4 July 2012

Spikes Missing from Golden Spike Days Festival

Port Moody British Columbia - The Golden Spike Days Festival, a Port Moody tradition, experienced a slight hiccup over the Canada Day long weekend as it was a golden spike celebration without any golden spikes.
 
The spike-driving competition, a fan favourite at Rocky Point Park, was cancelled this year due to a "miscommunication" between organizers and the Canadian Pacific Railway, which usually supplies the spikes and ties.
 
Despite rumours that organizers were unable to obtain the spikes from CP Rail due to a workers' strike, Sally Cumin, president of the Golden Spike Days Festival Society, said that was not the case.
 
"There was a miscommunication between the CP and us, and unfortunately we were unable to get the ties this year. People understand that it's a volunteer-run event and that sometimes things don't work out the way they had hoped," she said, adding that though some people may have been disappointed, they accepted it and moved on to other activities.
 
Instead of the spike-driving event, which was originally slotted for six different times, twice each day on the festival's website, organizers had performances from can-can dancers, singer Tony Prophet, and Tri-Cities' Got Talent finalists.
 
"There were lots of other activities that the festival had, like our boat tours, the kids building boats with hammers and nails, and there was a huge group of people who came out on 1 Jul 2012," said Cumin.
 
She noted the event will be back next year. The Golden Spike Days Festival was created in 1971 by the Kiwanis Club of Coquitlam and Port Moody to commemorate the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway line and its arrival at the Port Moody station in the late 1880s.
 
Kendra Wong.