ESTEVAN - The Joyful Pathway was such a success story for the community last year, that Brooke Spagrud believed it had to return in 2021.
The pathway was a project of the 100 Kids who Care’s Estevan chapter in 2020. They placed Christmas decorations on the trees that line the path in the Pleasantdale Valley. The kids haven’t been meeting this year, but Spagrud, her daughter Brynn and a friend decided to place decorations along the path on Dec. 11.
They finished about half of the trail that day, and added more decorations in the following days.
“There really is no specific plan for this year,” said Spagrud. “Last year we were able to co-ordinate a day where we all got together and did it, and then, of course, community members, as they saw it, added their own decorations, too.”
They started at the north end of the pathway, near the intersection of Souris Avenue North and Wellock Road, and worked their way south.
Spagrud shared a story from the decorating on Dec. 11. A woman stopped and was excited to see the decorations back. Then she said how much she loved it last year.
“This is why we do it,” Spagrud said.
And, once again, if the community wants to add their own decorations to the trees and shrubs, they can do so. The City of Estevan, which approved the initiative, asks that the decorations be removed by Jan. 8.
Spagrud expects she will put out a call for help for that day.
There were three plastic tubs filled with decorations which were donated by 100 Kids Who Care members and people from the community from last year. They were kept in the tubs so they could be reused, and so that a call for decorations isn’t needed each year. When the merchandise was being placed on the trees and shrubs last year, a woman saw the kids at work and donated $60 for the effort, which was used for solar lights that were added this year.
“One hundred per cent of the decorations on the path are donated,” Spagrud said.
One challenge they ran into this year was the need to re-string many of the bulbs.
“Lots of the decorations from last year, when we removed them, we had to cut the strings and stuff to get them off easily,” said Spagrud.
In an effort to keep other members of the 100 Kids Who Care involved, Spagrud planned to put the decorations into grocery bag-sized packages so that the children can pick up a bag and add to the festive nature of the pathway.
Spagrud said she loves the Pleasantdale pathway because of all of the trees and bushes, which makes it perfect for the decorations. There are other pathways in Estevan, especially now thanks to the pathways and sidewalk project, but Pleasantdale works great.
“With it being in the valley, I feel like it maybe is protected a bit more from the wind and the winter elements. The other pathways that the City has added are absolutely wonderful, but there’s not really a good section on any of those pathways that has a long row of trees that we can decorate.
“So the Pleasantdale pathway is probably the best one for now. And maybe that will always be our little pathway that we decorate.”
