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Turtles turn humble start into big event in Boissevain By Jeffrey Lewis The Brandon Sun years ago it was a wacky day of entertainment involving a dozen turtles and a hundred spec tators. Today, hundreds of families turn up to watch the annual Boissevain Turtle Derby and pump thousands of dollars into the local economy. Wayne Pringle has been with the event since the first turtles crossed the finish line in a local parking lot. He has watched the event grow in both size and stature. Local businessmen assembled the first race “for fun,” Pringle said. The next year the derby got bigger. And the swarms of onlook ers kept increasing to the point where the town’s downtown sec tion could no longer handle the crowds. “We found everything was so congested downtown we moved everything up to the agricultural grounds,” he said. Since its inception in 1971, the turtle derby has also served as an inspiration for countless numbers of towns and villages in rural Man itoba, Pringle said. It seems other communities have figured out that if tourists will come for turtles, they will come for anything. “In those days, hardly anybody had an attraction in their town other than their fair,” he said. To keep tourists coming back, organizers have continually added new attractions to the weekend. There is now volleyball, fastball, curling, a triathlon and a merchant sponsored ping pong ball drop. Hundreds of people gathered at an intersection in downtown Boisse vain yesterday to chase after num bered balls dropped from a low-flying airplane. The balls are redeemable for prizes and dis counts at local merchants. The attractions keep them com- BOISSEVAIN — Twenty five ing back. ‘There are so many things to do,” he said. “It brings a lot of money into the community. “T wouldn’t even hazard a guess as to how much it brings in.” And it is all because of the all ages appeal, co-chair Ivan Strain said. But Strain also remembers the days when the derby gained a rep utation as a real party, and the rougher crowd coming to town had its fair share of drunks and drugs. The Chamber of Commerce became concerned, and the RCMP began to crack down on the activi ty. Eventually the police slowed the weekend down, Strain said. They checked people, they checked cars, “they checked everybody who came into town,” he said. The rowdies eventually checked out. “It’s been better since,” Strain said. “You look around here right now and you see people of all ages from grandchildren to grandfa thers and grandmothers. “It’s a family weekend.” And it will continue. Rumors this spring were whis pering that the 25-anniversary cel ebrations would be the last one. But both Strain and Pringle, who have been continually involved over the years, can’t figure out where the rumors started. But they are not true, they say. “With the amount of people it creates in a town, I don’t think you could afford to drop it unless you come up with a better idea,” Pringle said. “It’s a unique little festival.” Strain said the success of the annual event can be attributed to the fact that the derby has moved at the same pace of its namesake. “It’s not something that’s a flash in the pan,” he said. “It crawls and it grows on you.” Wayne Pringle holds one of the star attractions — and his entry in the Turtle Derby — Saturday in Boissevain.
Newspaper Details
Brandon Sunday Free Press
Brandon, Manitoba, CA
Sun, Jul 14, 1996
Page 25
Full Page
Clipped by
Manitoba H.
CA 25 Aug 2026
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