When it rains it pours. There are several ways of looking at that time-honoured idiom; however, in the case of celebrating the 99th anniversary of Herb Lake Landing, it played out both literally and figuratively.
On the Saturday afternoon of Pioneer Days, July 30, the skies opened up and the deluge sent people scampering in search of shelter and away from activities taking place on the beachfront near the McDougall/Roberts/Morrison homes. It rained hard for 10 or 15 minutes before people once again began reassembling.
On the figurative front, attendance at this year’s Pioneer Days was down, as there were a number of other activities taking place in the area, and participants were picking and choosing what they were physically able to attend. Nevertheless, those who headed out to the Southend were not disappointed.
Over the two days of the event, attendees took part in several new competitions, as well as the tried and true staples of the celebratory weekend.
New this year was the Discover Nature Scavenger Hunt – a GPS navigated journey about the Southend looking for local flora marked by stake and found through a list of supplied GPS coordinates. It was kind of a Herb Lake Landing version of Pokeman GO – let’s just call it Wekuskoeman! The winners were Brttany Hilderman and Kevin Sales.
Another new one was a Chipping Contest that saw participants try to chip a golf ball from shore into a Zodiak moored approximately 40 metres off the beach.
Chippinfails has a nice ring to it for this one! Winners were Karen Baker, first; Davey Roberts, Lyndon Bartlett, Michelle Sicotte and Laura Bilcowski, second.
Still another addition was Marble Whacking, which saw contestants on hands and knees trying to move a marble along the landing’s terrain. I’m thinking this one could be Peewees and Soreknees. Winners wereDionne Bartlett, first; Anthony Baker, second.
A new take on a long-standing event saw the Canoe Races give way to Kayak Races. This one involved a course around that aforementioned Zodiak and the floating dock, navigated by two kayaks at a time. The winner was the first one back to the beach, and winners of each heat raced against each other.
The name for this one is a natural: Kayakattack! Winners were: Ted Stabback, first; Kevin Sales, second.
There was also a Treasure Hunt, or a Search-thru-the-Birch, that took place over the weekend. Winners were: Pete Roberts and Brett and Daria Donais, first; Shawn Kopeechuk, second.
The staples were the ever-popular Horseshoes, Egg Toss and the Courage Trail. Winners in the A Horseshoes event were Ted Stabback and Ken Harrison, first; Davey and Dave Roberts, second. In the B Horseshoes event, winners were Hazel and Jim Corman, first; Brad Spencer and Brian Shapka, second.
For the Egg Toss and Courage Trail, no one was saying who participated or who won – they left it all in the bush!
In addition to the wrap-up of events on Sunday, the much anticipated Pioneer Potluck took place at the landing’s Gathering Place. It was a multitude of aromatic and mouth-watering main and side dishes, capped by 10 or so amazing desserts.
After the supper, prizes were handed out by the incomparable Dawn Roberts, and Jim Corman rose and asked everyone to applaud Dawn and Cathy Stabback for all their hard work in putting together the weekend of events.
My Take on Snow Lake is published Fridays.
