Celebrate Canada Day with Coaldale’s Cultural Amazing Race

This Canada Day July 1 — on your mark, get set… go. Don’t miss the ultimate family-friendly challenge — Coaldale’s Cultural Amazing Race.

“We applied for some funding through Canadian Heritage and were successful through their Celebrate Canada grant opportunity and so we thought let’s go ahead and have an event,” said Stephanie Wierl, community services manager for the Town of Coaldale, adding it’s been a while since any activities or events were planned for Canada Day in town.

One of the goals of the event, Wierl said, is to ramp up cultural opportunities in Coaldale.

“What better way to do that with a fun little race through downtown and through some of our unique spots that have some history in town,” she noted.

The first-ever Coaldale Cultural Amazing Race kicks off at the town office at 10:30 a.m.

“People are invited to submit teams. Teams can be made up of any combination of people and any number of people. We really want to make it barrier-free and have no restrictions. Folks can just sign up any team they’d like,” said Wierl, adding June 26 is the deadline for team submissions. Teams can register by e-mail at programs@coaldale.ca.

Coaldale’s free event, which is slightly based on the popular television show “The Amazing Race Canada,” will feature prizes for the most creative teams — with team names, costumes and plenty of team spirit, as part of the criteria.

Wierl said the idea is to provide an opportunity for residents of Coaldale to be active and out together on Canada Day.

“Celebrate some really unique historical things that have happened in town — our buildings and a little bit more about the town in general,” she explained, adding at the end of the race, which is top secret, there will be a Canada Day celebration for competitors.

There will also be free swimming on Canada Day from 12-2 p.m. at the Coaldale pool.

“There will be some fun, snacks and activities at the pool,” said Wierl.

According to Canada.ca, since 1868 Canadians have celebrated Canada Day. On July 1 in 1867, The British North America Act (today known as the Constitution Act, 1867) created Canada. In 1868, a proclamation requested all Her Majesty’s subjects across Canada to celebrate July 1. In 1982, Dominion Day officially became Canada Day.

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