The sun shone on Gold Bar Park this Sunday, June 3rd as families, friends and co-workers hit the trails to raise money for kids and adults with autism in our community. And raise money they did – over $30,000 so far, and the pledges are still coming in!

Mike Lake, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Millwoods-Beaumont, and a longtime ASEA supporter, shared some inspiring opening words with his son Jaden, who has autism, at his side. After the cycling, walking, running and “strollering”, there were plenty of reasons to spend some extra time in Gold Bar Park. The crowd was treated to great entertainment and great food! While the Fat Franks lineup was long, the wait was worth it. GF/CF snacks from Kinnikinnick catered to those with special diets, and Starbucks coffee rounded out the meal. Meanwhile, Mr. and Ms. Cupcake tempted the crowd with cupcakes donated by Crave Cookies and Cupcakes. Miss Giggles painted the faces of young and old, while Choo Choo the Clown entertained children and adults alike with an amazing variety of balloon creations. Representatives from the Autism Society of Edmonton Area, the Glenrose Autism Clinic, the Autism Research Centre, Autism Speaks, and Osborne Books were on hand to provide information at the resource tent sponsored by Autism Speaks Canada.

 

Thank you to everyone who made the event a huge success! Thank you to our sponsors, including Fourth Gear Sponsors Burd Financial Services Group and VOS Printing and Design, and Photography Sponsor Ann McRae Photography, who took some gorgeous photos of the event! (You can see all of the great photos by clicking here!) Thank you to all our donors, our hard-working volunteers and staff, and everyone who helped to get the word out about the event and make this the best-attended Cycle for Autism yet! But most important of all, thank you to all the people who signed up and put together teams to collect pledges, and showed up on the big day to cycle, walk or run for autism!

 

Remember: There’s still time to get last-minute pledges in! If someone you know forgot to donate (or you forgot to ask them), they can still donate for the next few days. They can go to www.cycleforautismedmonton.com and click the Donate/Pledge button to help boost you or your team’s total!