It’s a popular scene for thousands of skaters every year but yesterday it was the place to be for hundreds of shavers and shavees.
The Ice Palace at West Edmonton Mall is the annual gathering place on the Friday before Feb. 14, the scene of the St. Valentine’s Day Hair Massacure. The charity event, now in its ninth year, encourages people to raise money by having their hair dyed bright pink before getting the razor treatment as a display of solidarity with people diagnosed with cancer who lose their hair because of cancer chemotherapy or radiation treatment.
“It’s a little chaotic,” exclaimed event director Tammy MacDonald as she was right in the thick of things. “It’s crazy.”
Her daughter, Kali, had acute lymphoblastic leukemia when she was two. After she went through her third round of chemotherapy, during which she lost her hair for the third time, father Gord MacDonald decided it was time to get a bigger ball rolling and get more attention for cancer research.
Since then countless thousands of people, schoolchildren included, have participated in the event. For this year’s grand finale, the 12-hour marathon in the middle of Canada’s largest shopping centre featured a long line-up of entertainment, including an appearance by Premier Ed Stelmach and one of Tammy’s other daughters, Kyrsti, who sang to inspire the crowd.
It was still too early to determine the level of support this year but MacDonald was pleased with the steady attendance.
“It’s hard to tell,” she said, obviously overwhelmed with not just the participants on the extended salon floor, not to mention the volunteer army, but also the Edmonton Oilers’ players and other dignitaries who were on hand to add their voices to the cause.
All funds raised support the Stollery Children’s Hospital, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northern Alberta, and for the first time ever, the Ronald McDonald House of Northern Alberta.
The goal for this year’s edition is to raise at least $1 million. For more information about the event, the charity organization itself or the causes it supports, please call 780-431-4621 or visit www.hairmassacure.com.
