Wild West Daze 2016: Another Success

I am sitting  in my motor home after a crazy busy week and finally have time to reflect back on Wild West Daze 2016.

Leader, Saskatchewan, had their annual slow pitch tournament and for the whole Father’s Day Weekend, the town was bustling with activity.  Usually, I do a small  bit of volunteering, make a fool of myself with my terrible athletic skills, and end the weekend with a self inflicted headache, but this year I took on the job of videoing the whole weekend.

Ball started Friday night and teams filled the park with tents and trailers, taking advantage of the free camping.  I headed to the Lion’s Fish Fry and enjoyed watching the men batter, cook, and serve the fish to a huge crowd.

A fairly new event to Wild West Daze is the scavenger hunt.  This year the theme was Bigger and Better.  Teams started with a Leader pin and had a couple of hours to head out on the town and trade up.  I sat and enjoyed a beverage with my sister as she did her volunteer work and waited eagerly to see the results.  Those pins became rototillers, mosquito traps, and an assortment of homemade baking!

My Friday night ended after a bit of karaoke entertainment.  I left early to pack for my trip to BC, knowing that the concert the next night would be a late one!

Saturday morning I headed in to town to start my day with the breakfast that our tourism board sponsors.

From there, I enjoyed a parade complete with Shriners, horses, rodeo queens, and locals promoting their businesses.  I was especially impressed with the young kid on a unicycle!

A favorite of many locals is when the Friendship Center makes Grebble, a German dessert.  The line always backs up out the door, but I snuck though to video the cooks.  I had no idea what Grebble was until I moved to this area.

For the first time, Wild West Daze was stage to a tractor pull.  A great turnout of spectators was entertained by drivers attempting to pull weights the farthest.

Kids were entertained in the park with a bouncy castle, slip and slide, and free swimming. And the coolest thing, was that the Great Sandhills Railway was offering short rides in the caboose.

After running around to all of these events, I headed back to the ball diamonds where the teams were all enjoying themselves.  I grabbed a burger from the food truck and relaxed for a bit in the beer gardens.

The night ended with a dance featuring,”Men Without Shame.”  We all rocked out to 70’s and 80’s hits.

 

 

The rain put an end to the tournament on Sunday, but I think everyone agrees that it was still the perfect weekend of fun! ( And I am sure all of those with self inflicted headaches weren’t too sad about not getting to play more!)

Wild West Daze could not be done without all of the volunteers.  Great job, everyone!

Do you attend local events such as this?  You should!  There is something for everyone!