🏁 Get Ready for the 35th Annual Rotary Club of Okotoks Soap Box Derby! 🏁
Mark your calendars and bring your lawn chairs and gather the whole family — the 35th Annual Rotary Club of Okotoks Soap Box Derby is racing back into town on Saturday, June 7th!
This beloved community tradition will see over 100 kids aged 8 to 14 take to the hill on Crystal Ridge Drive (between Downey Road and North Railway Street) for a day packed with excitement, cheering, and community spirit.
🕘 Start Time & Schedule
Practice runs begin at 9:00 AM, so come early and get a good spot!
Races continue through the day, with live commentary keeping everyone in the loop.
In case of rain, the event will be moved to Sunday, June 8th.
🎉 Family Fun for Everyone
Spectators can expect a carnival-style atmosphere, complete with:
Concession stands offering tasty burgers, hot dogs and refreshments
A live PA system announcing each young driver as they race down the hill
Exciting moments as some carts hit speeds of up to 50 km/h!
🏆 Prizes & Creativity
While it’s all in good fun, there will be prizes for:
Best Costume
Most Enthusiastic Driver
Best Decorated Cart
And more!
Every cart is unique, and the kids' creativity, courage, and teamwork make this a truly special event year after year.
🙌 Powered by Sponsors and Volunteers
The Derby wouldn't be possible without our wonderful sponsors and the hard work of over 75 volunteers, including amazing support from members of the Okotoks Dawgs baseball teams. Their energy and community spirit help keep everything running smoothly and safely.
📣 Come cheer on our local youth and be part of a fun-filled Okotoks tradition! Whether you're a proud parent, a curious newcomer, or a long-time derby fan, this event has something for everyone.
We’ll see you at the hill on June 7th! 🏎️🎈
For more information, email us at okotoksrotary@gmail.com!
Don't miss out! Registration for the June 7th, 2025 Rotary Club of Okotoks Soap Box Derby opens on April 1st. Registrations are limited to the first 100 youngsters, aged 8 - 14 as of race day! To register on April 1st or later, please go to www.okotoksrotary.ca or click this link to go directly to the order form. Please also print off the rules and schedule form as well as a waiver form for each racer. Watch this space for updates as well as a workshop date/time.
Show your Canadian pride and subscribe to the Rotary Club of Okotoks & 1st Okotoks Scouts Canadian flag fundraiser. For $75, volunteers will place a Canadian flag on your front lawn in advance of three long weekends, Victoria Day, Canada Day, and Labour Day, and collect them the weekend following. Funds raised go towards Rotary youth and community projects as well as Scouts programming. Click here to order your flag today!
If you have any questions, please call our flag chairman, Jeff Foss at 403-808-7203.
It's not too late! Get in on the patriotic fun and help support Rotary community projects and Scouts at the same time! Click here to order yours today!
Flags for the Canada Day long weekend go up on June 22nd.
Flags go up 1 week prior to the long weekends and are taken down and stored the following week. By ordering now, you will have a flag placed by Rotary and Scout volunteers for the Canada Day and Labour Day long weekends.
If you have any questions, please call Jeff at 403-808-7203.
For just $10/ticket, you could win his and hers high quality Raleigh Getaway Electric Bikes worth over $2799.00 each! While you're there, you can also purchase Bonus 50/50 tickets to further enhance your purchase.
We are extremely grateful for the generous support of Canadian Tire Okotoks for this "fun"draiser!
The Rotary Club of Okotoks is a non-profit service club delivering “good” in Okotoks and the Foothills Region. “Service Above Self” is our Motto, and everything we do is about giving back to the community. The funds we raise helps us to support needs in the community, such as:
· Supporting seniors’ programing at the Okotoks Seniors Centre
· Purchasing a shower chair for the Foothills Country Hospice
· Providing meals to shut-ins via Meals on Wheels
· Sponsoring young entrepreneurs to attend the Rotary Alberta Youth Entrepreneurship Camp
· Offering bursaries to local students to attend post-secondary education
· Administering an International Rotary Youth Exchange
We are excited to announce that the 1st Okotoks Scouts and the Rotary Club of Okotoks have teamed up in the patriotic flag fundraiser, benefiting both group's youth and community programs!
To order your 2025 flag, click HERE and for $75, volunteers with Scouts and Rotary will place a flag on your lawn in advance of the Victoria Day, Canada Day, and Labour Day long weekends.
About the 1st Okotoks Scouts:
1st Okotoks Scouting offers Adventure!
Adventure is about exploring new things, sharing new ideas, learning new skills, and creating new paths. Whether youth are pursuing outdoor challenges, experimenting with STEM concepts, or tackling a project related to personal expression or community development, they are growing as individuals and building life skills.
Our membership includes:
Beavers 5-7
Cubs 8-10
Scouts 11-14
Venturers 15-17
Volunteer Scouters
About the Rotary Club of Okotoks:
The motto of Rotary is "Service Above Self" and we offer the opportunity to Okotoks and area residents to join us in our efforts to improve the lives of others through our many Youth Service, Community Service and International Service programs. Our youth programs include scholarships, leadership and entrepreneurship camps, and international youth exchange. Our community programs include partnerships like this one and our current major project will add a wheelchair accessible swing set at Bill Robertson park. Our International program includes projects like Homes of Hope (building homes for the needy in Mexico) and the Los Amigos project (bringing used fire trucks, ambulances and handi-busses to Mexico).
We thank you for your continued support of our efforts to improve the lives of youngsters and others in our communities. If you have any questions or to learn more about our programs, please let us know.
Hurry! Register today for your spot in the 34th Annual Rotary Club of Okotoks Soap Box Derby!
We are 75% sold!
Registration is $80 if you have a cart with our chassis kit, or if you need a kit plus plywood, the extra cost is $145. (Sorry, we don't sell kits without registration).
The Rotary Club of Okotoks is hosting a Robbie Burns Dinner and Dance on January 27th, benefitting Rowan House. If you or your business would like to support this effort and support Rowan House, we have several ways to help. You can:
become a sponsor,
purchase tickets,
purchase 50/50 tickets, or
provide a silent auction item.
To do the first 3, please go to www.okotoksrotary.ca and click on the Robbie Burns Dinner and Dance link in the menu.
If you have a silent auction item that you would like picked up, please call Robert at 306-914-4679 or send him an email at rgollan@live.ca. Items call also be dropped off with Belinda at Hear Right Canada (adjacent to Shoppers Drug Mart) at 31 Southridge Dr Unit 189.
In support of Rowan House, the Robbie Burns Dinner and Dance fundraisere is being supplemented by a 50/50 raffle, to be drawn the night of the dinner. Although we'd love to see you there, you do not need to be in attendance to win. Please purchase your tickets HERE!
Witheasymax by ENMAXas our presenting sponsor this year, we welcome you to join us, in support of Rowan House Society, and become a sponsor of specific portions of this typically sold-out event.
Click HERE for more information and to become a sponsor. For more information, please email us at okotoksrotary@gmail.com or call 403-808-7203.
We will get together once again for this popular event, in support of Rowan House Society. There are just 300 seats available, so order yours soon, to avoid disappointment.
This event will be held on January 27, 2024 at 5 PM at the Foothills Centennial Centre in Okotoks.
Tickets are now on sale! Click HERE to order yours now!
The members of the Rotary Club of Okotoks are pleased to announce this year's winners of the Rotary Club of Okotoks Career Opportunity Awards. This year's winners are Georgia Pugh and Emma Duke. Both young ladies attended Grade 12 at the Foothills Composite High School and are moving on to post-secondary education, supported in part by our awards. We are also grateful to our community youth program sponsors, including Sobeys Okotoks and Okotoks Ford for their ongoing support.
Georgia Pugh
Hello! My name is Georgia Pugh and I have been performing since the age of eight. I have been singing with the wonderful Naomi Koch in Okotoks for ten years and was a Young Canadian with the Calgary Stampede for nearly 6 years. I started performing with Storybook Theatre in 2019 and have been in their productions of Matilda, The Neverending Story, Descendants, and Legally Blonde. There is nothing I love more than being on stage and I am beyond excited to start my first year of studies at Sheridan College taking their Honours Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance program this fall!
Emma Duke
My name is Emma Duke and I, alongside my family, have grown up in Okotoks. My family, and mentors, have been a huge influence in my life, helping guide me through school and other activities. Since I was young, I have seen the importance of volunteering and was inspired to become a positive light in the community. My parents enrolled me in Girl Guides when I was just five years old, and for the next thirteen years it became a part of my weekly routine. I spent several hours working and volunteering throughout the community with this program. Over the years, it showed me the importance of kindness and hard work, and as I made my way through school I maintained these values. I joined my high school's Yearbook and Student Union clubs, where I was the chair of several events and activities. And as I transition into a new way of learning and a new school, I hope to keep the same mindset and involve myself in my school's community as much as possible. And with your financial help and the support from the role models in my life, I am ready and prepared to enjoy this new chapter of my education.
Our friends at Okotoks Ford Lincoln have once again partnered with the Rotary Club of Okotoks as a Diamond Sponsor in support of local youth programs and projects. We are very grateful for the confidence that Okotoks Ford Lincoln and the Wood family have shown in our club's ability to deliver on quality youth programming.
Gerry Wood, founder and Principal of the Wood Automotive Group shared, "Okotoks Ford Lincoln, the Wood Automotive Group and the Wood family are proud to call the Foothills our home and we’re equally proud to support the Okotoks Rotary Club and their many projects that make our community a better place to live, work and play."
Okotoks Ford Partners with the Rotary Club of Okotoks for Youth Programs
Sign up HERE to order your temporary flag and help us help the community!
For the third year in a row, your friends and neighbors at the Rotary Club of Okotoks will be running a flag fundraiser for community and youth projects and programs.
Show your pride in our country and help line your street with Canadian flags. For your $60 subscription, Rotarians and Friends of Rotary will install a Canadian flag on your front lawn prior to three long weekends including:
Victoria Day
Canada Day
Labour Day
Volunteers will remove the flag on the weekend following these long weekends.
Please pay online with a credit card. *hint: be sure to select your card type at the top of the page.
If you have any difficulty signing up or if your flag is in need of service, please call Flag Coordinator Jeff at 403-808-7203.
Rotary Club of Okotoks President Robert Gollan and Robbie Burns event committee members joined Jim Avery, Sprung VP, Lynne Douglas, Sprung Manager along withRowan House representatives Linette Soldan and Kelly Smit to celebrate the gift of over $32,000 to Rowan House Society, representing the proceeds from the January 28, 2023 Robbie Burns Dinner and Dance.
We are grateful for our sponsors, including presenting sponsor, Sprung Structures, as well as event patrons for their support.
See you next January for the next installment of the Robbie Burns Dinner and Dance.
Our friends at Sobeys Okotoks, David and JoAnn Gilbert, have once again partnered with the Rotary Club of Okotoks as a Diamond sponsor of our annual Youth Programs and Projects. We are ever so grateful for David and JoAnn's continued support and confidence in the Rotary Club of Okotoks as we serve the citizens and youth of our community.
Sobeys Okotoks is a family owned Grocery store, serving the Okotoks Community since 1982 with Quality and Trust. From quality food and staff, to the trust of long-time customers, which have led to 11 Awards in the Western Wheel’s best of the Foothills readership survey, the Gilbert family business is rooted in the community and that means giving back to the town they call home.
Sobeys Okotoks Partners With Rotary Club of Okotoks for Youth Programs
We couldn't host this annual family event without our wonderful sponsors! Partner with us for the 33rd annual Rotary Club of Okotoks Soap Box Derby as we work to provide a great family experience.
Explore and secure your Sponsorship Opportunities HERE!
Soap Box Derby sponsorships are an affordable way to show your community support and range from $100 to $500.
If your company needs to be invoiced for your sponsorship, please email us at okotoksrotary@gmail.com. We'd be happy to help.
Being pulled over by law enforcement can be distressing for most people, but can be particularly unnerving and a barrier for drivers who have developmental disabilities. Rotary and Inclusion Foothills arranged for 5 clients to participate in traffic stop simulation exercises along with Q&A at the HTA parking lot.
Thanks to Art and Cherie for the tour, mead tasting and great hospitality tonight at Chinook Honey Company! Rotarians and friends learned all about the art of mead making tonight with a dash of good humour.
We want to take this time to thank Chef William and the staff at Crystal Ridge Golf Club for taking such good care of us and for the delicious meals. Please consider this venue as you plan your special events.
What a gorgeous day it was to wrap up the Community Learning Garden for another season. We would like to thank all of our dedicated gardening angels for their hard work this summer. We had one of our most productive harvests ever, due to so many helping hands. Thanks everyone, see you next year!
At Fountain Tire, we’re driven by partnership and are committed to the success of our associates, our owners and you. That means we’ll always treat your vehicle like it’s our own, finding simple, innovative ways to meet your needs and work smarter for you.
At CARSTAR, we offer comprehensive auto body repair services, from minor dents and dings to repairing your accident damage. Whether you've had a fender bender, tangled with Mother Nature or want to freshen up your car's look, you can relax, we'll take it from here!
It's not too late to order your Canadian flag in time for Canada Day and Labour Day long weekends. For just $45, Rotary volunteers will place a Canadian Flag on your lawn. They will set it up the week before and take it down the week after the long weekends.
Proceeds go to Rotary youth programs and community projects.
Okotoks High School Students graduating this year and going on to post-secondary education in Canada can apply HERE for one of two $1500 bursaries from the Rotary Club of Okotoks. Please look for the ROTARY CLUB OF OKOTOKS CAREER OPPORTUNITY AWARDS and click that link to apply. Deadline to apply is June 15th.
If you have any questions, please send us an email to president@okotoksrotary.ca.
Applications are now open for this year's campers for the Rotary Alberta Youth Entrepreneurship Camp at Cypress Hills, Alberta. This year's camp will run from August 7 - 13th. The Rotary Club of Okotoks will cover camp costs for 3 local students aged 13 - 15.
The 2022 Rotary Club Canadian Flag program is now open in Okotoks. This ever popular program is an important fundraiser for youth programs and community projects. We are grateful for our subscribers who, for a donation of $60, get a Canadian flag planted on their front lawn for the weeks before and after Victoria Day, Canada Day and Labour Day long weekends.
Thank you Okotoks for your amazing support. Our 2021 Canadian Flag program is now sold out!
We couldn't do this without the support of our key sponsor, Quigley Electric. We also want to thank Mr. Green's welding class at the Foothills Composite High School, who helped build the flag supports. And finally, we couldn't do this without the Rotarians and friends who provided the labour to assemble and distribute the flags.
On Saturday, May 8th, a group of Rotarians will gather once again at Mike Broemeling's place to assemble the next 100 flags. We have now sold 122 out of 200 subscriptions at the time of this writing. Thanks to those who are actively promoting this fundraiser. It is expected that once the flags go up around town, there will be more subscriptions sold.
Help is still needed on May 15th to install the flags. We have a few people signed up, but as they say, many hands make light work. Let's come together, safely, and kick this off on a high note. Please contact Jeff at 403-808-7203 if you can help.
Subscriptions to the first annual Rotary Club of Okotoks Canadian Flag Program are open now! Thanks to Quigley Electric for the donation of an additional 100 flagpoles (metal conduit) and the welding class at Foothills Composite High School, we are now able to offer 200 subscriptions! A huge thanks to Quigley Electric for their support as a major sponsor! Please support this local company for all your electrical needs.
To order your flag for just $60, which will be installed by Rotarians and friends for the May, July and September long weekends, click HERE:
Subscriptions to the first annual Rotary Club of Okotoks Canadian Flag Program are open now! Limited to the first 100 subscribers, so don't wait. A huge thanks to Quigley Electric for the donation of the metal conduit for the flag poles! A great community supporter!
To order your flag for just $60, which will be installed by Rotarians and friends for the May, July and September long weekends, click HERE:
Wednesday, April 14, @6 PM, the Rotary Club of Okotoks will be holding its first "Pitch Night" via Zoom. Email OkotoksRotary@gmail.com for Zoom connection details.
We are thankful for having Dani Bristow from Shelterbox and Kent Fraser from the Calgary Fish Creek club join us on March 3rd, to bring us up to date with what has been happening at Shelterbox during the global pandemic. We learned that although it made things more challenging, disasters still struck and Rotary partner Shelterbox still responded to help families during these difficult times.
Kent Fraser wanted our members to know that his club is selling the LuminAID inflatable lanterns as a Shelterbox fundraiser. Please contact Kent directly at K-Fraser@shaw.ca for more information. https://www.shelterboxcanada.org/luminaid/
Join us on March 3 at 7 PM as we hear from Kent Fraser and Dani Bristow from Shelterbox Canada. They'll share the unique work and challenges faced by this vital NGO as disasters strike around the world amid COVID-19.
The Drive for 5 is a community-wide effort to raise $50,000 and 5000 lbs of food in May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. All Okotoks-area residents, businesses, business organizations and service clubs are encouraged to participate.
Drawn on January 8, 2020, the winner of the 1929 Studebaker raffle was Masoud Paydar of Calgary.
Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets. Know that your funds will be well invested in Community and Youth programs. We are currently working on building the Inclusive Picnic Shelter next to the Riverside Inclusive Playground.
