Winner, winner, turkey dinner

Valemount teen organizing first community Thanksgiving feast

By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG

Valemount secondary school student Kestrel Romanow is busy cooking up the village’s first community Thanksgiving dinner.

Inspired by McBride’s community Thanksgiving, Romanow hopes the event will be a way for people to enjoy a holiday dinner with their community, especially if they cannot spend it with family or lack the budget for a fancy meal. She put together a planning committee with food bank volunteers and her classmates to make that vision a reality.

Romanow said organizers have booked enough space at the Valemount Secondary School for 95 people – nearly 10 per cent of Valemount’s population.

According to Romanow, the group received a $5,000 grant from Howl, a Canmore-based organization that supports youth community-building projects through “micro-grants” funded by the Canada Service Corps. Thanks to that, the event has plenty of funding.

“It’s a free event for everyone,” Romanow said. “It’s going to be the classic Thanksgiving dinner.”

Those who would like to join the dinner should pick up their tickets at Infinity on 5th Avenue, she added.

It takes a village to put together a meal of this scale. Romanow says the planning committee is still looking for volunteers, and asks those interested to reach out to her at [email protected].