Participants to last year's Culture Days event practise the sport of cricket.--Submitted Photo
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat Culture Days looks to build into recreation and health, inviting residents to gather a city to thrive together.
Put on by the What Matters to Hatters Coalition in partnership with Ever Active Schools, City of Medicine Hat, Medicine Hat Sport & Event Council, Medicine Hat Local Immigration Partnership and Brooks & County Immigration Services, the event is now known as “Thrive Together: A Celebration of Culture, Recreation and Wellness,” and has expanded to include opportunities to join new facets of the community and try out some of the Big Marble Go Centre’s fitness offerings.
“This is the third year for the Culture Days component of the event. And so that was initiated three years ago, after a survey that they did in 2022 where they learned that people wanted more free multicultural opportunities to explore the diversity in our community,” said Michelle Sauve, a member of What Matters to Hatters.
Held Sept. 21 at both the Big Marble Go Centre and Crescent Heights High School, filled with a Maker’s Fair and Community Resource Fair, different cultural demonstrations and activities, an opportunity to participate in a drum circle and more.
Medicine Hat Tourism will host Register Now, a series of tables in the Go Centre’s entry promoting various sports clubs, teams, organizations and businesses in sports, recreation, fitness, health or wellness, says Nick Wepruk, sport and event specialist with Medicine Hat Tourism. Anyone looking to participate is encouraged to reach out or register online at tourismmedicinehat.com.
The city is likewise going to offer a chance to try out various free fitness classes on the day, with registration for the eight classes available on the Big Marble Go Centre website. The classes vary from spin class to muscle and strength building, says Benj Heinrichs, fitness co-ordinator for the City of Medicine Hat.
“Joining this is a natural progression we’ve been looking at for a while,” said Heinrichs. “This seemed like a good opportunity to introduce this sort of opportunity to the city and see how we can expand it over time. It’s an awesome starting point, as we’ll have lots of people here already, and I think there’s good cross promotion and interaction that can happen with this type of event.”
The full list of offerings is still being updated as scheduling is finalized, says Sauve, but offerings are available online at whatmatterstohatters.com, from a conversation with a cop to latin dance class and sepak takraw matches.
“We have some Indigenous storytelling, we have a piñata making workshop, we have a workshop about healing plants around the world,” said Sauve. “We have Big Marble Go Centre, and we’re so grateful to the City of Medicine Hat for offering us the facility for the second year in a row. We’ve also expanded to Crescent Heights High School’s cafeteria for our cultural performances in the afternoon.”
Organizers want to welcome the whole community to attend this free family friendly event, as well as any food trucks which might like to settle alongside Division Avenue at the Crescent Heights High School location starting at noon.
