The preparations are going well for the 2020 Rafferty Rumble. Some changes are being made, but a lot of attractions will be returning for this year.
The second edition of the resurrected event will be July 24-26 at locations throughout the community. Josh LeBlanc, who chaired the event, said they received a lot of feedback from a year ago, so they had to make some changes, most notably when it comes to the street fair downtown, which will run from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on July 25.
Admission for the street fair will be $5 per person, except for children under three, who get in for free. Last year it was $20, but that covered both the street fair and the night-time street dance.
“We’re also going to be increasing the number of bouncy castles and things like that, so there’s a lot more for kids’ activities and entertainment on the street,” LeBlanc told the Mercury.
The live music, which was a big part of last year’s festival during the day, won’t be happening as much during the day. The bands will be replaced with different children’s entertainers, such as magicians and singers.
“We’re also launching the Rafferty Rumble Talent Search. We’re after people who can sing. If you have a band, bring a band down. If you can juggle, ride a unicycle, basically whatever talent you have, we’re just going to have a big community talent show.”
Auditions will be in June, and then the talent search will run from 2-4 p.m. on the main stage downtown.
The street fair will also include a downtown market, vendors, show-and-shine, games and other activities. Downtown businesses have been amazing to work with, he said.
For the second straight year, there will be the downtown street dance, starting in the evening. The Bromantics have confirmed they will be back for the second straight year. Organizers are still waiting to hear back from two other bands.
It will cost $20 to get into the street dance, regardless of whether people paid $5 to get into the street fair earlier in the day.
“The street dance was an amazing thing to see last year,” said LeBlanc. “Everyone is super pumped, and they heard lots about it.”
They believe that at various times, there was about 2,500 people downtown during the street fair, despite the heat during the day that forced many people to go home and take a break.
“We’re working on some stuff between the 4 o’clock and 8 o’clock hour to get people downtown,” said LeBlanc.
Last year’s event had a lot of great bands, but there wasn’t a lot of people to watch them, especially in the mid-afternoon when people were trying to cool off from the heat.
“In order for us to do the $5 admission, there had to be cuts in places, and unfortunately that’s where we had to do the cuts,” said LeBlanc.
Proceeds from the street fair and the dance will be directed to the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum.
Several other organizations will be running events in conjunction with the Rafferty Rumble. The Estevan Motor Speedway will kick off the activities for the weekend with a regular program on July 24.
Fresh Air Fitness will have the Force Fitness Challenge in the morning and the early afternoon of July 25, with several different activities to test people’s fitness levels.
The TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club will be teaming up with the Rafferty Rumble again, and there will be a slow-pitch tournament and possibly a beach volleyball tournament.
Given the success of last year’s event, LeBlanc said the committee wanted to ensure it happened again. It raised more than $56,000 last year, with the bulk of the money going to the EAGM and its valuable cultural programs for the community.
“If it wasn’t worth their time, or we weren’t getting the result that we wanted, then obviously we would have had to look at whether we wanted to host it again,” said LeBlanc.
The community needs this type of event, because it boosts morale and gives people another option for something to do.
Interest has been high for the second edition of the event, as businesses are stepping forward with sponsorships and people are asking about the different events that will be happening.
