Almost Done

Almost done, but not quite. We have the Town Picnic left, but today I shall post a few pics of the penultimate event — the Bridge Street Summer Fest.

It was a very hot day, and as I have mentioned previously, I am tired. Tired both physically and of taking event photos. But I persist and will post a few photos of this event which is not my favourite thing.

Aside from being hot, and it is always hot for this fest, there are crowds. And aside from crowds there's really nothing that interests me. Vendors and such line both sides of the street, and I trudge up and down, somewhat duty-bound. Sue usually discovers something or other, and so she made two purchases — one for herself and a gift.

This is a bit of a shot of some of main street. People do come out in droves although I am not sure why.

Sue is contemplating a purchase.

This was the vendor or the significant other of the vendor.

A purchase.

This Drums Alive class interests Sue. She has great rhythm and would really enjoy the activity. Who knows whether she will actually sign up come fall as she has other classes to attend.

And I'm going to stop right there.

Classic Car Parade & Street Dance

Are we tired yet? I am. Yesterday, I could barley force myself to shuffle through the crowd and vendors on the very hot main street for the Bridge Street Summer Fest. Consequently, I was very unambitious about picture taking. This is quite alright as I was sure that Bob would be doing his usual enthusiastic job.

But Friday night was quite a party. First the classic car parade and then the dance at market square.

Since I knew the cars were all or mostly coming to the square, I just settled there and waited for them to round the final bend. It was just as well as it was a spot where they had to slow way down, as shown in these two photos.

They parked all of the way up the street with some out of sight and others not attending the dance at all.

My two favourite cars parked adjacent to each other. They are at opposite extremes of spit and polish, but I like them both.

Later I nabbed a photo of the people who drove the shiny car. I decided to show you a retro-style, but I was torn because the colour version is also very good.

The band, Eddie and the Stingrays, played old time rock and roll and were quite fabulous. The place was so packed that it was difficult to get photos.

The crowd. There were plenty seated too.

A few of the dancers. The first lady is a friend of sorts.

We were expecting company, so we didn't stay for the second set, but I clicked this shot before we departed.

It was really a great event.

Celebration Parade

Events continue at a torrid pace, but this weekend will be it except for two events in September. Today, I am posting some images from the Celebration Parade that took place on Thursday evening. There was an antique car parade last night, but who knows when I will deal with those photos. Today is the Annual Bridge (our main) Street Bazaar, and there will be a town picnic tomorrow.

For the Celebration Parade I set up opposite town hall because I thought it would be good to get that fine building in the background. I took dozens of photos, but I will try to be judicious here. The photos should speak for themselves.

There was a gathering at the end of the route: a few speeches, cake and music.

CP200 Amazing Race

Some are concerned about the personal photos that I sometimes post here, but I figure if I wear a badge identifying me as a town photographer at a public event, then people would expect to have their images used. I am not overly discrete about what I am doing and find that people are quite happy with the attention. If they ask me to refrain, I will oblige. It happens very very seldom.

Oops. With so many events in so short a time, I almost overlooked the Amazing Race way back on Sunday. Except for one photo in passing, that is. So, although the Celebration Parade was last night and the Antique Car Parade and dance will occur tonight, I will post the Race photos today.

Contestants had a list of 200 items to work through. I don't know how well they fared as I baled early. (I think I used the right baled and not bailed.) I shot at two locations and left the rest for Bob, who did his usual great job. Two stops in the heat after 11 hours at the concert on the previous day were enough for a weary AC.

CP 200 Monster Bingo

The next 200th anniversary event was the Monster Bingo, held on Tuesday evening. I was going to pass on this event because Bob would be there recording it very well indeed. But in the end, I decided to go with my long lens and just take candid portrait photos.

I was stunned by the huge crowd. I guess a $1000 grand prize for a celebration event was quite a draw.

I took almost four dozen photos in all although some were two shots of the same person. I will leave you with a baker's dozen that I like a little better than the rest.

I think I did the right thing (for me) in choosing to focus on this kind of shot, especially since the other photographer was doing a more overall view, and we didn't need to duplicate.

Next event will be the Celebration Parade tonight. I think that at least in part, people will be dressed in period costumes.