Chris Lowrey
QUYON June 30, 2017
Every year the town of Quyon takes pride in its Canada Day celebrations, but this year was something special.
The Quyon Canada Day organizing committee has been spending months making sure this year’s installment was the best yet, which they accomplished in spades.
With the Quyon JamFest taking place over the long weekend, Quyon usually has its celebrations on the day before Canada Day, allowing residents to enjoy other activities on the big day.
The Canada Day parade started out from Onslow Elementary and wound its way down Clarendon Road and turned up Ferry Road where it ended at the Quyon Lions Hall.

The parade featured several community groups riding on red and white-clad floats. Many of the people who were riding on the floats were throwing candy to the eager – and in most cases hyper – children standing on the roadside.
In fact, children were running up and down the street grabbing any morsels of sweet treats they could get their hands on. In some cases, a wayward toss left some of the candy submerged in a puddle, but that didn’t stop the little ones from plunging their hands into the water in the hopes of satisfying their sweet tooth.
After the parade concluded, a massive Canada flag was unveiled and was raised to the top of the flag pole after a rendition of the national anthem by Quyon native Natasha Curley.
Before the flag was raised, Pontiac MNA André Fortin was in attendance and addressed the crowd.
“First off I’d like to thank Joan Belsher for taking my daughter to the bathroom so I could give this speech,” Fortin said to a smiling crowd. He gave the Quyon Canada Day organizing committee a hearty congratulations for a job well done.
Pontiac MP Will Amos was also in attendance after spending the day driving up and down Hwy. 148. Amos started the day in Mansfield, then Shawville and Quyon and back to Mansfield again, followed by yet another stop in Shawville and Quyon.
Fortin and Amos had a quick chat, talking about their jam-packed schedules for the next day. The two planned to meet in Otter Lake later on Canada Day so that Fortin could dunk Amos in a dunk tank at the municipality’s festivities.
They joked with one another about the prospect of Amos getting dunked by Fortin, and how fun events like that are a good way to engage with the community.
Asked if he had been warming up his arm for the event, Fortin said he felt confident in his accuracy.
“I played ball all the way up to university,” he said. “So I don’t think it should be an issue.”
As the parade wound up and the sun started setting, Ferry Road filled up with revellers making their way to the ferry for the fireworks show.
It did not disappoint.
“Ooohs” and “ahhhs” could be heard throughout the crowd as the explosions lit up the night sky.
The Quyon Canada Day organizing committee, made up of Brenda Clarke, Sue Chabot, Lindsay Hamilton, Ryan Woermke and Wayne Ramsay have been planning the day’s events for months.
The group organized a poker event, a curling tournament and held an auction to raise funds for Canada’s 150 celebrations. In the end, they were able to raise thousands of extra dollars to put towards an unforgettable fireworks show.
Hamilton said the entire event is put on by community volunteers, and all the money spent on the day’s festivities were paid for through the fundraising of citizens.