What makes Fort Edmonton Park so amazing, my first answer is: Volunteers!

Yes, I love that Fort Edmonton Park hosts guests from around the world. Maybe you plan to be one of them, awesome! And yes, I can’t deny how surreal it is to work somewhere where I can ride a steam train, ferris wheel, and horse-drawn wagon all in one day. But, we are also a gathering place for a priceless community of locals who generously share their time, skills, and culture with us. These extremely generous, talented, and passionate people enable us to deliver incredibly unique and meaningful experiences to visitors that couldn’t be possible otherwise. Not convinced this community is worth more than our combined sales of barley candy or ice cream? Well, please allow me to explain.

Sure, I can brag about the size of our volunteer community by sharing that more than seven hundred people throughout the Capital region are annually involved here at the Park; they greet guests with smiles at the Front Entry plaza, keep the historic gardens healthy, create that smell of freshly-baking bannock wafting from Cree camp, and assist leaders at summer daycamps. Others help to rake leaves, crochet stuffed animals for children, point guests to a washroom at the Capitol Theatre movie nights, and so much more.

Or, I can share that some volunteers have an incredibly deep connection, evident in 17 years of consecutive volunteering. Or evident in the profound dedication from volunteers, like Jean, whose 5200 hours, though helpful to represent contributions of a much larger group, don’t adequately illustrate her ability to tell the one-of-a-kind Carousel story. These kinds of commitments are worthy of celebration in any organization, but these are not paid employees; these are volunteers. The depth of knowledge from Fort Edmonton Park’s history is captured within the collective experiences of its volunteers that quite simply doesn’t exist among paid staff.

However, the significance of the volunteer community here isn’t clear if we just talk about how many people are involved, how many tasks are completed, or the amount of time shared. Perhaps, it is only best, and truly understood through experience. If you visited us long ago, can you remember what made it feel special? 

This year, Canada’s celebration of National Volunteer Week invites us to recognize the individual and collective impact of volunteers with the theme, Volunteers Make Waves.
It highlights that actions big and small will all create a ripple. I understand that the volunteer actions are often not immediately recognizable, in the same way as a ripple cannot always be traced back to its origin. But, I have no doubt that if a park guest was to think back to something meaningful about their visit, that experience is, in part, the ripple resulting from a volunteer’s contribution.

In reflecting upon the unique privilege, responsibility, and complex histories as it relates to Fort Edmonton Park’s beautiful location within the North Saskatchewan River Valley, the image of ripples on water will stay with me as I consider the many ways our volunteers here at the Park are also leading change beyond the park fences. It is my profound hope that if you have gained a new appreciation for volunteers here at the Park, you will get connected and create change.