Steve Vesely, FunFair Chair
This year’s FunFair was a great kick-off to our summer! Over 3 days, the community came together to put on a great event. Here’s some fun facts and figures about the Fair:
- Congratulations to local resident Erika Fehr who was the winner of the 50/50 raffle! Erika won $432.50 and splurged on a vacation shopping spree.
- The winner of the weekend softball tournament was Big Bats.
- The Friday night casino winner of the big screen TV was Jasyon Bursill.
- The Silent Auction raised $6,200 from over 100 businesses and its new online bidding format saved countless volunteer admin hours.
- Reading is still popular! The Used Book Sale raised almost $1,300!
- Showcase popularity: our business showcase raised a record $6K from over 50 vendors and spots were sold out a month ahead of the event
- Over 300 guests enjoyed our Saturday night main act, Barrelhouse: a Beatles Tribute.
- Over 7,000 inflatable rides were enjoyed across the weekend. The Funhouse Maze edged out the Big Red Baller as the most popular attraction. The hockey net was the least popular.
- Our volunteer team continued its effort at encouraging online sales this year and we were super pleased to see it proved popular with our community accounting for 45% of all sales.
- 76 high school students volunteered a total of 1,040 hours altogether. Way to go students!
- Many favorable comments were received on the tighter fair footprint with less sprawl and the electric vehicle trucks, which powered the majority of the rides reducing both noise and gas pollution. We were very pleased with both these initiatives.
- My sincere thanks to everyone who pitched in to help. I’m very proud of the team that put in the work and put on a fantastic event. See you next year!
FunFair Survey
A lot of work and planning goes into organizing the FunFair every year. As we start preparing for 2025, we’d like to hear from you – the community – about the good, the bad, and everything in between! Your feedback will help us make it even better next year! Follow this link where we have three questions for you to answer, with as many or as few details as you’d like: blackburnfunfair.ca/ 2025-funfair-survey.
Shout out to our sponsors!
The FunFair would not happen without the generous contribution of time and labour of our committee members and volunteers. It would also not happen without the generous financial support of many of our local businesses. A big THANK YOU to all for your generous support toward the 2025 FunFair:
Platinum sponsors $5K+
The Blackburn Community Association and le Club Optimiste de Blackburn Hamlet
Gold sponsors $1K+
Lafarge, Blackburn Pharmacy, Myers Orleans Chevrolet & Christine Bussieres Broker
Silver sponsors $500+
Metro, Gagnier Miller Real Estate, Bunning & Farnand LLP, Connexion Family Health Dr Skaff & Dr. McFarland, Waste Connections of Canada & Halibut House.
Bronze sponsors $250+
Broadhead Brewing Company, Bushtukah, Long & McQuade & Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa
Political sponsors with paid advertising of $500+
Laura Dudas, Councillor Ward 2 Orleans West-Innes
Stephen Blais MPP Orléans
Mona Fortier MP Ottawa-Vanier
FunFair 2025 Final Notes
Thanks to everyone who helped make the 2025 Blackburn Funfair a successful event! Our hard working volunteers, our financial sponsors, our attraction and event partners and our community who came out to enjoy the festivities – we could not have done it without every one of you!
Your community spirit helped raise a record amount of money, which meant that our fair organizers were able to give back $21,600 to local non profit Blackburn community groups, organizations and associations through our Honorarium Distribution Program.
Next year’s fair will run June 5-7 and we hope to see you back!
Interested in getting involved? Reach out to chair@blackburnfunfair.ca for more information.
2025 FunFair honorarium distribution
| Activity | Shares | Volunteer | Qty | Honorarium Recipient | Amount |
| Chair | 3 | Steve Vesely | 2 | Emily Carr Middle School | $720.00 |
| 1 | Good Shepherd Parish | $360.00 | |||
| Support – Finance | 2 | Darlene Lapointe | 1 | Gloucester High School | $360.00 |
| Aline Vesely | 1 | Gloucester High School | $360.00 | ||
| Support – Food Logistics | 1 | Sarah Antoni | 1 | Life Centre Food Bank | $360.00 |
| Support – Food Vendors | 1 | Steve Vesely | 1 | Life Centre Food Bank | $360.00 |
| Support – Food Coordination | 1 | Marc Charlebois | 1 | Le Club Optimiste de Blackburn Hamlet | $360.00 |
| Support – Food | 1 | Ben Charlebois | 1 | Le Club Optimiste de Blackburn Hamlet | $360.00 |
| Support – Food | 1 | Cassandra Fauna Minott | 1 | Ottawa Public Library Board | $360.00 |
| Support – Food BBQ/Fruit | 3 | Marc Charlebois | 3 | Le Club Optimiste de Blackburn Hamlet | $1,080.00 |
| Support – External | 1 | Mark Lamoureux | 1 | Glen Ogilvie Public School | $360.00 |
| Support – Sponsorship | 2 | Brittany Burden | 1 | Sainte-Marie School | $360.00 |
| Elena Leggiadro | 1 | Le Club Optimiste de Blackburn Hamlet | $360.00 | ||
| Fair – Silent Auction | 2 | Brittany Burden | 1 | Life Centre Food Bank | $360.00 |
| Elena Leggiadro | 1 | Just Food | $360.00 | ||
| Support – Tickets | 3 | Michael Chippa | 3 | Knights of Columbus No 9005 | $1,080.00 |
| Pancake Breakfast | 2 | Cliff Seibel | 2 | Knights of Columbus No 9005 | $720.00 |
| Support – Advertising | 1 | Brent Lawrie | 1 | Dapo Agoro Foundation for Peace | $360.00 |
| Support – Website | 1 | Steve Vesely | 1 | Gloucester Recreation Development Organization (GRDO) | $360.00 |
| Support – Social Media | 1 | Nina Ryan | 1 | Gloucester Recreation Development Organization (GRDO) | $360.00 |
| Support – Facilities | 4 | Brent Lawrie | 1 | Harvest House | $360.00 |
| Ali Yassine | 1 | Life Centre Food Bank | $360.00 | ||
| Bernard Charlebois | 1 | Le Club Optimiste de Blackburn Hamlet | $360.00 | ||
| Mark Lamoureux | 1 | Glen Ogilvie Public School | $360.00 | ||
| Support – Volunteers: Students | 2 | Melanie Mathieu | 1 | Life Centre Food Bank | $360.00 |
| Joanne Smith | 1 | Norman Johnson Secondary School | $360.00 | ||
| Fair – Beer Tent | 1 | Meagan Postlethwaite | 1 | Norman Johnson Secondary School | $360.00 |
| Fair – Softball Tournament | 2 | Pierre Guerard | 2 | Blackburn Hamlet Cornhole League | $720.00 |
| Fair – Book Sale | 3 | Steve Rathwell | 2 | Norman Johnston Secondary Alternate Program – Food Bank | $720.00 |
| Sonia Marcotte | 1 | Norman Johnston Secondary Alternate Program – Food Bank | $360.00 | ||
| Fair – FunRun | 2 | Erika Coghill | 2 | Good Shepherd Parent Council | $720.00 |
| Fair – Movie Night | 1 | France Souliere | 1 | Life Centre Food Bank | $360.00 |
| Fair – Parade | 2 | Ilona Bartman | 1 | Ottawa Public Library – Blackburn Hamlet branch (children’s programming) | $360.00 |
| Jennifer Walker | 1 | Life Centre Food Bank | $360.00 | ||
| Fair – Music | 4 | Kevin Wright | 1 | YSB Foundation | $360.00 |
| Kevin Wright | 2 | Life Centre Food Bank | $720.00 | ||
| Kevin Wright | 1 | Scouts Canada – 1st Blackburn Scouting Group | $360.00 | ||
| Fair – Attractions | 1 | Deborah Tang | 1 | Girl Guides of Canada Ontario Council | $360.00 |
| 1 | Kyle Labelle | 1 | Life Centre Food Bank | $360.00 | |
| 1 | Adele Landriault | 1 | Life Centre Food Bank | $360.00 | |
| 1 | Alicia Martinez | 1 | Emily Murphy Housing | $360.00 | |
| Fair – Dog Show | 1 | Brooke & Jordan Laviolette | 1 | Sit with me Rescue | $360.00 |
| Fair – Face Painting | 1 | Viviane Cote Maxwell | 1 | 4e Cordée Kateri Blackburn Hamlet | $360.00 |
| Fair – Funfair Games | 1 | Viviane Cote Maxwell | 1 | 4e Cordée Kateri Blackburn Hamlet | $360.00 |
| Fair – Craft beer night | 2 | Ali Yassine | 2 | Life Centre Food Bank | $720.00 |
| Support – Arena Showcase | 3 | Diane Charlebois | 3 | Le Club Optimiste de Blackburn Hamlet | $1,080.00 |
| Support – Barricades/Popcorn | 1 | Joanne Laskoski | 1 | Scouts Canada – 1st Blackburn Scouting Group | $360.00 |
| Total Shares | 60 | 60 | $21,600.00 |