STURGIS — The Sturgis Ice Carnival brought together skaters, families and community members to celebrate a season of progress, performances and local talent.
The annual event featured the Sturgis Skating Club and its achievements throughout the year. The carnival, themed Fire and Ice, was held at the Sturgis Skating Arena.
Rebecca Trost, coach from Willowbrook, and Danielle Burym, assistant coach originally from Sturgis, led skating enthusiasts throughout the year.
Amber Bartch, president of the Sturgis Figure Skating Club, welcomed everyone and acknowledged all volunteers who helped make the carnival a success.
“We welcomed Rebecca Trost as our coach. Rebecca is a certified Skate Canada coach who travels to us from Willowbrook. Our skaters learned many new skills and have opportunities to further their passion for skating. It’s through a coach who is passionate about what they do to share their skills that make young athletes want to succeed,” said Bartch.
“Carnival was extremely successful this year. I thank everyone from skaters, parents and the community for supporting the program. I can’t thank my fellow executive members for all their hard work to make this all come together.
"This doesn’t happen overnight and can feel quite overwhelming at times but with the help of everyone, it was a true success. The decorations were truly out of this world along with costumes and the exciting grand finale was nothing done or seen before.
"The pancake brunch held on Sunday before the ice show was extremely successful. Thank you to everyone for coming.
"The event MC was Laura Sliva, who did a fantastic job. The Sturgis rink board ran the kitchen so we thank them for their support as well.”
Stanley Prokulevich received the Program Assistant Award, chosen by the coach, Rebecca Trost. The award was dedicated to a CanSkate program assistant who demonstrated the club’s values on and off the ice, being a positive role model for the younger skaters.
Opening remarks followed O Canada, kicking off both the evening and afternoon performances. Zia Dela Torre sang O Canada, with flag bearers Ripley Pristie and Hartley Hurlburt (Saturday) and Maycee Johnson and Viktoriia Zmykalo (Sunday).
Junior star skaters Danae Draper, Axil Pickering, Brinley Robinson, Hailey Seghers and Georgia Van Nieuwenhuyze skated to Girl on Fire.
Kinzlee Englot and Colter Hurlburt, CanSkate Stage 1 and 2 skaters, awed the audience with their performance to Dynamite. Danae Draper and Maycee Johnson were the program assistants.
Solo skates were done by Stanley Prokulevich to Burn it to the Ground; Jade Beatty to Just Like Fire; Hailey Seghers to Cold as Ice; Danae Draper to Fire and Ice; Axil Pickering to Fire Burning; Georgia Van Nieuwenhuyze skated to Shivers; Brinley Robinson skated to Fireflies; Maycee Johnson skated to World on Fire; Lindy Romanchuk skated to Truck on Fire and Ripley Pristie skated to Set Fire to the Rain.
Stage 2 and 3 skaters Aubree Cowell-Jaques, Ember Preston, Aleah King and Emerly Sliva performed to the Frozen soundtrack with Ripley Pristie as assistant.
Maycee Johnson, Stanley Prokulevich, Ripley Pristie, Lindy Romanchuk and Jade Beatty skated to Cold.
Stage 4 and 5 CanSkate skaters Scarlett Townsend, Viktoriia Zmykalo, Ariya Walker, Brinley King and program assistant Jade Beatty skated to the music of Cooler Than Me.
Ailes Nievares, Everleigh Anaka, Gabrielle Correos and Hazely Preston skated to Burning Love.
Stage 4 skaters Rex Bileski, Anthony Prokulevich and Hartley Hurlburt skated to Ice Ice Baby. Rebecca Trost assisted the group.
The performance concluded with a grand finale skate that featured all the skaters to the music of We Didn’t Start the Fire.
On Saturday evening, following the carnival portion, the crowning of the queen or king was presented. Brinley Robinson was crowned the queen and the runner-ups were Hailey Seghers, Hartley Hurlburt and Stanley Prokulevich. The queen was chosen by how many books of tickets were sold and the draw was chosen in a random draw.
A pancake breakfast on Sunday was followed by skate races for children.
