Monday, August 4, 2008

a grown up popsicle stand


This is a historic week in Duncan, we are hosting the North American Indigenous Games. Youth from all over North America including Florida, New York, Saskatchewan and of course British Columbia are here to compete in various sports. We went to the opening ceremonies yesterday and it was amazing. Thousands of people had gathered (including our very own premier) to welcome the 25 teams to the valley. For a small town like Duncan, this is a pretty big deal. It was so amazing to see all of these First Nations youth gathered to compete for the week and share a sense of solidarity and peace, it was really inspiring.

Now, with this many people in town (the estimate was 20,000), my friends and I thought it would be prudent on our part to make sure no one got thirsty in the hot sun. So, as a group of 30 somethings we set up our own popsicle and cold drinks stand (well it was actually a red wagon with a cooler on it). We were all so excited this morning, we had signs, we had the wagon and we had the hot sun. We packed up the coolers with ice, water and popsicles and headed out to the sports venue.

It was great. The sun was out, the people were thirsty and we had a slogan that you couldn't ignore. "Ice cold drinks and popscicles, one for $2 or 3 for $5" The only problem was that we couldn't keep the popsicles from melting, despite the small glacier of ice we had in the cooler. We ended up giving most of them away to some happy kids. The water was a big hit, especially since they had three lovely ladies bringing it to them right to their lawn chairs! So tomorrow, we are coming back more organized and with more selection. Water, pop, ice tea and chips! We're sure to be a hit.

The truth is, yes, we would all like to earn a little money (I am saving up for my very own bike, but I'll blog about that later), but being with such good friends, having a chance to laugh all day and keep the visitors of the Cowichan Valley well hydrated, that's what it's all about. This is a great event for our community, but it's also a great event for us as friends; a group of 30 something girls having a good time on a summer's day.

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