John Peake Park was filled with the sounds of life and laughter as the community came together to celebrate the second annual Life’s Too Shorts Aug. 27.
The community party is named after the last tweet written by Jaydon Sommerfeld five days before he died as a result of a car crash in June 2015.
The auto-corrected tweet, that when it was written was laughed about, has been immortalized by the event organizers into a celebration of life for the Chestermere community.
“They kind of turned it into a celebration day,” said Jaydon’s mom, Sheri Sommerfeld.
She hopes that everyone who came down had the chance to destress, have fun and just be themselves.
People could share stories and memories, cry if they needed to or play and have fun without anyone judging.
“It’s okay to just be yourself, and if you need to cry you can cry and if you want to have fun nobody’s going to look down on you because your smiling and having a good time,” said Sommerfeld.
She said that the preparations and planning for the event has been exciting but it also brings up raw memories.
“It’s hard because we know that we’ve lost somebody too soon.” she said, “Its our goal to get out there and celebrate life…but in some ways that’s really difficult for those of us that are missing it.”
This year’s Life’s Too Shorts included a street hockey tournament, barbecue lunch, abstract dance tribute, tribute ride and mini car show, face painting and children’s activities.
Organizers added new events such as the memorial tribute ride to include activities some of the kids who have passed in the last year would have enjoyed.
“The tribute ride, our son Jaydon, he would have thought that was the coolest thing in the world,” said Sommerfeld.
For Sommerfeld the success of the event was in seeing smiles on people faces and seeing kids and adults alike having fun. She has been amazed by the support she and the other volunteer organizers have received.
“Thank you to our community, thank you for being there,” she said.
