Bon Accord ready to harvest excitement this weekend

By Morinville News Staff

Bon Accord – A harvest of fun and entertainment is being planned for the Aug. 10 to 12 weekend. Eva Scrimshaw, Events and Recreation Coordinator for Crowsnest Community Services, a joint initiative between the towns of Gibbons and Bon Accord, said people can expect a great time at Harvest Days, an annual summer celebration that often draws attendees in excess of the community’s population.

“We want to show everybody around us what a great community we are,” Scrimshaw said of Bon Accord and the event. “This year it’s going to be bigger than ever before. We’re going to have a midway. We’re going to have things happening in the arena. We’re going to have an Ag [Society] stage, a bazar, farmers’ market.”

The event kicks off Friday evening with a softball tournament and beer gardens. Saturday is the event’s main day. Activities begin at 10 a.m. with the Harvest Days Parade. This is followed by Lord Strathcona’s Horse, a mounted troop ride that has been a popular attraction at the event for the past few years. The ride takes place at 11:30 a.m.

New to the festival this year is the Sturgeon County Bounty, a food tasting and value added agriculture event that moves from location to location each time it unfolds.

“There’s going to be local restaurants, businesses and farmers,” Scrimshaw said. “They’ll have different foods, the bounty they have grown. Local businesses will have the local bounty they use.” The event runs from noon until 4 p.m.

Running concurrent with the Sturgeon County Bounty is the fairgrounds which will include carnival rides, penny carnival games, a reptile zoo, military obstacle course, and live entertainment. New to the afternoon activities this year is a show and shine running from noon until 4 p.m.

The evening will wrap up with a midway Rock ‘N’ Ride and Much Music video dance party from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., an event targeted at those 12 to 17. Fireworks are set to go off at 11 p.m.

The Bon Accord and District Agriculture Society will hold a pancake breakfast from 9 a.m. until noon on Sunday.

Organizers are hoping residents in the region will make the trek to Bon Accord for Harvest Days this weekend.”You really have to go and experience it for yourself to see how things are in a small town; how close a community it is, and how everyone just embraces the whole atmosphere of the festival,” Scrimshaw said.

Gate admission (Saturday only) is $5 – children aged two and under are admitted free.

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