The Salvation Army’s Christmas Kettle Campaign kickoff at Pine Centre Mall Friday ended in a way that had some Prince George residents upset.
Festivities were shut down early by Captain Neil Wilkinson, who was leading the group’s event. There were two causes for this according to him, with the first coming right after the Bell Canto Youth Choir completed their performance.
“They performed acoustic music that was secular holiday music. The next group to come up had amplifiers for their guitars and the Salvation Army is at fault because we didn’t communicate through the Salvation Army channel that we weren’t supposed to be using amplified music.”
The other issue came from song selection, namely Mary’s Boy Child and Go Tell It On The Mountain.
“Mall management had requested that we not have any religious music,” explained Wilkinson.
“The Salvation Army was aware that they were part of the setlist but we didn’t view that as religious music and so when I observed that that was causing angst with mall management, I elected to wrap everything up.”
While the incident caused a rift among residents, with one post shared on the WTF Prince George Facebook page receiving nearly one hundred reactions and comments, both the Salvation Army and Pine Centre Mall have said there is no further issue.
“We support the Salvation Army and their Christmas Kettle Campaign, clearly they are still here and have been year over year,” said Pine Centre Mall General Manager, Rachel Olson.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have an agreement in place so I guess they showed up and we agreed to let them stay [at the mall]. We have a noise level in that general centre court area, unless tenants are notified prior to that, the noise can cause quite a bit of disruption.
“Again, I think that was a big miscommunication. If we had had an agreement in place, we could have sat down with them and kind of explain that, I think there was just miscommunication on what exactly that is.”
Both parties agree the relationship has not been skewered, with Wilkinson conceding, “It’s easier to not sing than it is to cause division in the community”.
The Salvation Army’s Christmas Kettle Campaign will continue to have locations at Pine Centre Mall as per usual.
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