City celebrates Canada Day

By Lethbridge Herald on July 1, 2022.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Local singer/songwriter Mike Murchison belts out a tune with a group of guys he was playing with for the first time on Friday at Galt Gardens during Canada Day festivities. The downtown park was packed with people enjoying entertainment, grabbing food, checking out a market and wandering through a LeBarons car club show.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – apulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Canada Day celebrations at Henderson Lake Park were at full swing Friday where many were able to gather once again in person to enjoy the festivities, a variety of food vendors and activities for all. 

Facility programmer and Canada day chair for the city of Lethbridge recreation and culture department, Sarah Burton, said it was wonderful to see big crowds and so many smiling faces. 

“We were shocked people started setting up lawn chairs at 10 this morning, it was fantastic,” said Burton. 

The festivities kicked off at 11 a.m. with the Lethbridge Community Band, which is why Burton was shocked to see people setting up an hour in advance to make sure they had a good spot. 

Those in attendance had the opportunity to choose from over 25 food vendors with a variety of cuisines. 

“Pretty much any type of food you could want is here, lots of different choices,” said Burton. 

Kids had the opportunity to jump in a variety of bouncy castles, get their faces painted, coloured a big picture of Lethbridge’s attractions, watch the premiere of Hootenanny’s The Junk Show among other activities. 

Around noon when many people were lining up to grab a bite to eat, many started looking up to the sky as an airplane drew two smiling faces. 

Other activities for people of all ages around the park included performances from the medieval society and a multitude of things happening on and off the main stage all day long. 

“We have a wide variety of dancers and musicians, we also have our opening ceremonies where we will have indigenous dancers as well as our colour guard and land acknowledgements, elder blessing and dignitary speeches,” said Burton. 

She said many in attendance started sharing their excitement since the night before when they were setting up and within the first hour of the celebrations starting she saw the crowds continually grow. 

“I think everybody is just super excited to be able to be out and active and sort of involved in the community again and that’s fantastic,” said Burton. 

She said not having things for two years it is fabulous to just be out with everybody and to have the weather collaborate made everything so much better. 

For some residents attending Canada Day celebrations had become a family tradition, such is the case for Kimberly Muire who said she has had a picture of her daughters with the beaver every year which became a family tradition. 

“We really look forward to celebrating Canada Day every year here, it’s really exciting to be out with people again and doing activities and enjoying the sunshine and not wearing masks and just living life like normal,” added Muire. 

She said she looks forward to let her daughters enjoy the activities offered at the park, but when it comes to the fireworks she stays closer to home. 

“We’re really fortunate in that we live near the train bridge, so we go out behind our house, and we watch the fireworks from there. With our girls being six and four is nice to be away from all of the people at that time at night and we have a really good view of the fireworks, so we also look forward to that every year,” said Muire. 

While the activities at Henderson Lake Park kicked off at 11 a.m. many were already celebrating at Galt Gardens where the festivities started earlier. 

Car enthusiasts were able to check the Lebarons Car Club Show ‘n Shine from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with vehicle registration proceeds being donated to the Interfaith Food Bank, which offered those in attendance a free breakfast at 9:00 a.m. and after eating, those at the park had the opportunity to enjoy an artisan market which also ran until 4:00 p.m. 

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