SUNDRE — Along with some helping hands from his family cohort, Marty Butts decided to festively deck out his private fire service company’s truck and embarked Saturday evening on a tour around Sundre with Santa Claus to spread some holiday cheer.
The idea largely stemmed from a member of the community whose family would go to the local fire hall every year to take pictures alongside the metal fireman’s statue that Butts had commissioned and ended up being relocated back to his property.
When the resident asked whether they could come out to his place to take pictures, Butts said he and his family decided to decorate the truck and bring it to people in town.
First, he had to coordinate with Alberta Health as well as the community peace officer.
“They were concerned on what we were doing,” he said.
However, the drive was not intended as an event to gather people together, but rather simply to bring joy and happiness while putting some smiles on people’s faces and spreading Christmas cheer, he said.
“We didn’t want the public to be at risk. I’m not out there to break any laws or put people in jeopardy.”
After presenting their plans to the Alberta Health representative, Butts said they were provided with some additional suggestions outlining what they could and could not do. People who stepped outside of their homes to see the truck were asked to stay on their properties, and nothing was given out, he said.
“We had to have their (Alberta Health’s) blessing, basically.”
The concerns expressed by the peace officer stemmed largely from bylaw restrictions with regards to big trucks on residential streets, but Butts argued his truck was marginally larger than the garbage trucks, which are allowed under the municipality’s bylaws.
“There was some bylaw infractions that had occurred, but the good for the community outweighed those concerns,” said Kevin Heerema, the community peace officer, when contacted Monday morning.
Starting off at the Sundre Seniors Supportive Living centre, the truck proceeded to wind its way through town over the course of about four hours, said Butts.
Along the way, donations were accepted, with $1,054 raised for Greenwood Neighbourhood Place, a community organization whose staff and volunteers Butts expressed profound respect for.
“It was tremendous,” he said when asked about the community’s response.
“I didn’t realize how many people and families we touched that night, that’s what was so awesome about it. I didn’t know if anybody was going to come out.”
This has been a tough year for a lot of people for many reasons, the pandemic being the major one, he said.
So being able to spread some happiness and put smiles on people’s faces, not only children but also the seniors at the lodge, was its own reward, he said.
“If we did nothing else, it was worth it for that,” he said about visiting the seniors lodge.
“The faces that we seen, the smiles, the thumbs up and the clapping from our seniors that have been hit really hard with this COVID…it just brought them to a level, it was unbelievable.”
