Parading around in Prince Albert

It was the perfect evening for a parade in Prince Albert. The sun was out, it was not too hot, and there was enough of a breeze to keep the bugs away. With such ideal conditions it was no wonder that the event brought out what seemed like thousands of people to the city’s downtown. This was, by far, the biggest parade I had ever been in- the second biggest was our own parade in North Battleford in 2007. Back then I was riding in a 1981 Ferrari- this time I was riding in an RV.

After the parade (for which I was joined by former Prince Albert Northcote candidate Colin Fraser) we adjourned to the Mary Nesbit campground north of the city. Something was oddly familiar about the campground, and within five minutes I realized why. When I was a kid I went to the Prince Albert Raiders Hockey Camp one summer, and my family had camped during that week in the exact same campground. Everything looked the same…only much smaller! It’s funny how your childhood memories can stay with you and be so strong decades later.

The next day we woke up early for a coffee party at Bison’s Café in the city’s downtown. This enabled us to hear about some of the local issues from our supporters before we met with several businesspeople, local leaders, and media throughout the rest of the day. I’ve been though my share of difficult questions from the media that I’ve been able to handle, but I’ll admit there was one reporter that caught me off guard. A reporter at the Prince Albert Daily Herald asked me why I keep referring to the RV as the “Millennium Falcon.” Clearly she had been reading my tweets and facebook updates online, and my response was a laugh followed by the somewhat awkward answer: “well, I was an impressionable kid during the 80s…”

I’ve always enjoyed visiting Prince Albert because it reminds me a lot of the Battlefords. Perhaps it’s because we share the North Saskatchewan River, perhaps it because both communities are on the fringe of the forest belt, or perhaps it’s because we share similar cultures. Whatever the reason, I’ve always felt very much at home in this city, and this day was no different.