Celebrating 150: Bigger and better

Miriam Ostermann, Times Associate Editor

With an influx in attendance during Canada’s milestone birthday celebrations on July 1, grants, sponsorships and local support also rose, ensuring a greater event and prolonging the celebrations throughout the year.
Thousands of people attended the Canada Day event in Strathmore which featured a cow milking contest, a KISS tribute band and the return of canoeing on Kinsmen Lake. While the federal government previously encouraged the Town of Strathmore’s Canada 150 Planning Committee to allocate the Heritage Canada’s $5,000 donation towards activities throughout the year instead of solely on Canada Day, a surge in local businesses contributed to the local festivity’s budget, raising $8,300 in cash and $700 in in-kind donations.
Along with a healthy cash injection of $20,000 from the town, the Canada Day celebrations once again included the annual watermelon-eating contest, gladiator jousting, bouncy castles, petting zoo, potato sack races, community booths and vendors, and yoga with Rebecka Wozniak.
“I think Canada Day gets more and more recognized in the community and people know more about,” said Kendra Armstrong, community events assistant with the Town of Strathmore. “I think it’s been really successful and a great event that people want to be a part of. It’s a great day for people to promote their business. We found we had some new ones come on board this year that we hadn’t before.”
Last year, an estimated 3,000 people took part in the activities at Kinsmen Park.
This year, the planning committee heeded the government’s advice and organized a logo contest earlier in the year, a Battle of the Bands event, a community concert and a picnic in the park, which took place on July 2.
“One of the things we decided for our Canada 150 committee was to plan things outside of Canada Day to prolong the celebration. So, we didn’t focus so much on enhancing Canada Day itself, but enhancing the rest of the year,” said Tracy Simpson, community services manager with the Town of Strathmore.
Nonetheless, the Canada Day celebration itself drew a larger crowd in Strathmore. While the popular dunk tank was retired and replaced by a cow milking competition, six bands took to the stage including local band Pulse who had performed 20 times on Canada Day over the past 25 years, and Taken by Sanity who will be performing at the Calgary Stampede next week.
Also taking the microphone was Strathmore Mayor Michael Ell, Strathmore-Brooks MLA Derek Fildebrandt and Siksika Chief Joseph Weasel Child, to name a few.
“It’s an honour to be here to celebrate the 150th birthday of the greatest country in the world,” said Weasel Child. “Looking at the history of our country, it’s always been built on doing things in a different way. Getting away from countries that do not allow the type of freedoms we enjoy and sharing the bounty of this land.”
The day also included breakfast at the Strathmore Fire Hall, Deano the magician and of course the birthday cake. Once again, residents were able to finish off the day with fireworks at the Strathmore ag grounds.
“Let’s be proud of what we’ve accomplished together in 150 years,” said Fildebrandt. “That’s really only a lifetime and a half. We might be a young country but we are in fact one of the oldest democracies in the world. There are so many older countries but most of them have not governed themselves democratically as we are for half as long as we have. So let’s celebrate what we’ve accomplished today as people of Strathmore, as Albertans and Canadians.”