Last weekend’s Seba Beach Regatta felt like a family reunion.
The annual event was put on by Seba Beach residents for Seba Beach residents as a way to celebrate the connectedness of their community.
Alison Hillier, one of the main organizers of the event, says the Regatta is something that has been happening for generations. Hillier took over her role in organizing from her mother and now her daughter is also involved.
“My mom was doing it for about 14 years, then she got a little bit sick, so I took over and have been doing it for ten,” she says.
The annual celebration has only ever been cancelled once in its decades of existence, says Hillier. The Covid pandemic restrictions meant that the event was fully cancelled. The next year, they kept the timeline to one day. After that, they revved up into full gear again.
The one exception to the cancelled event was the volunteer shirts. They still had those printed as a volunteer shirt from the Regatta is highly coveted.
Prior to being organizers of the event, Hillier and her family were still involved looking after different events like the parade or land activities. Her family, the Caleys, even founded a couple of events.
The volleyball tournament held on the beach of the Edmonton Yacht Club was being run by two new organizers after their mentor had passed it on. Jacob Caley, Hillier’s nephew, and Jordan Cowley, kept the games running smoothly.
Volunteers run the whole event, she says. The grey shirts of the Regatta volunteers could be seen throughout the crowd of spectators and even out on the sand courts as they joined in on the tournament.
There is also a lot of support from the local businesses, says Hillier. Shopping locally is important because the community includes those business owners who have chosen to set up shop there. That bit of pride in celebrating with other lake people is what the Regatta is about.
While the event is a huge celebration for the people who live there, Hillier says it’s not really advertised. She says it’s mostly people who’ve grown up in Seba Beach or have some ties to it that celebrate and that’s okay.
“It really is just about family fun,” says Hillier. “It’s very community-based fun.”
The different families in the community, referred to colloquially as cabins, all enjoy the friendly competition in the different events. Hillier says they take pride in coming back to their cabin with as many ribbons as they can.
She says one of the organizing committee members really summed up the feel of the long weekend.
“One of the comments said, ‘It’s where adults get to be kids again.’ And that’s 100 percent right,” says Hillier.
Tory Clements, Hillier’s daughter, and her fiance Lucas Vanden Dungen also sported volunteer shirts.
Clements says she has been volunteering for several years, but does not have an event of her own to run just yet. This was Vanden Dungen’s second time at the Regatta.
“Everyone comes out this weekend,” says Clements. “I’ve been here my whole life and so have my friends. This is the weekend that I for sure get to see everyone. It’s just a beautiful community.”
Vanden Dungen says there are some new faces, but also lots of familiar ones. He says when he attended the first time there was a lot to take in, but he enjoys being part of it and is impressed with the history. Vanden Dungen spent some time at the museum and flipped through an album that shows 50 years of history and the generations of residents who have put it on.
He says even though his first experience of the Regatta was a bit overwhelming, everyone was very welcoming.
“It’s just a cool thing. Everyone’s always out here celebrating family and each other, all of the above,” says Vanden Dungen. “Everybody just wants to have a great time.”
