September 1 to 3, 2006, will long be remembered in Kipling.

At the height of activities associated with what was billed as Saskatchewan’s Biggest Housewarming Party, Ever, there would have been nearly as many guests and visitors in the town as there are permanent residents (pop.: 1140).

Guests and campers began arriving Friday and events kicked off Friday evening at the beer garden held at Kipling Arena.

There were good turnouts for the pancake breakfasts held both Sunday and Monday; food booths did a brisk business for the most part, and a number of non-profit groups appeared to do well catering to the lunchtime and suppertime crowds.

Booths and crafts tables on Main St. offered a variety of souvenir items and handmade goods which proved popular.

Dinobouncers, huge, inflated slides, were much in demand both downtown and in the elementary school yard and oversized games kept the young folk busy much of the time.

Lineups to ride in the SaskTel hot air balloon were non-stop and continued until late in the evening.

On the downtown stage, music lovers were treated to a variety ranging from Joel Fafard’s folk guitar and vocal compositions to Heavy Metal tunes provided by Stillseed. There was also rock by Shayne Hawken and the guys, the pop group The Rotators, pop/acoustic tunes by Club Treehouse and Colin Pearson’s vocal renditions.

The Community Centre was jam-packed for finals in the selection process for a movie role in Donna On Demand. The twelve finalists auditioned for Corbin Bernsen of Public Media Works, who was joined on the judging panel by Kyle MacDonald and Dominique Dupuis. It was this trio that served as inspiration for the entire weekend’s events. Bernsen, longtime screen star turned producer, traded the movie role to MacDonald (in exchange for a snow globe, which he collects). MacDonald, whose trading up from a red paper clip to a house in Kipling has captured the imagination of much of the world, and Dupuis, now his fiancee, recently moved into the house. The event was a housewarming party on a unique scale, along with being a showcase for the movie auditions.

A double-feature of movies featuring Bernsen was shown on a huge outdoor screen after dark. The same evening, the Saskatoon-based rock band Butterfinger performed in Kipling Arena, to a peak crowd of more than 1,200.

Sunday’s afternoon stage show was very well received.

It began with a special presentation by Kipling and Broadview RCMP to Pat Beaujot of Langbank, whose actions in early August resulted in the arrest of a suspected pedophile and the rescue of two children.

Dignitaries on hand for the housewarming ceremony included Hon. Graham Addley, Minister of Healthy Living Services for Saskatchewan, Member of Parliament Ed Komarnicki and MLAs Don Toth and Dan D’Autremont, along with Town of Kipling officials and council representatives from neighbouring communities and rural municipalities.
Mayor Pat Jackson proclaimed MacDonald Mayor for the day and both MacDonald and Dupuis were declared Honourary Lifelong Citizens of Kipling. Ald. Duane Leicht was master of ceremonies.

MacDonald stunned the crowd with his onstage proposal of marriage to Dupuis. (She said “Oui”.)

Several presentations were made to MacDonald, including one from Bombardier Canada, an all-terrain vehicle, presented by Tracy Szabo of Baker’s Small Engine Repair in Kipling. The gift had been arranged by Quebec Radio-TV personality Michel Barrette, who was also on hand.
Barrette was one of those who made trades with MacDonald along the way. Nearly all of the traders were in attendance and another of the afternoon’s highlights was their appearance together, for the first time ever, onstage.
Corbin Bernsen presided over the awarding of the movie role, with some Hollywood-style touches. He paid tribute to Kipling for its initiative and what he termed “a magic” that he has found here, before announcing the winner. Then amidst an explosion of confetti, Bernsen removed one shirt to reveal another, emblazoned with “Nolan G.L. Hubbard, starring in Donna on Demand by publicmediaworks”.
A visibly emotional Hubbard was welcomed onstage and gave a brief address to his many new fans and well-wishers.
There followed performances by Colin Pearson, Club Treehouse of Mississauga, ON, Jody Gnant and her band from Phoenix, and Saskatchewan’s own Brad Johner and his band.
Between numbers, the fundraising drive for Kipling District Health Foundation carried on. Contributors had been challenged by three citizens to reach certain amounts, at which time their heads would be shaven. Earlier in the day, Kirt Dayman’s hair had been removed; next it was Bert Roach, economic development officer, who had orchestrated the trade.
As the next level of donations was reached, Tracey Sproat’s locks fells victim to the shears. At that point, some arm-twisting resulted in emcee Duane Leicht’s volunteering to be next, in order to encourage continued giving. That objective, too, was reached and a total well in excess of $10,000 was raised in the end.
An impressive fireworks display in late evening also drew a large and appreciative crowd.
The festivities wound up with a concert in the Arena beer garden, by local favourite Alex Runions.
All in all, the enjoyable, weekend-long event provided a memorable housewarming for Kipling’s newest citizens, Kyle MacDonald and Dominique Dupuis.