WATERLOO REGION

Nobody boogies like the folks in Waterloo Region and tomorrow's Canada Day events will be a testament to our urge to splurge on fun.

From a 1,500-piece Happy 142nd birthday Canada cake and a parade in Cambridge, to a huge fireworks display at the University of Waterloo, the region will be alive with colour and, of course, a lot of noise, as everyone gets caught up in a patriotic frenzy.

"Fifty thousand people come out the event," said Caitlyn Smith, manager of the 25th annual Canada Day celebration at the university. The day is free to the public and run by student volunteers who start planning in January. By April, committees are struck and a few hundred volunteers recruited.

As of last Friday there were 300 volunteer university and high school students signed up to run the daylong event, the most volunteers Smith has ever seen.

Smith said that of all the events held at the university, the Canada Day celebration is the only one designed for the community, not students.

"We always take from the community and this is a chance to give back," she said, noting the event is the only large-scale Canada Day event in the country put on exclusively by students. The event was recently awarded a gold medal by the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education, a professional association of educators. "It's so exciting," said Smith.

The event features free parking at university lots and begins at 2 p.m. with all sorts of fun activities for children. There will also be entertainment by local bands, with the Tyler Schwende Band, The Guys, R& B singer Rufus among many others. The day wraps up around 10 p.m. after the fireworks.

Orton, Ont.-based David Whysall International Fireworks has been hired to create the huge display, as it has for the past several years, said David Whysall in a phone interview from a barge in Lake Ontario, where he was trying to set up Ontario Place's fireworks display in between storm fronts rolling in.

Yesterday, he sent a crew of five to the university to install equipment. Another crew of five technicians will be needed to set off the display tomorrow night.

"It's a high level, which means over 300 feet," he said. "It's by choice because the university wants the whole surrounding area to see it."

Though he didn't know the exact cost of the Waterloo event, he said similar firework displays in Canada would run around $70,000.

Smith said the funds to run the event comes from a variety of sources including the university, student union, the city and private enterprise.

South of the 401, Cambridge will be in an equally happy state of celebration with myriad activities in Preston's Riverside Park. The 52nd annual Fishing Carp Derby will run from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., with a catch and release program designed to introduce children to the natural areas of Cambridge. As well, the day features a children's activity centre from 2 to 6 p.m. including face-painting, crafts, a scavenger hunt, a bubble play area and entertainment throughout the day. This year, for the first time, there will be free pony rides.

Cambridge also boasts the largest Canada Day parade in the country, with 150 entries. The giant parade starts at 1 p.m. from the intersection of King and Bishop streets and follows a route more than two kilometres long, winding though Riverside Park. The expected 50,000 spectators will also see a flyover by four Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association planes.

The afternoon and evening in the park will be filled with live music until 11 p.m. and, of course, no Canada Day celebration would be complete without 24 minutes of mind- and ear-blowing fireworks. New this year, mascot Mapleton the Beaver will be patrolling the park giving lots of hugs while city bylaw enforcement officers will be busy ticketing illegally parked cars on adjacent streets. Just because it's Canada Day doesn't mean the rules don't apply, warned city hall.

In Kitchener, Canada Day celebrations take place at William Lyon Mackenzie King's boyhood home, Woodside National Historic Site at 528 Wellington St. N., with a citizenship ceremony, cake and Victorian games from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch and dine on the spacious lawns. Admission is free. Doon Heritage Crossroads is closed for renovations.

New Hamburg hosts it own Canada Day celebrations with a vehicle show and shine, entertainment, food and a rubber ducky race followed by fireworks at dusk. The events start at 10 a.m. at Scott Park on Hunter Street.