Canada Day celebrations all set

It's the big event that has been 145 years in the making, and it all happens tomorrow. Everywhere you turn, there's something to do for people of all ages on Canada Day in St. Albert.

Roy Bedford, community recreation co-ordinator with the city's recreation services department, is the person at the head of organizing all of the activities. Rather than calling it a logistical nightmare, he says it's more like planning a really big party with a bunch of your friends.

"It is an absolute wonderful experience that takes an awful lot of effort on the part of many, many people, both some city staffers and volunteers out there and of course, the partner groups such as with the heritage sites," he admitted.

"Yes, it's busy and yes, there are lots of details to work out but the result is certainly worth it."

Most citizens know what to expect as the city has the traditional spate of activities in the works, but they are all crowd pleasers. But there are some new things.

Lions Park is the site of the main event during the daytime. Bedford estimates there could be 7,000 or more people of all ages in attendance between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Getting an exact number has always been a challenge but he's got a plan for that too.

This year the city is going to be handing out wristbands just like the ones given out at last August's Rendezvous 2011 picnic. They can be obtained at the main information tent or from roving volunteers offering them around the park and the other locations as well. They aren't mandatory.

"It was a good idea. We're using different colours for different sites. If people start, for example, at the Heritage Lakes breakfast, they'll have a different colour. Every year, people ask us 'how many, how many?' and we've been guesstimating but we're just trying to put some kind of hard number to it."

This system will help them to calculate attendance at each event across the city. He anticipates that 3,000 people will be present for the Street Dance and Family Fun Night and the Battle of the Bands. That's about the same for the heritage sites. The botanic park should see a little more than half of those figures.

"The fireworks … nobody has a clue about," Bedford exclaimed. "You have people who are right around Seven Hills and you have people who are on the south side of the river and on the balcony of St. Albert Place and all that, so we're not trying to count those people. I think it would just be pretty well impossible."

He said that more than half of all of the households in the city participate in some aspect of Canada Day celebrations throughout the day. To bring those numbers up even further, he and his team of organizers have deliberately added activities to appeal to various demographic segments like the Battle of the Bands and this year's longboard competition in Kingswood Park.

Bedford ended by giving praise to Building Assets and Memories, the group in charge of putting that competition together.

"One of the amazing things about that is it's being planned by the youth for the youth. They've taken the responsibility and have had some adult support but they're doing the work."

Community coming together

The Heritage Lakes Community Association has been hosting its celebrations for a few years now. Co-ordinator Tim Osborne has seen the benefits of getting neighbours out of their houses and enjoying family friendly festivities in one grand display of true community.

"The whole point for our association is to give neighbours a chance to come together and build a sense of community," he began.

"Things like the pancake breakfast are a great chance to do that. Different families with kids get to sit down and chat and share a few bites to eat. It's just a great way for people to get to know their neighbours. The better people know one another, the stronger your community becomes. That's very much the goal of our events."

The HLCA hosts different events throughout the year, this being one of the largest ones on the schedule. It is open to everybody, not just residents of the Heritage Lakes neighbourhood.

"It has continually seen more and more people coming out so I think it's become a good part of people's Canada Day tradition here."