There are several activities planned in Medicine Hat next Monday and Tuesday to celebrate Canada's birthday, including a drone show and headline concert by Gord Bamford.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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Canada Day will be celebrated in Medicine Hat this year in a big way, with several key events including a live music dance party and headline performance by award-winning country musician Gord Bamford, as well as traditional fireworks show, pancake breakfast and Beat the Heat skateboard competition and a drone.
The two-day Canada Day celebration wraps up Tuesday evening as Bamford is set to take the stage at Kin Coulee Park at 9:45 p.m. for a live performance that will be followed by a “large” firework show around 11 p.m., according to event organizers.
Canada Day activities officially kick off Monday evening though, down at the Kinsmen Skate Plaza as the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association hosts a pre Beat the Heat bash that will feature some of skateboarding’s top talent who will gather in Medicine Hat for Tuesday’s annual competition.
The competition is known as the largest in Canada and will feature more than 200 competitors and $25,000 in cash and prizes with an opportunity to qualify for the Tampa Am, held in Florida.
Beginning at 5 p.m. Monday, residents will also have the opportunity to participate in a free cultural crafts event at Kin Coulee Park, followed by a live dance party that encourages families to bring glow sticks and enjoy live modern-style electronic music and cultural fusion performances.
“This whole glow-up the globe dance is a really incredible opportunity for us to have a big glow stick party, a big family oriented glow stick party,” explains Davie James, a member of the Canada Day committee.
Around dusk Monday evening more than 200 drones will fill the skies above Kin Coulee Park for a stunning display of lights, objects and 3-D animations that haven’t been yet seen in the region.
“There is going to be a special guest speaker on the mic going into this drone show,” explains James. “And then the drone show, it’s curated to go along with music that we’ve specially audio engineered.
“All the people on our board, we all decided and voted and worked together to come up with a mood board for this drone show. It shows pride for our own community and our own city, but really, that essence of national pride as well, Canadian pride.”
Canada Day morning kicks off with a free pancake breakfast from 9-1 a.m. at Kin Coulee Park. The breakfast is sponsored by the Root Cellar Food and Wellness Hub, Sysco and Link Church.
There will be a variety of free activities set up in Kin Coulee park throughout the day, including city-wide yoga. Several food trucks will also be on site during the two-day celebration running an “ethnic food alley.”
Additionally, the Beat the Heat competition will run throughout the day Tuesday and will include both the men’s and women’s open competitions as well as the competition’s “spectacle event,” which has included a ring of fire and downhill skateboard race in previous years.
“So every year we try to do a crazy spectacle, this year it might have a little something to do with the creek,” hints James.
The skateboard competition is an Olympic sanctioned event and is one of two competitions recognized by Skate Canada this year.
“Whoever wins this year, we’re sending them to Tampa AM, and that’s like the largest amateur skate comp you can really be part of,” adds James.
Later on Tuesday at Kin Coulee Park, Mariana and Karolina Kvitka, a mother-daughter singer duo from Ukraine, will be performing Ukrainian folk music with Canadians in their new home.
“Together they aim to spread positive vibes through their music, bringing people together and celebrating their heritage,” reads a statement from Canada Day Medicine Hat.
This is one of several crucial stage performances that will run throughout the day at the Kin Coulee bandshell.
“We have all kinds of activities and kids activities, bouncy castles, kids games, we have basketball and volleyball, we have barefoot soccer,” explains James.
Following Bamford’s performance traditional fireworks will light up the sky, marking an end to a large Canada Day celebration that would not be possible without the more than 200 volunteers and organizations who collaborated together to plan the celebration.
“It’s pretty wild, just the reality that a bunch of organizations and people have taken the time out of their days, the fact that we’re doing this at this level and scale is pretty phenomenal.”
