Mission’s 2024 holiday events were well-supported despite “aggressive squirrel activity” at the Centennial Park tree, according to a staff report.
Mark Haney, Mission’s arts and culture manager, presented council with a report on the various holiday spirit activities funded last year at Monday’s (Jan. 20) meeting.
The activities included the Centennial Park Tree lighting and its associated event, Holiday Magic at the Leisure Centre and the city’s float for the Candlelight Parade.
Haney was curious how the tree lighting event would shake out.
“This event was a bit a bit of an experiment. It was meant to be a small, grassroots community event. It was not marketed super heavily. We wanted to see what the community interest was, and the answer to that was overwhelming,” Haney said.
The “aggressive squirrel activity” led to some snags and challenges with the tree, but the contractor addressed the problem. That included sending a crew on Christmas Eve to ensure the tree was illuminated throughout the holidays.
Haney says a squirrel deterrent will be added to the plans for next year’s tree.
Meanwhile, the Leisure Centre’s Holiday Magic event featured activities, food, entertainment and a scavenger hunt for free. Upwards of 1,500 people came out to the Leisure Centre for the gathering with, over 300 servings of pancakes and 400 hot chocolates distributed.
“It's really important, I think, to recognize the facility staff because the Leisure Centre facility staff work incredibly hard and they really believe in the community and the facility and they often don't get recognition until something's broken or someone has a complaint about something, and then they're recognized in the wrong way. So it's important tonight to me to really point out that the behind-the-scenes staff – the ones who don't get the credit – the ones who don't get to stand up here and talk to you were the ones who made this event truly magical and truly amazing,” Haney said.
After the presentation concluded, councillors voiced their praise for the events,
“It was magical … it was truly magical,” Coun. Carol Hamilton said.
Coun. Mark Davies said he was blown away by the tree lighting event and is also eager to hear more about how it can improve little-by-little each year.
Per the report, the events show a desire for connection and coming together in the Mission community during the holiday season.
“There is a place for smaller events, not everything needs to be all day long and attracting thousands of people. Low cost, easily executed events can easily attract hundreds of people for an hour or an hour and a half, and build community spirit just as effectively as a much larger event,” Haney said.