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Vol. 20, No. 20, Wednesday, February 19, 2025 www.LamontLeader.com
Family Day Brrrr in Lamont County BY JOHN MATHER & JANA SEMENIUK It was a cold blustery day across Alberta resulting in many Family Day activities in the Lamont County area either being cancelled outright or moved indoors. Bruderheim was first off the mark on Sunday posting all their Family Day activities would be cancelled. Because all events were to take place outdoors on Feb. 16, that led to the cancellation of the scheduled log pull race, maple syrup snow candy, a tug of war, outdoor skating, shakaball, snow painting, horseshoes and a snowman/
ice building contest. In Mundare, Councillor Irene Talaga reported temperatures were hovering around the -31 Celsius mark with wind chills exceeding -40 Celsius. “I’ve spoken with (Chief Administrative Officer) Colin and all our outdoor activities including the snowshoeing and cross country skiing at Victory Park are cancelled,” she said. The town still managed to have a good size turnout for the Senior’s Pancake Breakfast. The annual try curling event at the Mundare Curling Rink attracted about 23 youngsters, while more than
50 skaters came out in the afternoon to the Mundare Arena to take part in free skating and have some free hot dogs and hot chocolate. In Andrew, the Andrew Community Centre Association, had about 60 people out for their annual pancake breakfast. “We normally have more than 100, but with the extreme cold we had we were very pleased with 60 people who showed up and grin and beared the weather,” said Councillor Tammy Pickett, who is also president of the ACCA. She added the town, which normal-
ly puts on some outdoor family day events, decided not to this year and “with the weather that turned out to be a good decision.” In Chipman, Mayor Morris Langevin said given the weather they didn’t get the turnout as in past years, but still managed to have about 20 kids and 10 adults come out to indoor activities. “We’re having a fire and outside family day next Sunday with skating and tobogganing on the snow hill,” he said. “We feel the kids were shortchanged by not being able to have any outside fun.”
Seniors pancake breakfast and youth curling Vintage snowmobilers embrace cold Family Day weather by Arctic Cat.” BY JOHN MATHER endured in Mundare despite terrible weather While bitterly cold weather can- He said he obtained the Arctic Cat as BY MARK COURTNAGE “What better way to start the day off with than to have a full pancake breakfast,” said Marrien Chudyk, the head Chef and President of the Mundare Seniors Drop in Centre. Although a very cold day (-26) the amount of people that ventured into the Centre was incredible. The sound of friendly chatter from friends and families gathered around the tables sang throughout the room. “We must have served well over a hundred people,” Chudyk said. From 11 am - 1 pm saw many young families hit the curling rink. Maverick Baerends sat on the side getting ready to do some serious curling, hopefully in training to become the next Kevin Martin or maybe Glenn Howard. His Mom and Dad were there encouraging him all the way. From 2-4 pm the Mundare Arena had free skating. This was also attended well with the bonus of hotdogs and hot chocolate being available. Sadly because the weather was miserably cold the Snow Shoeing in Victory Park was cancelled.
Pancake breakfast above, below youth curling in Mundare.
celled most of the outdoor family Day activities around the Lamont County area, one group came out in larger numbers than normal to embrace the severe chill. For the past 17 years, there has been a vintage snowmobile show put on by the Fort Saskatchewan Historical Society at the city’s museum site. “This year we have had 24 snowmobiles come out, brought by a dozen owners,” said organizer Stuart McGowan. “That’s more than we had last year.” One of those exhibitors was John Jacobs of Bruderheim. Decked out in a heavy fur hat and thick snowmobile gear, Jacobs wasn’t going to let the severe cold hold him back from showing off two of his collection of 22 snowmobiles. “My friend Quentin, and myself, brought three machines to the Fort today,” he said among the roar of twocycle engines purring in the frigid cold prior to having a quick lap or two around the city facility. “I brought a John Deere Sprint Fire 340 from 1984 and a 1973 El Tigre 400
a gift “By a gentleman who thought I would appreciate it more than by selling it to someone else. “He actually gave it to me this spring with a 1973 riding suit and everything,” Jacobs explained. “He bought it brand new and he had heard I was a collector and I had a large collection of Kawasaki’s. Those are the machines I’d normally show, but none of them would start this weekend.” He said he lives right in Bruderheim so most of his machines are stored in trailers on an acreage. Jacobs said he got the snowmobiling bug when his kids were small and they lived on an acreage. “We needed something to do in the wintertime,” he said. “So we bought a little Moto Ski Spirit first.” He said he got it from his brother-inlaw for $160. ”We had so much fun on it, I bought myself a Kawasaki Invader and I liked it so much I started collecting them.” He said he has insured a 1970 Mercury and a 1997 MXZ for “when I want to go and ride with the big boys.” Continued on Page 15