Dave and Dan compete in the "Voyageur Games"

Mid-February is a wonderful time of year to be in Winnipeg. Trust us... it isn't because of the weather! However, it does mark the annual "Festival du Voyageur", Western Canada's largest winter festival! The 9-day event celebrates French Culture in Manitoba, and brings us back to the days of the fur trade era. Most of the events are centered around music, cuisine, and la "joie de vivre"! During the Festival, there is one competitive event known as the "Voyageur Games". 64 competitors from in and around Winnipeg compete for prizes up to $1,000. There are five events that make up this competition, and it takes a combination of strength, balance, and smarts to be the ultimate champion. Each event has a rich history as the these were the games that were practiced on shorelines of rivers and lakes during the fur trade era! Events include leg wrestling, barrel tug-of-war, and log sawing. Aikens sponsored two of our guides for this winter's competition. Dave and Dan were both very enthousiastic about the event, and thirsting for victory! In fact, they were spotted working out together at a local gym in order to get beefed up for the competition! With most of our staff in attendance and cheering them on, Dave and Dan put up a great fight! They each won their first leg wrestle, and the competition was off to a great start. The Aikens "Shining moment" came during the third event, the pillow fights. Balancing yourself on a 6"x6" beam, competitors swing away with big pillows to knock the other competitor off the beam. It just so happened that our two experienced loggers faced off against each other! Dave won the first match in the best of 3, with Dan winning the second. In the third and final match, Dave swung away and knocked Dan off the beam with a thunderous hit for the win! In the end, neither competitor was able to qualify for the finals. However, a great time was had by all and we are certainly going to be back in the competition next year. Heck, with all the interest that these games sparked up amongst our staff, we may even have to conduct our own "Voyageur Games" at Aikens this summer in order to determine which two people will get the honor of competing next February under the Aikens Lake banner! ps - I wish I had brought my camera to the event so that I could have included a picture here! Sorry.