ST. ANTHONY, N.L. — The St. Anthony Lions Club is denying speculation the club will fold in 2020.
Rumours had surrounded the future of the 55-year-old club in recent weeks, but the club wants to put it to rest.
Club leadership confirmed to The Northern Pen the club still has a future in St. Anthony and will not be closing.
Current St. Anthony Lions Club president Geoff Christenssen was disappointed to hear the rumour and feels it’s bad for the club.
“It doesn’t help us with fundraising and stuff like that,” he told The Northern Pen.
The rumour may have arised out of confusion around the club’s ability to keep its parking lot cleared during the winter.
Snow clearing cost upwards of $3,500 last year.
With less revenue coming in, the club didn’t want to incur this level of cost next year.
If they were unable to find someone to clear the parking lot at an affordable price, there may have been times when snow blocked access to the building.
“We met with all the groups (who uses the building) here earlier this fall and let them know what the situation was, that there may be times the snow clearing won’t be done,” past president Cyril Simmonds told The Northern Pen.
But there were never any concerns around having to close the club permanently.
“We told them there may be times we have to close it because we can’t keep the parking lots open but there was never a time we said the Lions Club was closing,” he explained.
The club is now working with a local contractor to arrange to have the parking lot cleared of snow at an affordable price.
Simmonds is optimistic they can keep the club open throughout the winter.