Palio di Siena comes to Strathmore

Posted on: jamacsadmin

Shannon LeClair – Times Reporter

Strathmore hosted its first annual Palio at the Agricultural grounds on June 19. A Palio is a fun event, with the main idea behind it being to bring families together from all parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese, which includes Calgary and southern Alberta.

“It’s based on the Palio di Siena in Italy. It’s not the  riders that win, but the horses for their district and then they’ll take the banner and host it in their district for the year,” said Michael Subasic, a member of the Palio Executive Committee. The Strathmore event was similar to the ones hosted in Italy, except they will only hold one a year instead of two. The winner of the banner this year was Our Lady of Perpetual Help out of Calgary. The event was open to families of any faith in order to promote families in general.

“Our thought was to have a fun race and do it for parishes and it would give us a chance to get together,” said Subasic.

“Our other objective was as a fundraiser, and the funds go to the Roman Catholic Church for the building of new parishes and the upkeep of existing parishes.”

Every parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese had a horse running in the event. There was face painting, midway-type games, bouncy houses, clowns and music. There were 24 horses entered into the race, through only eight would run at a time. There were a total of 72 races. Subasic  says they plan to host the Palio again next June.