The Cochrane and Area Events Society (CAES) is known for its events here in Cochrane like Canada Day and New Year’s Eve. On March 11, 2021, the non-profit organization will be holding its virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) and is hoping to see some new faces on the screen.

CAES Vice-President, Erika Richards says they are always in need of extra pairs of hands. “We're always looking for a bunch of new blood. We struggled last year with getting volunteers to the in-person events because of COVID. We just want to let people know that we're very careful and we don't ever put our events ahead of public safety, we're always in contact with Alberta Health Services.”

“We're always looking for people who want to contribute. Whether it's on a small scale by being part of one event or for being on the planning committee or just hands-on help so it's your comfort level.”

2020 was a very different year for event planning here in Cochrane, and Richards says they are going to use what they learned and expand for 2021. “We're certainly leaning more towards kind of virtual events this year because we know we can pull those off and we're looking for ideas and also people with those ideas for how we can do small actual in-person events. Having a scavenger hunt or, you know, playing disc golf or something as part of our events.”

“We're gonna be realistic. If the Government of Canada is predicting that everybody will get back to normal by the end of September, really you know, let's be realistic, that's November. We're going to aim towards having, mostly virtual events or COVID friendly events like we did last year, except we're hoping that we'll be on the upswing of being able to have more in person.”

If you would like to learn more and to volunteer with CAES, check out more details about their March 11 AGM here.