This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Town of Tecumseh and its fire service, but it appears the celebration will have to be put off until 2022.
Mayor Gary McNamara says the town wants to host a top notch event for the community, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic that just isn't possible.
The matter is set to go before council with administration proposing the celebration be moved to the spring of 2022.
McNamara says it'll be worth the wait.
"I think it's critical for us to really engage the general public at that particular time. So we're going to put our plans in place and then the party is going to be a little bit later, but certainly well worth the wait," he says.
McNamara says the next step is to put together a task force to plan the event.
"We want to get as many folks as we can that can bring some of the history and also plan the celebration accordingly," he says, "Obviously, it would be wonderful if everybody is vaccinated and we can get back to some normalcy."
McNamara says the anniversary needs to be observed properly.
"Well, it's 100 years and there's a whole host of organizations within our area as well that are coming on their hundred year anniversary in 2021 and 2022. So we're certainly going to be looking forward to engaging our community when it'll be proper and free of COVID," he says.
McNamara adds it's ironic as when the town was formed a century ago Canada was battling another pandemic — the Spanish Flu.
Tecumseh council will discuss the town's 100th anniversary celebration at its Tuesday night meeting.
With files from Rob Hindi