Strathcona Family Day

 

On a typical bright and sunny Alberta summer Saturday, August 11th, the Regiment held its annual Strathcona Family Day.  Made possible by the extremely generous donation of a Regimental patron, the Strathcona Family Day provides a relaxed venue for soldiers and their families to have fun, unwind, and share a summer’s day together.  This year, the Regimental OPI, Recce Sqn, continued the tradition of holding a carnival-style Family Day, providing something entertaining for everyone, both young and old.

Preparations started throughout the preceding week, and set-up was undertaken by a sizable crew of Regimental volunteers early in the morning of the 11th.  In short order, various venues were set-up and manned, including pony rides, a petting zoo, paintball range (with officers and soldiers volunteering to be “targets”), a dunk tank (again, with officers and solider volunteering), balloon animal artist, bouncy castle and bouncy obstacle course, sumo suits, and LAV III and tank rides.  Various carnival games were a hit where children could play and win tickets that were redeemable for prizes.  A “show and shine” of motorcycles and cars was held in front of the Harvey Building, allowing motor-heads (and mini motor-heads) to compare rides.

Food was available throughout the day, starting at 10am with the “treats” stands.  Cotton candy, pop-corn, snow cones, and soft-serve ice cream was freely available, and in great quantities.  At 11, the Chief Cook, WO Alain Doucette, and his staff put on a BBQ with hamburgers and hotdogs, followed shortly thereafter with 60 pizzas.  Needless to say, everyone who attended were well-fed!  Door prizes were also available, with ten prizes for adults and ten prizes for children, which were drawn throughout the day.  All-in-all, the annual Strathcona Family Day proved to be a highly enjoyable day for all Strathcona families and volunteers of the day.