The Town of Bonnyville has agreed unanimously to sponsor the upcoming Cold Lake Air show for a total of 20,000 dollars.
During the February 22nd Town of Bonnyville Council Meeting Council made the choice to sponsor the event at the entertainment level which came with 15 Tickets for the weekend, corporate logos on volunteer t-shirts, and attendance for two people at the 4 Wing Commanders tent.
In previous years Bonnyville had sponsored the event for VIP chalet packages for $5,000 in 2016 and $7,000 in 2018.
The air show is taking place in the City of Cold Lake on Friday, July 15, 2022.
Administration had told the council there was $20,000 in the interim operating budget for this event.
Council was presented with three different options to support the air show with Chief Administrative Officer Bill Rogers saying “this is the first time we’ve been asked to step up the game.”
Councillor Brian McEvoy spoke up first saying how he likes moving to either an entertainment sponsor or the communication sponsor.
“Most of that is visibility. It’s the acknowledgments. It’s the fact that our logo now becomes part of volunteer t-shirts that are worn by people that are there. I think it’s, it’s stepping up and making us more visible throughout the entire region, as opposed to just in Bonnyville.”
Mayor Elisa Brosseau agreed with what Councillor Brian McEvoy said and added it is a good way to form a partnership.
Mayor Brosseau kept going saying she wished to maybe see a bump up to $30,000 to become a sponsor and gain tickets but Councillor Phil Kushnir disagreed.
Councillor Brian McEvoy said he feels in order to benefit from the profile we need to move to one of the sponsorship packages.
“Spending 12 thousand dollars on our chalet just gets us a bunch of tickets and some coins. By kicking that up, that gets our full-page ads in their programs, It gets our logo on their volunteer t-shirts and wears. There is where you start to see some value to it.”