Brooks Mayor Barry Morishita speaks to CHAT News about the Lifted Celebration on July 24. The celebration aimed to bring the community together to mark the lifting of restrictions earlier this month (Tiffany Goodwein/CHATNewsToday)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Brooks hosts celebration aimed to lift each other up

Jul 24, 2021 | 7:36 PM

BROOKS, AB– At Veterans Park it was a day of dancing, music, and all-out celebration, as residents of Brooks gathered to party and celebrate the lifting of restrictions.

“This is really great to see everybody outside. We came this morning for a breakfast and it was awesome to see all the people here,” said Mirjana de Perez.

The event was called Lifted and it was hosted by the city of Brooks with the goal to lift each other up and to celebrate the lifting of restrictions.

” When we heard that the restrictions were going to be lifted we thought about doing it July weekend but it was just not enough notice so we picked a day. But essentially it was to just do what we did which is to celebrate the restrictions being lifted and do what we have always done which is get together and have fun,” Brooks Mayor Barry Morishita said.

Many events were cancelled this year. So the lifted celebration was one of the first to kick off the summer.

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” I think it is a great way to make up for lost time. We weren’t able to celebrate much last year, and now that everything is opening up I think it is a great way to bring the community together.” resident Maria Perez said.

The city spent just under $10,000 to put on the party, funds Morishita said were well spent.

” I think everyone, you can tell by their faces that this is an amazing thing. People are smiling, laughing, the music is loud. People are buying things, and supporting local. It is just amazing,” Mayor Morishita said.

Music, bouncy castles, dancing and beer gardens took over a section of the downtown, an abrupt contrast to what life was like over a year ago.

The small community was hit hard, after having one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in the province. It was a time Bhen Marcuap remembers well. His father worked at the JBS meat plant which was where the major outbreak occurred

“it was a rough time because, the bills and with my dad only getting to work for not that much time it was kind of hard,” he said.

Marcaup’s father never contracted COVID-19. But his father was deemed a close contact twice.

Now a year after the outbreak, his spirits are high as he celebrates with the rest of the community.

” It’s amazing. You can do so much stuff and there are so many activities that you can’t get bored,” he said.

For many, it’s a bright light for a community coming out of a very dark year. Now Morishita says the city is focused on moving forward.

” I think people can see the community here is excited about getting back to normal that’s going to take a while. But again with good effort and making sure everyone has their shoulder behind the same wheel, Brooks is going to come out just fine,” Mayor Morishita said.