The Rafferty Rumble weekend is over, and there are no other words to describe it other than a huge success.
“We are very pleased with how everything went. Sports tournaments went over well, the force competition went well. Downtown was packed. It was an amazing time. So we are very happy,” said event committee chair Josh LeBlanc.
Part of Fourth Street, closed for traffic, turned into an entertainment grounds, offering a wide variety of exciting things to do with the much-anticipated street dance becoming a culmination of the day.
“The street dance went over extremely well and we are a 100 per cent sure that the street fair, and the car show, and the market went over well as well,” said LeBlanc.
About 2,500 people attended the activities downtown on Saturday, and more citizens participated and watched the sports tournaments and competitions happening at the Woodlawn Regional Park and at the Boundary Dam beach.
According to LeBlanc, Fourth Street stores and businesses also were “extremely happy with the traffic and the sales” and the exposure and promotion they had that day.
It was the first time the Rafferty Ramble took place since 1993, so the organizers had to start from scratch experimenting and trying things out. LeBlanc noted that if they decide to do it again next year, it must go smoother, but they also may change some things.
“There wasn’t a huge attendance for the afternoon bands that we had. Part of that is because of the heat and the lack of shade. That’s something that we probably will re-evaluate for the next year, is whether we have bands in the afternoon or not,” said LeBlanc.
The committee may send out polls on their social media to get some feedback and see what, in public’s eyes, worked out and what didn’t.
If the Rumble were to take place again, another thing that might be readjusted is the sitting area. The room in front of the stage was left open for people to have their lawn chairs or to dance, but with no shade it was hardly used until the street dance.
“There will be some things that we’ll get to in the future to see if there are some ways that we can create some shade… or if that’s just that hot part of the day, and at that hot part people are just ready to take their kids home and get ready and then come back for the street dance,” said LeBlanc.
It was one of the largest lineups of live bands that Estevan has ever seen. Eleven bands participated in the festival playing from 9 a.m. all the way to the end, so all people could find the music to their taste.
“There were people raving about how great the bands were… There was an exposure to different things that some people in Estevan have never heard before, and that’s what we were after. The street dance for sure people were raving because we had the 50s and 60s… then we had country. Then we had rock. We tried to make it as broad for everyone as we could, so everyone could come out and enjoy it,” said LeBlanc.
All proceeds from the event will go towards the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum. It will take the committee some time to finalize the numbers, which should be announced sometime in mid-August. And depending on the financial statements, the committee will decide if they are going to go forward with another festival next year.
“As much as we love putting up events and doing what we need to do, there is a tonne of cost that was involved in this one,” said LeBlanc, explaining that partly the cost was higher because it was the first time, so the committee didn’t know exactly what they needed and what they didn’t need.
A lot of money was spent to ensure the safety at the Rumble which was a requirement for licensing, and that seemed to pay off. The Secure Force group came from Regina to work during the street dance.
“Very good group of people, they know how to handle everything. We’d rather have them than having volunteers dealing with issues if there are issues, which there were very little of. There was one person kicked out for being too intoxicated, and that was about it what we had,” said LeBlanc.
The Estevan Police Service was also present downtown throughout the day, ensuring safety during and after the event.
“I can’t commend Estevan enough. Police did their check stops, and everyone was sober ... so we were super happy about that.”
The central location also assured that most participants could easily walk home. The day came to an end at about 2 a.m. on Sunday, but some guests stayed for some food until later.
The Rafferty Rumble wouldn’t have been possible to put together without all members of the Estevan community.
“Thank you very much to all of the sponsors, to the amazing volunteers and all the attendees that came out. We can’t do these things without everyone. We had 156 volunteers fill 350 volunteer shifts… It takes the community to put on these events, and Estevan had stepped up to the play again to put on this event. I just cannot stress enough how much we appreciate all of the help from the community for this,” said LeBlanc.
