Event sponsorships

Council’s only fund that community groups can apply to. It has approved $17,984 for 10 events in two rounds. Here is every application, what Council decided, and what happened next.

How the fund works

  • Council adopted the Special Event Sponsorship Policy on May 14, 2025, unanimously. Staff wrote then that “Council does not provide Grants in Aid,” and proposed the policy to give non-profits some support for events.
  • $10,000 a year, taken from the Tourism & Small Business Promotion strategic initiative. Anything not given out goes back to the Strategic Initiatives Reserve.
  • Up to $2,500 per group per year, for registered non-profits based in Qualicum Beach, for public events in the Town. It covers direct costs like rentals, equipment, entertainment, security and traffic control.
  • Applications close March 31 each year. The first round was extended to July 31, 2025.
  • Groups are paid after the event, once they send original receipts and a report. An approved amount is a promise, not a payment.

Regular Council agenda, May 14, 2025 (Special Events Sponsorship Policy) · Regular Council minutes, May 14, 2025

Fall 2025: $7,984 of $10,000

The first round, for events from September 2025 to early 2026. Applications closed July 31, 2025. Council decided all five on September 17, 2025, 4–1 with Councillor Young opposed. Before that vote Young moved to drop the Farmers Market’s grant, and lost 1–4.

Group and eventStaff recommendedApprovedDecided
Qualicum Beach Merchant SocietyMoonlight Madness $2,500 $2,500 Sep 17, 2025, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)
Qualicum Beach Farmers MarketChristmas Night Market $2,500 $2,500 Sep 17, 2025, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)
Qualicum Beach Curling ClubScotland to Canada Women’s Friendship Curling Tour $1,516 $1,516 Sep 17, 2025, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)
Qualicum Beach Collective SocietyMoonlight Madness I-Spy $800 $800 Sep 17, 2025, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)
Qualicum Community Education and Wellness SocietyPop Up Conversation Nook $668 $668 Sep 17, 2025, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)
Qualicum Beach Collective SocietySummer I-Spy Not put to Council $0 Staff decision, reported Sep 17, 2025
Qualicum Beach Collective SocietyBlue Zone Initiative town hall Not put to Council $0 Staff decision, reported Sep 17, 2025

Qualicum Beach Merchant Society: Moonlight Madness

November 20, 2025 · $2,500 approved. · Sep 17, 2025, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)

Approved “up to a maximum of $2,500, pending the provision of additional details.” Staff wrote that Moonlight Madness falls under the Chamber of Commerce’s contract with the Town, and that they were working with the Merchant Society so the two wouldn’t overlap.

The Town’s records give the date as November 27, 2025. News coverage says Moonlight Madness was held on November 20, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and the Qualicum Village Merchants Society.

PQB News: Moonlight Madness returns on Nov. 20

Qualicum Beach Farmers Market: Christmas Night Market

December 5, 2025 · $2,500 approved. · Sep 17, 2025, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)

Approved up to $2,500. Councillor Young moved to remove it from the package, seconded by Mayor Westbroek. That motion was defeated 1–4, with only Young in favour.

The market’s own page for the event thanks the Town for “up to $2,500 towards eligible event expenses, contingent upon the submission of receipts.”

The debate over the market and the Merchant Society

Farmers Market: Christmas Night Market 2025 · Farmers Market: sponsorship information

Qualicum Beach Collective Society: Moonlight Madness I-Spy

November 20 to December 4, 2025 · $800 approved. · Sep 17, 2025, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)

Approved as recommended. Like every sponsorship, the money is paid only after the group sends original receipts and a report on the event.

The I-Spy is the Collective’s holiday game, started at Moonlight Madness in 2021. In the 2024 edition, 20 shops hid items in their windows, and players who spotted all 20 entered a draw for a $250 grand prize and five $50 prizes, paid in Qualicum Beach Bucks to spend at local shops. The Town didn’t publish the 2025 application, so we don’t know what the $800 was to pay for. The policy says sponsorships must offset “direct costs associated with staging the event,” such as rentals, staffing, equipment and hired services.

In April 2026 staff wrote that the Collective “had not submitted the documentation required to process reimbursement under its 2025 application,” and that they had sent a follow-up letter on March 20, 2026. The Town’s list of 2025 Council resolutions, updated in March 2026, marks the resolutions on either side of this one complete and leaves this one blank.

Staff gave the missing paperwork as one reason to refuse the Collective’s 2026 request. The Collective’s two emails to staff in late April, published with the May 13 agenda, answer questions about the 2026 event and don’t mention the 2025 paperwork. On May 13 Council gave the Collective $1,000 for 2026. We found no later record of the $800 being paid.

We found no public post about a 2025 holiday I-Spy on the Collective’s website, which has nothing between October 2025 and May 2026, or in the Chamber’s and news coverage of Moonlight Madness 2025. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t held.

The Collective’s 2026 request

QB Collective: iSPY 2024 Edition · QB Collective: Holiday Window iSpy 2021

Qualicum Beach Collective Society: Blue Zone Initiative town hall

November 16, 2025, at You + Me Studio, according to the Collective’s website · Not funded. · Staff decision, reported Sep 17, 2025

The Collective asked for $700. Not put to Council. Staff wrote that because the event was at a small venue, it was “not believed to meet the intention of the Policy as a public event.”

QB Collective: Help make Qualicum Beach the healthiest community in Canada

Sources: Regular Council agenda, Sep 17, 2025 (2025 Special Event Sponsorship Applications, pp. 169–172); Regular Council minutes, Sep 17, 2025; Regular Council agenda, Mar 25, 2026 (2025 Council Resolution Summary, p. 239); Regular Council agenda and applications, Apr 22, 2026; Regular Council agenda, May 13, 2026.

2026: $10,000 of $10,000

The first full year. Applications closed March 31, 2026. Council decided three on April 22 and postponed two to May 13 for answers from staff. A sixth application, received before the deadline, came to Council on May 13 as a late item. Council gave out the whole $10,000.

Group and eventStaff recommendedApprovedDecided
Anglican Parish of St. MarkSt. Mark’s 100th Anniversary Family Festival Day $2,500 $2,500 Apr 22, 2026, unanimous
St. Andrews Lodge Historical and Cultural SocietySt. Andrews Lodge Grand Re-opening Celebration $2,500 $2,500 Apr 22, 2026, unanimous
Qualicum Beach Farmers MarketChristmas Night Market $2,500 $2,000 May 13, 2026, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)
Seaside Cruizers SocietyFather’s Day Show and Shine $2,500 $2,000 May 13, 2026, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)
Qualicum Beach Collective SocietyCommunity Movement event Refuse $1,000 May 13, 2026, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)
Qualicum Beach Lawn Bowling ClubVictoria Day Tournament Refuse $0 Apr 22, 2026, unanimous

Seaside Cruizers Society: Father’s Day Show and Shine

June 19 to 21, 2026 · $2,000 approved. · May 13, 2026, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)

Not in the April staff report. It came to Council on May 13 as a late item, with the staff comment that the application “was received prior to the deadline of March 31, 2026.” Staff recommended $2,500. Council gave $2,000, which used up the rest of the year’s $10,000.

Seaside Cruizers events

Qualicum Beach Collective Society: Community Movement event

June 6, 2026 · $1,000 approved. · May 13, 2026, carried 4–1 (Young opposed)

The Collective asked for $2,500. Staff recommended refusing it, saying ParticipACTION offered outside funding and the Collective hadn’t sent the paperwork for its 2025 grant. On April 22 Councillor Young moved to approve the full $2,500; Council postponed the decision. On May 13 Council gave $1,000.

The evening after the April 22 meeting, the Collective emailed staff more details. The email begins: “Jean suggested I share a bit more context.” At the meeting Councillor Young had said she had contacted the Collective’s chair. Council’s liaison to the Collective is Councillor Vander Valk.

The Collective’s website describes a month-long ParticipACTION challenge in June 2026 rather than a single-day event.

More on this request

QB Collective: June is the ParticipACTION challenge

Sources: Regular Council agenda and applications, Apr 22, 2026; Regular Council minutes, Apr 22, 2026; Regular Council agenda, May 13, 2026; Late item 9(1)(c), May 13, 2026: Father’s Day Show and Shine sponsorship application; Regular Council minutes, May 13, 2026; Regular Council agenda, Jun 24, 2026 (2025 Annual Report: Council liaison roles, p. 78).

What we couldn’t find

Which approved grants have actually been paid. Payments this small don’t appear in the Town’s yearly list of suppliers, which only names those paid more than $25,000. The Town’s tracking list of Council decisions, as of December 31, 2025, did not yet show the fall 2025 package as complete.

Sources