INNISFAIL – Johns Manville marked 160 years in business with a fun-filled community party.
The event took place at the Johns Manville plant in Innisfail Sept. 15.
Members of the public, employees and their families took in the festivities and came out to celebrate the occasion, which included a barbecue, photo booth, face painting, door prizes, and tours of the Innisfail plant.
Despite the wet, cool weather the crowds came out.
“It’s an awesome turnout,” said Cathy Ouellette, human resources manager. “We’re glad people came out from the community. The plant tours are clearly the most popular. We’ve had almost 100 people doing tours so far,” she added.
The event also had plenty of food and activities for kids and families to enjoy.
“We have ice cream, face painting, a photo booth and we have Air-ristocrat balloon rides from Red Deer. You can walk in the balloon but unfortunately people can’t go up today (due to weather), and we have the RCMP vehicles (and auxiliary members) here as well,” said Ouellette.
Celebrating such a milestone is important for everyone, she noted.
“It’s important to our employees and to the community,” said Ouellette. “I think our employees know they’re a part of something that's been enduring and it will be around for a long time.
“It’s all about the (Johns Manville) experience. Our employees are part of this community, the company is part of this community and that’s important to us,” she added. “We wanted to open our doors to the community and welcome people to celebrate with us and see what we do here.
“It’s a great opportunity for our employees to share it with their families too.”
One of those employees was Ian Lucas, who has been a part of the Johns Manville family for almost 20 years.
“A lot of families have been raised through this plant so it’s nice to see them giving back to the community and (inviting) the community out to see what it is we do here,” said Lucas. “It’s really nice to see everyone bringing their families and people from the community showing up to have a look, even with the bad weather.”
