‘Come out in the winter’
munity engagement. You know, have people come out in the winter, when you can get kind of house-bound,” says Levy, who hopes the myriad of indoor and outdoor events will get people of every age group together and interacting with one another.
“We’re looking at providing opportunities for people to socialize.”
Running from Feb. 15-19, all the favourite events are coming back. There’s the annual business challenge, where business owners and their staff members will compete for the prestigious Palooza Cup, and on Friday, the senior’s day meet up returns to the community centre, complete with a meal of homemade soup, a cribbage tournament, and a 50/50 draw.
For children and their families, the Family Fun Day is the highlight of the carnival. Local teen volunteers will run the carnival games, paint faces and oversee the bouncy castle. At $5 a child, Levy says the town tries very hard to make the Family Fun Day an affordable weekend event for families. There are other benefits, too.
“The youth really lead the activities of the Family Fun Days,” says Levy. “The teens are building their leadership skills and learning about events planning.”
Speaking of the youth, one of the most recent additions to the carnival is the HCYA Coffee House, celebrating its fourth year this year. Run by the Hants County Youth Ambassadors, the coffee house provides a nice hangout spot for local teens, and gives local musicians a stage.
Levy thinks this could be a big year for the youth side of the carnival; due to the work-to-rule job action taken by the province’s teachers, a lot of kids have gone without extracurricular activities. Though, she admits, that’s the optimistic outlook.
“We do a lot of our promotion through the school, and that’s an area we’re not able to reach the kids, because it’s not like we can give out fliers to the school kids - normally, the teachers would give them out,” says Levy, who says teachers are not helping with promotion this year due to the job action.
“It’s not like they have their school dances or their activities, so we are hoping that we’ll see more children participate, maybe, as a result. But the other flip-side of that is not being able to access to schools to get the word out.”
Levy has been trying other methods to reach out to the younger crowd, between billboards and social media. But until the weekend comes, she says she’ll have to wait and see.
Regardless, she hopes anyone and everyone from Windsor, the neighbouring area, and really anyone who wants to make the journey, will have a great time at this year’s carnival – with all the activities available, she can’t really see how you’d fail to.
“There’s something about being out in the fresh, crisp air, and taking in the fireworks,” says Levy. “Get out of your house - you don’t have to stay in just because it’s winter.”