On July 9th Pure Country Meats hosted a barbecue to celebrate their 20th anniversary! Zegil Automotive & Transmission put on a car show to add to the festivities.

Pure Country has been a huge part of the community over the last 20 years, and the support they received on their anniversary was fitting for how big Pure Country has been for us. Pure Country Meats owner Shawn Tourout says he was expecting around 400 people to show up, but more than double came.

"Way more than we could ever expect. I think our final count was 750 people fed and right around 1000 people showed up. It went really well. We were really pleased with the community turnout," he said.

Pure Country has been a big part of several communities, not just Strathmore. Tourout said getting support from all over was special.

"We had some people from Calgary, Olds, Okotoks, they came from all over. It was great seeing them, there was a lot of people I hadn't seen for a long time so it was nice seeing them."

It wasn't just Pure Country enjoying the day though, Zegil Automotive also had a lot of fun at the car show! Zegil Automotive & Transmission owner Harold Zegil said

"Everybody was happy, the weather was really nice, there was a lot of nice cars and trucks and even a couple trailers out there. There was a lot of good energy, a lot of positive feedback," Zegil said.

So many people showed up that the car show completely filled up to the point that some had to be turned away. Zegil and Tourout both said turning people away was unfortunate, but they could still enjoy the free barbecue. On top of that, Tourout said he was cooking much longer than expected. While he planned for the barbecue to end at 1:00, they went up to 2:30. However, he said this just added to the experience.

"It was a great problem to have, we had a lot of fun, everybody had a lot of fun. The Zegil family did a great job on the car show part, and Pure Country staff was just amazing helping me out."

The celebration itself gave everyone enough to be happy about, but there was even more to celebrate since they also raised more than $2100 for the Alberta Children's Hospital! It was the perfect way to cap off a spectacular celebration.

"I thought it was great, I thought it was a good atmosphere, great weather, everything fell in place that day."

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