt Meadows booth to stay in the event, acknowledging that there is “a political element” in the booth, which attracts politicians to do shifts there with staff.

“It’s about marketing, it’s about tourism – quite often we have maps up there showing Pitt Lake, the Pitt River, the Alouette River, and some of our parks and trails within the city…” said Dingwall. “It leads to awareness of what we stand for, and some of the sites throughout Pitt Meadows we are extremely proud of.”

He noted people from other cities such as Port Coquitlam and Burnaby attend, and get information, and they are potential future citizens, and they learn about city features such as the Pitt Meadows airport, horse trails and Osprey Village.

“For me, $5,000 is a small amount of money that really leads to some great discussions with people that walk through that home show, and it’s a busy home show.”

The home show drew about 24,000 people last year, up from the previous year, when over 20,000 attended.

Read also: Ridge Meadows Home Show draws bigger crowd

Coun. Mike Hayes was the only other member of council in favour of staying in the show. He has volunteered at home show for years and suggested staffing by volunteers to keep cost down.

“It’s about promoting, and bragging about Pitt Meadows and our community, and what we have to offer,” he added

He acknowledged it takes a “horrendous amount of energy” to get ready for the event and staff it.



Neil Corbett

About the Author: Neil Corbett

I have been a journalist for more than 30 years, the past decade with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
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