Jocelynn Kingfisher never thought she’d win the Prince Albert Winter Festival’s 2022 button design competition, but that didn’t stop her from entering.

The retired family support worker had spent more the majority of her adult life in Prince Albert, and had fond memories of the winter festival. Entering their button design contest seemed like a fun thing to do, so she did it, never dreaming her design would be selected.

“I was honoured and happy to hear that,” Kingfisher said during a phone interview. “I thought there would be a lot of good designs going in, so I didn’t really expect to win anything. I just thought, ‘well, it’d be fun to try.’”

Kingfisher may have entered the design contest without high expectations, but it wasn’t because for a lack of experience. She always tinkered with designing logos, and even started her own side business once she retired.

She noticed the Prince Albert Winter Festival logos always drew on husky and sled dog imagery, so she tried to incorporate that into her own design.

“I wanted to stay somewhere along those lines, but be a little bit different,” she explained. “That seemed to be the winter festival button theme recently, so I thought, ‘well, I’ll go with the Husky too.’”

Kingfisher was born and raised in Choiceland, but moved to Prince Albert as an adult. She has fond memories of visiting the winter festival when it was on the riverbank, and still tries to get to as many events as she can.

“It’s spread out a little more, so I don’t get to as many things any more, but I do try to go,” she explained.

Although she now splits her time between North Battleford and PA, Kingfisher said she’ll always consider Prince Albert home.

“I go back to PA all the time,” she said. “I’ll go somewhere else, but I always seem to come back.”

The Prince Albert Winter Festival is still in the planning stages. The 2021 event ran from Feb. 5-21.

@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca