ATHABASCA — The Athabasca and District Chamber of Commerce filled town council in July 15 on the newly re-invigorated executive’s plans for the rest of 2025, minus one annual staple event.
Brenda Skayman, second vice-president of the Chamber, appeared in Athabasca’s council chambers virtually to thank the municipality and councillors for the contributions to the Canada Day Parade, and lay out what the community can expect in the new few months.
“Of all the parades I’ve been to — I don’t want to say how many, but a lot — that was probably the most people I’ve ever seen watch a parade,” said Mayor Rob Balay. “I was very surprised at the amount of people.”
The Wild Rose Midway, hosted at the Riverfront from July 11 to 13, was also a success. Skayman said although no final numbers have been received from Wild Rose Shows, the chamber will receive a portion of carnival revenue as payment for hosting the crew in town.
A look ahead
The chamber and Coun. Ida Edwards, head of the chamber’s Communities in Bloom committee, have been preparing for the arrival of the national competition judges this July.
From Sunday, July 27 to Tuesday, July 29, judges Larry Hall and Christine Isaac will be in town to assess the community in six different categories; community appearance, heritage conservation, plant and floral displays, landscaping, tree management, and environmental action.
Hall, a retired educator from Buena Vista, Sask., long-time volunteer and former mayor, has been judging provincial, national and even international levels of Communities in Bloom for 15 years.
Isaac is a city administrator from Leduc who, when not hosting community engagement events and drafting park master plans, loves to enjoy and explore the wild and natural Canadian outdoors.
“This brings a lot of different people to Athabasca and they don’t only look at the flowers, they look at everything Athabasca has to present and how we present it in our community,” said Skayman.
Fall programming by the chamber will be centred around the upcoming municipal elections. The group is planning to host an all-candidates forum for both the Town of Athabasca and Athabasca County in conjunction with the Athabasca Advocate, to be held in Athabasca University’s Governing Council Chambers on Oct. 1 and 2.
“We did that last time four years ago,” said Skayman. “One day is going to be for the town councillors that are running, and the second day will be for the county councillors.”
By using the newly installed technology in the university meeting room, the chamber is planning on offering both in-person and virtual attendance for ratepayers with questions, while candidates will be encouraged to attend in-person.
And following the elections, the Chamber will host its annual Mayor’s and Reeve’s event. Typically held earlier in the year, Skayman said pushing the date back will allow for locals to meet and greet their newly elected or re-elected representatives.
The always anticipated Christmas shopping spree Moonlight Madness is also a-go for the holiday season, and will begin on Nov. 28, 2025, and Skayman said a committee is actively ironing out the details in the meantime.
The Christmas Market, which runs in the Multiplex on the weekends in November and December, will be taken over by Jenn Oba. The chamber had run the market for the last three years after the COVID-19 pandemic, and before then it was hosted by Athabasca University.
Coun. Jon LeMessurier inquired about the chamber’s plans for the annual Business Awards Gala were, typically held in October.
Skayman said after a rough start to the year, which saw a large portion of former executive members step down from their roles, and few volunteers step up to fill the empty seats, the shortened roster did have to decide which events to move forward with and which to cut.
“There’s a lot of background that goes into it that has to start actually in the summertime,” said Skayman. “We’re just going to put the hold on that.”
Though the reformed chamber executive won’t be hosting a gala this year, Skayman did note the group is looking ahead and hopes to get the ball rolling on planning for next year in the coming months.
“We really appreciate the effort that you, the current executives, put in,” said Balay. “We thank you for that and everyone else that stepped up.”
