MAIDSTONE — Canada Day 2023 was celebrated in style in Maidstone. The day started off with a delicious pancake breakfast served up by the bowling alley in the Legion hall.
At 10 a.m., parade marshal Bill Foster sent the parade off around town with people lined up all along the route. There were more than 30 entries including fire engines, bicycles, scooters, old-time vehicles and, of course, floats. Winners for the floats were: first - AG Foods, second - Waseca, third - Kin Club Maidstone. Bicycle/scooter winners were: first - Ben Henderson, second - Jacob Campbell, third - the scooter trio of Judy Rhinehart, Joyce Orange and Irene Olson. Thank you to judges, Cindy Hogan, Christine Carlson and Betty Dekker.
Slow tractor races organized by Richard Meynberg took place on the road by the ball diamonds around noon and were again a big hit. Eleven tractors entered: Bill McLaren won 2 mph and over, Al Schmidt won under 2 mph and Richard Meynberg won lawn tractors by default. Albert Duhaime won the barrel race which consisted of a tractor pushing a barrel 100 feet with the front wheels. Next year Edgerton’s races won’t be on the July 1 so we’ll have more tractor entries. After the tractor races, Vince Gerlinsky hitched up his wagon to his tractor and provided rides through Delfrari-Victoria Park for everyone.
Five teams played ball throughout the day. With many people away for the long weekend, both slo-pitch and horseshoes were just for fun with no declared winners.
Joshua Langill ran the kids’ scavenger hunt in the park with prizes donated by local businesses for everybody. Five bigger prizes were given for finding a specified object.
Kin Club of Maidstone had the beer gardens going from noon till late night. It was a sweltering hot day so this tent proved to be a popular spot for visiting and trying to cool off. On your way through the park, you had to stop at Jackie’s Pie Shack to grab a slice of the pie (a la mode if desired). There were so many absolutely scrumptious varieties.
Maidstone Museum was a hub of activity throughout the day. Girl Guides had a variety of children’s games set up in the museum’s front yard with the foam machine being a messy but popular activity. People strolled around the museum’s old-time village, grabbing a bite to eat and a cold drink from the concession, listening to the Yellowhead Ramblers (Jean McPherson, Alan Hinde, Rodney Ferguson and Bill McGilvery) play a variety of tunes, taking in Greg Rigden’s intriguing demonstrations in the blacksmith shop, and visiting with Lorna Foster of Lakeland Library Maidstone branch in the children’s play area.
Megan Young and the 13U girls provincial ball team co-ordinated children’s races in the museum courtyard. Different age groups participated in potato sack, egg (golf ball)/spoon and sprint competitions, with everyone running a great race.
The threshing team fired up their engines (Vince Gerlinsky and Aaron Paton on the tractor, Alan Hinde as site manager, Les Graham with Ben and Jack Foster pitching sheaves, and Bill McGilvery as site safety overseer), creating a huge pile of straw which led into the children’s straw stack scramble. With lots of candy and coins scattered in the straw by museum volunteers, the kids zestfully searched through it for treasures.
The museum’s afternoon ended with raffle draws. Thanks to all who made this a sell-out. Winning the $500 Diamond 7 Meats certificates were Sherry Jurke and Kelly Nielsen; the YETI cooler was won by Colleen Rosenthal and the garden dump wagon winner was Helaynea Croke.
The weather turned cool and wet about 5 p.m. as a nasty storm developed. With a severe thunderstorm watch in place, it looked like the day might come to an end, but the system blew through, and we were fortunate to not get the tornado, hail, heavy rain and damaging winds which others experienced around us. The celebrating continued. At 11 p.m. the night sky came alive with a brilliant fireworks display which brought Canada Day festivities to a fascinating finale.
Thank you to the many volunteers who made this special day possible and to everyone for coming out to celebrate Canada Day 156 with us. See you again next year!
