It’s not only fun that the Whoop-Up Days festival spurs in Lethbridge, but generosity as well, with multiple local businesses partnering up with charities throughout the week to raise money for different causes across the city.
The five-day festival, which started on Aug. 21, is filled with events for the entire community to get together and enjoy, and with that, one local business owner says it also provides the perfect time to host a fundraiser.
“It’s a big part of our community every August,” said Darryl Moore, owner of Floor Right.
“Whoop-Up Days is just a time that all of the community knows there’s something going on,” Moore said. “There are barbecues and pancake breakfasts and stuff, so it brings that awareness and allows us to get more people in.”
Holding a fundraising barbecue for the United Way on the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 22, Moore wasn’t the only business owner eager to make a difference in the city.
Both Sobeys and the Keg were also hosting similar events on Wednesday to raise donations for their own sponsored charities, one being the local YMCA and the other the Interfaith Food bank.
Handing out burgers, hot dogs and drinks to hungry people passing by, the day’s barbeques were just a handful of the events taking place during the festival in the name of charity.
Pancake breakfasts are also being held by different organizations across the city that ask for small donations in return for tasty treats, with some even offering entertainment to the public while they eat.
Accelerating participation in these fundraisers, Moore says Whoop-Up Days brings people out by the hundreds, making these events a much bigger success than if they were held at different time in the year.
“Usually in our pancake breakfast we get about 300 to 400 people, and usually during our breakfast we get about $2,000 being raised.”
Whoop-Up Days wrap up this year on Saturday Aug. 25th, with the final charitable barbecue taking place on that day at the north side Sobeys from 11 am until 3 pm.
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