Bonnyville will be the host community for a special day-long event for people 55 and older on June 4. The Seniors’ Week Expo will take place at Bonnyville Seniors’ Drop-In Centre.
People from Bonnyville and neighbouring communities are welcome to attend. Admission for the full day is free, but those wishing to have lunch need to book it in advance.
“We thought we’d create a day of learning and activity,” said Michael Procinsky, who co-chairs the project alongside Shelly Franklin, site administrator for Bonnyville Health Centre.
The expo will use all three of the activity rooms at the drop-in centre. One of the two large halls will have information tables and displays from a wide variety of agencies and service providers. An impressive lineup of speakers and presentations will be offered in the other large hall.
And the smaller room in between will be the site for hands-on activities.
Among the display booths will be Bonnyville Public Library, the Bonnyville Pool, and other recreational oganizations, as well as seniors-serving community organizations such as Assisted Living Alberta, Bonnyville Primary Care Network, and others.
“Healthy Aging Alberta will be there, Age Friendly Cold Lake will also have a table,” Procinsky said. “It’s a really nice broad range of organizations, around health, wellness, and social connection.”
Many of the organizations have offered gifts and door prizes.
On the speakers’ side of the building there will be presenters including Staff Sergeant Lloyd Pinsent
of Bonnyville RCMP, who will speak about frauds and scams; lawyer Kristen Kress will talk about personal decision-making, power of attorney, and guardianship.
Other presenters will include the Alzheimer Society, Age Friendly Cold Lake, and Bonnyville 55-Plus Link Up, the social prescribing program of Bonnyville FCSS. “The flow is you can stay for every guest speaker
or you can go in and out all day based on the subjects being discussed,” Franklin said.
Several organizations will deliver a range of activities from the central room, including “Now and Then,” an initiative of Ohana Child Care Centre. In this project, students and seniors will compare their answers to a set of five question about how they spend their time, how they get to school, and other topics that may reveal what has changed—and what hasn’t—over the generations.
Lunch is provided at no cost, and Indigenous jingle dancers will entertain, Franklin said. And after the Expo program finishes in the afternoon, a DJ will provide dance music for those who wish to linger and socialize.
To register, call 587-201-4611.