The District of 100 Mile House celebrated its 60th birthday with a special booth in this year's Park-tacular Family Day.
District personnel put on a course for children and adults alike as part of their festivities at Park-tacular Family Day, which calls back to the historical gold rush that 100 Mile House had been a part of. Those participating in the fun course started off in 'Cache Creek', where they went with their gold to 'Clinton', where they dropped off the gold. Then, they had to crawl under to get to the wild horses that would take them to the finish line in 100 Mile House, where they received a free chocolate chip cookie and a sticker for their efforts.
Mayor Maureen Pinkney said around 30 people did the course - noting the District turning 60 comes with the good and the bad.
"It's awesome that our community has grown in housing. We don't have a lot more people within the District boundary, because a lot of the seniors have stayed. Kids have left, new families have come. The downside of being 60-years-old is that's how old your infrastructure is," Pinkney said.
She explains the District was officially incorporated in 1965 due to the Emissaries of Divine Light - specifically Martin Cecil, the owner of many properties along the area.
"He started giving up some land to the Centennial Park that we're in now. This was given to 100 Mile for a park. Schools were gifted some of the other properties. I believe the airport was gifted to 100 Mile," Pinkney stated about the history of the district.
At the gifted Centennial Park, Pinkney said Parktacular Family Day has been fantastic.
"Lots of people coming and going. We got the whole slew of search and rescue in our fire department. There's lot of games, free hot dogs," Pinkney said.
The big part of the Park-tacular Family Day is the duck race, which saw thousands of plastic ducks being dumped into Bridge Creek - around 1,000 of them. According to Larry Davis, who is the president of the South Cariboo Pickleball Association, the duck race netted the association around $4,500 - and is a competition between 1,000 people for cash prizes.
"Every duck has a number on it with your ticket, and we let them loose at the upper bridge - and they swim downstream, and the first three that go under the second bridge are scooped up - and they yield prizes," Davis said, explalining that $500 wasa going to first place, $300 going to second place, and $100 going to third place.
After the duck race ended, Pam Markortoff, the secretary of the South Cariboo Pickleball Association, got on stage to announce the winners of the race. The winner of the 2025 running of the duck race was Quinn Haddon. Second place went to Andy Antle, with third place going to Susan McDonald.
In addition to the duck race was a literacy walk showing off the kids story Pete the Cat: Five Little Ducks by James Dean.
A junior firefighting challenge was set up by the 100 Mile Fire Rescue, in which kids had to do a whole array of fun firefighting activities, such as stop-drop-and-roll, as well as crawl inside a tunnel to simulate ducking beneath smoke, as well as taking a bucket filled with water and dousing fire - among other activities. There was also face-painting.
Davis said the only real challenge the event had, had everything to do with weather.
"This year has been pretty unstable. One second it looks like it's going to rain, and the next second - it's good," Davis added. He said he would like to see the same groups that appeared this year come back for next year.
"It'd be great to see maybe some food trucks show up as well. Firefighters are carrying a lot on their backs with their barbecue stand, but all in all, it's been a great day," Davis said.
As for the District of 100 Mile House itself, Pinkney said residents should be thankful.
"Continue to be the friendliest small town in Canada. We have an amazing amount of outdoor living, so don't be discouraged on the few things we might not have, because we have so much here."
