Despite haze covering the sky, volunteers of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 261, Forest Grove, were happy to see many families and individuals attend the seventh annual Redneck Olympics on Aug. 12.
Everybody was in good spirits and happily mingled in the Forest Grove Legion Park, which had been set up and was ready for action.
To get the fun day going, children and grown-ups took turns using towels to toss water-balloons across a net, which brought on an ever growing audience as well as a lot of cheer and laughter.
This is always a very popular event with young and old – albeit this year it was only a warm-up event and did not actually form part of the official games.
At 11 a.m., all kids registered and were set up to form four teams that would be competing in the newly created contests. First up was the Balloon Run, followed by Bucket Fill, Red Solo Pass, Kick the Can, Fling the Chicken, Cupcake Eatery, Dunkin’ Food and the Gunny Sack Race. Each winning team received money vouchers which could then be exchanged for prizes.
Just to keep the high spirits going, parents and grown-ups were then encouraged to form their own teams and join in the Gunny Sack Race.
Amidst cheers, shouts of encouragement and plenty of applause, participants hopped and ran the course.
The winning party received a Redneck Birdfeeder Trophy. All runners up went home with a Redneck Windchime.
Hamburgers, hotdogs and fries were available for the hungry as well as pop and water, while Kariboo Colton tended to the entertainment with uplifting songs and music.
The event concluded by Legion president, Jerry Billups, offering a free drink to adults and pop to the young ones for whoever could toss a toilet seat around a set up post.
Both were won and enjoyed.
People started arriving for the Redneck Barn Dance at the Forest Grove Community Hall shortly after 7 p.m., braving thunderstorms and raining ash to party the night away. One of the Burger Sisters, Brenda Staffen, set up a menu of chicken strips, fries and chilly cheese fries to keep everyone going.
The mood was festive, with everyone mingling around the cheerfully decorated hall, catching up and having a laugh with friends as well as enjoying some boogying to music and songs provided by Mark Allen.
