A skate jam is set to become a permanent feature of Sparwood’s Coal Miner Days after a huge turnout to the inaugural event, Saturday.
Skaters of all ages travelled from as far as Calgary to hit the skate park during the first annual Coal Miner Days Skate Jam, which was hosted by Commit Snow and Skate, and Boarderline.
They turned tricks on skateboards, bikes and scooters, and were cheered on by dozens of spectators. The skate park is a recent addition to Sparwood, opening in September last year.
“I think it’s important for the community of Sparwood to know what a great addition the skate park has been to their community,” said Commit Manager Morgan Pulsifer.
“I think that when you’re able to host a jam where you bring in different types of skaters of all ages and abilities… it just shows how accessible it is.”
Pulsifer thanked the Sparwood Coal Miner Days Society and Joni Laberge from Youth Action Sparwood for inviting them to host the skate jam.
This year, Coal Miner Days was a week-long event and other activities were just as well received, according to Society President Marcia Johnson.
“I was very impressed with attendance (on Saturday),” she said.
“We had about 290 people show up to the cabaret, everybody seemed to have a great time, the music was great. We had hundreds and hundreds of people out during the day for the food trucks, and carnival games.”
Also on Saturday, about 75 people attended the strawberry tea hosted by the Sparwood Community Response Network at the Sparwood Senior Citizens Drop-In Centre to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
The slow pitch tournament was contested by 16 teams, who travelled from as far as Calgary and Lethbridge, while over 50 people took part in the 5km and 10km run, and over 54 in the duathlon, on Sunday.
The Coal Miner Days committee will review this year’s events as they look to 2020 but Johnson confirmed pancakes will once again be on the menu.
“The pancake breakfast was a huge success, there were great big line ups,” she said.
“It’s turned out to be a hidden blessing for us to be able to take over the pancake breakfast ourselves from the Lions and so we’ve bought some grills, and we’ll be doing it from now on.”
Johnson thanked the volunteers and sponsors, who helped to make this year’s Coal Miner Days a success.
“We wouldn’t be able to do it without them,” she said.
To see the District of Sparwood’s photos from Coal Miner Days, click here.
