Despite rain, postponed Canada Day festivities in Grande Prairie a success

Despite the delay in Canada Day festivities following Wednesday’s record setting rainfall, Canada Day in Grande Prairie was celebrated on July 4 and was met with success.

The events kicked off Saturday afternoon in Downtown Grande Prairie with the city’s first-ever Reverse Parade and Car Show. The route stretched along 100 Avenue from 98 Street to 102 Street.

The parade was met with success, as the line to get on to 100 Avenue stretched for blocks, all the way on to 98 Street past City Hall.

Once on the parade route, families drove by dancers celebrating Canada Day, decorated businesses, Storm Troopers dressed in Canada Day attire, and old school vehicles.

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Jennifer Groff is the owner of the Diverse Dance Company in Grande Prairie. With dance competitions being cancelled this year, she felt the parade was a good opportunity to get her students to spread some Canada Day cheer with a dance.

“We didn’t get a chance to hit the stage this year with COVID-19, so when the Downtown Association said, ‘We are doing a Reverse Canada Day Parade’ I thought this might be a great opportunity for our kids to get out there and preform, which they’ve been missing this season”

Groff tells EverythingGP that her students were able to rehearse the dance for just over one week. The students participating in the dance ages ranged from 7-14.

The dancing was very popular amongst the drivers who passed by, as many honked their horns and waved to show their support.

On the streets of the parade route, around 25 show cars and vendors showed up to make the day a reality, several volunteers were also on hand.

Hailey Kramps with the City of Grande Prairie says it was great to see the community come together and adds she was surprised by the turnout.

“It’s obviously raining, but we’ve got some really great community members that showed up to help us out. I am (surprised) especially because it’s raining, I really appreciate that everyone’s come out and we have so many vehicles driving by to take a look as well. It’s been a really great turnout, so far we’ve had a consistent flow of traffic the entire day.”

The parade ended at 4:00 p.m. and shortly after that at 11:45 p.m. thousands of people showed up in their vehicles and watched fireworks take off at Muskoseepi Park and the CKC east football field.

It’s the first time the city has ever had two fireworks shows, it was created so people can stay physically distanced from each other.

The new fireworks location at the CKC football field was so popular, parking lots in the area were filled for blocks, all the way to the CKC west field.

As for the fireworks show itself, it lived up to the hype.

Spectators watching the display kept their distance and it provided for a safe and fun evening.