EDMONTON -- The pandemic may have canceled Canada Day festivities across the country, but a Sherwood Park woman has organized a safe event for families to get out and celebrate.

"This is interactive. This is socially distanced. This is for families to get out and enjoy our amazing hamlet of Sherwood Park," said Barb Henderson.

She's making posters for a Canada Day flag hunt that she hopes will also help support local businesses.

"The focus basically to get out, learn about new companies you might not have known about and it helps the community," Henderson said.

Flags will be posted in the windows of 20 businesses, the starting location is Arctic Chiller.

Flag search

 "At Arctic Chiller it will tell you the next location to go and that location will tell you the next location," she said.

The event is free and no sign up is required. Participants are encouraged keep track of how many plastic Canada flags there are at each location to enter a draw for prizes.

Flag search

"When you get to the end you can email your guess and the email will be on the last poster," said Henderson "Each business will have promotions of their own again to generate a little bit of business for themselves."
 
 
"We had over 500 participants in the Easter egg hunt, I’m hoping to quadruple that this go around," she said with a chuckle. "People wrote on the poster their thanks and their appreciation and that was just so heartwarming."
 
Flag search
 
She said organizing the hunts has been a good way to keep busy.
 
 "I do it to keep my mind active because I haven’t been working," Henderson said.
 
She's unable to work after complications from one of three surgeries she had during a battle with breast cancer.
 
 "I’ve got muscle and nerve damage that I’m stuck with," she said.
 
"I can do this at my own leisure and the pats on the back and the gratitude, that’s what’s worth it."
 
 The Canada Day flag hunt starts on Monday, June 29th at 9am and runs until 7 p.m. on July 1st.