Canada Day big success

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

With double the vendors, all-day-long entertainment, and attractions that never fail to impress, this year’s Canada Day celebrations accomplished what numerous volunteers and town staff set out to achieve – delivering a bigger and better event.
An estimated 1,500 residents frequented Kinsmen Park on July 1, taking part in activities such as face painting, the dunk tank, petting zoo, bouncy castles, and the watermelon-eating contest.
Compared to prior years, the town placed greater focus on food vendors, which came up short previously. As a result, community members had more selection between burgers, hot dogs, ice cream, and cotton candy.
“Last year we really struggled to keep people fed, so our main focus this year was trying to find some new local food vendors. We had almost twice as many food trucks out and people seemed to really like that,” said Tracy Simpson, community services coordinator with the Town of Strathmore.”We take the same plan every year, and try to build in it and make it a little bit bigger and better.
“We had no major glitches and the weather cooperated for the most part, which is always a tough thing. It was a success in our books.”
Not only did the town bring back the usual activities, but the Hope Bridges Society was also approached about coming up with an art project to include citizens from Strathmore and the surrounding areas. In collaboration with the Strathmore Regional Arts Collective, and 400 triangular plastic pieces – all of which were used – the Strathmore amphitheatre will now permanently house the project: Maple Leaf Tree.
“What’s so fantastic, is you can look and there are some very detailed works of art that are hanging up there and then there are some very simple child-like representations of Canadian pride there as well,” said Wanda Reinholdt. “This particular story was about Canadian pride of all generations. That’s what the story is. That’s what my focus is as an independent artist is telling a story.”
Representatives from the town said they believe attendance was up this year, based on the unwavering steady flow of people for most of the day. With the 2015 celebrations now passed, staff are already brainstorming on how to make next year’s event even better. Although they offered much positive feedback, residents did point out the lack of activities for teenagers. Keeping that in mind, Simpson and her staff will place a focus on coming up with creative ways to entertain 12 to 16-years-olds next year.
As entertainment, which included Dallas Larsen, Sykamore, Kirstyn Johnson, Pulse, and Inkahoots, slowly petered to an end, Strathmore finished Canada’s birthday with yet another stellar firework show.