Wrapping up the 39th Billy Barker Days weekend, organizers are already looking to next year.
“For our 40th we’re looking at new ideas and resurrecting old events,” Billy Barker Days Society president Elaine Kopetski said, quoting events such as the Bucket Brigade and Mr. Quesnel.
Kopetski said attendance numbers looked on par with previous years, but noted a lot of “overseas visitors.”
“We’ve received a lot of great comments and the concessions and Shooting Star were really happy with the turnouts.”
From an RCMP standpoint, the weekend proved to be “relatively uneventful.”
Between noon Thursday and midnight Sunday, RCMP investigated a total of 270 police files – the bulk of which involved intoxicated persons. Police arrested 100 people for being intoxicated in public and responded to several assaults, some property related crime and other general calls for service.
RCMP took eight impaired drivers off the road in Quesnel this weekend, issuing three, three-day immediate roadside prohibitions, four, 90-day immediate roadside prohibitions and one criminal code impaired.
Additionally, two 12-hour suspensions were issued to new drivers who consumed alcohol contrary to restrictions.
More than 98 violation tickets and 79 warnings were also issued for various traffic violations. Quesnel RCMP combined resources with neighbouring detachments including Williams Lake, 100 Mile House and Prince George were on hand to ensure safety at various events throughout the weekend.
Increased police presence included numerous police road blocks, foot and bike patrols of venues and uniformed and plain clothes mobile patrols throughout the community.
“RCMP congratulate the Billy Barker Days Committee and the community for another successful event,” Quesnel RCMP media relations officer, Cst. Krista Vrolyk said.
“All in all it went very well,” Kopetski added.
“We’re already looking ahead to next year.”
The society is looking for organization sponsorship for the 40th celebrations, e-mail: office@billybarkerdays.ca or call 250-992-1234.