by Niki Luymes
The Town of Edson’s ‘Snow Much Fun Family Day’ activities planned for the February 17, long weekend were postponed due to a daytime temperature of below -23ºc plus a wind chill.
A polar vortex plunged Alberta into a deep freeze with record-breaking cold tightening its grip on the province. Dangerously cold Arctic air began spreading across the province throughout the past several weeks.
Family Day fun organizers decided to host the event on the new date of March 2, at Griffith Park Centre from 11am to 2pm.
For the past eight years the Town of Edson has hosted Winter Fun activities on Family Day. In its early iterations, the event took place at Willmore Park. Last year it was moved to the newly renovated Griffiths Park Centre.
The Snow Much Fun events are all about taking advantage of winter activities. “We typically do an outside event to encourage families to take in and enjoy the spaces around our community,” said Sarah McDonald, Community Services Supervisor.
Town of Edson staff had a variety of activities planned. “We had skating, and the Muskeg Flyers coming to do some cross country skiing, we had snow shoeing, and EARS was coming out to be by the dog park and have some pets for adoption as well,” said McDonald.
Due to the cold temperatures, the event planners decided to postpone the entire event. “It’s an outside event,” said McDonald, “we want to encourage people to be outside. So we decided to postpone it so that people still had the opportunity to learn about the community, and enjoy themselves.”
The March 2nd event will feature all the previously planned activities including the snowshoeing, skiing, free BBQ, and hot chocolate. “It should be the same event regardless. Free food, free skating, and more, so come and just enjoy the outside,” added McDonald.