Sun Fest a SPLASH! So Far
MANITOUWADGE, ON – Saturday, July 7th 2010 the First Annual Sun Fest kicked off with a SPLASH! at the Prospector’s Park, also known as the downtown waterfront.
Cooler than forecasted temperatures and a chilly wind did not deter residents from attending the Community Picnic & Games, the first event of the day, which included the SunFest’s own version of adult and teen face offs of the popular television show “Minute to Win It”. Attendees cheered on competitors as nearly 20 adults and 8 teens faced their challenges head-on; visiting from Southern Ontario was Samantha Hope who won the teen’s category while Vital Morin won against Kelly Sagle in the finals for the Adult category. Attendees at the park also enjoyed tug-of-wars, three-legged races and other games reminiscent of the community picnics seen on shows like ‘Little House in the Prarie”; there are some classics that just never get old, participants of these games would no doubt agree that they certainly fit into this description!
(eeeeThank you to OntarioNewsNorth.com reader, Kelly Sagle for contributing photos of the events preceeding the waterballoon games; her name has been entered into the Montheely $100 Cash Draw for contributants. CLICK HERE for details of how you might win $100 just by sending the photos or news you captured to Editor@OntarioNewsNorth.com)
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At 2pm the Community Treasure Hunt began just as the sun began to warm things up. Many teams, consisting of family members or groups of friends, registered for their chance to win the $200 cash prize which the Township provided as 1st place; congratulations to the winning team of Lori & John Olivera and their two children!
Following the Treasure Hunt, many people took advantage of the BBQ, at which township staff had refreshments, hot dogs & hamburgers for sale (approx.300 hot dogs/hamburgers were sold!) , to re-fuel before Patterson introduced yet another string of games.
The last events at Prospectors’ Park for Saturday afternoon were all about waterballoon fun; games which Community Programmer Shawna Patterson had prepared for bringing 1000 (Yes, that’s ONE THOUSAND!) pre-filled waterballoons.
Kicking off with a waterballoon ‘catch’ where two teams of approximately 20 people each held a sheet on which they launched and received a waterballoon, each successful catch earning them a point – this game was a huge hit with adults and children alike. Next children grouped into pairs, standing back to back they were given a waterballoon which they tried to burst between them by pushing together (see videos and photos) this was especially difficult for young participants who did not have they weight or back surface to easily burst the balloon but again, the ‘audience’ cheered while participants laughed and cooled off with a splash. A round of ‘Capture the flag’ waterballoon style was played, with the boys team winning against the girls in what was a very tight match-up; a big Thank You goes out to Kennedy Quade, who, being among the older girls participating, took it upon herself to help many of the little ones understand, participate safely and thouroughly enjoy the game. Finally, one more round of the waterballoon toss w/sheets was played where adults faced off against the kids; the adults one by a very slim margin after plenty of laughing, splashing and teamwork
Unfortunately for our new community programmer, it was quickly declared by an unidentified adult (rumors speculated this may have been her Mother) that time had come for the ‘free for all’ waterballoon fight (which had been included in the official schedule) at which point children and adults alike decided it was time to include Ms.Patterson in the fun she had worked so hard to organize by designating her as the official target for this last crazy waterballoon challenge. Patterson was a great sport and took the attack with a smile before declaring that time had come to clean up the bursted-balloon strewn landscape. OntarioNewsNorth.com sped up this process, sponsoring a $10 cash prize for the child who would pick up the most pieces of burst balloon. All the kids did a great job pitching-in on the clean-up with little ones as young as 4 yrs old collecting up to 60 balloon pieces but 10 year old Tess Lendt was the successful winner having retrieved nearly 100 bits of busted balloon! Great Job Tess!
As the afternoon fun wrapped up, children were quick to remind their caregivers that games were continuing at the Oasis Pool. Adults too made plans to continue celebrating SunFest, many of these planning to re-group with friends at the Outdoor Dance (age of majority) which was scheduled to open its doors at 9pm at the Manitouwadge Community Clubhouse. Both the children’s & adults’ evening events were well attended and enjoyed by all.
2010 SunFest fun continued Sunday, August 8th;
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CLCK HERE for more videos & photos from Saturday.
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CLICK HERE for details, photos & videos from Sunday.
Watch the video interview below w/Shawna Patterson, Community Programmer for details of how the SunFest would continue to unfold Saturday evening & Sunday.
More photos of the Waterballoon Game at http://www.OntarioNewsNorth.com/?p=16730
