Elkford’s bike park project is just about fully funded now thanks in part to district councillor Len Gostick taking three pies to the face.
The project has been spearheaded by Jason Meldrum of the Elkford Biking Club since 2020, and has a $385,000 funding goal.
Meldrum said that, following the pie-ing of Gostick, they are about $1,000 away from the mark.
The unusual fundraising effort took place on Saturday (July 2) during Elkford’s Wildcat Days celebrations.
It started out as a suggestion from Gostick that he sit the dunk tank for the cause, but a joke from Meldrum led to the pie-in-the-face fundraising idea, and he said Gostick was ‘all in.’
The pie-ing brought in about $1,415 based on the donations of three bidders and a $500 match from Gostick.
“We did good, we made ($1,415) off pie throws,” Meldrum said.
He said it went really well, and that Gostick was a “really good sport about it.”
“It brought us very, very, very close to meeting our goal.”
But pies were not the only means of bike park fundraising that took place over Wildcat Days weekend.
The Elkford Biking Club also raised money via the weekend’s beer gardens, which they supplied on their own dime to turn a profit for the park.
Meldrum said on Monday (July 4) that they hadn’t yet counted the money from the beer gardens, but that they are hoping they raised $5,000.
“We’re very hopeful once all the dust settles from the beer gardens that we’ve reached our goal.”
Another recent donation for the bike park was $8,000 from Sparwood’s Elk Valley Thrift Shop in exchange for a couple of weekends in June of several people volunteering at the shop.
“(The Elk Valley Thrift Shop) were our very first donation when we started this in the winter of 2020, and they are one of the last donations that helped us reach our goal,” Meldrum said.
The initial donation in 2020 was for $1,000.
The District of Elkford employee union also donated $1,500 to the cause, handing Meldrum a cheque right before the pie throws.
He said the goal is to break ground for the park in late July.
“We’re still on par for July 27.”
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