Canada Day celebrations

Posted on: Staff Writer

From edition: July 6 2018 Strathmore Times

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Strathmore celebrated Canada’s 151st birthday with another successful event on July 1 at Kinsmen Park. The event included the fan-favourite Watermelon Eating Contest, a magic show, canoeing on the lake, a pancake breakfast hosted by the Strathmore Fire Department and Epcor, and a family festival. Miriam Ostermann photo

Strathmore celebrated Canada’s 151st birthday with another successful event on July 1 at Kinsmen Park. The event included the fan-favourite Watermelon Eating Contest, a magic show, canoeing on the lake, a pancake breakfast hosted by the Strathmore Fire Department and Epcor, and a family festival.
Miriam Ostermann photo
The clouds parted on July 1 and provided Strathmore with sunshine for the majority of its Canada Day celebrations, marking another success for the books.
The event drew a large crowd to Kinsmen Park where tribute was paid to Canada’s 151st birthday with performances by local artists, a petting zoo, canoeing on the lake, children’s activities, a watermelon eating contest and sharing of a birthday cake.
Strathmore Mayor Pat Fule addressed a crowd decked out in Canada paraphernalia and waving Canada flags to honour the Blackfoot Confederacy, acknowledging his fellow town council members and emphasizing the country’s strengths.
“We are blessed to live in a country that values freedoms, respect for others and kindness, and we’re a country of descendants of First Nations people, homesteaders and immigrants. We may be of different races and religions, but we’re all Canadians,” said Fule.
“We may be a polite people but we do feel that Canada is the best country. After all, we have hockey, we have lacrosse, maple syrup, poutine, tuques, the Tragically Hip and Bryan Adams, and we can wear shorts in the winter. So happy Canada Day everybody.”
Strathmore town councillors Denise Peterson and Lorraine Bauer, and deputy mayor Bob Sobol were also present.
The day kicked off with a breakfast at the Strathmore Fire Hall, followed by the opening ceremonies and the family festival, and finishing off with fireworks. Numerous local acts took to the stage including winners of the Strathmore Battle of the Bands: Taken by Sanity, Cat Country Band, Pulse and Lyndsay Butler. Entertainment also featured Deano the Magician and the Indigenous Experience.
Many family activities also returned by popular demand which included bouncy castles, gladiator joust, caricature artists, face painting, the petting zoo, potato sack races, kids miniature train rides, a kids’ ferris wheel, and the third annual Kids Bicycle Parade overseen this year by the local RE/MAX Realty Horizon team.
Although the weather turned gloomy in the late afternoon, Strathmore’s Canada Day celebrations still finished with a bang, with fireworks in Kinsmen Park.