Justin Trudeau visited the peach festival - and everyone wanted a selfie
A few hecklers aside, people at the Winona Peach Festival seemed content to set politics aside and take joy in a prime minister visiting their small town event Saturday when Justin Trudeau turned up for the festival's 50th anniversary.
The prime minister dropped in as part of a whirlwind tour of southern Ontario, also stopping at Niagara College and McMaster University Saturday morning. When he arrived at the small town festival around 3 p.m., a breathless crowd formed a double line just for a peek.
"He's so adorable," sighed one girl.
"He's beautiful," responded another.
Hamiltonians young and old crowded around, phones in hand, extending them when he got close in hopes of capturing their very own selfies. And Trudeau — on brand — posed for hundreds.
Not everyone loved it. "Hey, pop star," yelled one heckler. "Stop trying to be a pop star." But on the whole, the Prime Minister's star power was so intense that one of the festival's regularly scheduled skydivers drifted to the ground with a Canadian flag billowing from his leg.
In the crowd's defence, a prime minister visiting the peach festival is an anomaly. Georgina Beattie, the festival's corresponding secretary, has been involved since 1967, when she was a lady in waiting at its Blossom Queen pageant. She's never seen a prime minister here.
"Not to my knowledge," she said when asked if one had ever stopped by. "We've had a couple of premiers."
"There are going to be so many pictures to put in our time capsule, and in 25 years, they'll be open it and see that he was here."
Nancy Adie came from Burlington with her granddaughters, Kaylee and Addie, to get a look at Trudeau. Standing near where Trudeau was scheduled to hand out some of the festival's famous peach sundaes, Adie said they were just pleased that he thought to come.
"We're very impressed that he would come to a small town venue like this."
Trudeau also attended a festival put on by the Tamil community in Toronto Saturday evening.
samantha.craggs@cbc.ca | @SamCraggsCBC
