Beaumont conducts new festival and event strategy

BEAUMONT -- The City of Beaumont has completed the public engagement process for its new festivals and events strategy.

The purpose of the new strategy is to explore opportunities for new events, ways to enhance existing events, and options to improve diversity and inclusion for the City's various festivals and celebrations. Orange Crow Leadership was selected through a Request for Quote (RFQ) process and began work on the strategy in August 2025.

As part of the public engagement for the new strategy, residents and community organizations expressed their desire for a number of priorities when it comes to local events. One of these is the prioritization of a mobility and parking strategy and the creation of a winter event resilience approach involving indoor or backup venues, clear thresholds, and a consistent evening-focused light experience.

"Develop a long-term plan for balancing the capacity of your neighbourhoods and your winter reliability," said Tim Reid with Orange Crow Leadership. "This is the idea of your spaces getting full as your community gets bigger, you're going to have to find solutions to find those spaces, but also in the winter months, how do we find ways to get together."

Beaumont residents also reported a need to strengthen the "event experience basics": accessibility, washrooms, seating/shade, licensed areas, and family comfort (including quiet/relief spaces). Improved communications through a multi-channel approach and clear logistics information are also noted as being areas of importance for local residents.

"Program streams for teens, young adults, and underrepresented groups," said Reid. "But most importantly, when you're developing programming, target a specific group, and measure the data on how you're achieving that."

According to their data, Beaumont Days remains the most popular event among local residents, with nearly 90 per cent of respondents saying they attended the annual event in 2025. The next most popular event was the City's Canada Day celebrations, followed by Brighten Up Beaumont. In addition, more than 40 per cent of respondents said that having events that include Indigenous culture and reconciliation was "not important", while a majority said they want to see more music festivals and outdoor events in the future.

"The truth of the matter is, that I think your community has told you that they want as many events as you're willing to host," said Reid. "Also, they would like to continue to have those events at the standard that you've set."

The final Festival and Event Strategy is scheduled for presentation to Council on March 17, 2026.