Pearl Lorentzen

Lakeside Leader

All the recent fundraising from the Rotary has born fruit in Slave Lake.

On September 10, the Rotary Club of Slave Lake held a ribbon-cutting for the new gazebo in Schurter Park.

“The gazebo is a great addition to Schurter Park,” says Valerie Tradewell, president of the Rotary Club of Slave Lake.

The gazebo didn’t spring up over night. The Rotary fundraised for it for about a year.

Last July, the local club met to discuss fundraising priorities, says Tradewell. They decided that a gazebo in Schurter Park was the top priority. Therefore, they made an agreement with the Town of Slave Lake to be able to build one. The quoted cost was $61,530.

The Rotarians rolled up their sleeves and got to work. They used money raised from working at a casino for half of the cost.

The rest was raised using ticket raffles, the Family Feud event (March 11, 2023), a contribution from the late Roy Evans, and a shredding event in May.

Tradewell adds, “Ken Porisky from Carwald Redi-Mix donated the cement and gravel for the pad helping to reduce the gazebo cost.”

In early July, Carwald poured the concrete.

Double B Machining and Welding built the metal structure in August.

At the ribbon-cutting, Mayor Frankie Ward said with this gazebo the town has made additions to each of the four large parks in 2023. These are Hilda Eben (southeast), Barton (southwest), and Poplar Grove (northwest), and Schurter (northeast).

At the moment, the Rotary has a cash raffle that will be drawn in December. The Grey Cup raffle is sold out.

“We have not yet nailed down the next project,” says Tradewell. “We need to save up funds since we spent most of our cash for the gazebo construction.”

People interested in being involved can email rotaryclubofslavelake@gmail.com.