Sherbrooke Village Hosts Outdoor Activities

Sherbrooke Village will host several outdoor activities this weekend, July 27-29. Events at the award-winning site will include the St. Mary's Boat Club Poker Rally on Saturday, July 27, the Sherbrooke Mill Frolic and Woodsmen's Competition on Sunday, July 28, and the Canadian Forces Naval Gun Run on Monday, July 29.

Registration for the poker rally will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the boat club wharf, located at the lower end of Sherbrooke Village. The poker rally will follow the scenic St. Mary's River for about nine kilometres to Sonora and back.

Boats of all types and sizes are welcome. Limited passenger seating has been made available by boat club members for people who wish to participate, but do not have a boat of their own. More than $2,000 in prizes will be awarded at the event.

The Sherbrooke Village Mill Frolic will take place at the McDonald Brothers Sawmill on Sonora Road, on Sunday. The event, which is free to the public, begins at 2 p.m. and features a woodsmen's competition and hobby classes. Contestants will be competing in the following events: chainsaw, bow saw, buck saw, axe throw and spike drive. Prizes will be awarded.

There is a nominal entry fee for competitions, while hobby classes are free. There will also be samples of traditional woodsmen's fare -- brown bread, baked beans and tea -- served at the Royal Oak Stamp Mill.

The renowned Naval Gun Run will also return to Sherbrooke Village on Monday with a performance scheduled for 2 p.m. A team of 18 people from Maritime Forces Atlantic will be on the main street of Sherbrooke Village demonstrating daring physical fitness, teamwork and gunnery.

The Naval Gun Run was developed from the need of British troops during the Boer War for equipment to be transported to the shore as quickly as possible. Troops on the war ships would quickly disassemble the equipment and transport it to land using ropes and pulleys. Once ashore the equipment would have to be reassembled with the same speed.

In the Gun Run, a 900-kilogram gun carriage is taken to a wall where it is totally disassembled. The equipment is then hauled up a ramp and transferred across a nine-metre chasm. The gun is then reassembled, loaded and fired -- this process is also repeated. The entire procedure takes less than three minutes.

For more information on these activities call Sherbrooke Village toll-free at 1-888-743-7845.