Please don't rain on our parade!  Well, Mother Nature listened, but nobody said anything about not raining on the rest of Canada Day in Airdrie.

The Family Fun Fest at Chinook Winds Park took the brunt of mom nature's wrath, but, eventually the weather relented and the planned Canada 150 fireworks, set to Canadian music, did go off.

Stacey Watts of the Airdrie Parade and Fireworks Committee says you just never know.  "Mother Nature always has a way of reminding us she's around and Canada Day is no exception.  In fact we have had a snow on Canada Day before, we've had tornado warnings on Canada Day before and last night we definitely had rain."

The plan was for events to start at 3:00 pm and continue until around 11:00 pm after the firworks.  Watts says that plan was disrupted.  "The rain started around the 4:00, 4:30 mark.  Some of the stuff did continue.  Obviously the main stage had to postpone at a certain point because electronics and water don't mix.  Many of our volunteers stuck around or came back.  At one point the wind came up and it got very cold so a lot of the citizens of Airdrie left, understandably."

Watts says they were able to get the show rolling again around 8:00 pm.  "The fireworks did go off at dusk and they were set to music, which we have never had before and it was spectacular."

The amazing part of the evening, according to Watts, was the number of people who were actually on hand for the firworks.  "The funny things is at one point the park outside of the committee and our volunteers was pretty much barren.  The food trucks were still going.  All of a sudden we had a lot of people come.  I would not be surprised, considering how empty we were at a certain point, that we probably hit 5,000 to 10,000 people in the park at the time of the fireworks.  People were coming back in droves, our shuttle buses were still going from Ron Ebbesen so, they were coming.  As soon as they realized the fireworks were a go they showed back on up."

Watts put the entire day in perspective.  "The parade was fantastic, we couldn't ask for better weather or a better turnout.  The parade was a perfect rating.   As far as Mother Nature kind of tweaking our day at Chinook Winds, well, you kind of take it in stride.   Other than that, it was also an amazing event.  People were in good spirits considering.  We're Canadians, this is kind of how we do things.  People kept coming in saying 'you guys are doing a great job, we're really enjoying it' and it's pouring rain on them.  You can't break the Canadian spirit."

One final thought from Watts.  "I would like to say it was the most memorable Canada Day I've had in years."

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