​Happy New Year’s Greenfield!  I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday season filled with friends, joy and laughter and have survived the recent cold snap.  

Lots to tell you about in the neighbourhood – we had our 24th year of fireworks on NYE and the board is having a debate about whether we hit 1,500 coming out to celebrate! Uncle John Fireworks and his team have been our providers for the last ten years and they brought an excellent show as always and a huge shoutout to No Frills for the hot chocolate. The Board is already looking ahead to our 25th anniversary in 2024 and if you have thoughts and suggestions on how we could amp up the night, please feel free to reach out.

Unfortunately, with the deep freeze, we did have to postpone our Ladies Books & Bevvies.  We have rescheduled it for the 23rd of February – all original tickets will be honored from January and additional tickets will be available at the door.  If you are 18+, love to read and identify as a femme or a them - bring your extra books, pick a new favourite and join us for a glass of wine and excellent company. 

I am thrilled to share that we also have Music Bingo coming up on January 27th – our last Music Bingo night was an absolute blast and I would highly encourage you to attend. You don’t need any deep music knowledge to attend, just good spirits, the ability to boogie and to enjoy the company of your neighbor. 

And our Greenfield 3rd Annual Winter Fun Day is scheduled for February 25th.  Details are still being confirmed – but join us for skating, hot chocolate, snacks and music at the rinks as we celebrate all the best parts of being winter community.

Don’t forget to purchase your Greenfield Community League Membership – your support helps makes your community the engaged and supportive neighbourhood that we are.  See our website for the link, and as always, I can be reached at [email protected].

Amanda

Thank you so much to everyone who was able to join us on New Years Eve for hot chocolate, skating and of course, the fireworks. I think we had close to 700 people out watching between the hill, the ice, cars and viewing parties on 112A Street. What a beautiful night to be out with neighbours. An enormous thank you to Matt, Ashley and the No Frills family for your unwavering support of our community and for the delicious cookies and hot chocolate.
 
Stay tuned for our upcoming Winter Family day scheduled for February 26th. The Board is excitedly finalizing the details – hopefully the day will include sweet treats, warm drinks and music along the rink. It might also include some shinney and even some milk crate curling – stay tuned for more information on the website and on social media. We are still looking for a rink side sound system that someone might be able to loan us to crank some tunes around the ice.

Some of you might have seen on the news this past week of the shocking and disgusting vandalism at Brookside Community Hall. Not only will repairing this damage take their neighbourhood months of repairs and insurance, but also all the small community groups that rely on that space are now cancelled and scrambling to continue to their important community work. It is so important that we keep our eyes out together as a community Greenfield. Happily - the best way to keep both yourself and your neighbourhood safe is also often fun and extremely satisfying. Get to know your neighbours. Form connections with the people on your streets and your community assets like the playground and the Hall. Walk your local streets and get to know what is out of place and what to do when you see something unusual. Please feel to reach out to myself or the board if you have any questions about what the League is doing to protect our hall and assets.
 
And for all the parents out there – outdoor soccer registration is coming up fast! See inside for details.
Don’t forget to purchase a community league membership – your membership supports all the important work we do in the neighbourhood.
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I wish you all a safe and happy 2023 Greenfield – see you on the rink.
Amanda

What an incredible fall, Greenfield – so much to tell you about!

Thank you to everyone who came out on Community League Day (Sept 17). Thanks to incredibly generous help from No Frills, we gave out more than 400 hot dogs, held more than 100 mini-tennis lessons, and gathered more than 30 new and renewed memberships for the league. I hope everyone was able to catch the incredible dancing and history from Dancing Cree – having them highlight the history and dancing from the land all around us is so meaningful in connecting us all to our history. I hope you were also able to join us for the mesmerizing Kendo performance in the afternoon and music from Capital City Big Band and Sugar Swing dancing. Thank you to those who took me for a spin on the dance floor – I appreciate your patience!

We had a great first “Ladies of Greenfield Wine Night” in early October which was a smash hit – forty ladies gathered to make connections, learn about incredible travel spots in our Canadian back yard and share a glass (or three) of good wine. Thank you to Vines Fine Wine for the support in making this happen. We are definitely going to do it again and have challenged the gentlemen on the board to look at something for the fellas of the community. Chili anyone perhaps?

With the turn of colder weather, our ice making team is eyeing up the rink and hopes to have ice in place soon. We took a shipment of sand to help absorb water and smooth out the surface, so fingers crossed that the ice will be skateable soon! Trust me – the board wants it in as soon as we can get it. This year, for the first time since 2020, the lace-up area of the rink will be open until nine pm to keep your toes warm while you’re tying your skates and to give a bit of a weather break area. Doors lock automatically at 9 pm, so don’t forget to grab your gear before the clock chimes!

Coming up over the next week weeks, I hope you’ll pop by the Greenfield Craft Fair on Dec 3, do a little holiday shopping and support local artists. And we are thrilled to say that our famous Greenfield NYE Fireworks are absolutely a go, stay tuned for more details, but hot chocolate in the hall, skating on the rink, good company and a spectacular dis- play of light. No matter how cold – we’ll be there!

As always friends and neighbours – I am constantly in awe at how lucky I am to have each and every one of you as friends, neighbours, partners in this community. We are so very lucky to call Greenfield home and I appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you for making this a great place to be.

You can support the community league and the work we do by purchasing a community league membership through our website – greenfieldcommunityleague.com or by contacting me directly ([email protected]).
 
See you on the rink!
​Amanda
President

Happy Fall Greenfield! What a beautiful summer in the neighbourhood – I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the green spaces, watch the kids play in the playground, check out the gardens and explore Edmonton at large. Maybe even wander into our amazing Canadian backyard and marvel at the incredible diversity we have so close at home. It's been wonderful seeing travel photos from the community of families in the hoodoos, checking our local festivals and hiking in the mountains.
Greenfield had a record-breaking soccer season again this spring - A giant shout out to Coach Chen and his U13 boys team for representing the community and taking a silver at Provincials – what an incredible achievement.
Community League Day is fast approaching and I wanted to ensure that you know that you and your family are invited! This is our day to celebrate all things community and Greenfield – and this year thanks to the Edmonton Arts Council, we were able to take it up a notch! The day of free activities will kick off at 3pm with Dancing Cree performers, there will be delicious food provided by No Frills all afternoon, come try your hand at Tennis, and play capture the flag with Trevor. Then join us for swing dance lessons and live music from 6pm – 8:30pm. If you are able to help out for an hour or two, please reach out and connect – we are always looking for volunteers. As we navigate into fall, I hope we are still able to find lots of wonderful ways to connect – if you have an idea for a community event, please come find us at Community League Day. We are always trying to reach as many Greenfielders as possible and welcome your suggestion. You also don’t have to be part of the board to lead a community event – come pitch us your ideas and we can help make it happen!
Please check out the Greenfield Community website and make sure you purchase your Community League membership. Your support makes us who we are as a community.
Stay safe and enjoy that beautiful fall sunshine Greenfield!
Amanda

Happy spring neighbours! Spring is springing and I’m so excited to be outside. Although I do feel like Mother Nature is giving us whiplash between the snow and the +27.
I’d like to take this opportunity to invite you all to our AGM – IN PERSON – on May 25th. This will be a chance to re-engage with your neighbours, chat with Councillor Michael Janz and MLA Feehan, and talk about a couple of our community assets and a vision for the next few years. In particular, we’ll be talking about the skating rink as a leash free area vs. summer sports arena and also the future of tennis in Greenfield. So please consider yourself formally invited for a glass of wine, and don’t worry, no one will judge if you attend in your normal Zoom attire. I, for one, think that bunny slippers belong in every meeting.

You’ll see that we are also still hunting for a few courageous and socially minded people to join our board. Many positions on the board take only an hour or two a month, and I promise that we are a fun group to hang out with! I get so much enjoyment from being connected to my community and I love meeting people I would never connect with otherwise. The best part though, in my opinion, is not only meeting people but then you get to talk to them about the things that they are passionate about. Really passionate about – the social injustice they are fighting against, the sport that lights them up, the hobby that gets them through the tough days. There are so many wide and wonderful things in this world that get people out of their boxes, and being part of the Community League helps open doors to those worlds.

With the melting of that white stuff, you’ll also see soccer and baseball taking off in our fields. Don’t be shy – come on over and cheer on the teams in green. Who knows – maybe we have the next Alphonso Davies or Christina Sinclair hidden away in a Greenfield jersey. Or, if you stop and watch the U5 teams, the next Cirque de Soleil ensemble entitled “Chaotic Beehive”….
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Please check out the Greenfield Community website and make sure you purchase your Community League membership. Your support makes us who we are as a community.
And if you want to get in touch with me – I’ll be on the soccer field from now until the end of June. Just look for the person still trying to explain the off-side rule to ten year olds…
Stay safe and enjoy that sunshine Greenfield!
Amanda

Greenfield! It was so good to see you! Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for the first Greenfield Winter Fun Day (February 27th). So many thanks you are necessary to everyone who made the day amazing: 

• Square One Coffee for cookies and hot chocolate and staying out in the cold
• No Frills for the treats and the tent
• Josh Jin Realty for the sound system
• Jeff Mann Mortgages for Hunter’s visit and the firewood
• Isaac and Asher Lafleur for keeping our shinny players in check
• The entire Greenfield Board with special shout outs to Fiona and Jeff for manning the 50:50 sales and firepits ALL day

And you, you wonderful people of Greenfield, thank you for showing up and being a part of making the day so special. It was fabulous to see you all in person, to catch up on the “little news” – who started what plants in their kitchen windows, who’s children have done what amazingly cute thing, who’s husband has bought the ridiculously tiny right hand drive truck from Japan…. (that would be mine. Get him started on it – I double dog dare you).

With spring around the corner, there are many wonderful things to look forward to it. It is not too late to reach out to Tara Wren, our long suffering soccer coordinator, if your child needs a late registration spot on one of Greenfield’s many amazing soccer teams. Our community garden will be reaching out and renting our community plots in the next few weeks – come down to join the lovely hub of green thumbs behind the hall with your own plot of earth. The tennis club is starting to look forward to the summer season, stay tuned for summer camps and lessons. The Greenfield Garage Sale gang has announced that June 11th is day for the community wide sale, so many bargains all within an easy walk of your back door.

The world continues to turn outside of our community boundaries – keep reaching out Greenfield. Reaching out to friends and loved ones impacted by Covid-19 that continue to face isolation and health challenges. Reach out to your neighbours who may be struggling with rising prices and changing work demands. Reach out to those who those are watching loved ones overseas and desperate to help.
Don’t forget to purchase your Community League Membership – each membership helps a great deal and makes amazing things like community days, soccer and this gazette possible! Visit greenfieldcommunityleague.com to purchase.

See you in the great outside!
Amanda

Well, this has been one heck of a start to 2022, hasn’t it been Greenfield? Does anyone else feel as though we are finding more and more of our foundations have been built on sand, and the holidays have been moving us towards a shifting under our feet? I think we are in for a challenging couple of months – the uneasy peace and balance we had struck with covid seems to changing the rules in the middle of the game, and once again we are being asked to adapt on the fly. We are building a Ferrari in the midst of a Grand Prix and someone just replaced our lug nuts with Lego. Or, if you’ve been in my house for the last week, you thought you were playing Scrabble, but somehow you’ve ended up acting out “social distancing” in a complex game of Charades…

​As my family snuggled down and hibernated in the cold weather, I took some time to try and declutter our basement (for those who know my basement, you’ll be proud to know I absolutely accomplished at least a third of what I had set out to do….). It’s amazing how much change I can see by decluttering our basement – from the speakers my husband dropped a fortune on in the early 2000’s which will no longer connect to any piece of technology in our house, to the reams and reams of photographic negatives stacked in boxes – all the way to the debate of continuing to fill space with CDs and DVDs in the streaming age. It’s even more pronounced in my mother’s basement – with my Grandmother’s fine China and quilted blankets.

I guess the point of this segue is to comment on how adaptable we are – as a community, as individuals. We’ve got this Greenfield – we will not be cowed by the potential changes to come; we will continue to gather – whether it be in cohorts, in socially distant compliant sidewalk chats, on the phone or on a screen. And let’s be kind and patient with each other as we navigate these roads. Your basement doesn’t have to be completely decluttered before you agree it’s a good idea to store three more Christmas deer down there, you don’t have to change out of your dinosaur footie pajamas for five days (my daughter proved this) when your mother takes you to No Frills, no one is judging how much whipped cream you put on your hot chocolate after shoveling your walks, you can follow your own compass and comfort as we navigate how to stay safe in these new waves.
If all else fails – footie pajamas for everyone!
 
Thank you to everyone who joined us in the cold clear air of New Years Eve - it was a great turn out despite the cold temperatures and another amazing show by Uncle John's Fireworks. As always, I can be reached at [email protected] or you can find me escorting pajama clad children in the baking aisle at No Frills.          

Amanda

It's a funny season isn't it? It seems like we are betwixt and between. Autumn is fading, winter has- n't started. We look forward to holidays to come, but we remember those that lit our way. Covid cases are receding but we remain vigilant. We itch to gather, but we pause. I often wish look for a clear, simple path forward, and I'll let you know if I find it, but so far, no dice!
 
That being said - forward we go! The community league is crossing our fingers that our late November casino will go forward - these bi-annual casinos are a major funding source for the league, and this will be our first one since 2019. We are still accepting names to be on our emergency back up list - please reach out to me if you'd be willing to put your name forward. And an enormous thank you to the 36 community members that have already stepped up. We couldn't do this without you!
 
Like a lot of the world, it's been a difficult financial year for the community league. We have only had seven hall rentals so far in 2021 which, pre-covid, is how many rentals we would have in a month. But, with careful planning, we're excited to announce that the annual New Years Eve fireworks are back!! Join us for some skating, some tobogganing, and then at 9pm for a spectacular dis- play of lights and sound.
 
The board is eagerly watching the weather for that annual sweet spot for ice making. See inside for details on what we need to make ice, but we're excited to get our new tractor out as soon as weather permits!
 
I'd also like to take a moment to thank our past City Councillor, Michael Walters who has been an incredible ally and supporter of the community league for the eight years. You will be missed at the community league table. But as much as we will miss councillor Walters, the board are excited to welcome our new councillor, Michael Janz to his new role in the community.
 
We look forward to working with you over the next four years! As always, please remember to purchase your community league membership which you can find on our community webpage (greenfieldcommunityleague.com). Your support is critical these days. And please email me directly with any questions you may have or find me on the playground!                                                                                                                           
​Amanda

Whether you took the summer to travel a little bit, or explore your backyard, I hope you all had a chance to soak in some vitamin D, enjoy the sunshine and rejuvenate outside (smoky skies not withstanding). Maybe even a little bit of time out of the soccer field watching our 9 Greenfield teams and the 55 coaches who have made this a fun and exciting soccer season in the neighbourhood. An enormous shout out to Tara Wren who has kept us on track this summer through all the up, downs and loop-de-loops of soccer in the covid world.
 
The community league is looking ahead to an exciting fall – we have Community League Day on September 18th, from 11am – 3pm. Come join us for a free hot dog bbq, some games and a chance to engage with your neighbours. We will hosting everything outside and continue to encourage all participants to socially distance and be covid-aware.
And if you have a junior baker in your house, we will be hosting a Community Cookie Bake-off. Kids and youth in Greenfield are encouraged to submit their favourite cookie at Community League Day. We are very excited to announce our celebrity judges: Member of Parliament Matt Jeneroux and everyone's favourite food expert, Matt Jones from No-Frills who will take on the difficult task of judging deliciousentries. To enter, bring a dozen cookies to Community League Day by 12pm, winners will be announced at 1pm. See the website / Facebook for further details.

We are also extremely excited to announce that Greenfield and Royal Gardens were successful in securing a City Arts "Parade in a Box" grant, and we will be hosting a joint parade on the Thanksgiving Day weekend. Pick out the best viewing spot on your street and have a food bank donation ready for the No- Frills parade crew and keep reading for all the details!!

As always – please purchase your Greenfield Community League membership at greenfieldcommunityleague.com – your support keeps our neighbourhood thriving.

And I can be reached at [email protected]
or roaming the neighbourhood!      -Amanda

It's here, it's here! Little sprouts of green, hints of warm sunshine, dry grass – it's SPRING!! I am so thankful for spring this year. This is what spring is for me this year: it is friends taking the time to bike to our house to wave to my eight year old in isolation. It is my Mom bringing by an iced coffee when I reeeaaaaaaallllly needed one (best Mom ever!). It is rhubarb muffins appearing warm out of the oven from your neighbours while you're hard at work in the garden. It is 'borrowing' your neighbour's puppy for walks in the evening. It is soccer volunteers, hard at work learning to run socially distanced practices and sanitizing balls and cones. It is borrowing tools, and strolls around the community, and time on the playground. It is the passing along of bulbs and seeds, and learning while leaning over a fence post. It is bike rides, and running in the river valley and sunshine and green and hope.
It is hoping that the next year is better than the last. Hope that we stay connected to one another as we tackle another spring and summer of challenge. Hope that we stay healthy and safe. Hope that we show resilience and grace in the face of what comes next. After all - hope springs eternal (Alexander Pope).
What is spring to you Greenfield? Whatever brings you joy
– I wish you a barrel of it this year!
 
As always, don't forget to purchase your Community League Membership for 2020/21. Your membership gives you a vote at our AGM and other great benefits.
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Memberships are $30 for individuals, $15 for seniors, $25 for senior couples and $50 for families. Memberships can be purchased online (https:// www.greenfieldcommunityleague.com/ buymembership.html). I can be reached at [email protected] and look forward to seeing everyone out and about - you can probably catch me on the soccer field for the next two months!!