Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Mac CD morning show. I'm your host, Elliot Pierre. And we're going to start the show off the same way we start every show off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. So the fact that you're spending with us truly does mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, Tanner hit him with, oh,
Speaker 1 00:00:21 She caught me, loves near listened to the next and we're back. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:00:32 Well, first and foremost, I just got to give some shout out to the air conditioning that just kicked in because it was getting hot in this house. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2 00:00:39 We got a fan go into, so if you hear it, I'm not sorry because I'm cold.
Speaker 0 00:00:44 So on that note though, it's going to be a good, a good show. We've got a great guest here today. I'm excited to hear all about her and the organization she works for. As you know, I don't introduce my guests. I let them do that themselves. So on that note, who are you hopping? It's dropping. I'll come fix that for you, but you can still talk.
Speaker 3 00:01:03 All right. I'm Stephanie Myrick. I am the community coordinator with the Royal Canadian Legion here in Fort McMurray. What's the Legionella. The Legion is primarily a veterans organization. We work to help the veterans in the community, but we also work really hard with the community and to make the community a good place.
Speaker 2 00:01:24 And how long have you been doing that?
Speaker 3 00:01:26 Actually, only since March. I've been on their boards. And for, I think this would have been my fourth year, but I've only actually been the community coordinator since March. And where are you from? I'm from Newfoundland originally. Well, part of Newfoundland, I grew up in, um, a little town outside of Gander called Appleton.
Speaker 0 00:01:45 I spent a decent amount of time in candor. Oh, lucky you there's got to be honest. There's not much doing Gander there. Isn't
Speaker 2 00:01:53 You can take a Gander it's and stuff. So,
Speaker 0 00:01:58 Yeah, there's a lot of planes that fly in and um, they have a main highway that goes through. There's a pretty good, um, Tim Horton's. Yep. There's a good two more executives too, actually, I think. Yep. Is there a bad Tim Horton's though? You already know where it could call. I haven't been to one yet. No,
Speaker 2 00:02:16 I think they're they're pretty good. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:02:18 So yeah, Gander I've been to a lot. So when did you move to Fort Macquarie? How old were you when you moved?
Speaker 3 00:02:24 I wasn't that it wasn't that long ago. It's only been eight years. Only
Speaker 0 00:02:28 Been eight years. That was, that was a bit of hill. Okay. So you went to, so you didn't move here as a child or anything. You moved here as a young adult?
Speaker 3 00:02:36 Yeah. We'll say young, young
Speaker 0 00:02:37 Man. There we go. We'll take it. So did you, when you grew up outside of Gander, but did you end up moving around at all or so when I was
Speaker 3 00:02:46 15, we moved to Gander. And then when I was 19, I moved to Nova Scotia. Then I moved back to St. John's and then up here. Well, part of Nova Scotia, uh, and field just by the airport. Okay. You like airports?
Speaker 0 00:03:02 Sure. I was dating an aircraft mechanic. Oh, there we go. So it made sense. There you go. Now you lived in St. John's as well. How long did you live in St. John's for X years. Ooh, that must have been a fun six years.
Speaker 3 00:03:16 I actually, I honestly have never been on George street. What?
Speaker 0 00:03:19 Nope, that was loud. Sorry for everybody at home. I screamed that. How did you, how did you live in St. John's and never
Speaker 3 00:03:25 Go to George street? I've been on George street, obviously. I walked it, but it never actually went down at night to go to the bars. Are you
Speaker 0 00:03:31 Just not a fun? However, I am not a club person. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. Wow. By the
Speaker 3 00:03:41 Time I got to St. John's. I was so far over my drinking clubbing stage. There's regular bars there too though. Yeah. I went to those, but I like to eat during the day. Never did the George street. Yeah. No.
Speaker 0 00:03:56 Oh my gosh. I've done George street festival. I've done Canada day there. I also did Mardi Gras, which is Halloween. The Halloween parties. There are off the chain. Yeah. It's cold though. Right? It's a wow. I love St. John's St John's is beautiful. St. John's is beautiful. Like I love 'em. I used to stay in the Delta. Yes. That's raid like literally two blocks away from George street. One block away from water street and I'd wake up in the morning and I would run and I would run up signal hill. Then I'd come back down and like what a beautiful,
Speaker 3 00:04:33 I was home a couple of years ago. Uh, we had a bit of a family emergency and the first day I was there, it was beautiful. Sun was shining. It was November. So we were like in the middle of fall, it's like, I could totally move back here. That's right. And then the rest of the week was Rangers all and fall, get our wet. I'm going back to Fort Mac. Sit. I'm done. My first time
Speaker 0 00:04:52 Going to Newfoundland was in the summer. It was summer, but like summer and Fort McMurray, it's hot, hot. And like the sun never disappears. Like it's bright all the time. Yeah. So I'm going to Newfoundland. I fly into a deer lake and I'm staying in Cornerbrook and uh, it's freezing snow. It didn't snow. Thank goodness. It didn't snow, but it was so cold. It was like fall, like deep fall. And so my dress attire that I had packed was not appropriate. It was forced Fort McMurray. And I remember, um, my girlfriend at the time wife now, um, she was seeing these credit card bills come through and she's like, are you buying a whole new wardrobe out there or something? And I'm like, yeah, I am. It's cold. Like sometimes the sun comes out and it's warm, but most of the time, like it's cold, it's cold. And I was not ready for that in the summer. So cause
Speaker 3 00:05:42 Yeah, our summers don't really start till August. September.
Speaker 0 00:05:45 Yeah. Yeah. And then they're done. <inaudible>
Speaker 3 00:05:51 St John's generally stays warmer a bit longer because it's surrounded by the ocean by the time the ocean warms. Yeah. It keeps us warmer. That's right. That's right.
Speaker 0 00:06:00 I was kind of bamboozled because if, um, you spend any time on the Atlantic provinces, like PEI, or even like in Nova Scotia, Scotia, brand Halifax, it's warm. So I just assumed, I mean, I made the wrong assumption. It was cold. So eight years ago you said, okay, Maritimes, I'm out and you moved to Fort McMurray. Why, why did you come out to
Speaker 3 00:06:21 Fort Mac? I finished, I was in school doing therapeutic recreation. I finished my course and I had a job back home, but it was a job that really, you need it to be a social worker for. Right. And I just, I was like, no, I can't do this. Right. I don't, I couldn't handle seeing like all these abused kids. It's tough. So my sister was already up here and she's like, well, spinal cord injury is going to be hiring soon. So I came up here and that's where I started. I literally came up here for that job and managed to land it. That's right.
Speaker 0 00:06:55 That's awesome. And so you've been working in the nonprofit sector pretty much the whole time that you've been here. Oh yeah. So now you've transferred over to the Legion. So how did that happen? Cause I know you guys used to cause I was there. I know you guys used to put on events sometimes at the Legion and anyways, so how, how did you transfer over now?
Speaker 3 00:07:14 I joined the board. Everything that happens to me is completely by, I just kind of go with the flow and this offense, a friend of mine had joined the board, but she had to step down. So she asked me to step up and do it in her place. And so I did and I just kind of got roped into it and they actually asked me a couple of times to take over that role. And I was like, no, I'm working with spinal cord. I'm good there. Right. Have all my vacation benefits, all that stuff. And then in January due to funding because we hadn't had a casino this year or last year and uh, where the United way was stretched. So thin, I ended up having to, they had to close my office. So I, and I was renting the office space from the Legion. So I called pat and I was like, Hey, so spinal cord shut down. And he said, do you need a job? I said, yes I do.
Speaker 0 00:08:11 Yeah, exactly. And the rest is history.
Speaker 3 00:08:13 I had a couple of months break and then I started with the leader. That's
Speaker 0 00:08:16 Awesome. And now the Legion is, it's a bang of spot. It's a lot of fun to be around there. Be down there. Yeah. You guys have reopened now
Speaker 3 00:08:25 Lie. 10th, July 10th have an official July 10th reopening date. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:08:30 But you guys had like a little outdoor, um, I don't know what you want to come market. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:08:35 A few weekends ago, last weekend, last
Speaker 0 00:08:37 Week I went to nine tend. It was lovely. I really liked it. It was hot. It was windy. Yeah. I met a fan there. Do you want to hear that story? Yes. I would love to hear that. Listen to this story for Macquarie. So there's this lady at the market who just kept like looking at me. Right. Anyways, neither here nor there go into the parking lot. And my little boy is skateboarding around. We're chatting with some friends and this woman just keeps coming in and out of a car in and on her car. And then she finally comes out of the car, approaches me very quickly in the parking lot and just points at me. He said, you are you Mac city? Hello? I was just like, well, my name is Elliot videos. Like I do host the Mac city morning show and she's like, I knew it. And she ran back to her car and she like opened the door and yelled at her daughter. I told you it was him. And then she came over and took a bunch of photos. And it was my first experience of some form of fandom are getting from the Mac city show
Speaker 4 00:09:33 At least. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody knows. Elliott PA. Yeah. So anyways, it was pretty cool.
Speaker 0 00:09:39 It was a pretty cool moment. And uh, thank you to the Legion for making that moment happen. Awesome. Yeah. But yeah, the one thing I will say about your, uh, the market that you had, although great. It was lovely. I liked all the vendors. I was there. I ended up purchasing some stuff. You must have some grief with the wind.
Speaker 3 00:09:55 We did. Um, we had a table, one of our tables. They're all tempered glass. Yeah. And she had the umbrella up and the wind picked up and um, Rella pulled out and the glass just shattered everywhere. What a mess. Luckily, nobody was hurt, but it was just, yeah, it'll be nice when you can do those markets indoors again. Yes. Well we could have, but it was set up for bingo and I was kind of like, this is supposed to go till 10 o'clock so we would have to go up and onset it up for bingo. Then do the market and then reset it up for bingo the next morning. And I was just like, if you guys want to do that fine, but we're going to have to do that. So they opted to stay outside. I got a question about bingo, sure. Little
Speaker 0 00:10:37 Known Elliot, Pierre FAQ. I'm going to get heat for this. Like I've played bingo before as a kid, like at school and stuff. And my mom had one of those little things at home, so I'd played bingo. I get the overall concept of it, but I've never played bingo outside of a home. Right. So well, I've played bingo on the radio in the east coast. That was a lot of fun. So when you played bingo here, like what kind of stakes are we talking? How, how, how, how much money can I potentially win it?
Speaker 3 00:11:03 So if you get our Bonanza right now, it's at 2,400 bucks, 2,400 bucks, it's gone as high as nine grand.
Speaker 0 00:11:10 So what has it Bonanza back in the day? That was a restaurant, which was like a buffet for me. So, or a TV show. There we go. The TV show. Yeah. So what's a Bonanza and bingo.
Speaker 3 00:11:19 So Bonanza is just an extra game. We play, you buy the extra tickets. The tickets are a dollar, I think, or the extra playing cards, I should say the dollar. And then you just, you have to get a full card in so many numbers. And the, every, if it doesn't go in that many numbers, you get a constellation prize. But if it goes, then, you know, you get whatever is added up and it's like, uh, accumulate it's. Yeah,
Speaker 0 00:11:42 Really. So let's say I'm just hanging out regular bingo though. I'm showing up. I buy my card. I yell bingo. It depends on how many people are there. Oh, so like based on how many. Oh, so if I'm there by myself and I put in 20 and a hit, bingo, congratulations. You won 20 bucks. 20 bucks. Oh, interesting. So you want it to be like, you want the odds to be stacked against you. So like when you win it's how much sweeter.
Speaker 3 00:12:08 Yeah. Yeah. So we have different tiers. So tier one, you might win like 15 bucks on, depending on what? Cause it's like, you have their lines and then you have a full card and so on. So, so you might win 15 bucks. Um, but if we hit like tier three, then it's 50 bucks.
Speaker 5 00:12:24 Um, how are you ever play bingo, uh, in school? Never like with money on the line? No,
Speaker 0 00:12:33 I think this is something we got to go try out
Speaker 3 00:12:35 Tomorrow or Sunday, I should say because only Thursday, Sunday is world bingo day. Okay. So we have a couple of extra things going on down there as well
Speaker 0 00:12:44 Was like bingo. All day event. Like what time does it start? What time does it finish doors
Speaker 3 00:12:48 Open at 11, the cards go, uh, cards go on sale at, you know. Okay. And then, uh, the first ball drops at one o'clock. How long does it go? Till three 30. Okay. So what are the prices per card? It's a dollar per card. So if you buy nine cards, it's $9.
Speaker 0 00:13:07 This seems like a steal of a deal. Yeah. How many people are showing up to this? Usually?
Speaker 3 00:13:11 Um, in the summer, the numbers are always lower. Right? Of course. But, uh, actually we've had, I think we had 53 last week. Okay. So generally in the winter we might hit like a hundred and 115, but in the summer the numbers are always a bit less. Is
Speaker 0 00:13:25 It stereotypical, like older people playing
Speaker 3 00:13:27 Bingo. A lot of young people who come in and play nice. I will say it does skew heavily Newfie. Um, yeah, it is like, it's pretty well attended by all ages, men, women, everybody.
Speaker 0 00:13:42 Last time I played bingo. I was in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. And uh, I was like driving and I was driving with my boss and we heard, oh, get your bingo tickets for like this Friday, yada, yada. I was like, what are you? Bingo tickets on the radio. And so, yeah, we went and we went to the corner store and I was like, Hey, can you, uh, can I get a bingo ticket? And like yeah, you tune into the radio and yeah, you listen to the dab. It was the coolest thing ever. Yeah. Super like, that's a great way to get like a community involved and
Speaker 3 00:14:11 Yeah. And it, and our bingo also helps the community because, uh, so half of it has to go into like the money we make, half of it goes into an account for like our AGLC account, but then a quarter of what's left goes to a nonprofit for the month. So every month we have a different nonprofit now for, until September it's going to be the Legion. Right. Of course. So, yeah, they get like a, so when I was with spinal cord injury, I did it and I got 1600 bucks for a month for supplying two volunteers every Sunday. That's awesome. So yeah, it's, it's really, really great. And in September, we're going to start taking in other nonprofits again, to come in.
Speaker 0 00:14:49 Sweet. I'll tell the bingo what's going on at the Legion trivia, starting back up
Speaker 3 00:14:56 Friday, I host and write it. So I'm always, um, so yeah, the first trivia this Friday, um, is Canadian trivia. Okay. So because Canada day is coming up and this is actually celebrate Canada week. Oh yeah. Okay. So yeah, we'll have Canadian trivia and then, um, on the second July 2nd, it's a world UFO day. So we're doing aliens and space
Speaker 5 00:15:22 And conspiracies conspiracy.
Speaker 3 00:15:25 So yeah, but then the regular trivia is just like general knowledge everyday, right? Yeah. Okay. So trivia is every Friday. Our jam nights are gonna start back up on Saturday. We're talking like anybody with a guitar or they can come in and play.
Speaker 0 00:15:42 Okay. I honestly, my mind went with like preservatives jam, peanut butter and jam going very old. Yeah. Well, listen, we were talking about bingo and I love jam. I actually had a peanut butter and jam sandwich this morning and it was delicious.
Speaker 4 00:15:57 That's my jam. That's right.
Speaker 0 00:15:59 So people just show up with their instruments and just like jam out.
Speaker 3 00:16:01 And we have bands who regularly come in and play, but uh, yeah, anybody can show up and play whatever they want to boy. Cool. We don't do karaoke, but we do have jam nights. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:16:13 And then you guys have dark nights potentially and
Speaker 3 00:16:15 Darts and pool. And um, the next big thing we have coming up is our, um, 22 shoot. What's that? So if you have a 22 long rifle, you can sign up and go out and show how good you can shoot. Listen,
Speaker 0 00:16:31 This is funny. Cause today I forgot. Like I was like, oh yeah, she's coming in. She's from the place. And I'm like, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I did like the gun side and Tanner's like the gun range. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You know, come on. And then like, it hit me. I was like the Legion. He's like, Hey, no guns at the Legion. There's lots of guns. I said, there's lots of guns. I believe in. He's like, not that they can fire. And I said to Shea, but now it turns out you're firing guns at the Legion. Well, we're not
Speaker 3 00:16:55 Firing them at the Legion. It'll actually be held at, at, at the range.
Speaker 4 00:16:58 Yeah. The place where you shoot guns. Yeah. Bang, bang, Tanner,
Speaker 0 00:17:03 Tanner wins. So I thought I had a moment
Speaker 6 00:17:05 Of glory. <inaudible> do enjoy doing that to people.
Speaker 0 00:17:13 So
Speaker 3 00:17:14 There's prizes and everything, but it is basically like just mostly bragging rights. Like, so it's 25 yards with iron sights. So no scope. And then it's uh, 50 yards and yeah, 25, 50 yards with a scope. And we also have a time shoot. Okay. So 10 targets as fast as you can in the biathlon range that they have out there.
Speaker 0 00:17:36 Clayton Altera is, is watching. He took me in Tanner and shoot guns. My very first gun ever hae competition for your brother. So yeah, no, the Legion is cool. You guys do so much neat things there I've literally went to everything at the Legion. I've been to a wedding reception at Legion. My father retired. His retirement party was at the
Speaker 3 00:17:53 Legion. Yeah. Or banquet hall is available for rent for pretty much. Yeah. Tons of school events have gone there. RD program was hard and
Speaker 0 00:18:03 A rotary club used to meet there.
Speaker 3 00:18:05 I don't know if they still, still, well, they'll start back up on those days when we reopened, it's a great
Speaker 0 00:18:09 Facility. A lot of people utilize it and I participate in some adult beverages on a good Friday or Saturday night down at the Legion. It's always fun. Yeah. It's a cool place to work. And like with the renovations that happened prior to, and now after this last flood, the place is beautiful.
Speaker 3 00:18:25 Oh yeah. I'm actually quite proud of it. Cause I had a lot of say I was the only board member on site. So like if they needed like a color or so you got to pick it well, Hey, good job. Pick the colors and all that stuff. Cool. Well,
Speaker 0 00:18:39 We're at the part of the show called the Mac CD minute. This is Tanner segment. He's going to ask you five questions. I have no idea what he's going to ask you. So best of luck, Tanner hit it with the Mac city minute. Alrighty.
Speaker 2 00:18:49 Question. Number one. What is something about Fort McMurray that reminds you of back home?
Speaker 3 00:18:55 Oh my God. There's so many new, easier hearing the accents every now and then it's like right. What part of new Finland are you? But also nature wise. It kind of like the geography here is a lot like Newfoundland. True question.
Speaker 2 00:19:13 Number two. What is your favorite event hosted at the Legion?
Speaker 3 00:19:17 Oh, I'm biased because I run them all. So it's hard to choose. Um, I enjoyed the trivia
Speaker 2 00:19:26 Question number three. What is your go-to Fort Mac takeout place.
Speaker 3 00:19:32 Take your place stacks. And I'm not just saying that. Cause Steven, Cathy are taking it over there. Food is good. I was just
Speaker 0 00:19:38 Going to ask, is this a bias vote? No, no. Their food is really good. Cause it's
Speaker 2 00:19:43 Question number four. What is one of your favorite memories from your time with spinal cord?
Speaker 3 00:19:50 Oh, wow. Um, that's a hard choice. There's eight years of memory. I, when I was with spinal cord injury, just my entire time with them, because I got to learn so much about the disabled community and the barriers they're up against. So yeah. Um, I wouldn't be able to choose a favorite memory. It was a very interesting and informative part for me. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:20:17 And your final question, what is your favorite part about working with the community? Through the Legion?
Speaker 3 00:20:23 Oh, meeting all the people like I've just been exposed to so many. We had a world war II vet. He was 95 years old. His name was Bruce Laxton like, he became like a surrogate grandpa to me and I wouldn't have met him if I hadn't been out of the Legion. Unfortunately he passed away just as COVID was starting. Not from COVID but it, yeah, so we lost him, but um, yeah, like the I've met. Absolutely.
Speaker 0 00:20:51 That's the cool thing about the Legion, especially in this community, like you have a young community. And so when you think about the Legion or when I think of the Legion more often than not, you think older, um, and fair enough, there are some older individuals that go there, 95, but like there's a lot of like young people that actually go to the Legion and said, it's a cool spot to hang.
Speaker 3 00:21:12 Our Legion is actually very young in comparison. Like our, our board has made up almost entirely of veterans and they're all younger than 60. I say so. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:21:23 Yeah. That's great. And I find the crowd they're like, whenever I've gone down to like partaken pool or some adult beverages down there, like there's people hanging out that are my age. Just like just chilling. Yeah. Yeah. So that's a good spot. So a Towner tapped his watch a few minutes ago and I just kept talking. So that means that, uh, we are coming to the end of the show. We're getting closer to the 20 minute mark. Uh, this is the part of the show where, uh, our guests get to do a shameless plug. So whatever you want to shout out, this is a, this is your opportunity to do it.
Speaker 3 00:21:53 Okay. So our 50 50 raffle, which is online, has been extended until July 31st. Uh, so you can still get tickets for that. It goes to 20 grand. So you have a chance to win 10 grand here, but the minimum you'll win is four grand. Okay. And yeah, my next big upcoming event is our 22 shoot, but we also have a rifle raffle. So just get on that. And July 3rd, we have the funny Fest comedy tour coming. Oh. So we have two comedians coming up and tickets are only 25 bucks. Oh,
Speaker 0 00:22:25 Okay. It's going
Speaker 3 00:22:26 To be like one of the first nights out after everything reopens.
Speaker 0 00:22:30 I said I'm all for doing anything. I want to go out again. Come on, go out again. Yeah. Okay. Sweet. So there's a lot of cool things happen at the Legion. Oh
Speaker 3 00:22:38 Yeah. I'm always busy. Okay. Well
Speaker 0 00:22:41 Listen, thank you for coming. I really do appreciate it. If you're always busy and you always have things to do, this is a great place to promote it. So I expect to see you come back again again and again. Absolutely. Awesome. Sweet. All right. Well, everybody at home. Thank you so much for tuning in. This has been another episode of the Mac city morning show. Um, like I said, thanks. I appreciate every view we get. So it means the world to me on that note have a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 2 00:23:26 Talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
