The sculpture burn at the Argenta Fall Faire was a big and somewhat unexpected success. There was a period of time we thought the sculpture burn wouldn’t happen. In the past few years we weren’t able to do a sculpture burn at the fall faire due to fire bans in effect in our area in September. Yet we were hopeful, and had a backup plan to have a burn at another event later in the year, like Halloween or New Years, if it didn’t work out for September. Then, in July this year our community was evacuated due to the Argenta Creek Wildfire. While no structures were lost thanks to amazing community and BC Wildfire Service efforts, our community was still shaken. Even though come September 21, 2024, there was no fire ban that would limit the sculpture burn, we wondered if having a big community fire might be re-traumatizing so soon after the wildfire that threatened our community. In the end, the sculpture builders decided to go for it, making a symbolic fire breathing dragon that was very cathartic to see burn. We had a lot of fire fighting provisions on hand to make sure the fire wouldn’t get out of hand, and the sculpture was made smaller and built within the community fire pit so that it was easier to contain. In the end it was a magical and we are very grateful to the sculpture builders for making this healing public art performance. In years past they have done the sculpture burn for the community as a gift, but we know it costs a lot in supplies, never mind their priceless labour, so we are very happy to contribute a bit to cover some of their expense. Thank you Neighbourhood Grant for the opportunity to do so.
