Summer 2025 Recap

August 18, 2025

by Raistlin van Spronsen

While there is still a few weeks left in summer, in regards to our local community events we wrapped up another busy summer last weekend. Now it’s onto preparing to get back into the routine as sports and youth organizations prepare to restart their programs.

Our summer began in June with the local high school graduation and as per usual I end up with a few photography clients as a result of parents looking for photographers to capture grads. This year I had a few clients not only from Dawson Creek, but also Fort St. John, and Kamloops

July 1: Canada Day

For as long as I can remember the Canada Day festivities have always been held in the Village of Pouce Coupe (about 10km away from Dawson Creek). This was previously challenging to get to, however for the past number of years The Village of Pouce Coupe had partnered with our local transit agency (BC Transit) to provide a free shuttle bus between Dawson Creek and Pouce Coupe. This has been a great asset to get to Pouce Coupe each Canada Day celebration.

The parade is very short (a mere 15 or 20 minutes; mostly due to the smaller community and the space they have for staging) however it is worth the trek, our drivers often even drop people off at home once coming back into Dawson Creek

July 4-6: Dawson Creek Music Festival/RibFest

The first weekend of July was a busy one with RibFest beginning on Friday July 4th, however the best part of the weekend was Saturday and Sunday when the annual Dare to Dream Music Festival hit the Kin Park Bowl (yes even when we were rained out) in conjunction with the Music Festival

Live music paired with the the energy of RibFest is always a great combination, and it was incredible to see this new partnership to create an epic events. I’m almost thinking of volunteering my photography services next year for these events

July 13: Summer Show N' Shine

The annual Classic Car Show (the largest in Northern BC) also held their annual downtown car show on July 13. This was a fun day walking the streets and looking at all the classic cars parked throughout the downtown core. There were about 500 cars and I enjoyed alot of them. This show brings cars from all across North America. My favourite car was back of course. That being this 1968 Volkswagen Beetle (branded with Coca-Cola company branding)

July 19: Pete's annual visit

Since 2020, my friend Peter has made his annual trip to Dawson Creek for the day and we’d drive around the region, or walk around town (depending on weather). Our regular activities include driving out to the Windmills, out towards Roadhouse and back to Dawson Creek and taking in the downtown core.

This year not only did we meet up for our annual visit, but he also came up for the Fall Fair

July 13: Fall Fair

Dubbed as the Fall Fair or the Greatest Show in the Peace, the annual Exhibition and Stampede is much more than rides and alcohol (a lot of it is consumed in this one weekend) It is an agricultural fair, professional rodeo, and chuckwagon races into one fun weekend of the year

We bust out our cowboy hats and head to the fair grounds to take in the action and even people from Fort St. John (my friend Brooke came in 2022) and Grande Prairie (Peter joined us in 2021 and 2025)

The Fall Fair parade was about an hour long and featured about 120 entries and filled with energy and excitement for the weekend

Looking Towards September

As summer wraps up in the next few weeks, all the local events are completed, however some families are still traveling, and preparing to head back to school. Some dates coming up include;

September 3, 2025 – Back to School (SD59)
September 12, 2025 – The Ark Fall Kick Off Block Party
September 19, 2025 – Friday Night Teen Drop In Kick Off