Kevin Osadchuk and his family drove roughly five hours to spend their Family Day weekend in Thunder Bay.
Osadchuk, from Manitouwadge, came to the city to participate in the variety of activities held on Family Day. Osadchuk said they wanted to visit family who live in the city but also go out and enjoy some of the activities.
His two-year-old daughter Emily was playing soccer at the Lowery’s Sports Dome during the FamJam event. He said having a place to have fun with his family is worth the price of admission.
“For $20, you can’t beat that for a family,” Osadchuk said.
“My sister told me about the Sports Dome so I decided to call this morning to find out more about it. The guy listed everything over the phone. We have some small drop in things in Manitouwadge but nothing of this size. This is great. To go swimming or something like that, we usually have to drive to Marathon or come here. To do something like this in the morning, for $20 is a deal and a half.”
Erin Reynolds also went to the Sports Dome with her two children and her husband. They arrived early to avoid the lineup. They planned to do a number of the activities including soccer, jumping and sliding down the inflatable rides and grabbing something to eat.
Reynolds said they also planned to visit Fort William Historical Park later on during the day. She said the city has gotten better in providing events for families to attend.
“It’s coming together nicely,” she said. “I looked at some of the sites and some of the parks are having events like the marina and Fort William. It’s nice to have a bit of a variety so you’re not stuck doing the same thing every year.”
Jake Satten, head organizer for FamJam, said the event was also to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Big Brothers Big Sisters. Satten believes the reason Big Brothers Big Sisters has been able to stay active for so long within the community is because it offers a significant service for children in need.
“We’ve stayed relevant and I think just by doing a good job,” Satten said. “Our job is to make sure every child who needs a mentor has a mentor. That’s what we’ve been doing for 100 years.”
Satten expected a few thousand people to attend the event and said the fundraising goal was about $8,000.
FamJam wraps up around 6 p.m.
Over at Fort William Historical Park, thousands of people were lining up to attend the final day of the Voyageur Winter Carnival.
Doug Stanton, manager of marketing and visitor experience at Fort William Historical Park, said they were glad that the weather warmed up for the Family Day events. Over the weekend, the temperatures dipped well below minus 10 Celsius.
With the temperature hovering around minus two, Stanton said they couldn’t ask for better weather.
“First thing in the morning when we opened at 11 a.m., I saw all of our admission lines going,” Stanton said. “That usually doesn’t happen until 1 p.m. so we’re off to a really fast start with the crowds. We’re so happy it’s a little bit warmer than it was on Saturday and Sunday. I think some people might have waited to get some of this today.”
Traditionally, the Family Day Monday is the biggest draw for families to attend the Fort. Stanton expected attendance to reach the thousands by the end of the day.
Stanton believed the biggest attractions for this year’s winter carnival were the tubing hill and the skating out on the frozen Kaministiquia River.
The winter carnival is expected to wrap up a 5 p.m.
