St. Albert's Rendezvous 2011 organizers are celebrating another success after Saturday's homecoming event drew 200 people.
The day-long event included bus tours of St. Albert's tourist attractions, including the Musée Heritage Museum, the St. Albert Grain Elevator Park and the St. Albert Botanic Park, capped by a soirée at the Enjoy Centre in Riel Park.
All 200 tickets that were printed for the event were sold, a positive development given that sales were sluggish up until a couple of weeks ago, said Rendezvous 2011 board chair Margaret Plain.
"People spent quite a bit of time looking at the photographs," Plain said. "We had it set up so it would stimulate memories."
Rendezvous 2011 is a year-long celebration of St. Albert's 150th anniversary.
The homecoming attracted many people from St. Albert and the surrounding area, including descendants of prominent historic families, Plain said.
One of those people was Marilyn Perrott, the daughter of William Veness, a former mayor of St. Albert. Her grandfather Walter was a prominent local merchant and was also heavily involved in the community. Veness Road, along St. Albert's eastern edge, is named after the family.
Perrott was born and raised in St. Albert and still lives here, but the bus tour took her to places she hasn't been in years, including the Little White School House, where she'd gone to school.
"It even smelled the same," she said. "It just triggered so many memories."
Perrott did the tour with four of her siblings. They had a good laugh at seeing her class picture on the wall of the old school. Every place brought back memories of their simple and happy childhoods, she said.
"It was nice to go back in time and just feel that simple life. We felt young again," she said. "It left us with a glow."
Bonnie Nixon, an eight-year St. Albert resident, signed up for the homecoming to get connected with the history of the community.
"You always drive by these places … you're so busy living life that you're too busy to [stop in]," she said.
As an active volunteer, she wanted to know more about her city.
"If you want to be part of the present and have some impact on the future, it's important to understand what's come before," she said.
End nearing
The homecoming was the latest in a long string of events aimed at celebrating St. Albert's 150th anniversary.
The next event is the record-setting Rendezvous Picnic, scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 28. No longer an attempt at a Guinness World Record, the event is still aiming to be St. Albert's largest picnic ever, Plain said.
The picnic will also be the last public anniversary event in the Rendezvous 2011 lineup.
"It feels like we're getting close," Plain said.
