Aaron Hemens
With provincial COVID-19 restrictions limiting public gatherings to no more than 50 people, the City of Cranbrook’s Canada Day celebration on July 1 will come in the form of a 90-second online video that showcases the top-voted images from the city’s month-long Canada Day photo contest.
“We tried to get something for the community. This is our way of bringing the community together that we know is safe and still shows the community at its best,” said Paul Heywood, the events and marketing manager at the City of Cranbrook.
Over 700 photos were submitted by residents, and more than 5,000 people voted on their favourite images, according to Heywood.
“We got pictures of the Winter Blitzville event. Lots of nature photos — bears, eagles, wolf cubs, people’s pets — all that natural beauty,” he said. “There’s events like the graduation ceremony, Indigenous Peoples Day, Black Lives Matter protests.”
See more on the photos here
A total of $2,000 in prizes — which includes everything from soft-touch pillows to gift certificates for local restaurants — will be distributed across 18 winners.
“It was the best way to get people involved,” said Heywood.
He added that the city’s initial Canada Day plan under quarantine was to host a “Canada Day: Cars Under the Stars” event featuring giant LED screens and transmitters.
“People could park their car, and we would’ve got celebrities to zoom in and do a tribute to Cranbrook,” he said. “But COVID-19 played a role in not allowing us to do that … We felt that the cost, work and effort for 50 cars wasn’t worth it.”
This year’s Canada Day celebratory video, he continued, will then serve to honour the community.
“I hope they just get some idea of how great this community is, in terms of nature and all the good things that happen in Cranbrook,” he said. “In terms of livelihood, how open and friendly the community is. We get to live in nature’s backyard.”