The weather was excellent and the turn out was great for this year’s Canada Day celebrations in Eckville.
The event, which was jointly put on by the Town of Eckville and Lacombe County, started at 5 p.m. with a hot dog barbecue for guests.
So many people came out to enjoy the day they ran out of food, according to Eckville Mayor Helen Posti.
“It was just excellent. Record-breaking I would say,” Posti told the Eckville Echo in a phone interview.
There was a bit of rain earlier in the day, which was a point of worry, but luckily the storm passed and the sun came back out in time for the barbecue.
The Yoga in the Park event was disrupted by the rain, but the event carried on as planned, though in a different venue.
The yoga practitioners moved into the arena for the afternoon to wait out the rain.
“It was good they had a back-up plan and were able to continue,” said Posti.
The big hit of the evening was the fire department, according to Posti.
The fire department crews put together a few events for the kids to participate in.
Kids could dawn the gear of a firefighter to participate in a obstacle race, one that allowed them to fire the hose at a target, or use tools to break into a car.
“The fire department really upped their game this year. It was awesome and the kids really seemed to love it,” said Posti.
Posti said she loved to see the kids play in the bouncy castle as well. She was surprised to see even older kids waiting to play, though was happy to see them wait until the little ones were done first.
The best part of the evening, according to Posti, was the reaffirmation of citizenship.
“It’s truly a Canadian thing, and to reaffirm yourself is to say how grateful you are to be a Canadian,” said Posti.
The Rec Society hosted a movie in the parking lot before the movie which had a good turnout, as everyone waited for the highly anticipated fireworks.
The fireworks this year were a little different. Larger rounds were used, meaning they could not only be seen from most places in town, but also weren’t compromised in the rain earlier in the day.
“I watched them from the end of Main Street, and they were just fantastic,” said Posti, adding they lasted more than 20 minutes.
The event was a real success, and it was due to all the hard work of the volunteers who worked to put the event on.
“Our community is based on volunteers, this is just one example,” said Posti.