New Central Cariboo Events Committee

August 27th saw the launch of the Cariboo’s first comprehensive Central Events Committee. 

The group, comprised of local volunteers, will work together with the community to provide a central event information services program. The committee’s roll will be to collaborate and network with existing community groups and organizations to track events on a year round basis. Sue Lachance who is the acting Chair and Vice-Chair Betty Turatus, are excited about the opportunity that this new program brings to the City. 

They state, “The Cariboo has an extensive list of events which take place all year long, but there is nowhere for all of these events to be consolidated in one place for residents and visitors to find this information. Our goal is to have a one stop information service for all groups and organizations to get their message out in an organized easy to find way.” 

The Committee is also looking forward to working with local area governments, First Nations and the BIA’s in the region. 

One of the first tasks for the Committee will be gathering a list of all current service groups and events in the area. This will then be used to implement an event calendar which will be available on line, year round. In addition, the Committee which will be registering as a non-profit organization, will actively fundraise to help existing community groups which need a helping hand and give financial support to some new events. Some of the new events that are being discussed could include the expansion of the existing “Music in the Park” program to include a Provincial “Battle of the Bands”, a city wide Winter Carnival including ice fishing derbies and snowmobile racing events, a summer fishing derby and several other exciting ideas which will be examined as time goes on. 


Lachance comments, “One of the things that the Cariboo and particularly Williams Lake is missing is a way to organize all of the wonderful activities that are taking place in our community. So often we hear folks comment that they simply don’t know when and where events are happening. Currently, each group or event has to advertise independently of each other. We hope that this new group of volunteers will be able to solve part of that issue. This will help our local area residents and bring in more travelers to the area. Our end goal is to grow our area into the “Event Capital of British Columbia.” The way to do that is to bring the information all into one place that people can access.”


If anyone is interested in volunteering they can phone Sue Lachance at 250-267-3284 for further information. The next meeting will take place Wednesday September 10th at 5:30 at 72 Oliver Street.