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Enthusiasm accelerates as young racers prep for sold-out Soapbox Derby

A local woman is hoping to encourage people to plant sunflowers as a way of brightening up the city as more refugees from Ukraine make their new homes in St. Albert.
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Drivers Nathan Yanew, Charlotte Lorrain, and Oliver Anderson get ready and set before going during the last annual Father's Day Soapbox Derby in 2019. The action is ramping up again for June 2022. FILE PHOTO/St. Albert Gazette

The action is going to be bigger, better, and a day earlier than it has ever been when the Soapbox Derby returns after its pandemic hiatus. 

For the first time since 2019, young drivers will take to the hill of St. Vital Avenue for a day of friendly competition on the Father’s Day weekend. The race is set to take place on Saturday, June 18, for logistical reasons surrounding how long the road can be blocked off.

According to organizing representative Bob Fisher, this year’s sold-out slate of gravity-fueled contenders will make the day well worth the three-year wait.

“The reason it got moved to Saturday was that on Sunday, it's a pretty busy spot at the top of the hill, and the city was only able to block off the road for half a day. On Saturday, they were able to block it off for the full day,” he explained.

From the sounds of it, organizers will need to keep the racers rolling to fit them all in. Moving things up by a day allowed them to sign up more little speeders, and the roster of names is already a lengthy one. There will be more community involvement this year as well, and signing up some business sponsors has allowed 20 spots to be filled by the St. Albert Family Resource Centre.

“What that does is focus on families and young racers who would not have had the opportunity to either build a cart, or the funding or the technical skills to build the cart,” Fisher continued.

“They will get sized up in a cart and they'll compete just like all the other racers: they'll go down the hill three times and swerve and cross the finish line or do whatever they want to do and have a great time.”

Organizers also entreated the wood shop crew at the St. Albert Seniors Association to build more race cars, which they did in exchange for accepting several spots to give out to some of their younger friends.

While the next two months might seem to go slowly as people anticipate race day, right now the organizers are hoping to sign up more volunteers. People can visit stalbertsoapboxderby.ca and check out descriptions of all of the jobs waiting to be filled on race day.

Grandmothers for Grandmothers 

Everybody's favourite group of grandmothers who support grandmothers elsewhere in the world is returning this weekend with one of its most popular fundraisers.

Grandmothers to Grandmothers is excited for its upcoming Fabulous Fabric Frenzy Sale, especially because it will be an in-person event. 

Crafty consumers can get in on deals on thousands of metres of fabric priced from $2/metre to $5/metre, plus yarn, notions, craft supplies, and dress patterns. 

"We've been gathering items for three years so there will be lots to choose from," enthused group member Janice Pelletier in an email to The Gazette

The big sale takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, at Strathearn United Church at 8510 95 Ave. in Edmonton. Admission is $2 cash, but purchases can be made by cash or credit card.

Attendees are asked to please wear masks during their visit to protect our vulnerable grandmother volunteers.

More information can be found on the group's website at edmgrandmothers.org/fabulous-fabric-frenzy-2022

The sale is just one facet of the truly grand work they do. The Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign of The Stephen Lewis Foundation helps support African women doing all they can to keep their families going. The AIDS crisis took 35 million lives, and with so many mothers lost, their children till needed someone to raise them. That's where many of their grandmothers have stepped in: they are now raising their granddaughters. 

But it takes a village to raise a child, so the saying goes, and grandmothers in Canada are doing all that they can to play that part. Visit grandmotherscampaign.org for more information on the global effort.

Food Bank challenge

Several local community groups are teaming up with other service clubs for a massive charity effort to support the St. Albert Food Bank. It's all set to take place on one day.

The second annual food drive blitz will take place on Saturday, April 30, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Grocery shoppers visiting Freshco, Pearson's Independent, Superstore, Safeway, both Save on Foods locations, Sobeys, and Walmart can add their donations to the collection. The Red Willow Community Church will also have a drop off location. 

The combined effort comes courtesy of the St. Albert Breakfast Lions Club and the St. Albert Host Lions Club, ACT/UTC Council 1024, Africans & African Descendants Friendship Club of St. Albert, the St. Albert Cosmopolitan Club, along with the Rotary Club of St. Albert, Saint City Rotary Club, and the Rotaract Club of St. Albert. 

"It's a repeat from last year's drive that was put on with five local service clubs along with the Red Willow Community Church," offered Lion Paul Benson in an email to The Gazette. "This year we are going to cover more grocery stores with the second annual drive to support the St. Albert Food Bank."

This year's effort will be even bigger than before, as the groups have agreed to a friendly challenge among each other to put their community contacts on task to increase the public’s donations to the food bank for the month of May.

Sunflowers for solidarity with Ukraine, and for beauty

With refugees starting to arrive from Ukraine, one local woman has an idea to help make them feel even more welcome. Pauline Atwood thinks the sight of a city of sunflowers would brighten the day for them and for the rest of us, too.

"I think that people should plant sunflowers in their yards in St. Albert," she said, adding that she made a presentation to city council where she learned the city was already planning to place potted sunflowers around town for the summer.

"I thought we could go beyond that."

Her ideal outcome would see sunflowers planted everywhere. To that end, she is preparing packages of seeds to be distributed. People can get in touch with her at [email protected].

"My thought was of the feelings of happiness — the joy — that it would bring the people from Ukraine. Seeing sunflowers being grown would be so welcoming," she continued.

"My vision is that when Ukrainian people come to St. Albert, it will be a [gesture of] reaching out: something welcoming and fun and happy, as opposed to where they came from."


Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

About the Author: Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ecology and Environment Reporter at the Fitzhugh Newspaper since July 2022 under Local Journalism Initiative funding provided by News Media Canada.
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