THIS YEAR'S EVENTS! (Still in process of being firmed up)
Live Music
To be confirmed but the band will be serenading our festival goers from 12:30ish p.m. until the boat races begin.
"What Rhymes with Zucchini" Poetry Slam
We are currently working on ideas to freshen up this old mainstay of the festival.
Zucchini Carving Contest
This contest awards prizes to the most beautifully carved and decorated zucchinis. Winners may be boats or anything else that springs from the imagination with a special single prize for dinosaur related themes this year. Large amounts of corporate cash may increase your chances of winning but not necessarily.
• Junior (up to and including 9 years old)
• Junior Runner-Up (up to and including 9 years old)
• Senior (10 years to 16 years)
• Senior Runner-Up (10 years to 16 years)
• Family/Adult (Adult entries or those with significant adult input)
• Family/Adult (Adult entries or those with significant adult input)
Important!
If you want your boat to be entered in the best-decorated contest and the boat races it has to be registered and on the table by 2 p.m. After that you are free to go ahead and sink – er – race it.
All entries must be registered and on the appropriate display table by 2 p.m.
Zucchini Cooking Contest
Flex your culinary muscles with the vegetable of the hour: the ever-so-flexible zucchini. Slice it, dice it, shred it, boil it, bake it, blend it - bring us your most delicious zucchini creation and you may be the big winner of a fabulous prize in one of three categories:
Best Zucchini Creation - junior (for younger cooks - up to and including 15 years old)
Best Zucchini Creation - adult
All contest entries must be in by 2 p.m. and will be judged by a panel of experts in an elaborate ceremony involving nibbling, eye-rolling and appreciative smacking of lips. Points will be awarded for taste, presentation and overall " zucchininess". Participants are encouraged to bring along their favourite recipes for the inclusion in a possible future zucchini recipe publication (we're talking 8.5" X 11", one-sided, nothing fancy). You may enter as many zucchini dishes as you want - we're happy to taste them all.
Competition for the Biggest Zuke
This prize goes to the largest zucchini entered. Entries must be registered and placed on the appropriate table. Top entries will be weighed-in during the Awards Ceremony, and a prize for the largest as well as the runner-up will be awarded. The grower of the winning zucchini will also have her or his name affixed to the permanent trophy.
This is always the highlight of the festival. Races start at 2 p.m. sharpish, so be sure to come in time to carve your boat. The carving table closes at 1:45. Free zucchinis and decorating stuff, as well as non-lethal carving instruments will be made available.
The Race
Boats are raced in heats down Baxter Creek, using the foot bridge by the mill as the starting point and the fork where it rejoins the main stream as the finish line. If you win your heat you will be given a coloured bracelet that will qualify you for the next round. First place winners of each heat will race again in a winners' race, and prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place winners.
How to Enter
Boats do not have to be registered in order to race. Just line up at 2 p.m. However, if you want your boat also entered in the carving contest, be sure to have it on the appropriate display table prior to the judging (which will take place shortly before 2 p.m. so you can get it back for racing)
Important!
• You may only race your boat once unless you are the first place winner of your heat.
• In order to qualify for the race your zucchini needs to be:
A A whole zucchini, not part thereof (rules may be relaxed this year, due to a deficiency of zucchinis, to allow other squash as well)
B Hollowed out (somewhat)
Awards Ceremony
This is the point where we acknowledge all of our day's winners. Exquisitely hand-made refurbished trophies will be handed out to all winning participants along with a firm hand shake and best wishes for future endeavours. Even if you didn't win anything, stick around because …
Honorary Parade and Zucchini "Feed the Zukosaurus" Giant Slingshot Grand Finale
Immediately after the Awards Ceremony all of the festival participants are encouraged to grab a zucchini (their own or a fresh one from the pile) and follow the leader in a parade up to the mill pond. There we will initiate the last event of the day, the exciting Slingshot Finale (really just a thinly veiled way of getting everyone out of the way so we can clean up the mess down below!)
And that's about it.