Bienfait remains a popular community for people to spend Canada Day.
The town hosted its annual Canada Day festivities on Sunday. The morning parade and the nighttime fireworks were, as usual, the most popular attractions, but the between the two events there were a number of activities for people of all ages.
“I thought they went very smoothly,” said Amanda Pukas, the president of the Bienfait Recreation Board, which puts on the events. “It was probably one of our best years.”
The festivities actually started with a pancake breakfast served at the Bienfait Memorial Arena in the morning.
The parade then started at the Bienfait Weldon School and made its way through the town, with people lining the streets to see the variety of entries.
There were floats, classic vehicles, farm implements, semi-trailer units and others that made their way throughout the town. Others opted to walk down the roads.
The Estevan Filipino Canadian Association performed a cultural dance as part of the parade.
From there, the family activities started in the arena. Those who attended enjoyed a petting zoo, bouncy structures, a trade show, cotton candy, face painting and more.
A dunk tank was brought back by the Bienfait Fire Department this year, and Pukas said it drew a good crowd.
New for this year was a kiss a pig promotion. Pukas collected the most money, with $340 out of the $540 initially raised. But then she announced she would donate $100 to each of the entries for Bonnie Bernhardt, Chris Dupuis and Adriean Bachorcik if each of them would also pucker up to kiss a black pig named Lola, who was wearing a Canada hat.
“Apparently it was something we did years and years ago, so we brought it back,” said Pukas.
Southern Plains Co-op provided food and workers for the pancake breakfast and the concession. They ran out of food, which Pukas said is a testament to the number of people who attended.
The fireworks show was moved ahead by about five minutes due to the rain that was forecasted to strike the area that night.
“We did do all that we anticipated to do with the fireworks,” said Pukas. “It started to spit in the last five minutes, and as soon as they ended, it started to pour, so everyone was running to their vehicles.”
They hoped to completely avert the rain, but the timing was off by a few seconds.
It’s hard to know how many people were watching the fireworks, but Pukas said there were vehicles lined up on both sides of the road along Highway 18 from the town limits to the junction with Highway 39. There were also lots of people watching from around the Bienfait Weldon School, and from yards in Bienfait.
Bienfait ducked the rain that other southeast communities received on Canada Day. There was some precipitation midway through the afternoon, and the skies opened up just after the fireworks ended.
Still, the committee decided to move many of its afternoon activities into the arena in case of rain. Pukas said lots of people were inside the arena during the afternoon, and there were some long lineups.
The Canada Day celebrations are the top fundraiser of the year for the Bienfait Recreation Board. The money raised goes back into the board’s programs each year.
“We want it to be important for people to come out and celebrate, and to have that day to celebrate Canada Day with their families and be together in a community,” said Pukas.
Pukas also thanked the volunteers for their commitment, as it takes a lot of volunteers to make the Canada Day festivities happen each year.
