Carrick Days celebrates 31 years

What began as a simple house party has grown into something extraordinary as the town of Carrick celebrates 31 years of Carrick Days.

“It keeps communities together,” said vice-president Vance Rempel. “We don’t have a lot of people living in Carrick. I think we have like 10 residents, but people have cabins there and people have memories when they used to live there back in the day. They keep coming and it just get to see all the old people you see every year and (Carrick Days) just kept going that way.”

Rempel and founder Jim Danilchuk estimate about 300 to 400 people come every year to Carrick Days.

One of the highlights is the horseshoe tournament which is a big draw having about 20 people fight for the cash prize and the title of top thrower.

“It’s an older sport,” said Rempel. “People 50 years ago didn’t have much to do so it was something easy for them to start on and they just put on more and more and then grudge matches (occurred where) this town is better than this town. There’s not so many places you can play horseshoes and we make it a big tournament and we have people from all over come to play it.”

Another highlight of Carrick Days is the live entertainment, which this year will be provided by Darren Lavallee and Good N Dusty. Fireworks will light up the night sky on Saturday night.

Saturday will also have a parade, petting zoo, watermelon eating contest and Sunday there will be a breakfast, a bean bag competition, and an open mic.

“(Carrick Days) puts (Carrick) on the map,” said Rempel. “People know Carrick Days is a big event. There’s always good entertainment they give out a lot. It’s a big, big draw that way and people know where Carrick is.”

Carrick Days runs on Aug. 9 and 10 on Main Street.