The Golden Rotary Youth Skills program is looking to drum up community spirit and get people outside with In-Your-Yard Snow Sculpture contest.
The contest, which is the capstone project for the second round of the youth skills program, is encouraging Golden residents to create fantastic snow sculptures in their front yards and be awarded prizes for biggest, most creative, most detailed and best constructed.
Judging will occur on Saturday, Jan. 16. Participants have until Friday, Jan. 15, to sign up online through a Google form.
“We think not only can it accomplish just community participation but also it can encourage people to stat at home with COVID and I think it would just be a lot of fun,” said Alex Beeckman, one of the youth rotary skills participants and organizers of the event.
To date, there are eight groups and cohorts that have signed up for the contest.
The Rotary Youth Skills program will be driving around on Jan. 16 to judge the entries. For those who are out of town in Nicholson or in the Blaeberry, or for those who aren’t comfortable having someone come to their home, the judges are accepting photo submissions as well.
All photos will be going up on Facebook as well for residents to vote on their favourite.
“We have five different categories and we’re going to drive around town at the different addresses that have been signed up and taking pictures of all them and collectively judge on whichever ones we think fit those categories,” said Beeckman.
Prizes will be in the form of gift cards to local businesses.
The Youth Skills program was inspired to start the contest after the success of the scavenger hunt put on by the first round of the rotary sponsored program.
The program is federally and provincially funded, and administered through Rotary, as a way to assist youth in the community during COVID and to help their professional development by providing meaningful skills and offering the opportunity to achieve different certifications.
It emphasizes community engagement, with participants working on tasks ranging from covering up graffiti to volunteering with Abbeyfield House and Little Mittens over a 16- week period.
“In general with the program, I’m really happy with what I’ve taken away,” said Beeckman.
“I can say I’ve had a really good time, not including the amount of certifications and life skills and lessons learned.”
While this may be the end for the second cohort of the youth skills program, there are still multiple groups left, with the final group set to wrap up the program at the end of March.
This round of the program included Beeckman, Kaleb Hobbs, Sianna Rebidoux,Sadie Cochand, Molly Caldwell, Jasmine Gadd, Ella-Marie Lane, Talus Josephson, Douglas Caldwell, Caylee Gringras.
