by KELLY FRIESEN
Journal editor
With the sun shining bright, the City of Humboldt held a successful Canada Day program at Water Ridge Park.
"It was absolutely a success," said Mike Ulriksen, the coordinator of the event. "The fact that we woke up in the morning and had sunshine was a huge accomplishment of itself."
Despite competing with the lakes, the event had a strong turnout. Loads of people headed down to the grounds after lunch when the major events started to kick off.
"We were a little worried around noon because there wasn't that many people, but by around 1 p.m. it was packed," said Ulriksen. "We believe it's the best Canada Day event we've ever had for attendance."
July 1 falling on a Tuesday this year worked to the City's benefit. There seemed to be less people at the lakes because Monday was a workday.
"I thought there were more people around the city than usual because it was on a Tuesday," said Ulriksen. "I don't think that many took the Monday off, but obviously there would have been some."
With it being a day to celebrate Canada's future, present and past, Ulriksen ensured the day included cultural entertainment. One of those events was a First Nations dance.
"We added a First Nations dance last year and we liked what it added to the program," he said. "We want to celebrate our various cultures on Canada Day. That's what Canada is all about, and going forward we want to add more cultural stuff."
Local bands hit the stage after supper. The Horse's Mouth, the Chase Walker Band and 40oz Philosophy played in front of a well-packed crowd.
"We got out some bands that are fairly known in the community and we thought that worked out well," said Ulriksen. "We had a nice mix of bands that were well attended in general."
Before 40oz Philosophy closed out the night with an encore, the annual fireworks were shot off. It was weight off Ulriksen's shoulders when the fireworks went off smoothly because he wasn't sure if their hired man would make it to the event earlier in the day.
"The fireworks went really well; they were really well attended," he said. "We actually didn't know how it would workout because the guy who did it was from Melville and with it flooding there we didn't know if it would all come together like we hoped."
