There were games and activities for the kids, movies, beer gardens, a pancake breakfast, a parade and the ever-popular lawnmower races at the annual Jarvie Days festival.
The community was in a celebratory kind of mood during the July 27-29 weekend as residents from around the region converged on the tiny hamlet, 40 kilometres north of Westlock, to take in the small-town hospitality and have some fun at the same time.
“It’s so far, so good,” said organizer Andrea Gibson Saturday afternoon.
“Yesterday, we had the movie night, with about 23 kids that came, and the beer gardens were open so parents were able to have some refreshments.”
There was also a free supper Friday night for all the volunteers who helped get the celebration underway.
“Everybody in the community helps out. Everybody comes and does whatever they can,” said Gibson.
Saturday morning started with a traditional pancake breakfast and then a parade that had children lining the streets, hoping for handfuls of candy to be thrown their way.
Erik Nickolson and daughter Yuzuki, along with Donna Dul were in the Bat and Bird Conservancy side-by-side during the parade.
By mid-afternoon it was time for the highlight of the weekend, the lawnmower races. Eight racers took to the track with their modified lawn tractors hoping for trophy prizes and bragging rights.
Race organizer Dustin Gibson said he had been working on the track since Wednesday and had got very little sleep since then.
It’s the third year in the row the races have taken place, but Gibson has been behind all three events and this year had the largest turnout yet.
“Ya, I do it all, it’s all me,” he said. Community council lets me take the grounds for the day without charging me and my wife does the kids carnival so, we tag team the whole thing.”
Aside from the constructing the track, Dustin is also a racer, so spends a considerable amount of time of his machines as well.
“If you break down the day before like I did yesterday, I had to tear my machine apart to rebuild it,” he said. “They break really easily.”
Near tragedy
Spectators at the lawnmower races looked on helplessly July 28 as one of the racers left the track and slammed into the bleachers.
A 35-year-old Spruce Grove woman received a three-inch gash on her upper right leg and was bandaged on the scene and driven to hospital in Westlock.
Initially, an ambulance was called, but was cancelled soon after. Luckily, she was the only one who was injured.
The woman, whose family requested her name not be used, was surrounded by helpful residents and visitors alike, seconds after impact. Some brought water and first aid kits, others moved the bleachers and picnic tables for the vehicle to get through and one woman even gave up her umbrella for the woman’s comfort on the near 30C day.
Cheryl Wood, a medical office assistant from Stony Plain with first-aid certification, jumped into action as soon as the accident happened. She bandaged the woman and said afterward she would likely be OK and was just a little stunned. She added the wound actually came from the bleachers and not the lawnmower itself.
The incident rattled many spectators, but the races continued after several alterations to the track were made and the spectator zone was moved back further from the track.
Andrea Gibson called the event unfortunate and completely unintentional and wished the unnamed woman well.
“This is the first time we’ve had an incident where a bystander has got hurt, so we will make some alterations, we already have made some alterations, and everyone will just be extra careful coming around home base,” she said.
The annual hamlet-wide event would have went off without a hitch, if not for the lawnmower incident.
“The community speaks for itself in the people who gather here. It’s really a community effort in how everything works out and runs so smoothly. Everybody helps out and you don’t even have to ask them.”
