Photos: Chris Parker, Matthew Wheeler, Sheilagh Foster, Diane Smith.
Floating down Main St.
Submitted by Diane Smith
It was a bright and glorious morn! Don and I were asked to be on the museum float, so we arrived half an hour before the parade. The first people I spotted were a group I have gotten to know from the OAPO, dressed for fun and ready to be in the parade.
Then my eyes focused upon the little library storytelling booth… and seated inside was Fern Sansom.
There were young children with wagons, bicycles, a big bumblebee (Vernon Pawloske), and then my wandering eyes spotted this beautiful old red car with former mayor Maurice and Isabelle Bonneville riding in it, and beautiful old cars and trucks lined up along the frontage road ready to display in the parade. The large truck from Lakes District Management piqued my interest. There was just so much to take in.
Then the parade began. I was viewing the parade route seated beside Marilyn Wheeler who was in great spirits as we rode backwards on the float, but she had the greater experience of riding backwards on a rocking chair!
We gathered in the park for judging. There I saw Ilona Pelagi dressed in her furs alongside her beautiful little granddaughter who had a sign printed “Babe in the Woods”. Baby was in her stroller with lilacs and greenery surrounding her. It was very well done. Rex and Shelley Hatchard’s dump truck, shiny and decorated with balloons came along with the Beer family riding in it.
We watched the rest of the parade as it finished. Chris Fry was driving Robert Greer’s old truck and at one point, the truck stopped, Chris got out and hooked a tow rope from Roberts motorized chair to the truck. Robert was dressed in old fashioned attire with a bowler hat.
After the awards, Bob Balcaen announced free ice cream cones for all the children entered in the parade sponsored, by The Farmstore.
Then over to the Giggling Grizzly – lining the entrance was a couple of bright and shiny trucks, one of which held the sign high in the air, the work of Chris and Del Fry. The old cars and trucks rolled in as we sat in the Grizzly eating our delicious lunch.
We sauntered out to the old vehicle area where the owners were only too happy to tell us about their prized possessions. There were a few old tractors as well. Then around to the side of the Grizzly to watch an informative demonstration by Tom Ryan on training horses, and training the riders as well. His horse laid down for him when he scratched the ground which was pretty impressive. The horses were so calm and we’ll mannered, beautiful animals.
The big horses were lined up in pairs across the field. Greg Gibson laid out pallets of salt blocks which were to be the weights for the sled in the horse pull. We watched the great horses pull until they could not pull any more as more weight was added. Their size, their elegance, their strength all gave me the impression of a superior animal. We were so impressed as one black horse held his head so high and proudly pranced over to do his job. There was great community participation and I was even more impressed with that.
The car show was the brainchild of Lynn Smith with her partner James Stoltz, owners of the Bell Mountain Motel, and Linda Fry jump in to help make it such a success. These fine people deserve credit for their warmth and kindness and hard work.
I saw many more great things but have just highlighted some of the ones that stick in my mind. Well done McBride and the Elks and Royal Purple, and all the volunteers, for the fun that the community and visitors had!
