By all accounts the city’s first 4 Directions Festival Saturday, July 1 in downtown Williams Lake was a huge success.
Families with young children were lined up down the block on First Avenue South to play games with prizes at the Kidz Zone even before the Daybreak Rotary’s Stampede Parade was finished, said Joan Douillard co-owner of The Realm of Toys which sponsored the activities.
She said they had to start their events at 11 a.m. even though their volunteers weren’t scheduled to arrive until noon when the festival was scheduled to start.
“We were just slammed,” Douillard said. The Kidz Zone provided 10 games such as ring toss, duck fishing, toilet paper toss, Blinko and more.
The 202 Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Chilcotin members made $870 selling tickets and helping with the games and have volunteered to come back next year, Douillard said. “They were pretty happy.”
While the festival was a lot of work she said it was well worth the effort.
“We had wonderful volunteers and wonderful people (visiting),” Douillard said. “Everyone worked really hard with smiles on their faces.”
All around the four blocks of the downtown core closed to traffic for the festival there was a steady stream of people coming and going to visit the impressive number of activities planned for the day.
The festival was in full swing from noon until about 4 p.m. when the majority of presenters packed up, but there continued to be music and entertainment on Second Avenue, in Spirit Square, and over at the Potato House until 9 p.m. when the festival was officially scheduled to end.
From the ball hockey, gymnastics and soccer participation events to the makers market featuring more than 30 crafts people and artists, to the multicultural village with First Nations carvers and story tellers, the Four Directions Lounge with lehal and aboriginal bingo games, First Nations dancing opportunities, to the Cool Zone with board and video games, to rocket launcher games and remote control car driving track, to opportunities to learn about yoga and Latin dancing, to face painting, airbrush tattoos, craft and other activities for children, to ongoing musical entertainment on two stages, to the tiny house exhibit, mini-mural painting, beer garden and more musical entertainment at the Potato House there was no shortage of activities to keep people entertained.
And there was lots of food options and treats such as cotton candy to be had along the streets as well as bargains at downtown stores who put merchadise out on the sidewalks for the festival.
As one observer pointed out the 4 Directions Festival was quite an ambitious undertaking.
An exhausted looking Kate Lines executive director of the Williams Lake Central Business Improvement Area Association (BIA) which organized the festival with local businesses and community groups received a few complements as she kicked back at the Potato House at the end of a long day hot day for volunteers and event organizers.