South of the Bridge Days a huge success
The fourth annual South of the Bridge Days celebration turned out to be one of the best.
A steady crowd of onlookers and patrons passed through the South Hill Fine Foods and adjacent mall parking lot throughout the morning on June 9, taking in the pancake breakfast, family activities and – among the most popular of the day – police car, ambulance and fire truck with their respective crews. Combined with the nice weather and festival feel, it made for a fun day for folks ‘across the bridge.”
“It’s celebrating everything that’s south of the bridge and it’s all about having some community pride south of the bridge,” said event organizer Crystal Froese, who also moonlights as a member of Moose Jaw city council. “The original that started quite a few years back when the Thunderbird viaduct closed down for major repairs. It was closed for two years and businesses over here really suffered, so they got together and put together a whole weekend party, there were bands and all kinds of things going on.
“Then out of the South Hill Local Area Plan, we heard from people in the community that wanted to do something else, so we as a committee got together and did something that was focussed on families.”
That evolved into the event that took place Saturday: face painting, balloon animals, arts and crafts were all part of festivities. And then there was the scavenger hunt, an event that had an interesting twist to it.
“The scavenger hunt that we started last year allows people to walk and bike around certain areas to see some of the fun things there are to do,” explained Froese, adding that the event included a number of neat and interesting locations people might not be aware of.
The hunt also had a fun, scaled-down version for youngsters to take part in, featuring items in the festival area itself.
Each item found earned a ticket in a special draw for a wide variety of prizes.
South Hill Family Foods acted as the event’s major sponsor, donating food and drink and use of their parking lot for the show.
All in all, it was a fun day celebrating a vibrant community.
“South Hill was at one time the quickest growing population in Moose Jaw, when the city was first coming together,” Froese said. “Everything was happening over here because we had the rail lines, the flour mill, the first brewery, the wild animal park.
There were some busy times, for sure. And there’s still a lot of fun stuff to do over here today.”