Linda and Dean McCoy have been named the community’s volunteers of the year by the Clyde Agricultural Society.
The hardware was handed out before a sellout crowd of 200 at Clyde Community Hall during the society’s annual Ag 500 banquet Saturday, April 30.
Society president Perry Lumayko said it was an easy choice to honour a couple that has given so much.
“They’ve done it for years … all their lives basically. Anything you do, they’re more than willing to help,” Lumayko said.
Among the couple’s volunteer endeavours include creating the Clyde Summer Solstice celebration, organizing the village’s centenary celebrations in 2014, involvement with minor baseball and building the community playground.
“It’s not just one group they work with. They work with everybody. They work with the school, the ag society, they did parks and play, they’ll help anybody,” Lumayko said.
“You don’t even have to ask them, they just do it.”
The McCoys where humbled by the recognition, but said it’s easy to give back to a community like Clyde.
“It feels awesome. I’ve grown up here since 1980 and I love this community. It’s a good community, it’s got good people — it’s like a big family,” said Dean.
“I love doing things for kids, people … it’s fun.”
“We’re honoured, obviously. Every board we’re on and every event we’re part of, we’re not the only ones there,” Linda said.
“There are many people that are just as deserving as we are.”
Linda was the driving force behind creating the Summer Solstice event, a parade and community event celebrated each June on the weekend nearest the summer solstice.
“We had three young boys in the community and we looked forward to having something in the community they could be excited about too,” Linda said.
“We wanted to have our own parade in Clyde instead of having to go somewhere else.”
“It hadn’t been here for 20 years and she started it, she made it very successful,” Dean said of his wife’s efforts.
Ultimately, Lumayko said it’s dedicated community members like the McCoys that allow the community to continue to shine.
“You hear of so many towns that had events that have gone away and it’s because it’s harder to get volunteers,” he said.
“It’s amazing. That’s what makes this town work so well.”
As per tradition, the previous volunteer of the year, which was mayor Doug Nyal, presented the award to the new winners.
The event was also a chance to hand out some additional accolades including a five-year service award to firefighter Travis Boissonnault and the 2015 GROWTH Alberta Business Excellence Award to Pat and Wendy Patterson of Clyde Auctioneering.
