By Rizwana Shaikh, Federation of Calgary Communities
The Brentwood and Triwood Community Associations collaborated to celebrate Canada Day last year. They held a community barbeque at the Triwood Community Centre on June 30, 2017, featuring live music, dancing, and fireworks.
Rick Lundy, executive director at the Triwood Community Association, believes it’s important for communities to work together and build positive connections.
“We figured because we were neighbouring community centres, and this was a big event in Canada’s history, it would be great for us to get together and make this a grand event,” said Lundy.
The celebrations started at 5 p.m., hosting over 400 people in the community centre, where people were busy connecting with each other and enjoying the live music.
Bonita McCurry, president of the Brentwood Community Association, was proud of the volunteers who came out to help ensure things ran smoothly. Students from Saint Francis High School, local to the community, also volunteered for the event.
“I think the benefit (of collaborating) was getting the neighbours out, meeting each other, and seeing what both communities have to offer,” said McCurry.
She was proud to be able to help host the celebration and gather local support from Brentwood Baptist Chruch, Calgary Co-op, Coast to Coast Pizza, Edward Jones, London Drugs, Safeway, MP Len Webber, Danny Wai from Remax Reality, and Garth Tansey from Turkey Reality.
“Businesses gave gift cards and donations to help pay for the event,” said McCurry.
Both communities received positive feedback from residents, and almost everyone was in awe of the fireworks that ended the evening.
“The fireworks were amazing; absolutely amazing,” said Lundy.
The Brentwood and Triwood Community Associations have formed “a good partnership” and are planning to host more events together in the future, with a possible barbeque this summer. We’re always happy to see communities working together to help engage residents in positive ways.
