Fête au Village ready to rock this weekend

fete

By Stephen Dafoe

Legal – Fête au Village will be in the pink this year when the annual festival kicks off Friday night. Organizers of this year’s fête are keeping with the Wild Pink Yonder theme the Town has been involved in this summer, a 22 town initiative to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research.

“This year we are encouraging everyone to come out in pink,” said Fête au Village Volunteer Coordinator Chastity Cyr, adding the Town of Legal will have a lot of other pink décor around the grounds to keep with the theme. “They will be doing some fundraisers on site as well. There is a committee in Legal that has been working on this and they approached us to see if we would be interested in partnering for Fête au Village.”

Cyr said participating with the group was an easy decision. The cause was right and the community had a great deal of success last year with Big Valley Jamboree’s Small Town Saturday Night challenge. “Our community gets behind these sorts of things,” Cyr said.

A multi colour event

Although pink is the theme of this year’s Fête au Village, it will be but one colour in a weekend of colourful community activities. Organizers are hoping those outside the Town of Legal will come out and enjoy the community’s hospitality.

“It’s a great opportunity for families to come out and enjoy the day,” Cyr said of the main day’s activities. “We’ve got a full day planned for people to really enjoy themselves.”

The event kicks off Friday night with a number of Fête au Village traditions, including the annual children’s parade at 7 p.m. and Fun in the Park events from 7:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. This year’s park activities include, a favourite recipes contest, clowns and other children’s activities.

Saturday will begin with the pancake breakfast at 7 a.m. and the annual Fête parade at 10:30 a.m. on Main Street. There will be a variety of events inside Citadel Park after the parade, including clowns, a baseball demonstration, show and shine, beer gardens, a quarter carnival and other children’s activities.

A new event this year will involve racing inflatable life-sized ponies. “It’s for kids and adults,” Cyr said, adding they have lined up three different sizes of inflatable ponies. “It’s a family activity where family members can race other family members.”

While organizers have what they believe to be an exciting mix, they know what the big draw is likely to be again this year. The Fête Demolition Derby takes place at 2:30 p.m. and organizers advise spectators to grab a seat early.

But the demolition derby is not the only four-wheeled excitement Saturday. The festival committee has brought the soapbox derby back for a second year. “It is a popular event that was sold out last year,” Cyr said. “We’re running it again this year due to the popularity last year. We’ve already had a big response.”

Saturday night will conclude with live entertainment from 7:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. and the annual fireworks display at dusk.

It’s all about community

Putting on a large festival in a town of 1,200 residents is no small undertaking. Cyr attributes the success of the annual event to the sense of community and dedication of residents and volunteers to making Fête au Village a success. She said it takes about 200 volunteers to organize and run the annual Fête.

“It’s really the people,” Cyr said of Fête au Village’s longevity, adding they are the ones that have kept the annual tradition alive for 51 years. “It’s completely volunteer run. All of the proceeds from the weekend go back into the community. If people are able to volunteer and donate their hours, there is a payout that we do based on our profits and the number of hours that each organization is able to donate. The funds get redistributed among the various organizations in town.”

Fête au Village takes place July 26 and 27 at Citadel Centre Grounds on 51 Avenue. The Friday night parade (7 p.m.) and Saturday parade (10:30 a.m.) take place on Main Street.

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