Killarney Guide

BY KIM LANGEN

Canada’s birthday celebrations in Killarney on Monday, July 1, get started creatively in the morning, with a cool paint-in at the Heritage Home for the Arts on Water Street.

It’s an Art Circle, running from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., in which a number of painters will surround a piece of antique farm machinery from the Flywheel Club, with their easels erected, and each create a painting of the subject over the course of the day.

The results will likely be amazing.

If you are a painter or a charcoal or pencil artist, you are wholeheartedly invited to join in, says Jane Ireland, manager of the arts centre. 

“We provide the canvas and the easels,” she said. “They just have to supply their paint and brushes. And if the artists want to donate their painting, we will be auctioning them off at around 4 p.m. on Canada Day.”

And if it rains, the artists will set up on the veranda, she added. Watching them work, and the image to appear, is quite mesmerizing over the course of the day.

And from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. there will be a Youth Scavenger Hunt, also at the Heritage Home for the Arts, for those looking for faster action.

At 10 a.m., and at 12:30 p.m., there will be a chance to enjoy a relaxing and free Tour of Killarney bus journey, boarding at the Shamrock Centre, and taking in a number of interesting stops.

“The plan is to visit places such as the golf course, the museum, the Heritage Home for the Arts, the Flywheel Club, Erin Park, and our beautiful green spaces,” said Ireland. “We want to showcase what this town has to offer.”

And from 2 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. the blockbuster KCI Alumni Concert & Jazz Band members will take their place on the stage over at the Shamrock Centre.

Summer Games will run at the Ag Grounds, starting at 3:30 p.m., which is also when the Beer Gardens open up there.

And later at the Ag Grounds, it’s Awake Before Dawn rockin’ the baseball pitch, from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m., followed by the spectacular fireworks show.

For the full list of events, and a map of where they take place, keep scrolling to the bottom. Enjoy the day – Happy Birthday Canada!

What is the Canada Day Committee?

This year a raft of Killarney and area groups joined together to create the upcoming Canada Day celebrations, said Jane Ireland, manager of the Heritage Home for the Arts.

“Wendy Giesbrecht (recreation manager) and I wanted to team up together, work together, and find a way to share resources,” said Ireland. “So we organized a committee – we call it ‘Killarney-Turtle Mountain Working Together’ – and everyone is helping to make Canada Day a great day.”The committee is comprised of groups that include the Killarney-Turtle Mountain Arts Council, Services for Seniors, the municipality’s Recreation Department, the J.A.V. David Museum, the Heritage Home for the Arts, the Killarney Agricultural Society, Turtle Mountain School District and Early Childhood, Killarney School, the Flywheel Club, and Lakeland Regional Library.