Relatively strong turnout for virus, weather hampered Labour Day Parade

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Ah, yes. A classic September long weekend in Cochrane.

“We were really worried because the forecast was horrendous, but Cochrane has a bunch of brave people,” said Erika Richards, vice president of the Cochrane and Area Events Society (CAES).

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Despite the weather and the coronavirus-related restrictions, the society estimates about eight hundred people turned out to their stationery ‘Labour Day Parade Display’, where the floats stayed put on the wide-open rec centre parking lot and visitors came to them for a change.

“The weather was not our friend but we’re so used to that on Labour Day, we just kind of work around it,” she said.

“We had a good turnout: lots of families with young kids, lots of people wearing masks, and the participants were in good humour and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves. Weather aside, it was fantastic.”

For large community event organizers like CAES, precipitation can make or break an event.

“We’ve been hit by weather almost every event in the last couple years and you have to adapt,” said Richards.

“Not this year but the year before, we had to shut Canada Day down for a few hours because of high wind. We roll with the weather because that’s what you get in Cochrane.”

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“We’re getting very good at knowing when to call it.”

The vast expanse of asphalt in front of the SLS Family Sports Centre has been a key community gathering point since the arrival of the coronavirus. It’s also been the home for this year’s series of farmers’ markets.

Only “five or six” of the 28 registered floats dropped out, a pretty impressive turnout of floats given the ghastly weather that started rolling in on the Sunday.

“There’s a lot of hoops you have to jump through with Alberta Health Services, and we finally got their ‘OK’ on everything, then the weather forecast said ‘not so much,'” said Richards.

“We knew people would still come out and have fun though, and we had great volunteers and everybody had good spirit. Even the mayor came out. He might have frozen, but he came out.”

Looking for a lighthearted way to encourage Labour Day parade visitors to wear masks, CAES settled on a contest for Cochrane Dollars.

“If a child or somebody was wearing a really cool mask, they got some Cochrane Dollars to go spend in the community just to give them a shout out for ‘putting their best mask forward,” said the event society vice president.

“Just a little thing to make it easier for us to deal with the new reality of how our lives are and our events have to be.”

There were also some non-parade float types of entertainment there as well.

“The stilt walkers were a lot of fun, and we had a few food trucks out,” she said.

“The loot bags were fantastic too, we got really good donations and everybody seemed to have a good time.”

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The night before Labour Day, Richards noticed some lively activity across the street from her home. It turned out to be a group from the area’s Filipino community, excitedly getting their own float ready for the big day.

“They were building their float across the street from me the night before in the freezing rain and cold, and they were out there laughing, and I thought, ‘That’s the Cochrane spirit for you.’ […] They had a really nice display,” she said.

“The Filipino community, they win parade awards every year because they’ve got such great enthusiasm and spirit.”

Now, the event society turns its focus to the holidays and planning a coronavirus-friendly Stuff-A-Bus, as well as New Year’s Eve.

“To be able to put on any event is a real ‘win’ for the community and I admire all the other groups that have put something on, like Culture Fest,” said Richards.

“It just shows how people in Cochrane are so resilient and creative that they can say ‘Alright, we can’t do it this way, how do we do it a different way?’ There’s a lot of that initiative in Cochrane.”