By Patrick Burles (Lethbridge News Now)

Community rallies in memory of Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette

Jul 1, 2017 | 8:45 AM

BLAIRMORE, AB – Nearly two years after tragedy struck the Crowsnest Pass, community members came together this week to build on something positive, in memory of Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette.

The two-year old was murdered, along with her father, 27-year old Terry Blanchette, and 69-year old Hanne Meketech in September of 2015.

On Wednesday (June 28), as volunteers started the process of assembling the playground, a jury found their killer, 24-year old Derek Saretzky, guilty on three counts of first degree murder.

It started with Pure Country Bar and Grill in the community of Frank, where Terry had worked. Staff there decided to raise money for a memorial fund, and after bringing in $20,000, they decided to contact the Blairmore Lions Club, where Daryl Wig is a member.

“Hailey had spent a lot of her time playing there – she lived about half-a-block away from the park. So, because she spent so much time there and she enjoyed our park very much, [Pure Country staff] thought that would be a good use of the money that had been raised in her memory. So, they contacted us and we thought that was a great idea,” explained Wig.

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The club started working to bring in additional funding, and after securing a matching grant from the provincial government and money from the municipality, they were able to move forward on the playground, which adds to the one already on the site in the Blairmore Lion’s Park.

“Our park chair, Laura Berg, put out a request on Facebook on the Crowsnest Community page for volunteers to come and help,” Wig stated. “We got about 15 volunteers to come out, and fairly shortly after she put that on there, she had to say ‘We’ve got all the volunteers we can use now.’”

With the help of those volunteers, plus several members from the Lions Club, they were able to finish building the structure in just over a day, a year-and-a-half after Terry’s friends got things started.

While Wig didn’t want to talk about what the crime has done to the community, he noted that seeing so many people come together in Hailey’s memory was something special.

“It’s great. I guess people want to do something. Being a member of the Lions’ Club, it’s good to be able to serve your community and do something positive, and I think the people that volunteered felt that and wanted to come out and do something good.”

When asked how the playground has been received so far, Wig chuckled, saying it’s off to a good start.

“Oh yeah, there was kids trying to get on when we were still building it. In fact, there was one girl who went by, and I heard her say – she was telling the adult that was with her – ‘Wow that looks really cool!’ So that was a good review right off the start.

“We finished about noon [Thursday] and we were having lunch, and kids were playing on it.”