Thousands of folks from across Springwater Township descended on Midhurst’s Tree Nursery Sport Park Saturday afternoon to celebrate the township’s 30th birthday.
For hours, township residents - old and young - enjoyed food, fun and frivolity while the summer’s last blast of fantastic weather provided a picture-perfect backdrop. The closing fireworks provided the requisite exclamation mark.
Gathered at picnic tables, spread out on blankets or huddled in groups, folks chatted with new and old friends alike while local musicians provided a soundtrack of live music.
“Tonight we celebrate Springwater, never forgetting who we were - or where we come from - yet embracing our future,” said Springwater Township Mayor Jennifer Coughlin, host and emcee of the event. “As we celebrate Springwater’s 30th anniversary, we are reminded of the community spirit that defines us.
“Our communities aren’t just dots on a map, little boxes on a grid - they are places where people gather, connect, and support each other,” she added.
As township councillors served up ice cream and local Lions and Lionesses dished out barbecued goodies, the older party-goers took in displays from local service groups - Springwater Public Library, Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority, Severn Sound Environmental Association - while the younger folks burned off earned calories on the climbing wall, the inflatables and a scaled down, portable version of a snow tubing run.
Shortly after opening the gates to the free event, local talent search winners Erika DaCunha and Ethan McBrien kicked off the live music - an all-Springwater affair that included Graham Scott Fleming, a rising country performer who got his start in show business on Broadway and headliner Dayna Reid, who releases her debut album, She’s Me, this coming Saturday, Sept. 21.
“This is what makes Springwater special,” Coughlin told the crowd as she introduced the evening’s acts. “The reason we get to enjoy this talent tonight is not simply because they grew up here - it’s because they choose here.
“And they choose here because of you - their family, their friends, neighbours - their career-long supporters - and the awkward fan-girls like me,” Couglin added.
As the bands played on, revelers had the chance to get up close and personal with first-responders from police, fire and emergency services and the vehicles they use.
The highlight wasn’t the latest and greatest - that honour belonged to a police cruiser that was built before Springwater became a township - Car 7-500, a 1989 Chevy Caprice police cruiser, the very last one to come off the production line from General Motors.
“It never went into service but everything on it’s completely functional,” said Const. Mike Osborne, media relations officer for the Huronia West Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police. “It was called the super car - it had the fastest track time, the fastest zero to 100 time and the fastest top speed at the time - 200 kmh.”
Osborne said GM donated the car to the OPP as it was the last black and white cruiser the auto giant made before the OPP adopted the all white cruiser with blue and yellow lettering.
With just over 9,000 original clicks on it, Car 7-500 has become a celebrity ever since Osborne started taking it to community events earlier this summer.
“It might as well be a Ferrari,” he said. “I took it to Wasaga Beach earlier this summer and we were supposed to be there for half an hour.
“We left four hours later.”
The allure, Osborne said, is the memories the car awakens, especially among some older folks, who may have experienced a ride in one.
“A lot of people want to have their picture taken in the back seat to relive one of their less-than-savoury stories,” Osborne said. “It’s become the community’s car - they really love it.”
