July 1st was a wonderful day in Lockeport as it seems to be every year, Of course the festivities are stretched over a week (+), so it's a very busy time in town and everyone seems to be especially enthusiastic for a while :).
There were a few new things this year - Lockeport Rocks had 4 concerts and with the other musical events, there was music available for 9 days straight which was pretty special.
The first concert was the KISS tribute evening - Wayne and Tim and I worked in the bar to help out the Arthritis Society: Wayne bar-tending, Tim doing security and I sold BBQ and bar tickets. Pretty good attendance considering there had been a huge downpour earlier in the evening and a very good show. Dressed to Kill were great!
The second concert was a rap/hip-hop event in the Fire hall. Tim worked security again but, although we had tickets, we stayed home - not really our type of music. The acts were about an hour late but a couple of them were apparently quite good and about 70 of the local youth turned out. Afterwards Tim said one of the performers told him they would have gone with a "milder" set if they had known the crowd would be so young. They were apparently very nice well-spoken, polite men - not what you really expect from rap artists! (my age is showing)
Concert 3 was held in the pavilion in SeaCaps Park, with the tent sides up. Perpetual Detour was on first, an all-female group out of Halifax which will be appearing in Lockeport again at Harmony Bazaar at the end of July. Not the best acoustics for them, but an enjoyable alternative rock band anyway. It will be interesting to hear them on the big stage at HB. Perpetual Detour was followed by The Tripps, excellent show although EXTREMELY LOUD! There were only about 35 people there total but it was Grad day in Lockeport so lots of people were otherwise occupied. Once again Tim did security with Darren but there certainly wasn't much for them to do.
The final of the 4 concerts was the June 30th extravaganza - always a lot of fun. The weather was perfect, huge crowd, better bar configuration (you could actually see the show this time), and a true "holiday" atmosphere. Mike Balish opened with a solid hour of tunes - he's such a versatile artist and had a great selection for his set. Then the headliners - The Matt Minglewood Band. Lots of dancing, wonderful music, 2 full sets! Great night!
Canada Day morning, I headed back down to the Park for a new event - breakfast from a a shanty. The Park was immaculate by 7:30AM - kudos to the Canada Day Committee for a job well done. Breakfast was a very good bargain - eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, and a beverage for $5 and was well-prepared and hot. A good addition to the day! Other "food" events included a quilt show in the Baptist Church (with coffee, muffins, scones etc), The Canada Day cake at the opening ceremonies (thanks Mary!), strawberry shortcake form the IODE at the Anglican Church (we're up to 11:00AM now), sausages from the Fire Dept. and from the Town Market, a BBQ by some students at the Hardware Store, and the Lions BBQ booth. Then there was assorted baking and fudge etc ine the craft fair area. Also a booth selling pizza (must have been the Bayman but I resisted getting close enough to find out). There was also a mini-donut truck, cotton candy etc.
In the afternoon, several of our friends dropped by to watch the parade from our elevated lawn. Sherm, Fred and Barbara, Bob and Kathy (the first July 1st they've made it to NS), Kelli, Gina and a whole slew of teenagers. The parade was short a few firetrucks this year - Clark's Harbour ran their own events which took some of the trucks from farther down the coast and Liverpool had an earlier than usual Privateers Days (due to the calendar I guess), which kept their firetrucks at home. But it was till good, noisy, small-town fun!
