Getting cold and wet, playing games, and enjoying a barbecue was all part of the Give a Little Love fundraiser for the FCSS/United Way Partnership on June 23.

The inaugural event at the new civic plaza on Railway St. attracted hundreds of people to raise funds for nonprofit organizations addressing social needs in the community.

The premiere event saw numerous brave souls plunged into the freezing-cold water of the dunk tank during the three-hour event.

The water was expected to be warm, but that was far from the case.

"That water is Bow River cold," chuckled town councillor Patrick Wilson through chattering teeth after being submerged in it several times.

Patrick WilsonThe novelty helmet didn't help protect town councillor Patrick Wilson from the freezing cold water.

He led the charge on the dunk tank portion of the afternoon in addition to taking his turn in the tank. He is also town council's representative on the FCSS board.

The inaugural event was held last October, but the weather didn't cooperate. That wasn't the case this year with 20-plus temperatures with gusting of wind near the end.

"This year things seemed to go a lot better," says Wilson. "I hope it's something we can do every year, year after year. It's got good bones, we just have to keep growing it."

It also became the first event in the new civic plaza and large green space in the heart of Cochrane. 

"We just got the fences off on Wednesday and the vision here is that this will be a central hub for gathering events like this. Hopefully, this is something we see a lot more of in the centre of Cochrane."

Theresa BoltonFCSS chair Theresa Bolton fires a few balls to dunk town council rep Patrick Wilson.

"I'm very thrilled with how it's going so far and very thrilled with our location," says FCSS board chair Theresa Bolton. "The Station is beautiful, it opens up for us, it's been a great location for us to be at, very accessible for everybody to come down to, and definitely, yes, the weather has played a part. Today has turned out to be an absolutely amazing day for us."

New this year was the dunk tank and an online auction that wrapped up Sunday at 8 p.m.

Bolton was among those making sure Councillor Wilson was dunked.

"We were hoping to dunk Pat. I had it planted in the back of my mind to throw a couple of balls at him."

She wasn't the only one waiting for the moment. Town councillor Susan Flowers put her money down to dunk Wilson and as well as fellow councillor Tara McFadden, who appeared early in the line-up.

Guy Joudrie, of Guy's Café and Bakery, is no stranger to dunk tanks. He said he'd volunteer if they could get Hal Wolf, of the Cochrane Movie House, to do it. Of course, Hal didn't hesitate, and that set up some fun-loving bantering between the two.

Shawn Some members of the Cochrane Fire Services were on hand to make sure Fire Chief Shawn Polley was dunked.

Many games for youth were held on the green space to enjoy, supplied by the Cochrane Public Library. Several of the nonprofit groups supported by the FCSS/United Way partnership manned displays in the plaza and were kept busy with people dropping by to visit and get information.

EricCochrane Now's Eric Ruttle emceed the afternoon.

Eric Ruttle, of 91.5 FM Cochrane Now, emceed the afternoon with special attention paid to the dunk tank. He had an impromptu interview with the station's program director Lauren Meister after she was a little numb from being dunked multiple times.

A team from the Cochrane Lions Club fed long line-ups of people. The barbecue was by donation. All proceeds went to the fundraiser, in fact, 100 per cent of the money raised that day will stay in Cochrane.

The amount raised isn't available at this time.