After Maria Yanchuk and Artem Ponomarov settled into their new home in 91原创 City with their newborn Michael in 2022, the couple have wanted to get involved in their new community 鈥� and the Aldergrove Fair was the perfect chance.
Yanchuk had heard about the fair through her teacher in her English class and wanted to volunteer.
"We wanted to contribute to the community," Ponomarov said, noting that they also wanted to wait until Michael was a little older.
The fair worked well for the family of three, though, because two-year-old Michael was able to come with his parents to help out.
Ponomarov said the organizers made the volunteer experience easy and welcoming, working with the parents and their toddler and finding work that fit them best.
"Maria is more of a planner whereas I'm more of support, and Janice did a great job [finding us roles]," he commented.
The fair was also a different experience for them, Ponomarov noted, because there isn't the same type of historical events in Ukraine.
"We don't have history of festivals of 100 years. We have local festivals... but here everything is new," he shared.
Yanchuk said they felt very welcomed at the fair by everyone.
The couple recommends newcomers to Canada volunteer in their new local communities to meet people and make connections.
New events coordinator Anu Sharma said the experience of volunteering at the fair went beyond her expectations.
And Janice Campbell, board member of the fair, recruited some of her students through New Directions English school to fill volunteer shifts over the weekend.
She said they were happy to help out.
Vice president of the fair Amanda Smith called it "a good turn out."
"It's great to see the Aldergrove community come out to support its own fair. With the amount of activity we have here, there's lots to do," she said.
