Unlike other communities, a municipal election year in Prince George goes largely unrecognized until the fall.
This time is different, however, with two mayoral candidates have already stepped forward and publicly declared their intentions before the official start of summer to have their names on the ballot for the third Saturday in November, which this year is Nov. 15.
That's not to say previous mayoral candidates haven't been making their rounds before September, but in previous elections an official pronouncement waited until the leaves began changing colour.
In 2002, no one stepped forward to challenge incumbent Colin Kinsley until shortly before the end of the October nomination period when Michael Cavanaugh put his name forward.
In 2005, Dan Rogers held out until mid-October before putting the rumours to rest and declaring his intention to challenge Kinsley for the seat.
Three years later, even though Kinsley announced he wouldn't stand for re-election in May, Rogers and Don Zurowski waited until mid-September to make their intentions official. In 2008, Rogers confirmed his re-election bid in August and (ultimately successful) challenger Shari Green followed in September.
"It may well be open [now] in terms of media coverage but open campaigning for mayor does indeed start very early on - it's not in the last two months," said Charles Scott, co-chair of Don Zurowski's 2014 mayoral campaign.
"Typically when you're running an election, especially in Prince George, it's September through to November. It's very unusual for anybody to announce," said Michelle Marelli, campaign manager for Lyn Hall, who made his official declaration outside of city hall on June 25. "But once the first announcement has been made, it's important that those that are also considering running step forward."
That first announcement came 13 days earlier. Hall was beat to the media statement by Zurowski, who unveiled his campaign on June 12 at the Civic Centre.
The official nomination period, however, for the Nov. 15 municipal election doesn't open until Sept. 30. Current mayor Shari Green announced in late May that she would not be seeking re-election.
The early declarations create a new wrinkle in the local municipal election process - now that the candidates are in the forefront as opposed to working more quietly to drum up support over the summer, what do they do for those extra months?
"People only have so much attention," said Scott, who is managing Zurowski's campaign with Terry Kuzma. "There are those of us for whom this is incredibly interesting and we spend far too much time on politics, but most people are normal, balanced human beings that go fishing and have lives."
People deserve a break over the summer, said Marelli, for holidays and family time.
Though both camps acknowledge that the summer is a less-engaged period, the two campaigns are taking different paths over the warmer months.
For the Hall campaign, there will be more behind-the-scenes work completed.
"My role is to help organize the campaign for when we do begin, which will be in the fall," said Marelli, who is actively recruiting volunteers. "And that's an appropriate time for our town and city in this process of campaigning."
Meanwhile, Zurowski will be actively connecting with voters as a candidate for mayor to gather information and hear issues.
"The Zurowski campaign intends to hit the barbecue circuit, to get with as many gatherings as possible and to do door knocking to get as wide a range of people as possible familiar with our candidate," said Scott, who also co-chaired Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond's re-election campaign last spring.
The campaign will also be launching their online presence over the summer, but Scott said he doesn't expect too much uptake early on, given most residents aren't political junkies.
"Therefore they don't have time to troll websites in June to see what Candidate X says on Topic 2," said Scott. "So we're not going to get their attention until probably September at the earliest and for most, frankly, probably middle October."
The two campaigns have to take different tracks, said Marelli, seeing how the two candidates are coming from different starting points. Zurowski - who sat on council from 1999 to 2008 - has been out of municipal politics for six years.
"[Hall] is a city councillor and his first priority is to do his job," said Marelli. "And that means through the summer on to, and including, November."
Marelli added that she doesn't see any problem with the more upfront approach from the Zurowski campaign.
"That's what we need from people who want to run for the top position. They need to be out and about," she said. "[Hall] is meeting with people as part of his daily responsibilities. So it's a little different for each and it should be because it's a different set of experiences, a different set of knowledge level coming to the table for the mayor's position."
