Auburn Bay Things to Note:
• Happy New Year!
• Parade of Lights 10th Anniversary!
• City of Calgary – Tree Recycling
• Casino – May 7 and 8, 2026
• Shade Structure
• Ward 12
• Volunteer Thank You – Jennifer P.
• Youth Central
• Good Food Box Program Details
Happy New Year, we hope 2026 will be kind to all of us!
We would like to say an enormous thank you to everyone who participated in the 10th Annual Parade of Lights! This event could not happen without the generous support of the groups/businesses that decorated their entries and arranged for walkers; the volunteers that donated their time to stand on various corners along the route to ensure people’s safety; Auburn House for donating the use of their parking lot to stage the parade and providing the first aid gator and staff; the businesses that donated their time and effort to hosting the hot chocolate stations (we did have a couple of last minute cancellations due to the weather); Blaire H. for being our parade marshal and riding his quad within the parade to help ensure that we all stayed together from the start to end; and all the wonderful community residents who braved the cold to watch the parade go by. Thank you to Junk King for collecting all the garbage cans along the route and Youth Central who helped in various roles, including garbage clean up the next morning. And thank you to the guest of honour, Santa who made a special appearance at the end of the parade; it is always wonderful to see his smiling face each year to remind us of the spirit of giving and kindness.
It looks like the City of Calgary will be hosting their usual Christmas tree recycling/composting program again this year. You will have the option to remove all decorations, break it down and place it in your green bin, or take your tree to the nearest drop off location. Please see the City of Calgary site for more information.
We were advised that the Casino in May 2026 will actually be for the Auburn Bay School, not for us personally. We will be doing our best to help share that information with the community as having these funds mean so much to any group. I recently got to volunteer for another school group and have a number of ideas from it on how to recognize volunteers and hope it will be easier for us when we are given our next casino dates.
The landscape architects have had their first meeting with the city about the development permit for the Shade Structure and all is progressing well. We are still expecting to break ground in early spring.
I had the opportunity to meet our new Councillor Mike Jamieson at a recent Ward 12 collaboration event for community associations. It was great to meet him in person and I look forward to expanding on some of the ideas the CAs came up with. I realized that with my 22 years of volunteering, I have a knowledge base that many other CAs don’t have and know how important it is to share what I know with others. We are all working towards a common goal. Thank you to our new Newsletter Director, Cristina R. for coming along with me and coming up with some ideas for hosting concerts in the parks.
I would like to take a moment and thank our wonderful volunteer Jennifer P. for providing us with the recipe of the month for the past couple of years. I know I tried a couple of them, and they were delicious and easy to prepare. Your input was greatly appreciated and will be missed!
I recently had the opportunity to virtually meet with one of the organizers from Youth Central to discuss their group and how we can partner more with them going forward. It was great to have the conversation and to have a greater understanding of who they are and the services they provide. I am looking forward to new opportunities with them in the future.
The Community Kitchen Good Food Box program has advised us that they will be implementing a $5 per box increase for 2026. All past customers will be required to complete the form for us to have a record of accepting the new pricing. This will be posted on the ABCA website. You can get a small box (approximately 20 to 25lbs) for $35, medium (30 to 35lbs) for $40, or large (40 to 45lbs) for $45, delivered to Auburn Bay once a month. Please check out the post on our website for the Google form to place your order. The next one will be January 19 for January 30, 2026, delivery.
Auburn Bay has a large number of Facebook groups. There is a Pet Group, Seniors Group, Grillers Group, Ladies Group, Food Lovers Group, Gardening Group, Community Garden Group, Ladies Clothing Exchange Group, Business Group, Buy-Nothing Group… the list is nearly endless. Make sure to go and check these fabulous interest groups out.
Carla Obuck
President and Sports and Events Director, Auburn Bay Community Association (ABCA)
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