The Columbia Valley Arts Council has an interesting project coming up — to take stock of all the arts and culture happenings in the valley and create an inventory. Exactly what this inventory will look like has yet to be determined, but the manifestation of this vision will no doubt be an exciting, creative process that will involve a great number of passionate people.

One only has to look at the number of events that have taken place in the valley over the last two months to see how beneficial such an inventory could be. From eye-catching exhibits featuring diverse artists to vendor markets full of local treasures to festivals with contagious live music and family friendly activities, the Columbia Valley has it all.

Unpredictable weather can quickly result in a low turnout, but so can double and triple events taking place the same day and time. The local population base is only so big, so in order to maximize the number of locals — and tourists — at any given event, ensuring an inaugural festival doesn’t take place the same day and time as an already established regional event will be to the benefit of all parties involved. Charity event organizers could give more thought to better spacing out fundraisers so they don’t all happen within weeks of each other as well, which is exhausting to both people’s energy reserves as well as wallets.

Summerlude is an excellent example of how a wide spectrum of events can interweave together under the same umbrella. This past July long weekend was another amazing demonstration of  this, with the Canada Day parade ending with the Mountain Mosaic Festival of the Arts.

Not only will mapping out the creative offerings from Spillimacheen to Canal Flats enable greater funding opportunities for these and other cultural celebrations while engendering an even stronger community feeling than the one that already exists, it could also help facilitate communication between all the various organizing communities that keep this region hopping with hip, fun things to do — hopefully making for better scheduling so local events aren’t competing with each other for festival-goers and participants all summer long.