MANITOWANING—The Southeastern Manitoulin Lions Club is celebrating its 40th annual Summerfest celebrations this weekend after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
“We are celebrating our 40th Summerfest,” stated Lisa Hallaert, Lions Club president. Summerfest will run from July 15-17. “It has been tough not being able to hold anything the last couple of years (due to the COVID-19 pandemic).”
“I’ve been trying to get student volunteers to help out,” said Ms. Halleart.
Beginning Friday night and running through Saturday, “we will be holding the Jim Case Memorial baseball tournament. His wife is a member of the Lions club, as is his son-in-law. The tournament has been going on for a long-time,” said Ms. Halleart.
“On Friday evening we usually have live entertainment in the pavilion, and this year we will be holding a Schooner night (named after a former restaurant in the municipality) in the pavilion. This will be an all music, 1980 and 1990s themed and a social event,” continued Ms. Hallaert.
On Saturday morning, the Knox United Church will be holding its annual breakfast at 9:00 am. This will be followed by the always-popular parade, with this year’s theme being ‘Through the Years,” commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Summerfest.
“We will have lots of activities for children including bouncy castles in the afternoon, a Hot Wheels cars race, and a Show N’ Shine with old and new cars, dump trucks, whatever type of vehicle someone would like to enter,” said Ms. Halleart.
Everyone young and old can join in making a Touch a Truck where participants can build their own car out of cardboard. At the same time there will be a “Touch a Truck” event, where kids wil have the opportunity to blow the horn or at least get close to a very large vehicle, explained Ms. Halleart. “We will also have music, featuring local talent, and before that a magician will also be performing.
Ms. Hallaert also pointed out there will be lots of vendors selling their wares inside the Assiginack Arena.
Saturday night will include a dance in the arena to music provided by a disc jockey.
“On Sunday we will be hosting the famous smash up derby at the fairgrounds and that should be lots of fun,” stated Ms. Halleart. “Throughout the weekend we will be selling 50/50 raffle tickets.
“It should be a fun weekend,” stated Ms. Halleart. “For the last two years, we haven’t been able to hold any events so it should be interesting how many people will be there. When we lived away, we would always come home for Summerfest.”
