To say that summer is a busy time in Kenora is a bit of an understatement. Between weddings, fishing, swimming, the Matiowski Market- It makes for a hectic two and a half months. It’s fun to live a hard driving summer lifestyle, but I know personally it is kind of nice when September rolls around. Sweater weather time. A chance to have weekends free of commitments. The changing season. The colourful leaves. Fall is a great time to slow down a bit and reflect on the summer, and also start thinking about snuggling in for winter.
It was in that mindset that the LOWBrewCo sponsored the BPM event on September 10th. It was a shoulder season event meant for the people of Kenora, as well as our guests, to have a chance to get together and enjoy a late summer Sunday and wrap up the summer with a bit of hoopla.
The day was broken down into three events- biking at the Falcon Ridge Ski Slopes, paddling on Lake of the Woods, and capping off the day with a free concert at Anicinabe Park.
There was a good crowd of bikers at Falcon Ridge Ski Slopes in the early morning. Local super volunteer Caleigh was the leader as the bikers zipped up and down the slopes. I’m told that the biking trails are looking good and the local volunteers are doing fantastic work expanding and maintaining the network. Great job, guys.
Meanwhile at Anicinabe Park, Scott Green of Green Adventures and over 30 paddlers took to the water of the Lake of the Woods. It was a rough and windy day, and the paddlers did a good job just keeping upright. In any case, the paddlers had a fun time out there. A big thanks to Scott Green and Green Adventures for supplying extra boats and paddles so everyone could get out on the water.
Lastly the official launching of the Anicinabe Park stage with North Shore and Royal Canoe. I didn’t know before hand, but the LOWBrewCo has actually sponsored the stage, and helped to get it built. So that’s pretty cool. The newly named Brewers Stage hosted North Shore’s set, but while Royal Canoe was getting ready a tree fell over the power lines in Lakeside and killed power for half of Kenora, including Anicinabe Park. Scott Green was able to get a generator going, but for a power pop band like Royal Canoe they need a little bit more juice. Luckily, Winnipeg folk trio Red Moon Road had come as guests for the show, and were willing to jump in on a moments notice. Since they needed a lot less power than Royal Canoe they were able to come up and play using just the power from the generator. So big thanks to Red Moon Road for helping to make sure that the “show must go on”.
While the power situation was getting sorted out there some prizes drawn for- a couple people won free beer for a year. I wouldn’t mind winning that. Someone else won an inflatable stand up paddle board from Tall Pines Marina, and there were some prize packages from Falcon Ridge Ski Slopes, and Falcon Trails Resort.
Overall I think was a great event for Kenora. It’s nice to have fun stuff on the shoulder seasons, too, and I love having a chance to see everyone out at a big outdoor concert. I think the Brewer’s Stage at Anicinabe has a ton of potential. You could fit 1000+ people in that field for a joke and it makes me really excited for what comes next. A special thanks to the gang at the Brewery for helping to organize, for Caleigh out in Falcon Lake, and for Scott Green and his gang at Anicinabe Park. Great job, guys! And we’ll see you all next time.
– Arnie
Original Source Here