Adding a burst of colour and enthusiasm to this year’s Riverboat Days parade was the local Bhangra dance group. (Rod Link photo)
Thousands of spectators lined along this year’s Riverboat Days Legion Parade route on Saturday.
The parade began at 11 a.m. in Terrace at City Hall on Eby Street and wound down to Lakelse Avenue before it headed back up toward the Terrace Legion for a family barbecue and results presentation afterwards.
People saw over 50 entries float down Lakelse Avenue this year, with newcomers including the Nerf Battlefield Club, Miss Teen Canada 4th Princess, Unique Woodworking and Kincolith Chuga-Lugs.
It took around an hour and a half for all the floats to make their way through to the end. Parade chair Joyce Bradley said they’re expecting a similar turnout to last year’s count of 13,000 people.
“I came up in the lead police car and it’s amazing,” said Bradley, who has chaired the parade for the last 27 years. “That’s the best part of the parade is driving up and you see all these people out there.”
Afterwards, judges awarded cash prizes to the top three floats in several categories at the Terrace Legion.
The best overall went to the Terrace Portuguese Community.
Terrace Filipino Canadian Association won in the Non-Commercial category, with Kitselas First Nation in second place and Lakelse Dragon Boat Society in third.
CityWest won the Commercial category, followed by the Nerf Battlefield Club in second place and Capit in third.
The Terrace Bhangra Club won first place in Dance Groups and Bands category this year with Art in Motion in second and the Majageleehl (Flower of the Nass Valley) Nisga’a Marching Band in third.
An honourable mention was given to the Terrace Special Olympics branch.
Agility and grace were the key words of the performance of Free Elements, one of several dance groups entertaining the onlookers of this year’s Riverboat Days parade. (Rod Link photo)Coast Mountain College chair Nicole Halbauer hands out Canadian flags at the 201u Riverboat Days parade in Terrace. (Rod Link photo)Lily Azak, 10, Darius Robinson, 9 and Owen Azak, 13, were three of the youngest members of the Majagaleehl (Flower of the Nass Valley) Nisga’a concert and marching band, a perennial favourite in the annual Riverboat Days parade. (Rod Link photo)Paramedics Virginia Goddard and Matt Hadisi tend to a teddy bear on a gurney, part of the collection of local emergency services vehicles of all kinds which, by tradition, mark the end of the annual Riverboat Days parade. (Rod Link photo)B.C. Day’s Rotary Duck Race was prefaced by many club members out and about at various Riverboat Days activities. Here, Rich Toomey makes use of a golf cart as he patrolled the Riverboat Days parade route in hopes of finding ticket buyers. (Rod Link photo)Taya Haldane from the Heritage Park Museum distributes candy, just one of many people to do so while walking alongside their Riverboat Days floats. (Rod Link photo)Bob Park and Clara Dalfouco, this year’s King and Queen of Riverboat Days, cruised down Lakelse Avenue and waved to the crowds. (Brittany Gervais photo)Terrace’s Youth Volunteer Corps show off their soapbox derby cars during the Riverboat Days Parade, ahead of their first annual fundraiser on Sunday, August 5. The derby runs from the Skeena Mall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Brittany Gervais photo)The area’s Portuguese community was well represented in this year’s Riverboat Days parade by embracing the theme of diversity. Joao Azeredo, left, and Joao Botelho, right, raise a toast on the float prepared by the community. (Rod Link photo)
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