Early morning the weather was drab but the clouds cleared enough to cast sunshine on the 10 am Indus parade. First a cavalcade of horses and wagons trotted past – even a surrey, but no fringe on top.
A Rocky View County truck, a golf cart, the Indus Figure Skating Club with huge smiles and banner held high, the Indus Preschool in all their country regalia, another golf cart trailing brightly colored strings of balloons, the Bow Valley Beef & Multi 4H Club tossing candy and squirt guns, a shiny, vintage automobile of green, and last, but not least, the Indus Minor Hockey Association and the town fire trucks. Candy and smiles were shared by all – the parade was a success.
As soon as the parade fuss had died down the horseshoe tournament began; teams played against team, the winning team playing against the next winning team, and so on and so forth.
The gymkhana, which had been scheduled to start at the same time as the horseshoe tournament at 11 am was cancelled due to unsafe footing in the riding arena. But this in no way impeded the playing of Road-Apple Bingo; a game where chalk is drawn in a very large rectangle with lines running across vertically and horizontally to resemble a bingo card. A large poster is drawn up the same way and participants pay to have their name in one of the spaces. Now, in order for a person to get BINGO two well fed horses are walked across the chalk bingo board and wherever a horse leaves its droppings signifies a win for the person in the corresponding place.
Following all this excitement was a 2 o’clock tea time with chocolate and carrot cake. At this time the opportunity was taken to thank the founders of the community and then the cake was ceremonially cut.
3:30 pm – greased pig derby! Sounds like a blast, doesn’t it? Yes, but only for the children, sorry parents, maybe next year. Kids aged 8-12 were split into two groups; older and younger. Each group was taken into the centre of the riding arena and told to form a circle. Enter the greased pig! Squealing and running as fast as their little feet would carry them, these piggies tried to evade capture, only to be snared by Gavin Brister and Morgan Tanner in their respective age groups.
The long-running horseshoe tournament was eventually won by Richard & Ellen Wagner in second place and Don Neddow & Ryan Fjeld in first place. First place prize was a handsome trophy with a likeness of a horse head welded on top and horseshoes affixed to the sides.
Delicious is the only word that comes to mind when referring to the Indus barbecue. Soft buns enveloping juicy slices of beef, three different kinds of salad, hot beans, and pies with whipped cream that would make your mouth water.
Everyone gathered in the main rink to partake of this sumptuous meal, and to enjoy the live band – the Reuben Kincaids. After supper all the little kids lined up to beat the candy out of a piñata. And guess what some of the prizes were – whistles. When the band began to play one by one the kids skipped out onto the dance floor to entertain the adults and just have fun, rounding out a wonderful day in Indus.
