One of the biggest weekends of the summer in Brockville is almost underway.
The City of Brockville will be bustling this weekend as they host the long awaited Rails to Trails festival, their Ribfest and a large, yellow guest. The Rails to Trails festival starts at 4:00pm today on Blockhouse Island with a speech from Mayor David Henderson. The newly renovated railway tunnel will be formally opened to the public on Saturday at approximately 10:30am. Other entertainment scheduled during the festival includes; the West Coast Lumberjack Show, Carnivale Lune Bleue’s Snake and Fire shows, Rhythm of the Nation and dance demonstrations.
Also running from Thursday to Sunday is the Brockville Ribfest. Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Leeds and Grenville have helped organize the event, like they did with the Kemptville Ribfest earlier this summer. Some of the events planned for the festival are; a Kidz Zone with activities for children, a fishing derby, the Barley Mow Volleyball Tournament, pony rides and a petting zoo, live music and a rib eating contest. This is the festival’s 17th year.
Finally Blockhouse Island is getting a new shoreline attraction for the weekend in the form of a six-story inflatable rubber duck. The giant rubber duck that has been floating around the country as part of Canada’s 150th birthday celebration will be inflated this morning and is scheduled to remain on the island until the festivities ends on Sunday.
In anticipation of increased traffic downtown the city is offering a free shuttle service. The shuttle will do pick-ups at the Brockville Memorial Centre and Brockville Shopping Centre before dropping riders off at City Hall. Parking at the pick-up sites will be free. The shuttle schedule is:
Thursday, August 10 from 2pm-10pm
Friday, August 11 from 10am-10pm
Saturday, August 12 from 9am-10pm
Sunday, August 13 from 10am-6pm
For a complete schedule of the Rails to Trails festival go to www.railstotrailsbrockville.ca. A complete schedule for the Brockville Ribfest can be found at www.brockvilleribfest.ca.