Original Published 08:52 Jun 01, 2022

By Ian Croft, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With Seniors Week soon going to be upon us starting on June 6 and going to June 12 2022, Emily Hembrough, Arts, Culture and Events coordinator at the Town of Taber spoke on what events that will occur across the entire week. 

“We are doing a full week of things for seniors — the first launch day is June 6,” said Hembrough. “The Alberta government is actually going to come down for that, so there’s a few ministers coming from Edmonton and we start with a pancake breakfast — it’s free and from 8 to 11 in the morning in Confederation Park. During the pancake breakfast, we have swag bags for all the seniors, so we’re going to hand out the swag bags and we have a ton of really amazing donations from local businesses and local groups in town that are going into the swag bags that we are handing out to local seniors.” 

Hembrough did clarify later that the pancake breakfast is open to everybody and also talked about what events will be taking place on the stage at Confederation Park. 

“Then from 11 o’clock till about noon, there will be a formal presentation on the stage in Confederation Park where we have some dignitaries doing some speeches and some welcoming remarks,” said Hembrough. “St. Mary’s High School band will be playing, there’s a couple of dance groups that are dancing on stage, the province will do a declaration of Seniors Week announcing that ‘This is the declaration of Seniors Week from June 6 to the 12, 2022,’ and Burns Wood, a local senior in town, will be accepting the declaration on stage. Then we have some live music on stage after that, there’s going to be some games in the park, the library, FCSS, and the Town are all doing some outdoor games for seniors and anybody that wants to come and play.” Hembrough also discussed an activity that groups outside of the town will be putting on for June 6 before circling back to discuss who is providing meals for the launch day. 

“There’s going to be an activity outside during the day,” said Hembrough. 

“The Gear Lords are doing a kind of drive-by parade of their beautiful vintage cars. They’re going to drive around Confederation Park and in front of Clearview Lodge and Linden View, that’s around 2 p.m. — we don’t know the specific time. The Real Estate Centre is doing lunch and then the Kinsmen is doing dinner to finish off the launch day. The Kinsmen is doing a supper in the auditorium. They’re doing a seniors dinner that they do every year and they actually hand out some awards after dinner as well to finish off the day,” added Hembrough. 

The Kinsmen dinner is a ticketed event with each ticket costing $10 and they will also be having a dance after the dinner. Then Hembrough discussed the other events that will be occurring for the rest of the week. 

“The rest of the week there will be free pickleball and free swimming in our facilities for anybody over 60,” said Hembrough. “On Friday, that is the 10th, FCSS is hosting a council on the stage in Confederation Park at 1:30 in the afternoon and then that Friday evening, we are going to host a free outdoor movie in the park. (The movie will be the 1980  film Herbie Goes Bananas.) Then on Saturday, there is the triathlon that’s happening in town and there’s going to be all kinds of running by. So it’s a very packed, busy, fun exciting day and the rest of the week. Also, Parkside Manor hosts card games most days throughout the week — they’re always looking for new card players to come out to Parkside. They’re doing things all that week as well which I believe is always free.” 

Finally, Meghan Brennan, Communications and Projects coordinator of the Town of Taber, commented on Taber being chosen by the province to be a host for seniors week. 

“We are honoured to have been the host community chosen by the province for the provincial launch,” said Brennan. “So it is quite an honour to have the ministers come down and to have chosen our community. The town looks forward to celebrating our seniors because they’ve helped our community be a great place to grow.” 

Hembrough added, “and they only ever choose one municipality throughout Alberta every year and Taber is it this year.” 

This item reprinted with permission from The Taber Times, Taber, Alberta