I was a little worried when I arrived at the Coliseum LRT stop to find 34 people milling about – not a single one of them wearing any red or poppies. My faith in my fellow Edmontonians was restored when I arrived at Churchill Square. While we didn’t have quite the turnout that the Red Fridays rally in Ottawa had, it wasn’t bad. I stopped counting when I reached a hundred in the small section of the square I was standing in.

It was a slow start. The cold blew out the sound board and we stood around stomping to keep warm. The rally got underway shortly after noon and was completed before 1:00 pm.

A few bumps aside, the Red Friday rally organizers (Married to the Canadian Forces and Edmonton Salutes) did a great job. Shawn Hlookoff gave a stirring rendition of his song Soldier and MCpl Paul Franklin gave a rousing speech to many cheers from the service members and their families in the audience. Frequently mentioned during speeches was the fact that everyone, regardless of political motivations or whether or not they agree with the current mission in Afghanistan, can wear red to show support for our troops. Think of Red Fridays like poppies. You don’t have to have fought in a war or agree with war in order to wear red. You just have to want to show support for the men and women of our Canadian Forces both at home and abroad.

Photos after the break…

Warning: Photo quality is poor. These pictures were taken on a camera phone as I didn’t have a digital camera available.

Pre-rally Shopping for Support Our Troops gear from the MFRC and Canex.

Approximately 11:20 am

Pre-rally – Canadian Forces display

Churchill Square starting to fill.

There was a large media presence in the square. Radio stations, TV news crews, radio journalists… they were all there. Even the Forces public affairs branch was there.

Technorati Tags: Edmonton, red Friday, Canadian Forces, Shawn Hlookoff

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