Downtown Barrie was buzzing with energy and flooded with red and white Saturday as people flocked to the area to celebrate Canada Day.
Ryan Penny and his children Adalyn, 8, and Owen, 5, live just down the road from Meridian Place and were looking forward to taking part in the wide variety of family fun that was part of the city’s annual event.
“It’s my weekend with the kids and we just wanted to go out and have some fun. I think there’s a face painter here so the kids are excited about that and the games… and (we are) just taking advantage of the weather. I think that it’s great that they do this stuff here in downtown Barrie,” he said, adding the goal was to come back to watch tonight’s fireworks - assuming everyone stays awake
The Cappelli family also came out to celebrate Saturday afternoon.
“We live pretty close by, so we always come down and check it out,” said Laura Cappelli as her three kids - Jesse, 3, Avery, 2, and Jackson, 7, - played the brightly painted piano in Meridian Square.
“It makes you feel like you’re living in real life again and it’s nice to be out and meet other people and get back to that normal lifestyle,” she added.
Mother-daughter duo Danielle and Freya Ferguson went all out with their red and white Canada-themed outfits Saturday, telling BarrieToday that dressing up is a bit of a tradition for them.
“I dress up for every holiday. It’s kind of a crazy thing. My mom loved Canada Day, and she’s since passed, so I like to dress up for her,” said Danielle.
Today was Johana, Emily and Jhon Bosada’s first ever Canada Day, having arrived from Colombia about six months ago. The trio, who now call Barrie home, donned matching red Canada jerseys, telling BarrieToday they were thrilled to be able to celebrate in their new city.
“We are excited because we feel very part of this country. It’s a nice country. We feel proud of Canada,” said Jhon, adding that five-year-old Emily was looking forward to getting her face painted and checking out some of the bouncy castles.
In addition to Open Air Dunlop, face painting and bouncy castles, the day featured yoga, wrestling, live entertainment - and of course fireworks later tonight, added Sharon Winchester, who was working as the entertainment hostess for today’s Canada Day festivities,
“We have so much going on. Heritage Park is open and we’ve got lots of events going on over there. People really need this and people have missed this the last couple of years. This year they’re going all out again and it’s just so great for the city and so great to see the happy faces. People really have pride.”
The festivities are set to continue throughout the day. Tribute artist Elton Sean will take the stage at 8 p.m. and a fireworks show over Kempenfelt Bay is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m.
