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County prepares celebration of rural women

Rural women in Athabasca County are preparing to gather for the county’s 34th annual Rural Women’s Conference and Awards. The event is being held at the Rochester Community Hall Feb. 8.
Lesia Rys-Popwich’s family poses with her after winning the Modern Farm Woman award at the Athabasca County Rural Women’s Conference and Awards Feb. 2, 2017. This
Lesia Rys-Popwich’s family poses with her after winning the Modern Farm Woman award at the Athabasca County Rural Women’s Conference and Awards Feb. 2, 2017. This year’s conference is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2018. (L-R) Dennis, Lesia, Mary and Jocelyn.

Rural women in Athabasca County are preparing to gather for the county’s 34th annual Rural Women’s Conference and Awards.

The event is being held at the Rochester Community Hall Feb. 8. It features a day of speakers and entertainment aimed at rural women. The celebration also includes awards for the 2017 Modern Farm Woman of the Year and the 2017 Pioneer Farm Woman of the Year.

Lesia Rys-Popowich won the modern farm woman award last year and said the event is a good gathering place for rural women.

“It provides a function for people to socialize, receive information, do some networking and it gets the community together,” she said.

This year’s conference features four speakers, including presentations on home inspections, growing succulent plants, Lyme disease and living with brain disease. Country musical duo Randy and Rai Smith are also scheduled to provide entertainment.

Agricultural services administrative assistant and event organizer Roxanne Senyk said a committee of women goes through speaker possibilities and tries to pick topics of interest for rural women.

“We discuss current topics of interest for the ladies that would attend the conference. It’s kind of a joint effort that way,” Senyk said.

The conference tends to sell out every year, Senyk said, depending on the size of the host facility.

“The ladies attending have always supported us by selling out tickets,” Senyk said, adding the county expects 150 attendees. “People look forward to it every year.”

However, men are not necessarily barred from attending, she added.

“It’s kind of, I would say, an anomaly that a man would attend, but I’m not saying that we would reject them either,” Senyk said, adding that a man had recently asked about attending due to interest in the presentations.

The event celebrates the accomplishments of rural women with its two awards, said Athabasca County communications co-ordinator Karl Kopan.

“It’s a really good feeling to be able to award these women for their dedication to the rural life, their families and to their career,” he said.

Rys-Popowich said the conference is worth attending to get a good taste of the Athabasca community.

“It’s a worthwhile event for people to attend, especially if you’re new to the community. It’s a good place to meet new people and just to see our community dynamics,” Rys-Popowich said.

Tickets for the event are available for $30 at Athabasca Value Drug Mart, the Athabasca County administration office.

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