With the closure of the Edgemont Community Centre (ECC) since March and summer programming cancelled, the Active Stencils Project was initiated to provide a safe, free and easily accessible activity for our community.
The stencils were borrowed from the City of Calgary Recreation, with locations approved by the City of Calgary Parks and 30 cans of spray paint supplied by Heather Gibbons our community’s NPC (Neighbourhood Partnership Coordinator, not Non Player Character, for you gaming enthusiasts).
Due to the popularity and timing of the stencils availability, we were not able to have access to them until the end of August.
With PPE of safety googles, masks and gloves provided, on warm and sunny days from August 26 – September 1 (less one very blustery day where painting was postponed), community volunteers and ECA Board volunteers and their families helped sweep their designated area of debris, set up the stencils, paint, wait for the paints to dry (some waited longer than others due to nozzle-happy second coats…) and gave some even gave the activities a trial run.
It was a semi-messy, fun, active and creative five days of painting and, after over 95 volunteer hours and 30-plus cans of paint, there are currently 10 locations with 1 to 2 of 6 activities ready for play. There are: Hopscotch, Jump!, Left-Right Game, Mirror Me Game, Bull’s Eye Toss Game, and even a 24-foot wide (although it felt much bigger when setting up and painting) circle maze! See how many you can find walking through the community!
Thank you to all our volunteer painters: Patricia, Loïc and Erwan Floc’h-Anderson, The Heeps Family, Danil Mann, Riley and Olivia Nelson, The Weber Family, The Qu Family, and volunteers from your Board, Connie Boucher and Family, Bruce James and his daughter Chrissy James, Brent McConnell, Brett Plaizier and his girls Zoe and Kate our youngest painters, Pam and Lorry Wilson and Rick Wierzbicki. A special thanks to Len for the use of his truck to transport the stencils and to Rick Wierzbicki for his help picking up and dropping off the stencils and for painting. A huge thank you to Connie Boucher for organizing the entire project, getting the stencils to and from each location and coordinating all our volunteers. Great job everyone!
If there is a location you would like to be considered for possible future stencils and you would like to volunteer to help paint please contact the ECA office [email protected].
