Mission celebrates its 120th birthday this weekend, and the Parks, Recreation and Culture department is organizing an old-fashioned sports day to coincide with Sports Day in Canada.
“The events are open to everyone and everyone will receive an old-style ribbon in the end presented by (Canadian Olympic medallist) Eden Donatelli,” said Stephanie Key, deputy director of PRC. Team Canada Olympic basketball player Teresa Gabriele will also help hand out the ribbons.
The games run from 1 to 3 p.m. on the Heritage Park field, but will be moved into the gym if it’s raining.
There will be four stations through which participants rotate. The first will be old-fashioned ones, such as potato sack, egg and spoon, bean bag balance, and three-legged races, and the second will be parachute games and athletic and agility challenges, like running through hoops and over mats. There will also be two obstacle courses.
Participants will be given wrist bands and will be organized in age categories.
“We prefer to have everyone start at 1 p.m. and be part of a rotation group, however, if people come later, we will just fit them in where we can,” Key explained.
Other events taking place include official ceremonies at 12 p.m., followed by live music, a birthday cake, hot dogs and refreshments; storyboard displays from various community groups; a historic fashion show called Mission: The Times We Had; The Clothes We Wore at 2 p.m.; and a 15-minute documentary by local filmmaker Ian Low. The celebrations continue in the evening with former mayors and councillors and performances by local dancers and choirs.
Tiller’s Folly will wrap up the evening. This Maple Ridge trio has eight studio albums and recently won Top Song in the Social Cause category at the 11th annual Independent Music Awards Vox Pop Poll.
There is limited seating for all events. For more information visit the group’s Facebook page, Mission’s 120 Year Celebration.