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It was a toss-up whether it was more fun to watch the plethora of new Edmonton Eskimos experiencing Monday Morning Magic for the first time or watching the veterans watch them.

It was the 42nd edition of the event Tom Wilkinson and teammates invented on Monday mornings of Klondike Days in which they made their way to the midway with special needs kids between the ages of three and 12 and helped the kids on the rides and rode with most of them.

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Back in the beginning, and for several years to follow, it was all done in secrecy until an old carnie with Conklin Shows, who secretly provided staff and the midway rides for free, decided Edmonton needed to know about Wilkinson and his teammates.

He told your correspondent about having tears in his eyes watching them lift the kids on the rides and enjoy riding with them as special (very) big friends.

If the city needed a reminder of what the occasion meant to those involved, it came when Chris Jones, in his first year as head coach of the Eskimos, decided with the blessing of GM Ed Hervey, that his team needed to practice that morning rather than go to the midway.