It was another great Family Day event with over 300 celebrating our community spirit with special events. Country 106.5 was broadcasting live from the foyer of the as the aroma of pancakes wafted through the centre.

The pancake breakfast co-hosted by the Town of Vegreville and the County of Minburn started at 8:30 am and by 10:30 am over $ 1,150 was raised through donations for the local Food Bank. There were activities all around town including family bowling, hay rides, swimming, skating, floor curling and a road hockey game. At the Social Centre, there were Bouncey Houses to delight the children and photo opportunities to recognize and celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary year.

Perogies and Jam started off at 8:30 am with recorded music as the sound system was being set up and folks were sitting down to a plate full of pancakes, sausages and hash browns. Coffee and juice were flowing to keep up with the eager appetites.

Live music with local performers started at 10:00 am with the Wild Roses including Darlene Thibault, Debbie Hill and Connie Marcinkoski on acoustic guitars and blended harmonies. Their set included Blue Kentucky Girl, Someday Soon, The Rose, and Coat of Many Colours.

Young Nolia Jarvis, accompanied by recorded sound tracks began her set with Goldmine and Blame It On Me. Other songs included Remedy, Better Man, My Church, and concluding with Water Under the Bridge. Lorne Fill on acoustic guitar accompanied by Rob Hughes on drums, sang the Railway Station Stomp and the Bi-Plane. He followed with playing an original flamenco instrumental, followed by singing Log Drivers Waltz, and Maid on the Shore. Lorne concluded with another original song Lost in Sunshine.

The Barter Trio consisting of Malachi on fiddle, Micah on ukulele, accordion and spoons, and Mike on 12 string acoustic guitar, performed well known fiddle tunes. Audrey Stefan accompanied by recorded sound tracks, performed several soft rock numbers including Toxic, Crazy, Pumped Up Kicks and Ex’s and Oh’s. She concluded with her favourite Fleetwood Mac song Rhiannon.

Randy Kereliuk on acoustic guitar and accompanied by Rob Hughes on drums performed Wagon Wheel, Forever and Ever Amen, and The Impossible. He concluded with Country Roads and Bye Bye Love. Don Harfield, (acoustic guitar), Liam Bonser (flute and penny whistle) and Denver Balid (drums) performed songs including Blackbird, Banks of the Roses, Clean Train and a new original song Food Waste.

Finishing off the music were Lorne Fill, Don Harfield, Liam Bonser and Rob Hughes with several songs including The Cat Came Back. By 2:00 pm, the events in the Social Centre were concluding and most folks were moving on to other activities around town.

This was the fifth year that Perogies and Jam was invited to host the musical performances on stage at the Family Day event. We appreciate our volunteers today including Peter Thibault (sound system), Randy Kereliuk (set up), Liam Bonser (set up) and Rob Hughes (photography).

Thank you Vegreville for coming out to have fun and begin the celebration of Canada’s 150th year as a nation. With so many volunteers and organizations contributing to this family day event, it was a great day!

Check out the photos below and see who you can recognize.

Photography by Rob Hughes & Don Harfield