Canada Day festivities fun for all

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This article was published 02/07/2019 (2323 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While the sun beat down on Brandon Monday afternoon, a light breeze and a strong spirit made for a fun Canada Day at the Riverbank Discovery Centre.

All sorts of Canadians came out to celebrate the nation’s birthday, from those who have lived here their whole lives to those who have made this country their home more recently.

Sohana Akter, an immigrant from Bangladesh, was out with her kids. She has been in Canada for two and a half years and loves celebrating Canada Day.

“We’re celebrating with our family,” Akter said. “We’re having lots of fun, especially my kids.”

Akter thinks Canada Day is special: “Especially the fireworks at night. It’s really fun. We had lots of preparation, especially (getting dressed up). We were busy.”

When asked if she was looking at getting Canadian citizenship, Akter said “Hopefully next year,” with a smile.

Bo Wang and Olivia Chen were out celebrating their first Canada Day with friends Lily Ren and Michael Zhang, who have been in Canada for approximately 10 years. Though Wang and Chen have been in Brandon for two years, they didn’t know about the July 1 festivities last year.

But now that they’ve finally come out to celebrate Canada, the families are enjoying themselves.

“It’s a great place for our kids to (meet up),” Wang said.

Both couples enjoyed some shade under a tree as their daughters marched off to get in line for a bouncy castle. All of them were wearing white T-shirts they got for participating in the “living flag” event Monday morning.

“The free shirts are awesome,” Wang said.

“It’s a very small city compared to our cities in China,” Wang said. “I like the peaceful life here.”

Wang’s home province of Shandong has nearly 100 million people compared to slightly more than one million people in Manitoba.

Zhang said that he has celebrated Canada Day every year since first coming to Canada.

“Every year we come here with my kids, with my family,” he said.

The Discovery Centre was a hub of activity both on the ground and in the sky — a helicopter took customers on aerial tours of the city while vintage planes from the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum made a flyby at one point.

Just after noon, local dignitaries cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the Discovery’s Centre new amphitheatre. Rotating through the stage was a lineup of local musicians, dancers and artists. Indigenous dancers showed off a dance their use to honour the Canadian flag while members of Brandon’s Latin American community demonstrated their own style of dancing.

First aid was provided by the Brandon Regional Search and Rescue Association, who had some rescue dogs-in-training on hand to the delight of many. Some lucky people got to shake a paw with the pooches and give them some treats.

By far the most chaotic part of the events at the Discovery Centre was an inflatable structure that was filled with what appeared to be a bubble bath-like substance. Kids ran, jumped and slid all over, occasionally emerging from the sudsy mess to wipe off their faces to restore visibility.

Eight-year-old Meyson Tait described the experience as “very slippery” and “a lot of fun.” When asked if there were any other attractions at the Discovery Centre he wanted to check out before he went home, Tait said “more bouncy castles.” An inflatable obstacle course with slide a and a plain old bouncy castle were among the other play areas available Monday.

Events were scheduled to go as late as 11 p.m. at the Discovery Centre, culminating with a fireworks show.

Other Canada Day festivities in Westman included a citizenship ceremony at Riding Mountain National Park.

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