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Carnival takes skaters, fans to the movies

The stands at the blue rink at the Stettler Recreation Centre were packed on Saturday, March 19.
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Stettler’s Kallie Stewart

The stands at the blue rink at the Stettler Recreation Centre were packed on Saturday, March 19 as family, friends and the community came out to watch their figure skaters demonstrate the skills learned over the past year and career at the annual Carnival.

This year's theme was "A Night at the Movies," with each group and individual performance themed after a movie.

This year saw big changes for the Stettler Figure Skating Club, as not only did it see a change in some of its coaching staff, but it also launched new programs, including a satellite CanSkate program in Big Valley, president Amanda Lucki said.

"Oh gosh," she said. "This year was a great success. Our skaters had a lot of success in competition and in testing this season, which is great with the changes we've seen."

Coaches Lisa Johnson and Annette Lee were joined by Danielle Mohn, who returned from a year-and-a-half of absence from coaching, and new coach Christy Rivett, Lucki said. The four coaches picked this year's Carnival theme amongst themselves.

The club launched several new programs this year — a powerskating session, the Big Valley CanSkate program, a pre-CanSkate LearnToSkate program for tots, and an adult skating program for new adult skaters and adult skaters who haven't skated in a while.

The larger-than-average enrollment in the CanSkate programs in Stettler and Big Valley saw the club's membership balloon to over 100 this year, with roughly 70 of those skaters performing in Saturday's movie-themed extravaganza.

"Our skaters worked extremely hard," Lucki said. "It was great to see them on the ice and waving to family in the stands, and the applause."

Skaters this year ranged in age from three-years-old to 18-years-old, with the two eldest skaters, two girls, aging out of the program this year.

The club's skating program begins in early September and culminates with Carnival in March, with a FunSkate in February for the club's skaters.