Railroad Daze numbers down, but still fun for many

Ken Johnston
Editor

While numbers were down at some events, the 14th Annual Railroad Daze festival held last weekend in Rainy River was still deemed a success by most.
The event kicked off on Friday with sidewalk sales that were fairly busy all day. The annual seniors picnic on the lawn of the old CNR station was a big hit as Highway 621 performed for about 80 seniors and friends.
After lunch the Legion was a hub for a lot of activity as entertainers performed and the Rainy River Curling Club held their annual fish fry.
Don Marquis, the local CN Operation Lifesaver representative, was busy along with two members of the CN Police talking about rail safety with the public. About 65 people toured a brand new locomotive on display that day and about three times that number toured it the next day.
Saturday was jam packed with activities that took off after some morning showers dampened things a bit. The rain likely scared off a number of entries in the annual parade, but the weather let up by lunch and huge crowds gathered down town for the event.
The Toy Library was busy providing a multitude of activities for kids that included face painting and crafts.
The Dawson Buffalo barbecued ribs and polish buffalo sausages were a big hit. Scheduled to run until 6 p.m. they were sold out by 3 p.m. Dean Peters said that they thought they had made more than enough and were surprised to be sold out so early.
The Recreation Center was abuzz with baseball action and other events like the women’s hockey team dunk tank.
The Legion also played host to a number of entertainers again on Saturday. The Rainy Lake Highlanders pipe band played acoustical music all afternoon and plenty of pipe and drum music again to the crowd’s delight. A young girl, Ashley Smith of Winnipeg, great granddaughter of Rainy River’s Lorraine Cyr, danced up a storm in the back of the legion in highland dancing form. She later then danced with the pipe band in the Legion club room and delighted everyone present.
Later that afternoon local entertainer Jacquie Dufresne and Company entertained the crowd at the legion both before the annual Legion Steak Fry and after. Over 150 people attended the steak fry and some of them even came up and sang with Dufresne and Company.
The day wrapped up with a video dance at the Rainy River Arena that saw about 300 people attend.
Sunday kicked off with two pancake breakfasts. At the legion about 65 people attended and at the Recreation Centre the Lions served about 120 people.
Baseball took center stage that day as the teams battled to make the playoffs later in the day. Winning the A event was Rainy River’s own Bionic Crunch. Winning the B was another local favorite the Stratton Equalizers.
Carol Inkster of Emo brought her Funny Farm petting zoo to the Rainy River Arena and was visited by more than a hundred kids and adults alike. She had a brand new piglet there and asked the kids to name it in a contest. The winning name was Pinkels and was entered by Courtney Peters of Sleeman.
More than 100 people were on hand to watch the baseball finals at the Recreation Centre which capped off the weekend.