It was once again time for Wheatley Fish Fest, with a long weekend of fun in store. In typical Wheatley fashion, things got interesting early - on the Thursday eve of Fish Fest, there was another gas leak and another evacuation of the downtown. About 60 homes and numerous businesses shut down - again - and people were literally staying at the local arena. Turns out they were just "testing the system" and had shut off the venting system. Without telling anyone.
Friday night kicked off with a Tragically Hip cover band named Grace 2 playing at Two Creeks Conservation Area to an excited yet PTSD-influenced crowd. Early in the show, a fire truck and ambulance flew past with lights and sirens blaring - as the entire crown turned in anguish. They quickly announced that it had nothing to do with the gas situation - it was "only" a fatal car accident down by the harbour as someone has lost control and crashed into a greenhouse retention pond. Otherwise, great show by a great cover band and local brews from Top Dog!
On Saturday we set up the booth down at the harbour - with many more vendors this year, there were "aisles" of booths and about 40 tents. It got really hot and uncomfortable, and Jane dunked herself in the lake numerous times just to cool off. Behind us, they had fish tote races across the harbour, and then the Firefighters water barrel challenge on the other side of the slip. One of our vendor friends kindly gave Jane a "hairy coo" stuffy, which made a number of appearances over the rest of the weekend!
Later in the evening, we went to the arena for the annual fish fry and broasted chicken dinner, with Jody Raffoul and his band rocking the rink afterwards. We ran into several of my co-workers, past and present. We also enjoyed a great dinner with Heather, including a few beverages.
On Sunday we set the booth up again, this time uptown at the main village intersection, right on the very ground where the explosion occurred in August 2021. Around us were vendors and food, a ring toss tournament and a very well attended car show. The main event was the big parade that came down the main drag, right past the booth.
At different times I managed to sneak off to Joe's Bar AND the Renny's patio for beer, given that I could see the booth at all times and know when or if to return. After the show ended, we packed up and left the van to walk across the street and get takeout dinner from Renny's.
Later in the evening, there was a boat parade along the shoreline, followed by a great fireworks show. We LOVE being able to be a part of our little village and our BIG celebration!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment