They don't call them Optimists for nothing.
Threatening skies and north winds gusting up to 70 kilometres an hour didn't spoil the opening of the Assiniboia Optimist Club Buffalo Barbecue on Saturday.
"We've got everything anchored down with 400-pound drums," said club president Don Webb, pointing to blue barrels keeping tents and canopies from blowing away.
Wind whipped past the carnival's main stage as the first-ever Optimist Idol contest got underway.
Fittingly, Torie Irwin chose to sing the Dixie Chicks' song Wide Open Spaces as gusts blew through the Prairie fairground.
"I'm going to have a good time," the 14-year-old Optimist Idol contestant smiled before getting up on stage in front of a crowd for the first time in her life.
The annual Victoria Day weekend carnival is a 44-year-old Winnipeg tradition for the Assiniboia Optimists.
The event was inspired by the bygone Métis spring buffalo hunt, Webb said. Since the Buffalo Barbecue began, the club has served barbecued bison-meat burgers at the fair, hence the name.
This year, they have added bison smokies to the menu, he said.
The big attraction, as always, is the midway. There are several new rides this year, including the 96-passenger gondola wheel with more than 3,000 lights.
An all-you-can-ride wristband is $25; admission and parking are free. The event runs from noon to 10 p.m. today and Monday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
It is at the Heritage Victoria Community Club on Sturgeon Road just north of Ness Avenue.
The proceeds from the Buffalo Barbecue go to a good cause, said Jim Rondeau, one of the 46 members of the Assiniboia Optimists who put on the event.
"We help out youth," said Rondeau, the MLA for the area. A nearby skateboard park and the Optimist Band Festival are just of couple of examples, he said.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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