An early celebration of Canada Day in Emo.
The Borderland Racing Association, with support from the Rainy River Valley District Agricultural Society and the township of Emo, will host a pre-Canada Day event on Sunday.
Board member Darren Derendorf says several family activities will take place on the fairgrounds.
“We’re going to open up the fairgrounds at 11:00 a.m. We’ll have a small vendor market as well as several food booths opening up around eleven, and that’s kind of the kickoff of it all,” says Derendorf.
There will be bouncy castles, a kid’s centre that will include a duck pond where prizes can be won and children’s races.
The Emo Fair Queen contestants from last year will be doing face painting.
There will be a scavenger hunt you can do throughout the afternoon.
A person will be setting up balloon animals for the kids with other games such as ladder ball, cornhole, and other yard games.
Derendorf says they also hope to have a photo station, hockey nets, and musical entertainment.
The event ties in with a two-day race event at Emo Speedway.
Drivers will have their vehicles on display before inviting the children to the pits for a candy giveaway.
“There’s a place called Ogilvy Speedway in Minnesota. They run a big weekend at the end of October and they do legitimate trick or treating where the drivers will dress their cars up in skeletons and goofy costumes and what have you.”
“We decided to just take and switch it up a little bit and make it more appropriate for Canada Day. So on top of getting to see the cars in the fairgrounds, getting close to them there, you get to go and see what the pre-race workout kind of looks like, what guys are doing to get the cars prepped right before they go out.”
Borderland Racing is also recognizing area emergency personnel so police, fire and ambulance vehicles will be on site for viewing.
More events are planned when the racing starts.
“We’re going to have our own little Canada Day parade during the intermission, have the kids dress up their bikes as best as they can.”
There will also be a beer gardens run by the Fort Frances Lakers junior A hockey club with a fireworks display to be lit following the racing.
Events prior to the racing are free to attend.
Racing is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday night.
