With the warm weather we experienced last week, Chestermere was very excited and in high hopes for it to continue on to the weekend for the Spring Festival. Unfortunately this was not so; in fact, it was the complete opposite. The weather went from warm to cold and snowy within a timeframe of 24 hours, which caused most of the outside attractions for the fair to be cancelled, or moved indoors. However, this did not stop the event from being as successful as it has been in past years.
A pancake breakfast hosted by the Rotary Club kicked off the event. Many other local groups and business made an appearance at the event, such as the Chestermere Cadets, Chestermere Veterinary, and the Chestermere Lions’ Club. Kids made a beeline straight to the Canadian Rabbit Hopping Club center where over a hundred bunnies were on display.
The fair, which was on Saturday May 3rd from 10-4, featured an interactive tradeshow in the gym. Many local and surrounding businesses had booths set up to advertise homemade goods.
A business called ‘A Little Taste of Country’ was set up which featured Canadian grown, gluten and MSG-free spices, pasta, and dry soup mixes. “We source our food products from small Canadian communities,” says employee Emmeli-Sua Klumpemhower, “and we carry everything from spices to dry soup mixes to jams, jelly, and honey!”
Steve King, one of the members of the Chestermere Lions’ Club, also had a booth to feature his Listening Tails project. Listening Tails, which allows young children to strengthen their reading confidence by reading to non-judgmental dogs, has been running for the last four months. “There are currently twelve dogs part of the program,” King shared, “and we have another part called Visiting Tails that was just implemented six weeks ago.” Visiting Tails is a project that takes dogs to visit with people at senior homes, “The people there light up immediately when the dogs come in,” he says.
The 6th annual Pet Fest was held around one in the afternoon, which held contests for the best trick, most agile, and best dressed during the puppy parade around the recreation centre. All kinds of dogs appeared at the event, which each had their own special talent that they were eager to share with onlookers.
Each year, the Parade of Garage Sales is held in conjunction with the Spring Fair. On May 3rd and 4th, over 200 homes around Chestermere registered with Patricia Virk to host garage sales. With covered advertisement and promotion, the event proved to be beneficial to participants.
“Half of our stuff is already gone,” said one participant by the name of Brad Mitchell-Brost about two hours into the first day, “it really helps that this event is advertised at the amount that it is. It brings a lot of people into the community.”
The Chestermere Library also held a used book sale with part of the proceeds to be donated to the World’s Longest Hockey Game. Romance novels, thriller novels, science fiction, and suspense were some of the genres that people had the chance to choose from.
Although the cold and snow caused for some cancellations at the Spring Fair, the success of the events not only at the rec centre but all around Chestermere showed that nothing can come in the way of community spirit and participation.
