Today we went to the Canada Day pinic in the Twin Cities. It was held in a great park that we had never been to before. We didn't want to stay very long, because it was such a sweltering hot day - but curiousity got the best of us and we couldn't stay away!
It was a modest group - perhaps about 100 or more - all wearing, it seemed, either Roots clothing, or red and white (though I did notice one kid wearing a red & white "Nevada" shirt... sneaky...) It was a BYO-Everything kind of deal, though they had some hot grills going so you could BBQ your favourite pinic foods.
Everyone wore nametags with their name and their Canadian city of origin, and my first impression of the group was, hey, why is everyone from Winnipeg? Apparently IT companies in the Twin Cities did a lot of recruiting up in the 'Peg in the late 1990's. One man we spoke to has been in the area for almost ten years, though his memories of Winnipeg winters are still chillingly fresh...
That said, I did see at least one French-Canadian family and their "ben-oui" was music to my ears :)
We had a good chuckle over the Fort Frances (CAN) and International Falls (US) border communities that had an across-the-river tug-of-war this year to celebrate 'border community-ness' and to co-celebrate Canada Day and the 4th of July - or simply 'the 4th' as it's known here. Earlier in the day, the Canadians lost the Dragon boat challenge (best out of three), but dragged the Americans into the river/border to decidedly win the tug-of-war. It made the news on NPR. Good work Canadians, eh!
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