Kamloops’ Overlanders Day rescheduled to September

KAMLOOPS – The heavy wildfire smoke on the weekend forced event organizers to cancel Overlanders Day celebrations, but the North Shore Business Improvement Association has announced the event has been rescheduled.

The organization's executive director Jeremy Heighton says Overlanders Day celebrations will be held on Sunday, Sept. 23.

"It's a little later in September so the chance of there being smoke out is much lower," Heighton says. "It's still a little bit warm but it's far enough away from August that people will have the best chance of having a smoke-free event."

Heighton explains the smoky conditions the last few years have been problematic for the association organizing the event.

"We've had issues with smoke the last three years. August seems to be a very smoke prone month in terms of the nature of wildfires," he says.

Heighton says starting in 2019, they have changed the date of the event to July 21.

"July tends to be less smoky and we want the Overlanders Day to be the first event of the Kamloops Buskers Festival Week."

This year's event will take place on Sept. 23 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The family-friendly event focuses on multicultural celebrations with stage entertainment, food vendors, games and activities.

Due to the rescheduling, Heighton says they are looking for 12 to 15 volunteers to help out with the event.

"It would be very helpful, we lose our summer staff here this week so we won't have them," he says. "But the general message here really is that the event is going forward, the community has asked us to make sure it goes forward and we are very excited."

Those who are interested in volunteering can contact Patti Phillips by email at patti@nsbia.com or by calling 250-376-2411.

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