Klondike Development Organization held a Partnership Forum on the subject of events, on November 28.

Forum intro/rationale:
Dawson City boasts numerous and diverse events that succeed at attracting visitors to our community, and enhancing or extending visitor stays. Events add vibrant points of interest into the Dawson calendar in a way that distinguishes us from other Yukon communities as a fun and lively destination.

Recognizing that events are significant contributors to our economy, and to the character and appeal of Dawson City for visitors and locals alike, it is also true that events can be highly demanding of both the organizations hosting them, and the community in general. In discussing some of the challenges associated with events as a group we aimed to:

1- Broaden the general awareness and understanding of the diverse groups & events across our community.
2- Provide resources and information on anticipated key topics/challenges.
3- Stimulate reflection among participating groups upon their own events, facilitate the exchange of ideas, and consider the potential for collaboration among groups.

Although a three hour session allowed us only to scratch the surface, learning from the Forum opens the door to further, more focused conversations/collaborations and to next steps.

The following is a summary list of some of the more immediately do-able suggestions that came out of discussions at the forum:

– community calendar
– funding resource document
– volunteer bank/resource
– thinking around new events
– a paid staff position (within an organization or other) that provides support for grant application writing, etc.
– promoting the venues we do have (to outside- example Yukon Conventions Bureau)
– promoting event support equipment we do have (to outside- example Yukon Conventions Bureau)
– investigate options that could simplify insurance woes of smaller groups
– facilitate communications that are important to collaboration in events (example avoiding or coordinating overlapping dates, etc.)

KDO is rapidly nearing the end of our current resources, however we are hopeful that further work plans will meet with approval (and funding) in the near future so that we may keep working on these important community development subjects.