Ending 2018 with a bang and fantastic news for Eastlink Park

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With what has quickly become a New Year’s Eve tradition for the community, Eastlink Park held its third annual fireworks event off the top of its hill on Monday, December 31. Organizers were happy to see that temperatures were much warmer than last year which allowed them to keep it as an “eve” event rather than a “day of” event.

With temperatures of -30 and a windchill over -40, celebrations leading up to 2018 ended up getting bumped by 24 hours. Thankfully, temperatures leading into 2019 only reached around -14 with a windchill reaching towards -21 making it much balmier (ha ha) for event goers. On December 28, on the Eastlink Park Facebook page, organizers teased the fireworks show as being bigger than previous years. A few pictures posted showed a large quantity of colourfully-wrapped explosives on the floor of the Whitecourt Fire Department garage.

From 3 to 7 p.m., residents were invited to Eastlink Park for free hot chocolate and $1 hot dogs. The festivities were free to attend, and the fireworks lit up the sky at six. Visible from many parts of downtown Whitecourt, members of the community could share in the excitement whether they could make it up the hill or not.

Eastlink Park Board Chairman Ed Trenchard cooked up hundreds of hot dogs for attendees and said that not only were they ending the year off with another great party but that they had received amazing news, too. “Today we received a letter from the Government of Alberta which said we will receive a grant for $80,000. It’s great news! It’s going to provide us funding to install a T-bar and expand the hill next year. The goal is to have it installed during the summer and be open, hopefully, for next season. It will increase the skiable area by about 150 per cent. It will also more than double the length of the hill so excellent news,” he exclaimed.

The board has been anticipating news on the grant since roughly May. “We’ve been waiting,” he laughed. “It’s fantastic news to get at New Years. Today is our big celebration and we get to add in news on the grant. It’s awesome!” Thanks to great snowmaking weather, Eastlink Park opened two weeks earlier than last year and Trenchard said it has been busy. “We’ve had way more people here, so it’s been great. Being open earlier than any other year, we’ve had so many riders. So far, so good!” The recent snowfall was a welcomed Christmas gift, too. “I was here skiing and it was almost knee-deep snow. It was so much fun.”

As it had been teased prior, the fireworks display was most certainly bigger than previous years. Lasting for roughly 15 minutes, the show featured all kinds of colours and styles of fireworks. Every few minutes it felt like it must be the grand finale by how many were being set off at once but then it would go on and on. The Whitecourt Fire Department personnel did a great job putting things together.

“The New Year’s Eve party is not officially the opening of Eastlink Park for the season but it kicks things off. It’s great to be able to do that with the community. Lots of people come up here to watch but lots of people go sit downtown or hang out at home and watch from the valley. We love that Eastlink Park is able to provide this for the town.”