Though restrictions will be in place, the Okotoks Legion is planning to honour veterans with a live-streamed Remembrance Day ceremony.
The ceremony starts at around 10:40 a.m. at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre, but due to COVID the capacity is a maximum of 40 people, including presenters and personnel to film the ceremony.
“The first people who will be identified to be allowed in will be veterans,” said organizer Rick Onsescu. “We’re looking at maybe 30 to 35 veterans attending.”
It will be streamed on the Town of Okotoks and Okotoks Legion Facebook pages for the general public.
There will be some changes to the regular program, but Onsescu said the basics of a respectful service will be in place despite its abbreviated format.
“We’ll still have the two-minute silence, we’ll have a minister do the benediction, and we’ll have a very short presentation by one of our Legion members because this is the 75th anniversary of the end of the (Second World) War,” said Onsescu.
Wreath-laying will be different than previous years, with a total of 15 wreaths laid on the RPAC stage that will be acknowledged during the ceremony.
These wreaths will represent veterans of the First and Second World War, Korea, Afghanistan, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Okotoks Legion, the Province of Alberta, Government of Canada, Town of Okotoks, and other military factions and conflicts, he said. Limitations on space will not permit wreaths from community organizations as in previous ceremonies.
The wreaths will be on display with the cenotaph that normally graces the stage at Pason, he said.
“Our ability to do things in RPAC is restricted by COVID rules – no getting up, no moving around, sitting six feet apart,” said Onsescu. “The basics will be there, it just won’t be as elaborate as we’ve had at the Pason Arena.”
He’s hoping there won’t have to be further changes to the plan, as the rules around COVID continue to fluctuate. Should indoor gatherings be further restricted, he said the Remembrance Day ceremony will still take place, with only the presenters in attendance and everyone else tuning into the livestream.
It’s been more difficult to put together a ceremony for 40 people than the one that usually brings in more than 1,000, he said.
“I’ve spent more time this year, putting this together, than I have in the previous 14 because everything changes – you wake up, it seems, and there’s a change,” said Onsescu.
The traditional poppy-pinning ceremony to kick off the Okotoks Legion’s poppy campaign had to be cancelled due to COVID-19, but the Legion volunteers will still be out in the community providing poppies to the public beginning Nov. 1.
Poppy boxes are also on display at several local businesses beginning Oct. 30.
