With an absolutely beautiful sunny day, we set out first thing Saturday morning towards a valiant effort to visit as many events as possible. First it was the pancake breakfast at the Moose Family Centre put on by Kiwanis Club of Lakeshore. There was a steady flow of hungry people and they had plenty of volunteers on hand to make sure you didn’t have to wait long for a plate of pancakes and sausages accompanied by your choice of beverages… coffee, tea, juice and hot chocolate. They even had sugar-free syrup on hand for my father who is a diabetic.
Bellies full, we then headed over to the Tim Hortons Winter Playground where the Bum Slides were busy with laughter from both little and big kids alike. A brief stroll over to the Marquee treated us to some live entertainment by Joel Rowley singing and playing his guitar on stage. After a few songs we found ourselves drawn over towards a slope where the Sault College Adventure Recreation and Parks students had a Snow Canoeing Challenge underway.
Yes you read it right, they actually had people jumping into a canoe to take a ride down a slope in the snow! It didn’t end there either. Upon reaching the bottom, participants had to quickly grab a bunch of gear, run up another slope and around a flag only to race back down to the finish line. It was quite comical to watch as one young girl left poor mom in her “snow dust”.
Next was the Foremost Dog Pull Contest. There were categories for small, medium and large breeds with quite a turn-out. At the encouragement of their best friends, the dogs competed in a variety of weight clases with trophies on hand for the winners. I’m sure the dogs appreciated the trophies, but I had suspicions that they were more interested in the bags of dog food at the finish line.
After watching the pulls for about an hour or so, we headed over to the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre where Algomatrad had their family dance underway. Whether you were content to just sit back and enjoy a variety of instruments or wanted to jump up on the dance floor, there was plenty of opportunity for all. Chopper was even on hand to learn how a good ole fashion square dance was done.
The following is a short clip for those who couldn’t make it down:
Where was all the time going!? Frantically, but very safely, we tried to make it over to the Jam Can at the McMeeken Centre where elementary students were competing in a three game round robin bonspiel but unfortunately arrived as the event had just wrapped up. Over to the Tarentorous Sports Centre it was where the MacLeod Bros. Bon Spiel was well underway. Feeling more in the way, we were encouraged to snap some photos and even given some game pointers by a group of very welcoming curlers.
Wow, thankfully Joel was covering a number of other events! Despite our best intentions, there was no way to both visit and enjoy all the awesome events happening throughout the day! What a great way to suppress that dreaded cabin fever 🙂
I hope you enjoy the accompanying photos as much as I did taking them! Have some photos you’d like to share? Simply upload them to the Bon Soo Group or feel free to email them to us and we’ll be happy to post them.
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