Le Patro and the Centre de Loisirs des Draveurs joined forces to bring residents of Mansfield and Fort-Coulonge a two-day winter carnival at the Fort-Coulonge arena over the weekend, with fun for all ages on offer over the course of Friday and Saturday.
Ten youth hockey teams and seven adult teams competed in two separate tournaments. Games started Friday evening, with a puck drop with Fort-Coulonge mayor Pierre Cyr and Mansfield-et-Pontefrant mayor Sandra Armstrong.
Fort-Coulonge’s own Dirty Dogs team finished first in the adult A division, winning the final against the Hursty’s team from Shawville, and a team from Aylmer won the B division.
There was a car rally that sent keen scavengers hunting for clues across the community, a karaoke party and bingo on Friday night, and another party Saturday night.
Face painting and games entertained the kids throughout Saturday afternoon, and Mansfield’s Pizza Plus restaurant was working the deep fryers to serve up fresh Beavertails.
“The Patro used to do it at their community pond, but because of weather and stuff, they decided why not do it together, because that way we can guarantee, even with bad weather, we can still have our tournament and all our activities,” said Heidi Newberry, Centre de Loisirs committee member.
Le Patro director general Suzie Lavigne said the organization has hosted the carnival for two years already.
“This is the first year that we’re going big. We wanted to try something different,” she said, adding she’s already confident the two community groups will team up again next year, with more activities outside.
“Next year we’ll try and make a rink outside, and have two rinks running at a time.”
