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Candle campaign launched for Edmonton's Canada 150 projects

A new fundraising campaign that kicked off Wednesday will raise money for three legacy projects in Edmonton that will honour Canada's 150th anniversary.

The city's Canada 150 celebrations committee officially launched the "Light a Candle for Canada" campaign at city hall.

"We want to have a party without any tax money, so this is the biggest crowdfunding exercise that we're doing in Edmonton this year," said Satya Das, chair of the city's Canada 150 fundraising committee.

"It's a 100-day countdown to Canada Day, 100 days to go, 100 days to put in the money for the party," Das said. "Let's get it done.

"This is Edmonton's party. We're inviting citizens to the party and we have some great legacy projects going."

Edmontonians are invited to make charitable donations to support the development of three Canada 150 projects:

- Canada 150 Mosaic Mural — Murals produced with tiles painted by Edmontonians will be assembled by local artists. Two murals have been commissioned but where they will be installed has not been finalized. Das said they'll be in prominent places where people can easily see them.

- Paint the Rails — Young artists will brighten Edmonton's LRT stations with works of art that express the diverse histories of Edmonton and Canada.

- Canada 150 Tree Planting — Community volunteers will work with the city to plant trees in parks in the fall of 2017. The project will involve planting a grove of Manitoba maples, Das said.

Virtual candles cost $1.50 each. A $15 contribution to the campaign will "light" 10 of them.

The goal is to raise at least $150,000 — or 100,000 candles, Das said.

"But you know, somewhere between 100,000 and a million will get it done for us."

Donations will be collected by the Edmonton Community Foundation. All proceeds will go toward the legacy projects.

Donations can be made online or by mail. The campaign runs until July 1.

More information is available at Edmonton's Canada 150 website.