By Wes Bloom
Events planned by the Town of Assiniboia Recreation Department for ‘Family Day’ on Monday, February 19th, were many: in the morning, ’Open House’ at the new Family Drop in Centre beside the Post Office, ‘Pickle Ball’, and Family Curling at the Prince of Wales Centre. In the afternoon, there were Shinny and Street hockey planned at the outdoor rink, tobogganing at Centennial Park, and Public Skating at the Civic Centre. Sounds like ‘fun’, right?
Well, it WAS fun - for those who attended. You could see the ‘fun’ written all over their smiling faces. But for some strange, and unknown reason, not many people took advantage of outdoor events that were planned for the afternoon. Town of Assiniboia Recreation Director Cheryl DeNeire said in an interview, that weather is always a huge factor in planning outdoor events and activities. She felt that the ‘wind chill’ on Monday was just far too high for all but a few very brave souls.
Attendance was good for indoor curling and ‘pickle ball’ at the Prince of Wales Centre with some 30 - 40 people in attendance. However, a free movie - “The Incredible” - which was playing at the Prince of Wales’ Olympia theatre in the afternoon, seemed to draw the best overall attendance of all activities, planned or otherwise. Those in attendance for the movie appeared to be mostly ’families’, which was totally in keeping with the Family Day theme.
This year was the 10th annual Family Day in Assiniboia. Events like ‘Family Day’ depend heavily on volunteers. Cheryl DeNeire shared her admiration and gratitude for those who faithfully ‘stepped up to the plate’ and helped out. Besides the town of Assiniboia, a few other organizations that offered their support helping to make Family Day a success were, the Assiniboia Curling Club, Assiniboia in Motion, and Safe Communities Assiniboia.
DeNeire seemed quite happy with participant turnout in the morning, but was somewhat saddened that more folks didn’t take advantage of the afternoon activities. She said, however, that apart from providing activities on Family Day, one of its goals is to simply show that these activities do exist and are available to the public. Hopefully, more people will take advantage of them in the future.
The old public library, next to the Post office, is the new ‘Family Drop in Centre’ that recently opened its doors a couple of months ago. This new and all important resource facility held its official ‘Open-House’ on Family Day this year. It’s open to all parents and ‘guardians’ of young children and is partially funded by the Early Childhood Coalition through a Community Initiatives’ grant. It’s a ‘free to the public’ service, whose mandate is to provide safe and knowledgeable activities for young children, as well as good parenting techniques and nutritional advice. Its format is ‘casual’ and relatively unstructured.
Organizers look forward with great anticipation to next winter and the 11th annual Family Day that is planned.
