Get ready for Canada Day

Photo: Contributed

Canada Day is a week away and there will be plenty of things to do to celebrate our great nation.

The July 1 activities will kick off in the park at 10 a.m. with the official opening ceremonies and cake cutting starting at noon.

“We are excited to announce the Olympia Cycle and Ski kids bicycle rodeo, ATV rides, Dogopogo Dog agility demonstration and Okanagan Skate Co. freestyle skateboard competition are back again and new this year we will have the Extreme motocross team jumping an Okanagan Restoration Cube Van,” said Dave Frost North Okanagan Canada Day Society president.

The O’Keefe Ranch Stagecoach has also returned to offer nostalgic rides around the park.

There is also a line up of stage events as well as food vendors, a dunk tank, Floppy Shots mini golf, stilt walkers, Brown’s Social House bounce castles and carnival games presented by Emmanuel Baptist Church.

“Vernon Winter Carnival will also be running broomball games this year so come on out and have some fun,” said Frost.

And for the fourth straight year, BC’s largest collision repair chain will be title sponsor of the Craftsman Collision 2019 Canada Day Fireworks.

The fireworks will be held at Okanagan Lake’s Kin Beach in Vernon at 10:30 p.m., rain or shine.

“We do a lot of initiatives and sponsorships at the local level, and this is a great example,” said Craftsman Collision president Rick Hatswell. “As a BC-based Canadian company with many locations throughout the Okanagan and Central BC, we are especially happy to be sponsoring an event that celebrates Canada Day and brings families together.”

For spectators, the best vantage points will be Kin Beach or Paddlewheel Park – or from roadside points along Bella Vista, Commonage or Bench Roads. Those watching from Kin Beach will hear the music portion of the presentation directly from nearby loudspeakers.

The fireworks will begin at 10:30 p.m. from barges anchored off Kin Beach – except in the event of unsafe wind conditions, in which case it will be moved back to 11 p.m. If the presentation is still considered unsafe at 11 p.m., it will be attempted again the next evening.

Pets and alcohol are not allowed on any of the public beaches. RCMP along with Vernon Search and Rescue will be present to enforce safe distances on the water, and volunteers will pitch in with clean-up duties the evening of the event and following morning for any litter that does get left behind.