Corner Brook's Come Home Year chair can’t wait for things to get rolling

When Gladys Batten first proposed a Come Home Year for Corner Brook less than two years ago, she made it abundantly clear she didn’t want to be the one responsible for heading it up.
When thousands of people began responding positively to the idea on the Facebook page she started, and no one else seemed willing to take on such a huge responsibility, Batten stepped up to the plate.
Now, just days from what has turned into a 10-day celebration sanctioned by the City of Corner Brook, the organizing committee’s chairperson couldn’t be more excited.
She’s so confident it will all go as planned she even somehow found time in her busy schedule to bake cookies last week.
The past two years have zipped by in the blink of an eye, but she felt people had ample time to prepare to come home for a visit. She added the organizers and the community in general are prepared for what’s been planned.
“I’m good with how it happened,” she said. “I think this was the time. I felt it in my gut that I just needed to do this, while I still could do it.”
The organization’s launch was admittedly rough. It was hard to find a good time for meetings, let alone develop a direction the event would take.
After city council gave its approval to base the event around Corner Brook Day in July 2019, there was greater urgency to get organized.
“It was quite difficult, I make no bones about that,” Batten said of the early stages. “It was turning into such a big event that nobody wanted to touch it.”
Batten reached out to the Corner Brook Winter Carnival Committee for help and they did not disappoint. A half dozen from that committee, along with their vast experience in annually organizing a 10-day municipal festival, came on board as part of the Corner Brook Come Home Year committee.
Finally, Batten and her most welcome helpers were able to start delegating responsibilities and really get the wheels in motion.
“They are the Energizer bunnies I needed on my committee,” said Batten.
It’s difficult to say just how many people are going to be visiting Corner Brook for the Come Home Year celebrations. The Facebook page Batten had hoped would reach 3,000 members now has nearly 10,500 members.
Not all of them will be here and some of them already live in the Corner Brook area, but Batten is expecting thousands of former Corner Brookers and their families to be around.
She has heard from people coming home who are now living in all parts of the world, including Australia, Qatar, the United States and the United Kingdom, not to mention elsewhere in Canada.
She said there is one family of five coming back to Corner Brook for the first time in 26 years.
“It reached the people who needed to come home,” she said.
In a way, she said, Corner Brook needs them to come home for a visit too.
In addition to showing off all the changes the city has undergone, especially to public sites such as Margaret Bowater Park and Bartlett’s Point, Batten said the local economy will undoubtedly welcome the influx of revenue these visitors will inevitably bring.
“This is something Corner Brook needs,” she said. “We need a shot in the arm.”
The committee has been busy putting together a schedule of events with something that appeals to a wide range of interests. There are also occasions when there are multiple events happening simultaneously, to avoid everyone trying to cram into one venue.
“Some places can only hold 150 or 200 people and there are thousands coming home,” she said. “So, we wanted to have as many events as we could so people can pick and choose.”
There are also plenty of private events being organized by families and groups throughout the week that won’t be found on any schedule, noted Batten.
Despite some suggestions to bring in big name entertainment acts for some events, the committee stood its ground on featuring all local talent.
While singer/songwriter Alan Doyle, who is headlining the big concert at the civic centre Friday night, is not from Corner Brook, the opening act – comedian Trent McClellan – is.
Batten, who vows to somehow attend every event, would like to see the Come Home Year last beyond the 10 days it runs this summer.
One event, which will see Broadway closed down to traffic so people can walk freely in and out of the establishments the night of July 26, is going to be a pilot project that could become an annual event.
“If we could have a legacy left out of all of this, the event on Broadway could become a George Street Festival-type of thing that could grow in years to come,” said Batten.