On Saturday, March 9, the Kennedy Skating Club presented their skating carnival titled, "A Year in the Life of a Skater." This past year saw 36 youth participate in the CanSkate and StarSkate programs collectively. Within this seven youth participated in the Kennedy Synchro Club.
This year marked the 48th anniversary of the skating club and featured both group performances and solo performances. They were extremely pleased to have the Canadian national doubles bronze medalists, Paige Lawrence and Rudy Swiegers, take to the ice as guest skaters. Lawrence is from Kennedy and Swiegers lived in Kipling for most of his youth. The pair began skating together with the Wawota Skating Club and have been partners since 2005.
The carnival began with a meal, which was extremely well attended. There were virtually no seats free and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
At 7 p.m. the skating began and the benches in the rink were filled, while many watched from the gallery. All of the youth took to the ice for the playing of "O Canada." This doubled as the introduction to the first month celebrated by the skaters, July because of Canada Day.
This was followed by a solo performance by Nolan Cameron, who received much applause throughout his routine. Celina Cummins then took to the ice performing to a country tune that also brought much applause.
The month of August was then celebrated by Jordan Dorrance, Julia Hougg, Jaicee Lemieux, Ava Ruthven, and Sasha West.
September saw three young skaters take to the ice performing to "Old McDonald had a farm." Colton Armstrong, Brock Dorrance, Chase Dovell, and Callum Hansen were all to perform though one was missing.
Halloween was celebrated by Nevaeh Armstrong, Cayden Bowley, Haley Debenham, and Macey Hall who were all dressed as princesses.
A solo by Brynn Bourhis was then performed, which was well received by the crowd.
November saw Presley White take to the ice to celebrate the beginning of hockey season.
Willow Byrne and Logan West then celebrated Christmas by skating for the month of December.
This was followed by a solo by Kayla Munro that saw great applause.
The group then celebrated New Years with a performance by Brynn Bourhis, Nolan Cameron, Celina Cummins, Emily Dubois, Zoe Dubois, Kyla Hall, Kayla Munro, and Brynn Stutt. The group did extremely well bringing applause and laughter as they sounded noise makers ending their performance to ring in the New Year celebrated within the life of a skater.
This was followed by the first performance by Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers. They took to the ice skating their exhibition routine to the song, "Black Velvet." Not only were there whoops and hollers as the pair performed, they garnered a standing ovation from the packed crowd following their flawless performance.
A short intermission followed Lawrence and Swiegers performance, while Zoe Dubois prepared for her skate celebrating February and Valentine's Day.
March saw Ivy Ling, Kaitlyn Cameron, Sydney Dorrance, Clara Houff, and Kati van Winkoop take to the ice in green for St. Patrick's Day.
Brynn Stutt skated to celebrate the coming of springtime as she performed for the month of April.
May celebrated the Queen with Morgan Debenham, Ashlyn Dovell, Kate Hansen, Aurora Husband, Trinity White, and Mia Wyporowich took to the ice in crowns and princess gowns.
Emily Dubois was then featured as a solo performer.
The ice was then taken to by Nolan Cameron and Kayla Munro who performed the Canasta Dance to celebrate June or the Wedding Season.
Kyla Hall then took to the ice performing a solo, which was followed by Alyssa Panteluk who joined the Kennedy Skating Club for the evening as a guest. A member of the Kipling Skating Club, Panteluk, was welcomed for the night and did very well performing on the ice.
This saw the Kennedy Synchro Club then take to the ice. The Synchro club is made up of Brynn Bourhis, Nolan Cameron, Celina Cummins, Emily Dubois, Zoe Dubois, Kayla Munro, and Brynn Stutt. This was an impressive showing as the group timed their skating perfectly to move as one across the ice, breaking off into smaller contingencies throughout the performance to complete different moves.
Lawrence and Swiegers then took to the ice again. As a finale they did a variety of different moves to show the technical aspect of pairs skating. They performed a number of spins, throws, and lifts. Asking for different suggestions from the crowd, they did a few different skills that were called out. The hometown heroes were widely celebrated and applause emanated throughout the rink.
Following the performances gifts were given to each of the coaches including Lori Panteluk, Brynn Bourhis, Emily Dubois, and Celina Cummins as well as assistant coaches Nolan Cameron, Kyla Hall, and Jill Debenham.
A flower was given to each of the youth who participated in the skating carnival.
The guest skaters were thanked immensely for their contribution to the evening and given both a gift as well as bouquets of flowers.
Family and friends thoroughly enjoyed watching the performances, while the Kennedy Skating Club was able to raise money for next year's season through a 50/50 draw and raffle table with prizes donated by a number of businesses around the area.
A great success the club is looking forward to next year already.
