Donated winter coats and clothing line Finlay Bridge at last year's event.--Photo Courtesy Helen Snortland
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Though the brunt of winter weather hasn’t hit the city just yet, the need for warm gear is just around the corner, and the annual Coats on Finlay event has just the thing.
For the past seven years, residents Kym Porter and Helen Snortland have been organizing the free exchange.
“The first year we did it, it was on New Year’s Eve, and it’s just an idea that Helen saw in Dublin, Ireland,” said Porter. “They hang coats on a bridge, and then if you don’t need your coat, you hang your coat there. And then if somebody needs it, they come and take it. We saw this and we thought we could easily do this on Finlay bridge.”
Over the years, the event was expanded significantly, said Porter, from just coats to all kinds of gently used winter gear from the community, and in some cases brand new from local businesses.
“People make hats and mitts and scarves specifically for this event, it’s all donated items. Some places have given us coats, brand new coats and sweatpants. We originally started out with gently used warm gear that you no longer needed, and here we are now,” said Porter.
The event is completely free, says Porter, with the only barrier being physically getting over to the Bridge on Saturday.
This opportunity allows for people to get coats for children who have outgrown their winter wear, are struggling to replace a lost or damaged coat, or simply are in the mood to leave their old coat behind and find themselves something new for the upcoming winter season.
“We also have a number of families that have just arrived in Canada. You know, they’ve only been here a couple of weeks, and they’re not prepared,” said Porter. “They’ve come from a warmer climate, and they’re not prepared for the winters here, and so they’ll come down, and we ask them to come down with their family members so they can ‘shop’ on the bridge.”
A number of items have been donated in advance, including a number of coats and warm winter items collected by the athletes at Medicine Hat College.
It is Porter’s hope that with many different activities happening downtown they’ll see a good turnout of people both leaving and taking winter gear before the cold hits. People are encouraged to bring any winter gear in decent shape they’re not using anymore, from coats and hats to children’s snow gear and boots.
“This will probably be our most pleasant Saturday doing this,” said Porter. “We’ve had everything from snow to sleet to rain to wind, but looks like this Saturday will be quite pleasant.”
