Saskpower Windscape Kite Festival looking for financial support from southwest area

The Swift Current-based; Saskpower Windscape Kite Festival is gearing up for another great weekend of fun for all ages. This year, the Fundraising Committee has added a new way for the community to contribute to the festival’s success. The new Sky Dancer Campaign aims to reach a minimum of $5000 as their fundraising goal.

This new fundraising campaign is a community donation program that will allow everyone in the Southwest to be a part of making this festival a huge success. “Windscape is our community festival,” says Festival Director Scott Weinbender. “The Sky Dancer Campaign allows us to see and to celebrate the support from our community helping us put on a world class festival and keeping it admission free.”

People can get involved by making a minimum $5 donation and putting their names on a kite to be put on display at one of our participating local businesses.

The Fundraising Committee welcomes donations from all individuals and businesses. In addition to the Sky Dancer Campaign, donations can also be made online at windscapekitefestival. ca/emergency-funding-campaign/ or by e-transfer to coordinator@windscapekitefestival.ca.

Those that would prefer to donate cash or cheque can also email the coordinator to have their donation picked up in person. Donations over $50 are eligible for a tax receipt and will be listed on campaign posters at the festival. “We have had very generous responses from sponsors, but not everyone fits in the program,” says the Fundraising Committee.

“The Saskpower Windscape Kite Festival is the largest kite festival of its kind in Western Canada. This festival brings together an impressive array of world famous, international kite flyers and kite artists and activities for families. It’s run by hundreds of volunteers and is an event of which to be proud.

PEOPLE WITH A LOT OF ABILITIES: The 35th edition of Ability Bowl on April 20 in Swift Current was a major success. The Riverview Rockets, a team of residents and staff from Riverview Village Estate, came equipped with rocket packs for some extra boost at Ability Bowl. Front row, from left, Shirley Schulz and Shirley Nelson. Back row, from left, Eleanor Pellack, Daisy Dyck and Harold Plata. Middle: Bryn Haubrich from the Scrapers of the Land team shoots a ball down a bowling lane.

MATTHEW LIEBENBERG/SOUTHWEST BOOSTER STEAMED: A fully-restored Empress 2816 steam locomotive, originally built in 1930, made a brief service stop in Swift Current on April 27 along its special cross-continental journey from Alberta to Mexico. The Final Spike Anniversary Steam Tour has been organized by Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) to mark the one-year anniversary of the amalgamation of the Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railway companies to create the first transnational rail network in North America. The journey began Apr. 24 in Calgary and concludes in Mexico City on June 4.

SARCAN team captain Dwight Larter releases the ball during action April 20. Larter was the top individual fundraiser at the 2024 Ability Bowl.