The hooting, laughing and general celebrations on Tuesday (July 1) rang through the downtown as hundreds of Squamish residents filled the neighbourhood for a day that included a parade, children's activities, musical entertainment and the always explosive cap-off - fireworks. Not even a missing flag and absent dignitaries could put a pall of the event. The daylong celebration, organized by the Business Improvement Association, was very well received said BIA president Greg Fischer."The fireworks for phenomenal," he said. An estimated 250 kids took part in the fun family carnival at Pavillion Park. "We had awesome volunteers. Just incredible. Stayed until they couldn't anymore, right into the night."Although the weather was perfect, the day's events did have a few glitches. One problem cropped up first thing in the morning after the annual Royal Canadian Legion Canada Day parade, lead by the Black Tusk Caledonia Pipe Band. Legion organizers discovered that a brand new Canadian flag that had been lowered that morning in anticipation of a cenotaph flag-raising had been stolen. But quick thinking district parks employee, Scott Lamont, had come prepared. "He was thinking ahead, he brought a spare just in case," said Legion president Ed Robertson. "They did a good job there."Not so impressive, said Robertson, was the noticeable absence of dignitaries, such as Squamish Mayor Ian Sutherland and council members."There was nobody from council. They just couldn't be bothered showing up."Sutherland said members didn't show up because council was not invited to take part in the event in a formal way. "We asked [the BIA] a couple of times if they needed us to do anything official and the answer was 'no,'" he said. "You can't really invite yourself to an event. Conversely if we had invited ourselves to the event, we would've been criticized for doing that. One of those things that - it fell through the cracks possibly. No one had any malicious thoughts." Fischer said the BIA does not organize the parade, but believed "as council or mayor, they should be there anyway."Council members did participate in events throughout the day, but not in an official capacity. Fischer said the association in fact did not want council members to speak during the BIA's events since "we don't want to mix politics into anything."And after the efforts the BIA put into the day, Fischer said he was surprised to hear of the mayor's comment."All they do is give us $4,000 for a $20,000 party. So that we didn't invite them?"
