Christmas in July

from Our Alberta Touring Magazine March 2022

Following Le CDEA’s Foodie Trails (Part

Kevin O’Toole, deputy Mayor for the City of Grande Prairie & Renee Charbonneau, CMTA, Rumble & Veterans Memorial Gardens

The Motorcycle Mondays Committee of the Canadian Motorcycle Tourism Association teamed up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Grande Prairie and Region. (http://bbbsgp.com/index.html) To host Christmas in July.

The day was filled with food and laughter!

It started out with Kevin O’Toole, deputy Mayor for the City of Grande Prairie making a proclamation that July 24th, 2021 was officially Christmas in July.

Scotty Cartwright from Fight for Hope and Scotty’s Burger Shack was on the microphone and bull horn. There wasn’t a person within ear shot who couldn’t stop laughing. The man is a hoot!

Santa, AKA Dan Wardrop came to town with his 7 seater trike. The kids got to have their photo taken with him all day long! Dan thrives on being around the kids and their parents. He loves the way big and little kids alike have their faces light up when they get to sit on it.

We had a show ‘n’ shine, a vendor’s alley, a scavenger hunt, games for kids and families in Macklin Field and we partnered with Safety City and the kids decorated their bikes and trikes and skateboards!

Kevin Lavallee from Brandt Tractor gave up his entire day to man the BBQ cooking over 600 burgers. The Fry Truck was on hand and did a brisk business too.

There were so many amazing partners and sponsors that made this day possible that we even made a shirt to thank them all!

Grande Prairie Regional Tourism Association Mighty Peace Harley-Davidson Wholesale Auto Solutions Red-Line Power Craft Ltd Gray Electric Ltd Chozen Breed MRC Piece of the East Brandt Tractor Motorcycle Mondays Committee Canadian Motorcycle Tourism Association Sticky's Candy Pete's Cleaning & Maintenance, Stojan's Power Sports & Marine Bouncy Tots Watch Me Grow Stringam LLP, Prairie Mall Double D Motorsports Jade Cash Scotty's Burger Shack Alberta Select Meats Safety City Absolute Entertainment City of Grande Prairie Giant Tiger Nick's No Frills Alliance Disposal Top Gear Cycles 2Day FM 104.7 REACH FM 96.3 Deaners Photography

The whole crew from Big Brothers Big Sisters GP was so grateful for this day. All of their fundraisers had been canceled by COVID restrictions and so the close to $7,000 that was raised by donations from the gate, burger sales, from the scavenger hunt and the vendor booths made a big impact in what their organization could do for the kids of our community.

It is truly amazing what happens when a community comes together to help our kids.

That said, tentatively July 16th, 2022 will be our second annual Christmas in July event and we invite you out to spend some time visiting and letting the kids have some fun!