The annual Bushplane Days event brought a number of people to the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre Sunday for a number of activities geared toward the whole family.
“Pretty awesome,” said Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre Marketing and Promotions Manager Edie Suriano of the turnout over the weekend. “We’ve had lots of people coming to help us celebrate our 24th annual Bushplane Days festival, the kids are having a ball.”
One of the event's main attractions, the waterbomber that's routinely deployed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, was noticeably absent from this year's Bushplane Days.
“In the past, we’ve had the big waterbomber out front with the MNR [Ministry of Natural Resources], unfortunately, the tanker wasn’t available this year, so we lost our big show. That has been a big draw over the years," said Suriano. But we’re still getting lots of people.”
Suriano says the key to the event's longevity has been its affordability, and the centre's willingness to bring in bigger and better attractions over the years.
“We’ve kept it affordable as we could - being a non-profit, it is a fundraiser for us, but we keep our prices so low so people can afford to come,” she told SooToday. “Every year we’ve built on it and brought in something new, something a little bit bigger, something else for them to do - for a reason to keep coming back, no matter how old your child is.”