Ukrainian family and local artists given Awesome Kid Awards

Okotoks Mayor Tanya Thorn presented more Awesome Kid Awards at the most recent council meeting on June 27.

The first set of awards went to the group of Foothills Composite Students involved in the Beautiful Bins project.

Beautiful Bins involved the painting of the town's six bear-proof bins, with several artists submitting designs under the theme of "pollinators."

Arie Cooper, Brooklyn Quinn, Jenna Kidd, Natalie Greening, Ava Morris, and Sophia Partridge's designs ended up winning the public vote and painting the bins.

Thorn alluded to the previous Paint-a-Potty projects, which were shown to reduce graffiti in town.

"This group and this council, we're big supporters of public art, and as you've probably heard, we do have a bit of a graffiti problem in our community at this moment in time, but by creating this project in the variety of forms we've done it, we find that it decreases graffiti because somebody usually knows who's connected to that painting."

Arie Cooper, Brooklyn Quinn, Jenna Kidd, Natalie Greening, Ava Morris, attended the meeting, with Sophia Partridge absent from the presentation.

Another award was presented to Kyryl Tyrsa, a young boy who's pretty new to town.

He and his mother Iryna fled Ukraine, with his father unable to leave.

Mayor Thorn said the award was representative of all Ukraine families who have been displaced.

"I don't think, we in this room, understand the turmoil and stress that that has put you and your families under, so Kyryl, we've chosen you to represent all the children that have come to our community and the country of Canada under these circumstances."

Kyryl and Iryna Tyrsa.