The communities of the foothills each have their own distinctive feel and energy. So it only stands to reason their annual community celebrations would as well.
Peggy Rupert, community program director and one of the organizers of Bragg Creek Days July 15-17, said the western themed event has an intimacy absent in larger festivities.
“A couple of years ago I had a parent say to me they would only come here from now on,” Rupert said. “They weren’t going to do stampede because this was small and enough fun for everybody without the giant crowds and the risk of losing your kids in the process.”
The 2011 edition of Bragg Creek Days kicks off Friday with a free family movie night. Kids are invited to wear their pajamas and bring their sleeping bags so they can curl up on the floor of the Bragg Creek Community Centre gymnasium and enjoy the 6:30 pm showing of the movie Yogi Bear.
Saturday the Redwood Meadows Firefighters Association opens up things bright and early with their fundraising breakfast at 7:30 a.m. It’s followed, Rupert revealed, by the Bragg Creek Days parade along Balsam Ave. from the bridge to White Ave. and Harwood St.
“It starts at 10:30 a.m.,” she said. “It’s not a long parade but it’s a great parade. Then as it ends everybody kind of follows the end of it right through to the community centre.
Many kid friendly attractions will greet children who come out to the centre Saturday including bouncy castles and games with prizes to be won.
The volunteers who operate these and other Bragg Creek Days venues often engage in their own informal event Rupert revealed.
“Most of the teens who volunteer for us along with my husband, who is not a teen he’s actually well past the teen stage, wait until they get too hot then they all go for a jump down into the river,” she detailed. “They cool off and then come back for more.”
Entertainment at the centre Saturday will be presented on the Creeker Stage from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Local performers covering a wide range of musical genres will play one after another taking a break in the tunes for a highly popular annual event.
As he has several times before, area realtor Dwayne Zaba will emcee The Pet Show slated this year for 1 p.m. It should feature its usual wide variety of critters.
“Predominantly you get cats and dogs,” Zaba said. “But certainly it’s open to any pets people will want to enter.”
Previous pet shows at Creeker Stage have featured everything from birds and reptiles to ferrets. As long as the animal can be safely displayed in front of a crowd it’s welcome at the contest, which features prizes in different classes like loudest bark and cutest pet.
“One of the categories we’ve had consistently is the pet that looks most like me,” Zaba said.
The veteran show host maintained he wasn’t offended when at a past event the animal found to most resemble him was an old goat.
A beer garden and street market will also take place Saturday afternoon and Bragg Creek Days wrap up Sunday, July 17 with an outdoor morning church service and a Snowbirds Historic Walk and Tea at 1 pm.
For more on Bragg Creek Days, a community celebration with a long tradition of making people welcome, visit www.braggcreekca.com
