Canada Day here a big hit

The sun was gleaming, the fireworks dazzling, and the smiles on people’s faces likely bright enough to illuminate the sky in either’s absence.
Indeed, Friday’s Canada Day celebrations here were a glowing success.
“I thought everything went really well,” enthused Dawn Booth, office manager at the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce and a members of the Fun in the Sun organizing committee.
“There didn’t seem to be any real mishaps.”
The day’s festivities included the annual Canada Day parade in the morning, held on Front Street, and then a variety of afternoon activities at Pither’s Point, including inflatables for the kids, Bingo, and a horseshoe tournament.
All the events were very well-attended. “There seemed to be lots of people out and about,” Booth noted.
The shoreline along Sand Bay also was a hot spot on Canada Day, with a sandcastle-building contest on the beach and bathtub races on the water, as hundreds of people took advantage of the blue skies and temperatures around 23 C.
FITS committee chairman Paul Bock was out of town for much of the day Friday, but said he’s heard mostly good things about the way Canada’s 138th birthday celebrations went off here.
“Generally, everyone told me it went pretty well,” Bock said. “The weather certainly co-operated and I think people were pretty much entertained.
“I think all was pretty good.”
Although plenty of people lined the route, Booth, who organized Friday’s morning parade, said she would have liked to have a few more entries join the procession.
“I was hoping for a few more floats,” she remarked. “It seemed pretty short.”
She added a Bemidji, Mn.-based marching band was slated to take part in the parade, but had to pull out on short notice.
Booth also organized the annual Fun in the Sun queen pageant, which saw 17-year-old Sara DeGagne crowned Friday afternoon at Pither’s Point.
The six queen hopefuls had been very busy in the weeks leading up to the Canada Day crowning and had floats in Friday’s parade. The teens also held their picnic basket auction out at Pither’s Point that afternoon.
Jenna Cousineau, a pageant participant sponsored by Cousineau Brokers Inc., won the $250 prize for best overall float in Friday’s parade.
Other parade winners were:
•DeGagne/Tim Horton’s—best themed float ($200)
•Brittany Hayes/Larry Eustace and staff—best Canada Day float ($200)
•“Culture girls”—best individual float ($50).
With this year’s Canada Day celebrations now history, organizers are wasting no time looking ahead to next July 1.
“We’re starting to work on next year’s right now,” Bock said, adding the FITS committee always welcomes input or suggestions on how the celebrations here could be improved.
“I’d like to know how people thought it went,” he remarked.
Bock can be reached at 274-5301 (w) or 274-2567 (h).