Canal, Railway & Chocolate Festival attracts 10,000 visitors
Posted Jul 22, 2010 By Ryland Coyne
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Tweet ThisEMC Events - All the key factors were in place: a great lineup of events, a beautiful venue and ideal weather. Combined, they helped make this year's edition of the Canal, Railway and Chocolate Festival one of the most successful in its near decade-long history.
"It was wonderful," festival co-chair Dawn Quinn told the EMC earlier this week after having had a chance to recover from a busy three days.
Attendance this year, she estimates, was an eye-popping 10,000 people who started showing up at Centennial Park almost from the moment the gates opened at 4 p.m. last Friday afternoon (July 16).
What made the event special for local organizer was the positive feedback she received from festival-goers as well as the number of visitors to the park from out of town.
"That's really neat, when people come from out of town into our town," she said.
This year's festival ran for three days and featured a wide array of family-oriented events all weekend long.
It opened on Friday with the Fernando Scattozza band on the main stage starting at 4 p.m. Following opening ceremonies, participants in the traditional Night Shirt parade made their way into the park from town hall.
Quinn has particular praise for the local police service who provided two cruisers in front of the group and the police truck behind to ensure everyone's safety. Officers were also on site throughout the festivities, she said.
"Where else could you go to get that kind of support," she said.
Saturday was the busiest day with dozens of events running from 9 a.m. through to 10:30 at night.
The children's entertainment, which took place on Turtle Island, was a huge success, drawing overflow crowds for such name stars at Markus (from YTV), Toopy and Binoo puppet show with Frank Meschkuleit, Medieval battle demonstrations from Bailey's Blade and Bow and magician Eric Leclerc, among others.
"It was totally packed," Quinn said of the children's venue, noting the Bailey's group was kept busy all weekend long. "They just didn't stop."
One of Saturday's highlights was the parade which featured a number of marching bands, Shriners' mini cars, special guests and floats.
The musical entertainment was ongoing starting on the main stage Saturday at noon and the crowds continued to build throughout the day, leading up to Shawn Barry's Elvis show followed by Freddy Vette and the Flames that night.
"You could just see the crowds coming in," she said, noting that by the time Barry took the stage at 6:30 p.m., "all you could see was a sea of faces. It was just amazing."
The festival schedule continued to draw the crowds on Sunday with plenty more children's and musical entertainment down by the shores of the Rideau Canal.
Creations in Chocolate and Adventures in Chocolate, presented at Chuckles Jack Restaurant that afternoon, didn't attract a huge number of entries, but those that did "really put the effort out," Quinn said.
"What we had was really good. The restaurant was a nice area to set it all up."
She says the organizers will now take a couple of weeks to recuperate, then get back to the business of planning for 2011. Seeing so many people happy was "just overwhelming," Quinn said. "That's thank you enough."
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