ROB MURRAY: I’m speaking with Lauren Thomas from Town of Canmore Arts and Events. The Canmore Winter Carnival is a good way to get outdoors and celebrate with a lot of different activities this year. You’ve obviously had to do a lot of adapting for COVID-19?

LT: Yeah, we can’t do a traditional Winter Carnival because we still have those gathering restrictions in place.

RM: That’s okay, we have other fun stuff going on. Let’s talk about the winter scavenger hunt. I understand this one’s already been popular so far with sign-ups?

LT: This is going to be a really fun activity. I had so much fun putting it together. I’m relatively new to Canmore and I figured I needed to learn a little bit about Canmore, so I did some research about some cool little spots and found some interesting information that I’m not sure all of our residents will know. It’ll be a great experience for any visitors coming through as well. It’s a loop that takes us around different points in Canmore that you may not know had some interesting tidbits of information.

RM: When does the scavenger hunt run?

LT: Winter Carnival is running from February 19th  through the 21st. The scavenger hunt hours are 10 AM to 6 PM.

RM: How long do you expect the scavenger hunt to take?

LT: The loop takes about 90 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes, but I’ve also designed the course to have some fast-track options. Families who do have small ones that can’t maybe do the whole track, we have similar to what you’d see with a marathon where you’ve got the 5K, the 10K, and the full loop. We can always make sure that all families can participate in some form.

RM: What can you tell us about this Found Snowman Challenge?

LT: The Found Snowman Challenge is a spin on a snowman made out of snow. Only this time, we’re going to do it out of found objects. Think Mr. Potato Head – you get the base form, but then you can add whatever kind of arms, nose, eyes, and ears you want to add. We’re going to do it out of found objects, so things you may have at home. We’re going to have a little mystery bag that you can incorporate into your snowman sculpture as well.

RM: This is a one day thing, right?

LT: Yes. It’s going to take place on Saturday, February 20th. We have 12 registrations available for that.

RM: What can you tell us about this Homegrown Songwriting Competition?

LT: This is an opportunity for our local songwriters to put together a song that talks about coming together. I think we’ve done a really good job of that here in Canmore over the last 12 months, supporting each other as a community. I wanted to create a platform for musicians to inspire us some more.

RM: How is this going to work? What’s going to happen with the winning songs?

LT: We’re going to open registrations on February 19th and they will be open through to April 4th. You’ll have to submit your lyrics as well as just a base recording, nothing fancy. The winners for two categories, we’re going to do youth which is 18 and under and then 18 and over, will have the opportunity to participate in some of our Canada Day activities as well as have their song professionally recorded.

RM: Are there deadlines to sign up for the scavenger hunt and Found Snowman Challenge?

LT: Registration will end on February 18th for the snowman challenge. With regards to the scavenger hunt, you can stop in over the course of the weekend. You don’t need to register online. Teams who are looking to just show up and participate can head to Rotary Friendship Park either on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday anytime after 10:00 AM. We can get you registered on the spot and send you out on the course.

Filed under: Canmore, Canmore Winter Carnival