FILLMORE - The first-ever Festival in the Park was held in Fillmore on Thursday afternoon and evening, featuring live entertainment, children's activities, a popup farmers market, and food.
The festival was at Lanny B Park, which was established, developed and maintained by Fillmore resident LaVaughn Duxbury on three lots she owns on McCullough Street, one block off Main Street.
The park is named after a grandson who now lives in Drayton Valley, Alta., and it took LaVaughn 18 years to develop it to where it is now. She and husband Ralph designed the park's layout, and planted trees, shrubs and flowers over the years, including developing a semi-enclosed area with a fish pond and grape vines (which produce grapes).
She's had help with some of the items along the way, including flower boxes along the street near the entrance, donated to her by Clyde Hall from the foundry he had for making custom parts for his antique tractors.
A few vendors were on hand for the pop-up market, including two farm families from the Tyvan area, with pies, seeds, flowers, canned vegetables and hand-drawn cards made by the children. They included from the Kyle family, Macie, who made pies; Kipton, who pickled beans, carrots and made tea, and Tanner, who made the hand-drawn cards.
From the Buckingham family, Cutler and Colt had pickled carrots and other items for sale along with the Kyle family. The families attend school and skating lessons in Fillmore, and often do business in the town, so they took part in this event as well.
Live entertainment was provided by The Blend, Kylee Glover, the Caragana Ramblers from Forget, and the Mariachi Latino band from Regina.
A silent auction was held to help raise funds to pay for the live entertainment, along with some sponsorships that LaVaughn was able to sign on for the inaugural event.
