Organized by the Quyon Canada Day Committee, the event served as an opportunity to raise funds for the community while celebrating the country’s anniversary.

According to the organization’s President Mitchel Trudeau, the event means a whole lot to the community.

While the small town doesn’t boast as many big-time events as one would see in the city, Quyon residents certainly know how to celebrate July 1 in style, Trudeau said.

“There’s not much to do here in the community,” he said. “This is a very prideful town on Canada Day. It’s always been a big thing.”

A highly anticipated party for over 30 years, Trudeau is proud to be able to contribute to putting it on every year. With so many people volunteering to organize the party, it’s always a great reminder that people in the Pontiac are always willing to help.

“It’s about community effort,” he said. “When those fireworks go off and I can finally have a beer, we know that we made this happen.”

Typically held inside the town’s Lions Hall, this year’s event was brought to the school due to the flood, and because it was the only facility in town large enough to accommodate the number of people expected to show up, Trudeau said.

With a variety of fun games set up for kids, including outdoor bowling, face painting and a huge bouncy castle among other things, the event offered plenty of joy to the young ones who attended.

As vendors sold alcoholic beverages inside the school’s cafeteria, around a dozen volunteers worked the barbecue station doling out hundreds of delicious hot dogs and hamburgers.

Following the barbecue and youth activities, the event proceeded with a parade going through Clarendon Street all the way down Ferry Road followed by a hoisting of a large Canadian flag on a 100-foot pole on the riverside – offering everything one would expect from your typical Canada Day party.

Before raising the flag, Trudeau issued a brief speech thanking all the participants, sponsors and volunteers for contributing to such a successful event.

Finishing the celebration in the most festive way possible, herds of party animals convened along-side the Ottawa River for a dynamic firework show.

Keeping the crowds hyped up with a vibrant atmosphere of classic rock and modern electronic music, DJ Maestro Joe manned the turntables all night long spinning up until the wee hours of the morning.

Sheenboro

On July 1, thousands of people decked out in red and white crowded the streets of Sheenboro during the town’s annual Canada Day festivities.

With hundreds of vehicles lining both sides of Hwy. 148 in downtown Sheenboro, the town’s biggest celebration of the year certainly did not disappoint.

Organized by members of the Sheenboro R.A. and the town’s Parish Council, the event served as a fundraiser for both organizations while giving locals a chance to soak in the Canada Day festivities in their hometown.

Following morning Mass in St. Paul the Hermit Church, the event consisted of various activities scattered throughout the park for the youth, including face painting, a fishing pond and plenty of toys in the sand pit, along with a mouth-watering lumberjack breakfast serving around 200 people.

While live musicians performed on the main stage in the park, including local folk band Bush Chord, the annual parade rolled down the highway.

This year’s float included a number of notable floats, including vintage cars, a group of fiddlers and not to mention the newest addition with plants all over it mimicking a cannabis garden called SheenGreen, which brought plenty of humour to the crowds, said one of the event organizer’s Joann McCann said.

“People used to joke about people growing marijuana in the hills,” she said. “We have awesome floats.”

Inside the Parish Hall, vendors sold a variety of goods including houseware and kitchen products, while volunteers accepted donations for a silent auction

With a number of food vendors doling out fries, barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers and refreshments, the event offered all kinds of delicacies to those who attended. Plus, a water-bottle filling station was on site with several huge jugs of water to ensure everyone was sufficiently hydrated.

According to McCann, the event is always enjoyable for the community as it brings in plenty of good friends and family from all over the region to celebrate the special occasion.

“It’s basically people visiting,” she said. “You have lots of cottagers. You have Sheen-people coming home for the weekend. It’s always a really feel good day.

Capping off the celebration in style, the event ended with a classic firework show, courtesy of Hotel Pontiac and the Old Fort William Cottagers Association.

Sheenboro residents Claudia Gleason and Nadine Demers pose for a photo during the town’s festivities on July 1.

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