Kraft Celebration Tour in Rocanville Celebration, live taping this Friday
August 20, 2013, 1:54 am
Kara Kinna
The town of Rocanville will be the site of a large celebration and hour-long live taping on TSN this Friday, August 23 as part of the town winning the Kraft Celebration Tour.
Rocanville was dubbed the winner of the Kraft Celebration Tour on July 18 after going head to head against Esterhazy in an internet voting contest for a chance to win $25,000 for repairs and upgrades to the Rocanville pool. The town was nominated for the contest by a community member, and was selected as one of 20 finalists for the contest.
The town was paired up with Esterhazy, and after 24-hours of online voting, Rocanville came out the winner with the most amount of votes and a $25,000 prize from Kraft to help with much needed repairs and upgrades to the town’s 40-year-old indoor pool.
A celebration will be held this Friday at the museum grounds, where the $25,000 cheque will be presented, followed by a live taping of TSN’s Sportscentre from Rocanville.
“It is a big deal. We’re not just getting three seconds of fame, we are getting a whole hour,” says Kathy Brown, Rocanville’s rec director.
From 2-4 p.m. booths will be set up all over the museum grounds with free samples of Kraft products, games and activities. Everything from an inflatable slide to a peanut butter tower to the Oreo mascot will be a part of the Kraft celebration.
Kraft will also be holding a barbecue for 500 people with burgers and salads.
Then, from 4-5 p.m. there will be a live taping of TSN Sporscentre from Rocanville with hosts Darren Dutchyshen and Jennifer Hedger. Following the hour-long live feed. Dutchyshen and Hedger will be available for autographs.
The $25,000 cheque will be presented some time in the afternoon, between 2 and 3 p.m., with introductions of dignitaries starting at 2 p.m. Local singer Jess Moskaluke will be singing O’Canada, and from 1:30 to 3 p.m. a stage will be set up in addition to TSN’s stage for a local talent show.
All of the events will take place within the museum compound, with TSN hosting their events from a 50-foot stage. The museum will also have its historic steam engine and threshing machine on display out in front of the museum grounds, and will be giving demonstrations before heading to a historic harvest bee with the machinery in Langenburg later that afternoon.
There will also be a pair of Grey Cup tickets on offer during the day as a fundraiser for the pool board, and Brown says T-shirts will also be sold with all funds going toward the pool. She says the T-shirts can be used for autographs if people wish.
Brown says parking will be available out front of the museum and also at the skating rink parking lot, with the dial-a-van shuttling seniors to and from the site. She says the committee planning the event is also hoping to have a bus available to take the public to and from the rink parking lot and the museum.
TSN has already been in the area filming, and plans to be in Rocanville again this Thursday to do more filming. As part of their coverage on Rocanville, they will also feature a story about Jeff Odgers, a former NHLer who now lives in the Rocanville area and plays hockey with the Rocanville Tigers.
Brown says there are plans to shuttle the TSN crew around this Thursday, and to show them the quad trails in the valley near Rocanville as part of their footage to be included in the hour-long show featuring Rocanville.
More than 80 volunteers will be needed to make the day a success. Brown says the committee almost has enough volunteers to help with all of the events and booths over the course of the day, and should have a full roster in place by next week.
“It’s a very full day,” she says.
She says people are getting excited about the event.
“We’re hearing that friends of families of families are coming,” she says with a laugh.
Rocanville was named the winner of the Kraft Celebration Tour after winning a national, head-to-head online vote over Esterhazy. Rocanville brought home the victory with 138,131 votes, while Esterhazy amassed a total of 98,961 votes in support of its nomination.
