Friday, November 03, 2006

Red Friday Rally Part Two

I was there, were you?

Today Edmonton held it's first Red Friday Rally. It was cold with a bitter wind. I first drove by around 11:30 am and there was already quite a few people there probably around 100. (Picture #1). At about 5 minutes before noon, when I arrived for the show there were a few hundred. (Picture #2). As the clock at the tower of city hall struck 12:00, there were people coming in to Sir Winston Churchill Square from all directions. As the proceedings started, I would guess there was somewhere around 600 to 700 people. (Picture #3). Not as many as I would have liked to have seen though. A group of students from Grades 3 and 5 at Edmonton Garrison’s Guthrie School Started things off by singing O'Canada. (Picture#4). Shawn Hlookoff Brought tears to many eyes when he took the stage and performed "Soldier". (Picture#5). The absolutely most memorable moment was when Master Cpl. Paul Franklin addressed the crowd. (Picture#6). Franklin Lost both his legs when the vehicle he was in was blown up by a suicide bomber.

"You wear red to help us help you, And I just want to say 'thank you very much. Years ago we didn't have this support. But now when you go on missions you don't even have to think about how Canadians support us. We know, It's a given. After my attack and during my recovery I found it difficult to put on this uniform, but we know as we head out those gates that no matter what, Canadians across this land support what we do. Days like these make me proud to be a soldier"


One comment made amongst the crowd that I can't help but write about. A mother walked by me with three children. One was complaining about being cold(I think). She simply said, "Your father didn't complain when he was in Afghanistan, you should not be complaining here." Silence followed that statement.

One thing that did surprize me as I walked about taking my photo's. There was not one single 'anti war' or 'bring the troops home' sign or protester anywhere to be seen.

Thank you Edmonton for Supporting Our Troops!

For some strange reason, blogger would not allow me to place all the pictures into this post. I did a small work around. Please "click on the images to see a larger version. Sorry for the inconvienence.


Picture#1

Picture#2

Picture#3

Picture#4

Picture#5

Picture#6

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your right... there seems to be more people there then what the radio was claiming... I'll post an update, with a link back to this post.... damn, I wish I could have been there... next time I'm just going to have to quit ... that'll fix em .. ...grrrrr

Tim said...

lol...Ya don't have to quit silly...just do what I did...threaten them to do so. With the economy the way it is, they will surely give you the time off. After all...is there a better cause to be supporting than this? I don't think so! Thanks for the link, muchly appreciated.

Anonymous said...

It's tough to quit when ya own a peace of the company, but next year, because this has been declared an every year thing now, I'll damn well quit anyway ... I was that choked about the load ..

Tim said...

Well then you have to kick the bosses ass! Are ya flexible? Give yourself a break man. Life is too short. Slow down and smell the electrons.

Gayle said...

Tim's right, Ab. You definitely are working to hard. Here it is, Saturday afternoon, and I'd bet good money you are working! :(

Nastyboy said...

It was a great rally. I have some pics up on my blog as well.

Candace said...

Glad you made it! I was (at least) wearing red, but couldn't get away as work is a bit insane right now. I wish they'd held it on a Saturday.

I WILL, however, make it to the Leg for the Remembrance ceremony next Saturday, might even drag the kid with me.

Anonymous said...

Great pictures of the rally. I too think there were more people there than is being reported. I personally counted the small group surrounding me and there were over 100 people in that section. There middle and right side of the square had a lot more people than the area I was standing in...

Tim said...

Thanks for popin in Gayle. Give him shit!

Nasty, I'll pop by and have a look.

Candace, You like ABF seem to work too much! Nice to see you out and about commenting. Would like to see you posting more though. I miss your insight. Maybe I'll see you there on Saturday.

She, I did the same thing. I was up top by the back rail. Counted heads on the scattered left side, got over a hundred before I got to the main crowd. When I got home I opened up the pic I took off the main crowd and started putting small yellow dots on the heads that were visible. I counted 317 in the main/central crowd alone.

lilfeathers2000 said...

*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*
Have A God Blessed Week!!!!
Blessings
*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.