MINTO – All residents, past and present, are welcome to join the Palmerston community in celebrating its 150th birthday.
The Palmerston homecoming committee has been working hard to pull together a weekend full of events for all ages.
The homecoming event is scheduled for Aug. 1, 2, 3 and 4, ensuring a long weekend filled with entertainment and fun, officials say.
“Our theme is Palmerston railroads so everything will revolve around the 81, to the train [and] to the history of Palmerston,” committee member Mackenzie Norman told the Advertiser.
According to Norman, guests can expect a weekend full of food, entertainment and history.
The event will begin on the Friday with a kick-off at Palmerston Lions Heritage Park. Timing of the event has not yet been determined by the committee.
The following day will consist of a community breakfast, farmers market, food trucks, local entertainment and more.
The committee has organized a parade to begin at 11am on the Saturday as well, and hopes to have many floats participating.
“This is going to be a great event for the whole community to enjoy,” said Norman. “It’s really great for our businesses and for the Town of Minto.
“We’re going to draw people who currently live in town and who were residents … it’s going to be great for them to see what has changed throughout the community.”
Projected homecoming events include:
- a kids fest;
- reunions;
- beer gardens;
- handcar races;
- community dinner;
- face painting; and
- night-time entertainment.
“We are going to have reunions for different sports teams, classes or groups that have happened in Palmerston’s past,” she said.
Tickets and passes, such as all access weekend, meal and entertainment passes, are to be released in April on ticketing website Eventbrite.
The weekend pass includes three breakfasts, three dinners and three entertainment nights.
“We would like to keep the weekend cost as low as possible for everybody to come out to enjoy.”
Sponsorship details are set to be released in the future.
“We’ll have different tiers that local businesses and residents can contribute to,” Norman said.
The Sandpipers, Chris Clark, Bradley Hale and 12th Line Band are scheduled for the nighttime entertainment.
“Our committee has 11 members; we’re small but mighty,” Norman said.
“We do need the community to help us make events for everyone.”
She noted any community group or team wanting to host an event during the weekend event is welcome to do so.
More details coming
The committee also calls for volunteers to help with children’s events, meal clean up and entertainment nights.
Themed apparel is available on the Palmerston Homecoming website at palmerstonhomecoming.ca.
For more information or to register as a volunteer, visit the website link above.
More details about the long weekend will be released in March.
