Rain leaves many moms, dads and kids adrift in mid-day downpour
Many of Laval’s moms, dads, children and grandparents got just a taste of the fun normally to be had on Labor Day weekend, when the city lives up to its annual end-of-summer tradition by holding the Fête de la Famille at the Centre de la nature in Duvernay.
Unwelcome rain
Given Mother Nature’s precarious moods in recent years, the city’s highly popular Family Day was reduced roughly by half.
Rain that began slowly falling during the early afternoon quickly changed into a steady downpour that drove anyone lingering on the Centre de la nature grounds into a frantic search for cover.
Although Environment Canada had forecast rain starting no earlier than 3 pm after bright and friendly skies that morning, dark clouds were gathering by as early as two, while gusts of wind threatened to uproot tents and send them aloft like giant kites.
A scaled-down Fête
However, many of the usual sights, sounds and fun things were there, although scaled down considerably in some cases. The “zip line,” a perennial favorite among kids as well as adults every Labor Day weekend, was a shadow of its former self this year, being reduced to a mini-version.
Still, some of the Family Day’s old standby favorites, like the Laval Fire Department’s firehose and burning house simulator, were still as big a hit with the kids as in many years past.
A Jurassic Park “circus” proved itself to be very popular with kids and parents, although it and most of the other activities were cut short by mid-afternoon when the rain began falling in torrents.
