The planning committee for the Canada Day celebrations in Vita is hopeful that the community's streets will be full again this year as they have in the past.

After having to cancel most of their usual Canada Day celebrations due to the pandemic last year, the committee has already been making plans for this year and is asking people to save the date for July 1st.

Angela Boychuk of the Vita Canada Day Committee says they already started making plans in February but hesitated to say much about it in light of the pandemic. The committee wanted to make sure that events they are planning to host would be allowed under the current guidelines before telling people to save the date. 

Keeping the restrictions in mind as they plan, forces them to be flexible with the events they will host. Some familiar events are being planned for this year including the pancake breakfast hosted by the fire department, a 16-team slow pitch tournament, a perogy and sausage supper hosted by the Vita Hall, a drive-in movie tentatively featuring 'A Dog's Way Home' and of course a fireworks show.

Boychuk says the committee has been working hard at following the provincial guidelines while planning. 'We tried to pick things that, regardless of what the legislation is at the time, we would still be able to go ahead with these activities.'

The intent of the committee is to provide some celebration in light of last year's celebration being very muted due to pandemic restrictions.  Boychuk hopes people will come and have something fun to do on Canada Day. 

When asked if they are already looking for volunteers Boychuk explains that they have specifically planned the day's events to require as few volunteers as possible. Each event has its own set of volunteers or organizations running them so volunteer needs are minimal.

In coming up with events that follow protocols, they are introducing events like a car rally.  And with the help of a local resident, they are currently building a map that will require participants of the Canada Day-themed car rally to drive throughout the community. As to whether more events might be added, Boychuk says 'we are also looking at adding other events that might be allowed as things perhaps open up. So if we are able to do more things we will revisit our ideas and add things as we can.'

As the Vita Canada Day Committee continues to plan, Boychuk is hopeful. 'I'm pretty excited about it, I hope it all turns out and that we can actually do a little bit more but fingers crossed, we'll just keep watching for updates and see what happens.'