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Inaugural Snowflake Ball coming to Sylvan Lake

The free inter-generational dance will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Community Centre on Jan. 24
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File Photo.

Sylvan Lake is welcoming a new indoor event next week amid the cold temperatures.

The first ever inter-generational Snowflake Ball will be at the Community Centre on Jan. 24 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“We really want to see all ages participate in this dance,” said Krista Carlson, FCSS Youth Services Supervisor, “Our hope is that people will invite their grandparents and their older neighbours [and] just really bring a lot of generations together.”

The free event is geared towards bridging generations by building connections, mutual understanding and relationships.

“They’ve all been young and dance, I think, brings everybody together,” added Carlson.

At the event the Community Centre will be decorated in a winter theme, with family-themed door prizes, a candy bar, as well as both old and new music from DJ Sabatoge.

The space will also be adorned with old and recent photos of Sylvan Lake so attendees can see what the town looked like then compared to now.

Despite it being called the Snowflake Ball, Carlson says they are not expecting people to get super dressed up.

“I remember watching old movies and there would always be some sort of fun like Winter Ball or something like that, especially from like the 1950s and I think people will sort of recognize that,” explained Carlson. “We want people to be comfortable and it will be kind of fun to see how people come dressed, like the young compared to the older.”

Carlson emphasized the event is for the whole community to come out and enjoy, adding it has attracted lots of interest on social media thus far.

She said they are hoping to see a good crowd of all ages come out on Jan. 24 to enjoy the wholesome fun.

“We just really want everybody to come out and luckily we have a space that if 500 people show up we’ll be good,” said Carlson.

Carlson said a lot of the time at dances there’s really young ones with their young parents or there’s older teenagers who don’t want adult around, but is hoping to get a “mixed bag of generations” at the Snowflake Ball.

“Whether you’re a teenager and you don’t really like to dance anymore, you think it’s lame and you’re going to sit there it’s fun to come watch your parents dance because they look silly,” she encouraged.

The event is just one of the initiatives Sylvan Lake FCSS will be hosting this year after receiving $25,000 through the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors grant.

In addition to the ball FCSS will be continuing to run programs throughout the year to focus on mentoring and building social connections for seniors.

The grant will also be used to help fund a bigger inter-generational walk in June, to help educate people with workshops about elder abuse and with an inter-generational mentoring program with Ecole Mother Teresa Catholic School students.

“This is just one of the initiatives that we’re going to do and we’ve always talking about, in Youth Services, doing a grandparents dance,” said Carlson of the Snowflake Ball.

“We’ve talked about it for a really long time and this just seemed like the right time to do it, but we didn’t want it to be just grandparents, we just really want it to be all ages.”