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Thorsby Fun Filled Day

Pipestone Flyer

On May 17, the Thorsby May Long Weekend kicked off with a pancake breakfast hosted by the 2015 Thorsby High School Travel Club. The club is busy fundraising for their European trip next year.

    Parade

            The parade stepped off at noon and featured eye-catching floats, decked out in shiny fringe and local business vehicles decorated with puffs and festoons. This is one community parade where guests still enjoy scrambling for tossed candy and the strutting horses.  Bringing up the rear was the neon yellow Leduc County Fire Services Pumper Number 2. It carried a few Super Soaker “sniper” firefighters topside who, from their vantage point, squirted parade goers that either looked or sounded like they were asking for it—all in good fun judging by the gales of laughter.

     Community Garage Sale

            After the parade, many moseyed over to the Arctic Spas Recreation Complex Arena for the community garage sale featuring 18 vendors. There was a wide range of items—from Watkins products and Cheryl Ishmael-Harrish’ delectable home baked goods, to Lionel Parie’s table of assorted household items. Parie is downsizing and knew the community garage sale would be a perfect opportunity to sell. Not all attending the sale were locals. Kerry Lalonde and his son Tyson Wiltse came down for the Haymaker Rodeo from Whitecourt. They appreciated the convenient location to the rodeo grounds. Communities in Bloom (CiB) showcased their special order 45 gallon rain barrels. A barrel catching rain from a 1,200 sq. ft. roof can collect 460 gallons--enough for ten barrels--from a 1-inch rainfall, enough to put a sizable dent in that water bill. For orders or inquiries, please call Barry at 780-789-4065.  Check out Thorsby Communities in Bloom on Facebook.

     Outdoor Activities

           Heading out the arena door, guests were greeted with all sorts of activities guaranteed to bring a smile—face painting, slo-pitch tournaments, a bouncy house, street hockey, a beer garden, bingo at the community hall on Sunday and the pièce de résistance (judging by the line-up and “let’s go again” factor), the incredible inflatable two-storey zip line.  Five-year-old Landon Lindstrom shared his thoughts, “It was pretty far up, but it didn’t scare me. The hardest part was jumping at the end.”

    Bouncy, Bouncy

            One could easily describe the 2014 Thorsby May Long Weekend event as the “year of the ultimate inflatable bouncy castles” because over at the fire station Open House—where people enjoyed meeting the firefighters and Sparky, scoping out the fire trucks, and munching free edibles like hot dogs, popcorn and cotton candy—the kids were having a ball on the Kidz Kastles’ two-storey inflatable fire truck slide.

     Thor would be proud

            Communities in Bloom displayed several pieces of outdoor furniture in the recreation area, handmade by Raymond Devall, including four benches to be placed along the Thorsby Network of Trails and two giant chairs that would make Thor himself proud. Mayor Barry Rasch said CiB and the Village are looking for ways to improve park amenities. There is no word, as yet, where the giant chairs will be permanently located.

     Dance away

            On Saturday evening, it was time to kick up your heels at the Community Hall with the CiB sponsored social and dance with music supplied by DJ Puss & Boots Sound.  

     Lions Club Campsite

            All 26 sites at the Thorsby Lions Club campground were filled to capacity for the weekend.  According to Lions Club member Sam Kobeluck, half the sites were booked by locals enjoying a fun, relaxing, low-key getaway. “It’s down in a quiet valley with 1 km of trails.  It’s very beautiful.”

        Kobeluck credits volunteers and various organizations for working together to bring back what the May Long Weekend was thirty years ago and looks forward to it growing bigger and better in the coming years.