Sporting sequins and silver, Mama Stanley is an Edmonton celebrity for playoffs

Sporting sequins and silver, Mary Loewen, affectionately known as "Mama Stanley," has become an unlikely Edmonton celebrity during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Edmonton Oilers fans crowd around Mary Loewen in a plaza outside the team’s home arena during every playoffs game, asking to have their pictures taken with the superfan who’s dressed as the Stanley Cup.

Loewen dons a sequined blazer, wears silver gloves and glasses, and covers her face in silver makeup. Then she puts on her “crown” which is meant to imitate the bowl of the famous trophy.

It has 3,500 sequins, and they were all put in by hand.

“There were three people yesterday that cried when they met me, they were so happy,” Loewen said the day after the Oilers’ 5-1 win on Friday night, evening the best-of-seven final series at three games apiece.

“To me, I’m just a normal old lady that loves being at home with my dog and being with my family.”

The unlikely celebrity, affectionately known as “Mama Stanley,” gladly returned the love with an appearance at a fundraiser for Hope Worldwide Canada, which raised money on Saturday for programs for children with special needs and for families experiencing food insecurity.

Kathryn Taylor, director of the charity’s Edmonton chapter, said she’d only met Loewen a few days earlier.

“I ran into her at Shopper’s Drug Mart on Wednesday and we sat talking for about a half an hour or so, and the whole time we were there, about 20 people came up and asked for a selfie with her,” Taylor said, adding that’s when she asked Loewen if she’d be available to come to Saturday’s fundraiser.