WATCH ABOVE: It seems everyone has something to say about Taber’s new Community Standards Bylaw. One group is even calling on Footloose star Kevin Bacon to get involved. Emily Mertz has the details.
EDMONTON — There is a movement afoot to bring a Footloose star to a small town in Alberta.
The ‘Save Us Bacon’ campaign was launched after a Community Standards Bylaw was adopted in Taber, a town that sits 250 kilometres southeast of Calgary, and is known as the corn capital of Canada.
READ MORE: Sweeping bylaw in Alberta town outlaws public swearing and spitting
The group behind the campaign has written to Kickstarter in the hopes of raising funds to bring Footloose actor Kevin Bacon to Taber for a dance party/protest against the law.
The bylaw, that includes fines up to $150 for screaming, swearing and spitting in public, caught the attention of many Albertans when it was passed last Thursday. It drew comparisons to the 1980s teen flick Footloose—which outlawed dancing.
So, the ‘Save Us Bacon’ campaign took the theme and ran with it.
“A small town in Alberta, Canada just passed the law from the 1984 motion-picture Footloose, banning music in public, public gatherings, swearing, and instituting curfews,” the letter to Kickstarter reads.
“We think that’s silly, because it’s 2015 and Taber, Alberta is a real place, not the setting of a charming 1980s dance-rock-themed coming of age story. Also, we’re pretty sure the law goes against the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but we’re not lawyers and we’re certainly not gonna Google it.
“That small town from Footloose needed a hero. They needed Kevin Bacon, in a tank top.
“Mr. Bacon, the people of Taber, Alberta need a hero more than ever. Kickstarter, let’s take this way too far.”
Click here to read the full letter.
The author goes on to explain the campaign is satire, but if money starts coming in, “we will do this.” One of the organizers tells Global News they have already reached out to Bacon.
However, it turns out Taber’s laws aren’t so different from other Canadian cities.
READ MORE: Don’t paint a wooden ladder in Alberta & 11 more quirky Canadian laws
“I think if you went and looked in your own backyard, you would find that you can’t carry on by spitting and swearing and yelling and such in public places in your own community,” said Taber Police Chief Alf Rudd.
“This bylaw that we have here serves to support and promote common decency. They are laws that have been in existence in other statutes since the inception of the country.”
Calgary’s bylaws related to public behaviour include fines between $50 and $300 for spitting, loitering or “placing one’s feet on tables, benches, planters or sculptures” in a public place.
There are also laws against screaming, yelling or swearing in public places as well as spitting on any public or private property that they don’t own in Red Deer—as well as a curfew period between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. for those under 16 years of age.
Fines for such behaviour would only be enforced in extreme circumstances.
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