The Prince Albert Legion unveiled a new monument on Sunday. (Prince Albert Legion/Facebook)

By Nolan Kowal

Legion Week

Legion Week aims to heighten exposure for Prince Albert branch

Sep 19, 2023 | 11:41 AM

For the first time in its existence, the Prince Albert Legion is holding festivities for Legion Week as it attempts to raise its profile in the city.

The week began on Sunday and runs until Saturday, with various events including musical performances, historical presentations, and a 150th anniversary celebration for the RCMP.

“This is a new thing that the legions brought across Canada…they’ve been doing these Legion Weeks out east a lot more than in the west, and this year they sent out letters to all the west areas, Alberta and Saskatchewan and that, and we’re doing it now as a Legion Week,” Legion President Rick Hodgson said. “The city declared this week Legion Week.”

“They wanted us to put on an event every night just for recognition of the legion and for people to come out and see the legion.”

Hodgson said the week is geared toward exposure.

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“It’s just getting the legion name out there and (getting) people still to recognize the legion that we’re still there,” Hodgson said. “Because with our loss of a lot of veterans, World War II, but we still have our young Afghan veterans and Korean all that is still around.”

“It’s kind of slowed down there…so I think it’s good for the legion to do this to still keep the legion going because we still run our poppy campaign, we still support our veterans, and it’s important that people know we’re still there.”

Hodgson added the festivities have also helped with their membership.

“We were running around 320 (members) into this year. And I think already this week we’ve signed up six new members just over the first few events,” Hodgson said. He noted those who sign up for memberships during Legion Week get the rest of this year free with their membership carrying over into 2024.

The legion kicked off the week on Sunday by unveiling a new monument in the parking lot that was donated by the city.

“We mounted it in front of our flag pole at our legion on display. It’s a nice monument with our legion emblem on it,” Hodgson said.

He said he’s noticed a trend when people come visit the building, and that Legion Week should help with both education and exposure.

“It’s surprising how many people come down to our legion for some reason and they come in and they said they never knew of the legion and never seen this building or what it was all about until they come in and see all of the memorials and pictures and our honour wall with our veteran’s pictures on it. So it’s turning out pretty good,” Hodgson said.

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nolan.kowal@pattisonmedia.com