15th annual Deep Freeze winter festival wraps up in Edmonton
CBC
The 15th annual Deep Freeze winter festival has come to a close after seeing both extremes of weather and honouring two community members who have died in the last year.
Dr. Dick Lau, a longtime volunteer with the festival, and Allison Argy-Burgess, a local artist and volunteer, were honoured with a fireworks display Saturday night.
It's billed as being Edmonton's first festival of the year, and took place in three locations in Edmonton's Alberta Avenue neighbourhood: Borden Park, Pipon Village, and The Carrot.
Christy Morin, artistic director of Deep Freeze, said they were ecstatic to be able to run the festival this year, between extreme cold and COVID-19 concerns.
"It's just beautiful ... Everything's happening," Morin said in an interview Saturday.
The theme this year was Under the Ancient Arctic Sky, and featured things like ice sculptures, light and lantern installations and workshops.
"We are proud to continue to celebrate Ukrainian, Métis, French Canadian, Inuit, and Indigenous cultures, which are all deeply woven into the fabric of Alberta Avenue District," a statement from Morin said on the website.
Morin said people from all over Edmonton and the surrounding area came to enjoy the ten-day festival.
"[People from] all over [said] this is such a wonderful event and they're so thankful, just being able to get out and see things and see other people safely, I think just really fills us up as humans and we need that," she said.
Morin said the work of Au and Argy-Burgess was integral to the festival, and they are missed immensely.
"It was always her dream and mine to try Borden Park and it's wonderful that we've been able to try it and see what it would look like and it's been gorgeous," Morin said.
"When you think of Dick and the amount that he did for us at our festival, there was just nothing that was too big for Dick."
Morin said that Au would bring his family to volunteer, something they continued to do this year.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.