More than 100 vehicles, including a wide variety of vintage classics, were a welcome feature of Sundre’s annual community Canada Day events this year.
“The car show was an excellent addition to the Canada Day celebration,” said Jaime Marr, the Sundre Pioneer Village Museum’s executive director, during an interview on July 3.
There were 105 cars and trucks registered, and Marr said she heard plenty of positive feedback from everyone she encountered along the way.
While the looming threat of rain and potential hail understandably prompted a few owners to pack up and head out before the end of the afternoon, she said some remained for the cruise to the Sundre Community Centre — with a few departing in style with a couple of burnouts — where members of council hosted a barbecue followed by a movie, family dance and fireworks.
“A lot of the car show participants were shocked with what Sundre has to offer,” she said, adding many people came in from locations such as Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton and Rocky Mountain House.
“This was an excellent first run,” she said, adding interest certainly appears to “absolutely” indicate a high possibility of bringing back the car show again next year.
Although Marr said while the event was not necessarily perfect, the museum’s staff and volunteers definitely ran a good show that “we’re all very proud of.”
Sundre’s annual Canada Day celebration typically draws between 800 and 1,000 people, and organizers tried this year to encourage visitors to sign a guest sheet to get a better approximation of the crowd’s size.
While not everyone logged in, Marr estimated that more than 2,100 people attended.
She said she was particularly pleased to see a range of ages coming out for the celebration. Singles, families, seniors and teenagers all came out to enjoy the day.
A remote controlled car race game set up on a track with jumps and ramps was especially popular with tweens, she said.
The Sundre and District Historical Society also partnered with members of the Rural Alberta Motorcycle Ride for Dad, an organization that raises funds for cancer research. Ride for Dad volunteers worked the afternoon barbecue tirelessly, serving more than 700 hotdogs. Although available free of charge, people could offer voluntary donations at the barbecue, which raised funds for that organization, she said.
“They definitely supported the cause," she said about the Ride for Dad volunteers.
The pioneer village museum’s Canada Day events doubled as not only an opportunity for the community to celebrate locally, but also as a fundraiser for the historical society.
Proceeds from the cost of registration for vehicles in the car show, as well as additional donations received from the public throughout the day, all went towards supporting efforts to restore museum artifacts and buildings, she said, noting that almost $1,500 was raised.
The municipality's Sundre Event Development Initiative Fun also contributed $2,000 to offset the cost of advertising.
“Each building has its own restoration needs list," she said.
After being used for storage for some time, the youth building has been reopened and has now been designated for youth programming, and the society is considering renting out the building to make the space available to the community as part of an ongoing strategy to develop creative new revenue streams for the museum, she said.
Already looking forward to next year, Marr said the museum is keen to address comments as they come in and would like to receive feedback from the community on possible ideas to improve future Canada Day celebrations.
“We’re always looking to make it better," she said.
For about the past decade, Sundre’s Canada Day events have been very similar, and introducing new features such as the car show is important, she said.
“It’s healthy to just make a change and spice it up," she said.
She also expressed her gratitude not only to everyone who came out to support the event, but also all the partners and volunteers who stepped up.
“We can’t do it without others — it’s not a one-person show," she said.
Over at the Sundre Community Centre, Todd Dalke, a member of town council as well as a local business owner, said about 300 people attended the barbecue and that about 80 watched the movie with shy of two dozen staying for the family dance.
Although a bigger turnout was hoped for, Dalke said he was nevertheless pleased.
“I think it was a big win for the community that day,” he said.
He attributed the lower numbers at the council barbecue to the possibility that some families and their children might have been tuckered out and had their fill of barbecue earlier that afternoon, as well as the forecast that called for rain.
“There was a downpour during the movie," he said.
Overall, Dalke said he was quite happy with how everything turned out, and like Marr, said he would like to hear people’s points of view on possible options to restructure the event next year, such as perhaps having just one, mid-day barbecue as well as a street dance with a live band.
Whatever happens next year will be the result of partnerships among the municipality, the museum, and local businesses, he said, adding this year’s collaboration was good to see.
“It shows a commitment from all parties,” he said, adding the town alone would never be able to afford — in terms of cost as well as manpower — to single-handedly host Canada Day celebrations.
“Without everyone working together, it wouldn’t be viable," he said.
