Sporting sequins and silver, Mama Stanley is an Edmonton celebrity for the playoffs

Edmonton Oilers fans crowd around Mary Loewen in a plaza outside the team’s home arena during every playoff game, asking to have their photo taken with the superfan dressed as the Stanley Cup.

Loewen dons a sequined blazer, wears silver gloves and glasses, and covers her face with silver makeup. She then puts on her “crown,” which is meant to imitate the bowl of the famous trophy.

There are 3,500 sequins in it, and they are all applied by hand.

“There were three people crying yesterday when they met me, they were so happy,” Loewen said the day after the Oilers’ 5-1 victory on Friday night, the evening’s best-of-seven finals series with three games apiece .

“To me, I’m just a normal old lady who likes to be home with my dog ​​and be with my family.”

The unlikely celebrity, affectionately known as “Mama Stanley,” happily returned the love with an appearance at a fundraiser for Hope Worldwide Canada, which on Saturday raised money for programs for children with special needs and for families facing food insecurity.

Kathryn Taylor, director of the charity’s Edmonton chapter, said she had only met Loewen a few days earlier.

“I ran into her on Wednesday at Shopper’s Drug Mart and we sat and talked for about half an hour, and the whole time we were there about 20 people came up and asked for a selfie with her,” Taylor said. then she asked Loewen if she was available to come to Saturday’s fundraiser.

“I just said, ‘Would you like to come?’ And she said, ‘Yes, if you could just give me money for gas.’

Loewen is a longtime hockey fan and cheered on the Oilers during the team’s dynasty in the 1980s. Usually, she just watched the games on TV at home, but she was extremely enthusiastic, noting that she is a “screamer” and a “yeller” when she watches.

A few years ago, she said she and her daughter went to a game, each wearing a silver blazer. People noticed them and her daughter suggested her mother dress like the Stanley Cup.

This year, Loewen said she dressed as Mama Stanley during every Oilers playoff game for fan parties in the plaza known as the Moss Pit — named after the team’s late, much-beloved locker room attendant Joey Moss.

Now, she said, she is interviewed by international media and has fans from Australia to Germany.

One generous fan, she said, even offered to buy her a ticket to go into the arena to watch Game 6 live Friday night, but Loewen said she turned that down because she was such a fixture at the parties.

“I want to be with the people in my kingdom,” Loewen said. “It’s just crazy to me, but I love it, and I love them all too.”

Eight-year-old Austin Ndlovu, a big hockey fan who was at Saturday’s fundraiser, didn’t expect to see Loewen that day.

“Just seeing a woman dressed as the Stanley Cup, it’s crazy,” the boy said.

Lesa Mayes Stringer, a volunteer at the Hope Worldwide fundraiser, said Loewen was an “inspiration.”

“She supports her community. She’s just an amazing woman who gives to people. I’m really impressed with her.”

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