Tank Saturdays return for 2017
Popular event sees viewers from across Canada
Tanks from both past and present will once again be taking the dirt for Tank Saturdays. The popular event has already seen more than 1,000 tickets sold, with participants coming from across the country to see the tanks in action.
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
After a long, cold winter, Oshawa’s tanks are coming out of hibernation, and it seems more than a few people missed them.
This coming weekend will mark the Ontario Regiment’s first tank weekend of the summer, with Aquino Tank weekend ahead of a full summer of Tank Saturdays. This year will mark the third straight the museum has been showcasing its tanks in a live-action setting. For curator Jeremy Neal Blowers, the event has grown with each consecutive year.
“The show itself has really snowballed into something beyond our wildest expectations,” he says.
This coming year is no different. In years past, the museum would perhaps be able to sell 50 pre-booked tickets. For 2017, they’ve sold over 1,000, and they’re not just from Durham Region.
“All across the country, people have pre-purchased tickets to come to Oshawa to see this show,” Blowers says. “It’s massive.”
And for this year, there are several new additions to the show, with the museum acquiring five new Leopard tanks over the winter.
“These are fairly modern, main battle tanks, they’re still in use around the world today,” Blowers explains. “These are massive machines, they’re a new attraction here at the museum.”
Over the weekend, the tanks will be put through their paces, using move pyrotechnics, actors and blank fire demonstrations. The museum will also be putting on its very own battle sequences.
“We actually have built a system where the tanks and the tank crews that are inside them are actually partaking in a simulated tank battle,” Blowers says. “So (the visitors) can see, hear, smell, feel, experiences what these military vehicles are like, which you can’t really do anywhere else in the country.”
The museum has also partnered with World of Tanks, a sponsorship that could open the museum up to the website’s 110 million global users.
The weekend runs both Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with live shows and demonstrations throughout. For more information visit the museum’s website at ontrmuseum.ca.
Tank Saturdays will also run throughout the summer, with events from June to October.