Stampede 2023: We Get By With a Little Help From our Friends
Another year, another incredible Stampede Breakfast. And we owe it all to this community!
Every year this event is a true testament to community, but something about this year felt even more so. And it was a true family affair this year, too. We had face painting, glitter tattoos, and balloon animals for the kids of all ages (some of our staff *may* have gotten their own glitter tattoos...) and plenty of dancing and relaxing for the adults.
We had folks like Anita Ip with Desjardins Insurance sponsoring us to make the event bigger and more fun for all ages AND saw folks so excited to join in on last year’s fun, they were making their own social media posts to tell everyone to come out and join us! Anita also sponsored Suds and Soda Mobile Bar (who also generously provided a discount), Lassonde provided us the juice for the kids (and adults!), and Aggudo Coffee brought all of the coffee and accoutrements for everyone (it’s so good, be sure to check out this local spot!). They even made this gorgeous reel to showcase the event. WOW!
The Enablers played for the second year in a row and their music is a VIBE! They always know how to get the party started – and then keep it going.
Plus of course, just the amazing generosity of everyone from the Batter Boys to the Stampede Promotion Committee, to Harry the Horse and the Calgary Stampede Royalty, the Stampede Princess and the First Nations Princess. It was such a joy to have them with us and they made the party something super special for all of us.
As we’ve been doing in recent years, our goal is to have as little non-recyclable or compostable garbage as possible. By focusing on compostable cutlery and plates and recyclable cups, we managed to serve almost 400 folks and only had ONE bag of garbage. It makes us proud to find ways big and small to live into our values in a very real, tangible way.
That and many other things at the Stampede Breakfast would not have been possible without our incredible, incredible volunteers. NHA residents Peg, MJ, Jennifer, Mary Louise, Rylan and Anita plus Board member Arianne, friends Craig and Catherine Hesketh, and the whole Bridge to Home team from Accessible Housing are the actual reason the event runs as smoothly as it does. We are so fortunate to rely on so many wonderful folks to help us time and again, and that these same folks are the ones we get to partner with, live with, and work with. Thank you!
In addition to all the fun, we had raffles and prizes!! Our business neighbours are incredible to us year over year and they always want to share in the fun and boost our community. This year we had gifts that we raffled off from InGear, The Beehive, Trend Fashions, Myo Lab Health and Wellness, Osteria Chef’s Table, F45 Training, and Kensington Safeway. Thank you for your generosity! And congrats to the MANY winners 🤩
We must also thank our amazing friend Annie from the Kensington BRZ for supporting us in everything, always, and Cecile from Deville coffee for generously supplying us with the power for our shenanigans.
A true testament to the legend of the Norfolk Stampede Breakfast (or at least that’s what we’re going to tell ourselves... 😉) was getting to welcome both our Mayor, Jyoti Gondek, AND Councillor Terry Wong to the party. Thank you for showing up for community, and us, we’re so proud to have you!
It’s always hard to say good bye at the end of Stampede. So much love and work goes into the event starting in January and the NHA staff truly care to ensure that the event is something special, something different and fun and engaging, every single year. So here’s a shout out to all of them (us), too! Because it really is an event for everyone. And that really means something.
That said, we’d love to hear from you about next year’s event! What did you love? What would you like to see next time? What ideas do you have about making it great? Who do you know that might want to sponsor the event 😉? You can drop us your ideas down below or send an email anytime to [email protected]
See you all next year! YAHHHHOOOOOOO!