Some friendly competition across the RM of Ritchot is keeping families in the region busy this summer.
Ritchie the Ritchot Snake
Making its first ever appearance this July was Ritchie the Ritchot rock snake. Unique versions of Ritchie have appeared in four of the municipality’s communities thanks to many creative hands.
Over a period of two weeks, young residents from Île-des-Chênes, Grande Pointe, St. Adolphe, and Ste. Agathe were encouraged to get creative with their markers, paintbrushes, and collected rocks.
Once completed, the rocks were lined up next to a painted snakehead rock placed in the community by Ritchot’s director of community engagement, Danielle Peters.
Peters says the idea originated with a St. Adolphe resident as a way to bring her community together. For Peters, making it a regional competition, pitting community against community, just added to the fun factor.
In the end, she was mildly shocked at the level of participation they saw.
“At the RM of Ritchot, in the Rec Department, our motto is to provide low-cost to no-cost recreation,” Peters says. “I wasn’t quite sure what to expect [from this challenge]. I thought like, maybe a hundred rocks per town. I didn’t think it would take off the way it did.”
By the time the competition concluded on August 8, almost 7,000 painted rocks stretched across four communities. In the end, residents of Ste. Agathe came out the big winners.
Ritchie the Ste. Agathe snake, who lives near the boat launch, boasts a total of 2,625 painted rocks.
In second place, on a Main Street property across from the parish hall, St. Adolphe’s snake consists of only a few less rocks at 2,340.
Next, in the Meadows housing development, the Grande Pointe snake has 1,132 rocks.
Finally, 493 rocks were used to complete the IDC snake in D’Auteil Park.
“It was honestly so amazing to see [the participation],” says Peters. “We even had a community member drop off a huge pile of rocks. He posted on Facebook and said, ‘There’s a bunch of rocks here. Get painting!’”
Local daycares, too, got involved. Peters says there were times when daycare groups pulled up to the growing community snake with wagonloads of painted rocks to add.
In the end, Peters says, the Ritchie challenge was everything she hoped it would be.
“We really wanted to bring the communities together and give them a chance to participate in something bigger than themselves,” says Peters. “It fosters teamwork and community engagement and artistic expression.”
While the official competition is over, Peters says the rock snakes will stay intact for the balance of the summer to allow people to enjoy them or keep building on them if they want.
“We’re actually gauging interest from the community members to see what we should do with them,” Peters adds.
So far, recommendations from locals have included using the rocks to decorate the civic office grounds to placing them in local parks or along the Friendship Trail, or even donating them to Ritchot Senior Services to brighten up some gardens.
Artists are also welcome to take their rock home for a keepsake if they prefer. As a token for their hard work, the community of Ste. Agathe will be treated to a pop-up party on the RM’s behalf which will include Freezies and lawn games.
The date and time will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Sweetest Lemonade Stand
For the second year running, young entrepreneurs around the RM will take up the challenge of executing Ritchot’s sweetest lemonade stand.
When registration closed on August 7, the RM had 20 entries. For Peters, it was exciting to see the enthusiasm exceed last year’s 13 entries. Like last year, entries came in from every one of the municipality’s four communities.
“The main purpose is to encourage kids throughout the RM of Ritchot to showcase their creativity, their business skills, and their passion for lemonade stands,” says Peters.
In the coming weeks, entrants will get busy designing, constructing, and decorating their individual booths. Peters says they were advised to keep their costs to a maximum of $80 per booth in fairness to all.
Tasting and judging will take place on August 22–23 when the mayor, four councillors, Peters, and other locals make their rounds between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Each entry will be judged based on three criteria: booth design, customer service, and of course the lemonade itself. The lemonade, too, will be judged based on colour, taste, and price point.
Residents will also get their opportunity to weigh in. Maps of all the lemonade stands will be available on the RM website prior to the sampling dates. Also on the website, residents will find an online form to place their vote.
A cash award of $200 will be presented to the most outstanding lemonade stand in each of the four wards. A grand prize winner will be selected to receive an additional $300.
The prize money is being donated by Community Futures Triple R, long-time proponents of the entrepreneurial dream.
To be eligible to enter, participants have to be 18 years of age or under and live within the RM.
While lemonade must be the star of each stand, entrants are not discouraged from selling other offerings at their booths.
Peters is anxious to witness the creativity that comes out of this year’s competition. Last year’s finalist created a booth they fondly called John Lemon, a take on famous musician John Lennon. The stand was decorated with old vinyl records and items to drive home the satirical theme.
