The cross-Canada party is coming to Okotoks this weekend. Okotokians will help ring in Canada 150 during the Town's most popular spring event – the Okotoks parade.
The cross-Canada party is coming to Okotoks this weekend.
Okotokians will help ring in Canada 150 during the Town's most popular spring event – the Okotoks parade.
The nationwide celebration of 150 years of confederation is the theme of this years' parade.
Mayor Bill Robertson chose two parade marshals to lead this year's parade procession.
Rick Onsescu and Malcolm Hughes are the 2017 parade marshals. Onsescu arranges the Town's Remembrance Day ceremony and Hughes was instrumental in getting the Legion running in Okotoks.
Mark Doherty, Okotoks community events specialist, said the pair are strong local supporters of Canada's military. Onsescu and Hughes will be at the head or around 100 parade entries that will take about an hour-and-a-half to make their way through Okotoks' downtown.
Doherty said there will be a good mix of floats, music and entertainment at this year's parade.
“It's going to be one of the better parades,” Doherty hinted, but said he wasn't giving out any spoilers on some of the new and exciting floats in the lineup.
“There is a great variety with music and floats and dancers and bands and horses,” he said. “The Stampede royalty will be there, community sports groups are involved. It's going to be a really good parade.”
The parade gets underway at 11 a.m. on North Railway Street starting at Poplar Avenue. It makes its way down North Railway, McRae Street and Elizabeth Street, turns onto Northridge Drive to Riverside Drive and ends at South Railway.
People are urged to get a spot along the route early because the roads shut down at 8 a.m. and the downtown gets packed quickly.
Doherty said the parade draws as many as 15,000 people. One of the major determining factors of how big the crowd will be is the weather, Doherty said.
So far, the forecast for this week has Saturday sunny and dry, sandwiched between a wet Friday and Sunday. Doherty said everyone knows the weather in Alberta is always subject to last minute changes.
“I never check until closer to the time,” he said.
People who show up early can also partake in the Lion's Club pancake breakfast. The breakfast is by donation with all proceeds going to the Lions, an organization that supports local groups, Doherty said.
Denny's will also be selling hotdogs at Market Plaza starting at 9:30 a.m. in support of the Okotoks food bank.
The Children's Festival follows the parade at noon and is held at Ethel Tucker Park until 3 p.m.
