STELLARTON – Stellarton Homecoming 2010 will kick off this morning with a day filled with fun, food and music for the whole family.
Gina Markie, with Stellarton recreation, said this year's festival would be extra special, as it will recognize the Canadian Navy centennial year with a special event at the Mayor's Garden party on Sunday. The Homecoming celebration also includes two landmark school reunions for the classes of 1960 and 1990.
"Since our Centennial year in 1989, we continued to hold an event as a homecoming," said Markie. "A lot of people abroad plan their vacations around our homecoming."
She receives calls as early as December from people planning to attend the festival, which brings hundreds of people to the town each year.
The five-day long festival will begin with a coffee party at First Presbyterian Church at 10 a.m., followed by a day of children's activities, games, bouncy house and water slide at the Albion Ball Field from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A salmon supper will be held at the Royal Canadian Legion branch at 4 p.m. and a concert in the park will feature Dave Carroll at 7 p.m., along with opening act Jason Brushett.
On Thursday a golf tournament will be held at Glen Lovatt Golf Course,
Junior Olympics at G.R. Saunder's School at 10 a.m., and a barbecue at the Medical Hall parking lot from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with proceeds for the IWK hospital, and the RCAF will host a senior's lunch.
A new event has been added to the line-up for teenagers called Minute to Win It, based on a popular TV game show and will be held at the rink starting at 7 p.m.
An antique car display will be set up along Foord Street from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and a trivia night will be held at the RCAF club at 8:30 p.m.
Dust off your dancing shoes and be ready for an Old Time dance at the Stellarton Fire Hall from 8 p.m. to midnight.
Friday's events will begin at 11 a.m. with a coffee party at Christ Anglican Church. A children's parade will pass along Foord Street at 6:30 p.m. followed by a youth dance at the youth centre from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The weekend activities start early on Saturday at 7 a.m. with a pancake breakfast and silent auction at the fire hall, followed by a giant Main Street yard sale and flea market on Foord Street sidewalks and a washer toss tournament at Dorrington ball field at 10 a.m. In the afternoon the RCAF Association will host a pork chop barbecue from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and the homecoming dance and beer garden will be held at Stellarton Memorial Rink from 9:30 to 2 a.m. featuring Autumn's Reach and Caustic.
The festival will close on Sunday with a horseshoe tournament, ecumenical church service, the mayor and council's garden party and a movie night at Allan Park at dusk featuring the film How to Train Your Dragon.
During the garden party a plaque will be presented to the town commemorating the HMCS Stellarton K457, a Flower Class Corvette commissioned in 1944.
The ship, named after the Pictou County town, spent the remainder of the Second World War as a mid-ocean escort.
For more information about the festival or special times for events call 752-8944.
