Impressed with festivities that drew thousands to Lacombe Lake Park this past Family Day, Mayor Nolan Crouse has asked city administration to find out what it would take to make it an annual festival.
Crouse made the information request at Tuesday’s council meeting.
With such a good turnout it only made sense to kick the tires at least on making it more permanent, he said.
“It was so well attended and it came across as being exciting and vibrant and I think we owe it to ourselves to see if we could do this annually.”
The youth sub-committee of the Rendezvous 2011 group organized the activities at the park, which included sleigh rides, snow painting, human curling and a mini-treasure hunt.
Committee member Abi Iskander estimated attendance at about 3,500 people, well exceeding expectations.
“I was expecting 500 people at most and was just hoping that many people showed up,” she said. “When it went over the top like that I was so excited and I was really pleased with what my sub-committee did.”
Iskander said members of the group, which is made up of high school and university students, came up with the idea for the event and activities and then went about implementing it.
She said she doesn’t know exactly how many volunteer hours went into it but it was significant.
“I don’t really know, but a lot of effort went into it for sure.”
The Rendezvous 2011 committee is, by definition, a one-year group co-ordinating St. Albert’s 150th anniversary celebrations, but Crouse said there are other community groups in the city and other models to follow.
“The Heritage Lakes Community Association does a great job in Heritage Lakes. Maybe we can mirror that in Lacombe.”
Crouse said he’s optimistic the event could be repeated with only a small amount of help from the city.
“There is going to have to be some sort of grassroots community development thing, to be sure, and probably a small amount of money put toward it as well.”
While Iskander can’t say for certain, she said she could see herself getting involved again even beyond the Rendezvous mandate.
“Once you know what to expect it is really not that difficult.”
