Downtown ready to celebrate Canada
Two days of celebrations will help kick off Canada’s 150th birthday in downtown Peterborough.
Downtown Pop-Up and The Bash 150 on June 29 and 30 respectively will include a variety of entertainment and activities in the first of four local Canada Day festivities, announced Thursday morning at One Eighty on Hunter St. W.
Canada’s 150th Anniversary Celebrations Committee and the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area are working together to host the activities as part of Celebrate at Home, which runs from June 29 to July 2.
Plans have been in the works for more than a year to enhance the activities already set to take place, said DBIA board member Jean Grant of The Toy Shop. “We wanted to throw a great big party and that’s what we’ve planned.”
Downtown Pup-UP will include entertainment at more than 20 locations in the downtown, DBIA executive director Terry Guiel said
A ribbon-cutting and picnic in Millennium Park will hear the swing, jazz, funk and rock and roll sound of the band Knightshift before performances continue throughout the afternoon and into the evening, organizers said.
Performers will include the Tanah Haney Celtic Harp Trio, Mike Graham Gypsy Jazz Trio, Bobby Watson, Sean Conway, Danny Bronson’s tribute to Gordon Lightfoot, country singer Dean James, the Peterborough Pop Ensemble, Peterborough Concert Band and New Horizons Band.
There will also be live chainsaw carving by champion woodcarver Steve Kenzora, caricatures by artist Jason Wilkins, interactive art, Citiots Improv, a live circus show as well as a Bring Your Can-Con Canadian music contest.
On June 30, Hunter Street will be closed to traffic between George and Aylmer streets as the Electric City Culture Council (EC3) and Artspace presents New Visions/Old Land, a 150th-themed media and arts exhibition from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Four new works by local artists commissioned for the event will be unveiled, while a variety of films, videos and projections of all sizes are shown on the street.
Catfish Willie and Washboard Hank will kick off music with a Live and Local Lunches performance at the Peterborough Square courtyard from noon to 1 p.m.
Family entertainment throughout the afternoon will include a colouring contest hosted by the public library (3 to 6 p.m.), face painting from Faces By 2 (4 to 8 p.m.), a Ben van Veen Century 21 Summer Family Film Series movie in Millennium Park as well as performances from Tim Holland The Puppet Tamer, J’s Magic and the Paddling Puppeteers between 3 and 7 p.m.
The Bash 150 street dance then gets underway at 4 p.m. with a lineup of entertainment including Washboard Hank (4 to 5 p.m.), The Mayhemingways (5:15 to 6 p.m.), Rick Fines (6:15-7 p.m.), Melissa Payne (7:15 to 8 p.m.) and The Rocket Review, featuring Jack De Keyzer and Jerome Godboo (8:15 to 10 p.m.).
Organizers want to involve all ages.
“We wanted to have something for everybody,” Guiel said, explaining how the idea is to showcase the best of what Peterborough has to offer. “We have some of the best. And they are treated like gold when they go to other communities.”
NOTE: For more information about city 150th celebrations and a list of events, visit www.peterborough.ca/PTBO150 and follow organizers at www.facebook. com/PTBO150 and @Ptbo150 on Twitter.