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OUR ALBERTA TOURING MAGAZINE
One Ceremony, Four Permanent Displays Veterans Memorial Gardens & Interpretive Centre in Grande Prairie, Alberta, has built memorials and displays throughout the pandemic. Because of the restrictions and, in many cases, the fears that people were experiencing, we held off on commemorating any of these displays. But 2022 was to be different, so we planned a weekend filled with activities to celebrate the lifting of many restrictions and the resurgence of events and to honour and remember through commemoration.
Commemoration
Honouring Frontline Workers
To ensure that we honoured everyone’s feeling of safety, the commemoration event, the 1940s Canteen party that followed, and the community block party that took place Saturday and Sunday were all held out of doors and thankfully, other than for excessive smoke on Sunday afternoon, the weather cooperated. The afternoon of September 9th, 2022, was warm and sunny, making it the perfect day for a commemoration ceremony. The passing of Her Majesty Elizabeth II the day before the ceremony left everyone’s hearts feeling a wee bit heavy and subdued. The mood was somewhat pensive.
Canadian First World War Internment Camps Display On this very special day, we remembered the atrocities of the Canadian First World War Internment Camps, honoured our Second World War Ukrainian Killed in Action Soldiers, thanked our Frontline Workers and honoured the Residential School Victims of our region.
