Soaking up summer
Large crowds attend this year’s Lambert Todd Days events
Lambert Todd Days celebrated in Reserve Mines.
Pint-sized future firefighters braved fire hoses and obstacle courses at the Junior Firefighters Competition during Lambert Todd Days on Saturday.
The event was sponsored by the Reserve Mines Volunteer Fire Department whose members seemed to be having as much fun getting soaked as the young competitors. As the sun bore down with 26 C temperatures, the children ran through a maze of tires, across a bridge and through a collection of wooden boxes while dodging spray from the fire hoses to get to the end where they got to use the hose for real.
Afterwards, there were free hot dogs and pop and prizes for everyone taking part.
It was just one small part of an annual event now into its 18th year.
For Ben Haighway, a member of of the festival’s organizing committee, the competition is a fun part of the event.
“This is a big part of Lambert Todd Days where the youth get to try to be firemen,” said Haighway. “We give them a little bit of training - we give them a tour of the truck - we have a lot of fun doing it all.”
Lambert Todd Days is named after Lambert Todd, the first community-owned racehorse in North America, back in 1929. Beside belonging to the people of Reserve Mines, the home of the co-operative movement in Cape Breton, Lambert Todd was the first pacer to break the 2:10 record in Nova Scotia, with his fastest effort clocked at 2:02 1/4.
The festival features a full program of events including hockey and basketball drills, a golf event, contests, get-togethers and a car show on Sunday afternoon.
“So far, we’ve had a wonderful turnout,” said Haighway. “We’ve had the biggest golf group Friday that we’ve ever had - a big party Friday night - everybody was having a good time.
“So far, everything’s working great. “