The Ice Palace at West Edmonton Mall was filled to the brim with supporters of the 11th Hair Massacure and organizer Tammy MacDonald couldn’t have been more pleased.
“We had another record year!” she said.
The annual event, the culmination of an extended charity drive, saw approximately 2,000 pink-haired people get their heads shaved. This bested the attendance of 1,700 from last year. This doesn’t include the participation recorded in other major centres including Calgary, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray.
Bums in barber seats is one thing but bucks in the bank is something else. MacDonald was elated with the donations brought in so far.
“We left the event with $1 million in the bank. We’ve never had that much,” she said. “Last year, $400,000 rolled in after and we had $900,000 to start. It happens every year.”
Participants can still get their pledges in for the next few weeks. MacDonald said she wouldn’t announce the final figure until the end of April.
“Oddly enough, we usually get donations that come in on that last day. I think that we’ll hit our $1.5 million goal. The good news is that the money keeps rolling in.”
She sent out her appreciation to everyone involved from the volunteer hair stylists to the guest entertainers to the surprise celebrity endorsers, including several members of the Edmonton Oilers. Rookie forward Nail Yakupov, for example, had his head auctioned off to be shaved, bringing in a cool $1,700. Defenceman Jeff Petry also returned to offer his hair for the cause.
“He really wanted to go down to the wood,” MacDonald explained. “The Oilers have also implemented Hair Massacure into their rookie program so that’s really nice.”
The hockey players also met with approximately 25 cancer survivors who were on site at the Ice Palace on Friday.
“It’s a record high year for kids in treatment or kids coming off of treatment to attend. That was amazing to see.”
The charity event has brought in more than $6 million in total to support the Stollery Children’s Hospital, the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Northern Alberta and the Ronald McDonald House of Northern Alberta.
Supporters generally come from schools and MacDonald has a solid and growing fan base from the educational system.
“That just warms our hearts,” she said. “It’s really, really neat to see a lot of kids that are coming back for their fifth or sixth year. I actually get to watch them grow up.”
