INNISFAIL – The town is inviting citizens to be enthusiastic photographers to put some badly needed warmth and cheer into the unprecedented pandemic Family Day weekend.
With many COVID-19 restrictions still in place, and the grim cold polar vortex biting hard until at least Tuesday, the Town of Innisfail was challenged to become creative for the first-ever and hopefully last pandemic Family Day weekend.
Kane Williams, the town’s recreation program coordinator, acknowledges the challenges facing locals this weekend, particularly with the limit of 10 people allowed to gather under provincial COVID restrictions, and of course, the current prolonged cold snap.
"There is still an appetite there to definitely have an event but it was tough to figure out what we could potentially do,” said Williams. “What we agreed on is that it is something that is important to (citizens) and it is important to us, and we agreed that later on in a couple of months if the situation changes, we could maybe run something that just has less restrictions because basically it still feels we are in a lockdown.”
Even still, if Innisfailians still want to acknowledge this year’s Family Day weekend, even amidst the bitter chill, the town is inviting citizens to bring their cameras.
“If you are out doing something this weekend in the spirit of Family Day, and if you are out as a household, socially or physically distanced, and if you are skating or cross-country skiing or even going tobogganing, feel free to take a picture, and put it on Facebook or Instagram and put a hashtag on it on there so we can search it,” said Williams, adding there is an email option as well for citizens to send photos to the town.
“And everybody who has posted can enter into a draw for a couple of gift baskets, one more of activity thing and the other about spending time indoors.”
The town is asking citizens who post photos to either Facebook or Instagram to make sure their public share settings are on with the hashtag #InnisfailABfamilyday.
If citizens prefer not to share photos publicly, they are welcome to email them to [email protected]
Photos must be posted or submitted by the end of the day on Tuesday, Feb. 16 to be entered in the town’s prize draw, which is open only to local citizens.
