Call them The Wild Bunch. Like Sam Peckinpah's baddest, meanest badasses in town, the Nickel Days Thompson-Tough Dunk (not Drunk) Tank crew are ready for anything you can throw their way. Literally.
OK, that's a bit of hyperbole. We're not perhaps quite ready for anything you can throw our way. But almost (splash) since it's a fundraiser for a good cause: the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Thompson.
As I recall, the last time I stepped up to have folks gleefully throw something my way was also for a CMHA fundraiser at Nickel Days five years ago on June 20, 2008 - the "Jell-O Toss." While it was some time ago, it seems to me former Coun. Cory Young, and his lovely bride, then CMHA executive director Connie Krahenbil, were just a tad too enthusiastic in demonstrating their pitching skills.
In any event, this is your chance, Thompson. We talk about voting at the ballot box, or voting with your feet even sometimes. Want to send Mayor Tim Johnston or Coun. Luke Robinson a message on how you think city council is doing? Vote with your arms and wallets. Mayor Tim will be on the dunk tank seat Friday, June 21 from 7 to 8 p.m., followed by Coun. Luke for an hour immediately after.
How about expressing a union or management preference on things over at Vale's Manitoba Operations? United Steelworkers Local 6166 president Murray Nychyporuk will kick the dunk tank festivities off in the hot err water seat from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday night, followed appropriately enough by Lovro Paulic, the No. 1 guy in Vale's Manitoba Operations, as the reigning vice-president. Mark Scott, Vale mines general manager, gets his turn from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 22.
And if you want to know if he's as tough as he looks, take your best shot at dunking new fire chief John Maskerine, and a few of his firefighter buddies, from 6 p.m. to 7p.m. Saturday night.
Me? I'll be in the chair I can't remember when now just kidding from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 23, I think.
But you'll want to save yourself, no doubt for he who follows me from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon on the chair over the dunk tank: John Donovan, former principal of R.D. Parker Collegiate and now Northern regional director of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba (AFM).
Is there a better way to end Nickel Days as it winds down Sunday afternoon than dunking your former high school principal? Methinks not.
