For those of us choosing to stay in Waterloo for the very long weekend, we were lucky enough to have one of this city’s biggest celebrations happening up at Columbia Lake. Every year, the Federation of Students (FEDS) along with each Faculty’s student society, puts on a massive daylong event filled with performances, activities and great food for students as well as the surrounding community. A total of 60,000 people make their way to North Campus to take in the festivities.
During the day there were countless activities running as well as numerous performances taking place on two separate stages. The mainstage hosted several mainstream-style musical acts and the Children’s Stage was host to several local performance groups including UW’s own Engineering Jazz Band and acapella group the Waterboys, all of whom drew a large crowd of eager spectators. As always, EngSoc put on its ‘Mini-Olympics’ events for children aged 6-13, including fun events such as a dunk-tank, potato sack races, balloon tango and the always-popular waterslide. The TOOL and Toolbearers also came out for the day, and children had the opportunity to dress up like a Toolbearer and meet the TOOL. Even Campus Police came out to meet UW Engineering’s much-loved mascot.
If games or being aged 6-13 wasn’t really your thing, there was still a ton to do. Several food and arts and crafts vendors offered up good eats as well as good shopping to pass the day. There were a number of activity stations open for the young and the young at heart scattered at various locations throughout the field. A personal favorite of mine was the high flyers kite club located at the north end of the field, where large, magnificent kites of fish, scuba divers, and other creatures floated effortlessly in the sky. People of all ages walking by couldn’t not stop and turn their heads and look up in awe. Even with all of this available, many people simply chose to kick back along the field’s steep hillsides and soak up some sunshine, since there was a lot of it that day.
When the sun finally set, the crowds swarmed the field in search of the best seat to take in the annual firework show set off from Columbia Lake. I myself have always been a fan of fireworks, as I’m sure many others are, but I can say with confidence that there was a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ that made this year’s show particularly impressive. I managed to find a seat only a few meters from the edge of the lake, and I had the treat of the large clusters of vibrant colour practically displayed directly over my head. The surrounding crowd of thousands clearly shared the same fascination, as each cluster of explosions was accompanied by unmistakable ‘Oohs’ and ‘Aahs’ as the sky lit up. Everyone was so clearly focused on the display that not one single movement could be sensed from the massive group of spectators.
Leading up to the weekend, it always sounded shocking to others that I was choosing to stay in Waterloo for the ever-rare extra long weekend. But I figure, with a grand celebration like this right at campus’ doorstep, who would want to leave?
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