The future of the town’s public events, the plan for Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Canada’s 2025 convention, plus more are all on the agenda for Bradford West Gwillimbury’s regular council meeting set for 7 p.m. Tuesday evening in the Zima Room at the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library.
Events Strategy
A report from Terry Foran, director of recreation and culture services, provides an update on the town’s 90-per-cent complete 10-year events strategy.
A previous draft of the strategy was met with skepticism when last presented to council on June 4, with the recent version seeking to answer questions about staffing impacts, comparisons with similar programs in other communities, financial investments, organizational realignments, managing rising costs, and clarifying third party delivery.
While most sections of the strategy remain largely unchanged — save for new notes to add context and clarity — two sections saw more notable updates.
When it comes to staffing, the new version of the strategy recommends initially hiring only a full-time event programmer/facilitator, with other potential future hires including: event marketing and revenue generation specialist, an administrative assistant for events, and direct programming staff as needed.
That’s compared to the previous draft, which recommended initial hiring of three positions, including: community event facilitator, event marketing and revenue generation specialist, and an administrative assistant for events.
Regarding the need to increase municipal investment in event production, the new version includes updated figures on the town’s support of events through tax dollars, which is now listed as $375,768 for 2023, compared to $127,000 in the previous draft which did not include the cost of staffing.
Jalsa Salana 2025
Bradford’s first full-scale Jalsa Salana conference by Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at (AMJ) Canada successfully concluded only a little more than two months ago, but the organization is already preparing for next year.
A report from Nick Warman, manager of recreation and client services, recommends council approve in principle the 2025 conference, conditional on all requirements being satisfied and permits issued.
Warman also recommends council approve an exemption under the noise control bylaw between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. from June 27 to July 3, 2025 for set up and testing, as well as the same times from July 4-6, 2025 for the convention itself at the Hadiqa Ahmad Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, 3078 Line 11 in Bradford.
By July 30, Shamoon Rashi had already made the special event application for 2025, for which the report notes many of the planning documents have already been submitted, including: the full site plan, traffic plan, safety and emergency plan, and more.
AMJ are anticipating between 18,000-25,000 people to attend the conference over the course of its three days, which is in keeping with the more than 20,000 people who had registered by opening day this year.
