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Faces of Lloyd come alive

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Classifieds

Classifieds

After roughly two years, Mick Classen’s Faces of Lloydminster project is finally coming to life thanks to some help from local artists, the business community, as well as schools.

Classen came up with the idea to have painted “faces” throughout the Border City and completed the first mold in June 2021.

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He wasn’t sure what the plan for the first face was, but after getting local artists such as Michelle Lake on board, the plan started to snowball.

“It was actually Michelle and her husband who gave us the idea to somewhat replicate what they did in Calgary with the cows,” said Classen last June.

“They had 72 cows, all painted by different artists, and I thought something like that would be a cool idea for us here.”

Last Thursday was an exciting day for Classen and members of the Faces of Lloydminster team as they officially unveiled the first face at Synergy Credit Union, which was painted by local artist Kurtis Pahtayken inside the bank.

“It’s a big, big community project that’s been a ton of fun doing,” said Classen, explaining a total of 14 faces will be placed in their permanent homes throughout Lloyd this June. “There’s 14 for sure, but my gut feeling tells me there’s going to be 17.”

Permanent locations for the faces include Musgrave Agencies, Synergy Credit Union, Gold Horse Casino, Residents in Recovery, Lloydminster Native Friendship Centre, Holy Rosary High School, St. Joseph’s Elementary School, Mother Teresa Early Childhood Education Centre, Father Gorman Elementary School, St. Mary’s Elementary School, École St. Thomas, College Park School, Avery School and Lakeland College.

When Classen first started working on this community-based outdoor sculpture project he wasn’t sure what the end goal was, but quickly found there was more interest in the project than originally expected.

“We put it on the artists’ Facebook group and in six weeks we had 27 people signed up for it. We had lots of enthu-

Buckingham snookered by Lions!

Once again, secret agents inside the Lloydminster Lions Club fooled their 2023 Citizen of the Year recipient, Councillor Aaron Buckingham.

You got me. I didn’t see it coming at all and I definitely don’t deserve it.

Buckingham was caught unaware, believing he was just a guest dinner speaker at the Legacy Centre on Monday before Lion Ray Tatro spilled the beans. “Did I not finish saying I hate this kind of thing,” said Buckingham after club president Travis Niekamp presented him with the award.

ward charity hockey game that raised $70,400 for Border City Connects transportation service at the Servus Sports Centre on April 21.

“Whoever kept the secret did a great job,” said Buckingham.

Vic Juba who is behind a lot of these annual con jobs, says it’s all about deflection.

“We totally deflect them. We’ve been doing this since 1959. I can’t think of anybody who knew in advance. They’re just totally blindfolded,” said Juba with a laugh.

siasm from the artist community, but didn’t know where to go from there,” he said, explaining each face measures 6’ x 4’ x 2’ and weighs 300 lbs.

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“You got me. I didn’t see it coming at all and I definitely don’t deserve it, but I had no idea this was the ulterior motive for getting me here tonight.”

Buckingham came from City Hall to talk about the Play it For -

Buckingham sat in shock and awe while Tatro rattled off an endless list of his achievements and community involvement roles including a volunteer for the Border City Connects Society and his current role as deputy fire chief of the Britannia Fire Department.

He also recently received a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal and is a member of the Lloydminster Rescue Squad.

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