{"id":25681,"date":"2020-01-16T18:02:32","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T23:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=25681"},"modified":"2020-01-16T18:02:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T23:02:40","slug":"skate-with-the-tigers-meet-mayor-and-council-at-next-weeks-levee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/skate-with-the-tigers-meet-mayor-and-council-at-next-weeks-levee\/","title":{"rendered":"Skate with the Tigers, meet Mayor and Council at next week\u2019s Levee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Get a chance to skate with your local hockey heroes next\nSaturday, January 25, as the Town of Aurora hosts a New Year\u2019s Levee at the\nStronach Aurora Recreation Complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running from 2 \u2013 9.30 p.m., a full day of activities is\nplanned for the Levee, which is hoped to become an annual activity after two\nprevious Levees hosted in 2013 and 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Levee is a storied tradition in Canada with its roots\nin New France and has typically been a way to bring warmth and camaraderie to\nthe start of a New Year. The tradition of a Levee has seen something of a\nresurgence in recent years, being first held in Aurora to mark the Town\u2019s\nSesquicentennial in 2013. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a further one-off event in 2017, organizers say the\nintention is to keep the Levee an annual event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fun gets underway at the Stronach Aurora Recreation\nComplex (SARC) at 2 p.m. with a Leisure Swim until 4 p.m. From 4 \u2013 7 p.m., a\nMeet & Greet with Mayor Tom Mrakas and Council will take place while a\npublic skate runs at the same time. Members of the Aurora Tigers are due to hit\nthe ice between 4.30 and 5.30 p.m., before taking on the Markham Royals for a\nfree game at the SARC beginning at 7.30 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the while, between 4 and 7 p.m., cake, hot chocolate,\ncrafts, and face painting will be offered to complete the fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a great way to start off the New Year, where the\ncommunity comes together and we celebrate together a lot of the things that are\nhappening within our Town \u2013 and just start (2020) off on the right foot,\u201d says\nMayor Mrakas. \u201cIt is a [way] to say thank you to everyone in the community and\nfor everyone to come out and get to meet others, meet us, and just have a good\ntime together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shelley Ware, Special Events Supervisor for the Town of\nAurora, says that with an eye on keeping the Levee an annual tradition going\nforward, the aim is to create \u201ca really family-friendly fun event with lots of\nactivities and lots of engagement, while still providing the opportunity for\npeople to interact in groups and one-on-ones with members of Council.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLevees have a very strong historical tradition which is\nstill exercised and respected all throughout Canada,\u201d says Ms. Ware. \u201cIt\ndefinitely dates back well before the seventeenth century, but historically it\nwas a coming together of the people in the New Year to set the tone of what the\nNew Year was going to bring to that community. With the enthusiasm and how\ndriven our Council is, the Levee is a great opportunity to simply focus on what\ntheir plans are for the coming year. Even though Council participates in\ncountless events throughout the year, this event is strictly driven towards a\nconversational approach, looking at the year in advance of all the plans they\nwant to accomplish, and all is accomplished through community input and\ncollaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a sentiment shared with Mayor Mrakas, who adds:\n\u201cWhen you speak to Council and the Mayor, it is a great opportunity for the\npublic to have a full understanding of what actually is occurring. Whether it\nis our tax rate, whether it\u2019s Library Square, the Armoury, Niagara College,\ntraffic within the Town, the cannabis shop coming in, it is an opportunity for\nthe public to actually hear the facts and what is actually happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is all about fun as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very enthusiastic to be able to have the Aurora\nTigers,\u201d says Ms. Ware. \u201cThey have a home game that evening versus the Markham\nRoyals and in addition to the game being free, the Tigers have generously\noffered their time so the whole team will be participating in the public skate\nfrom 4.30 \u2013 5.30 and then immediately following the skate, they are available\nfor one on one interaction just prior to them shifting their focus to get ready\nfor game time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am personally excited to see the Tigers and to see them in that informal intimate setting. For them to skate with the public, they are like role models for several of the younger skaters. Just the presence and ability to skate with them is going to motivate so many younger athletes, whether hockey is their choice or not, it is such a healthy, positive role modelling opportunity. From the softer side of things, we have a bubble show and a balloonist planned. We have a few unique experiences we haven\u2019t had at other events, such as Family First Night and the Christmas market. There are going to be unique experiences that will be new for many.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir <\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get a chance to skate with your local hockey heroes next Saturday, January 25, as the Town of Aurora hosts a New Year\u2019s Levee at the Stronach Aurora Recreation Complex. Running from 2 \u2013 9.30 p.m., a full day of activities is planned for the Levee, which is hoped to become an annual activity after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Gd","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 11:19:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}