Here's what's new at this year's Rotaryfest (3 photos)

There’s a lot of new sensational, and sensation-softening, things happening at this year’s Rotaryfest as it kicks off Thursday.

Thanks to sponsorship from Northern Dental Care, the Inflatable Park is not only expanded to include more activities than ever this year and on top of that, instead of costing five dollars, it’s now completely free.

Among the inflatable activities are the Human Hamster Ball Race Track, a sports-themed obstacle course , a Water Wars activity, and the 6,000-gallon water-filled inflatable Padlleboat Lagoon.

Billy Bones BBQ are a new vendor to be found in 'Rib Row' and the Sault’s brand-new addictive mini-donut seller Lil’ Orbits will be making their Rotaryfest debut as well.

Last year, the Rotary Festival didn’t have a car show but they’re now bringing it back and so that people don’t have to hang out in a hot parking lot all day they’ve moved it from its old time of Saturday in the middle of the day to Friday evening.

Two local brothers are returning to the Sault to perform on the main stage as the two final Saturday night acts this year.

Dean McKey’s “note for note, harmonies and riffs” Paul McCartney tribute act McCartney Years will be playing at 8:30 pm on the main stage while his brother Kyle McKey’s band The Ghosttown Cryers will be playing a diverse set list from traditional Irish jigs to classic rock at 10:15 pm.

Following the live music on Saturday, RotaryFest will have its Take Your Pick Draw, in which one really lucky winner will get to choose one of the following prize sets: a 2016 Chvrolet Malibu and a 2017 Cadillac XT5, a 2017 Ford Escape and a 2016 Ford 150, or $75,000 cash.

The theme for the parade this year is ‘Saturday Mornings at the Movies’ and even the event organizers say they don’t know what creative floats are going to be in it.

“They keep their float ideas really close to the chest,” said events manager Carolyn Bunting O’Connor.

Perhaps the biggest new feature of this year’s Rotaryfest is that the parade-route section of Queen Street between Bruce Street and Dennis Street — basically the section in front of the Essar Centre — is being designated ‘sensory friendly’.

The initiative is a joint effort between the Rotary Club and the Algoma Autism Foundation (AAF) and they are simply asking that all the parade floats and marchers refrain from using sirens, air horns, car horns, or any sudden or shocking loud sounds down this one block.

“The predictability of it all is the most important aspect. When (sensitive children) see a fire truck or marching band coming at them from far away its okay because they have time to build up to it. So the Sensory Friendly Block is good to help reduce alarming stimuli,” said AAF’s Jamie Boston.

The idea came about after members of the Rotary Club had learned about the AAF’s Sensitive Santa program, a program where children who are sensitive to overstimulation can meet with Santa Clause under more controlled music-free and soft lit conditions.

Bunting O'Connor was moved by what the AAF was doing and asked to partner with them to create the ‘Sensory Friendly Block’.

“The parade is a big thing in the community; it’s one of the benchmarks in the year that people look forward to. We get calls from people planning their vacations around Rotaryfest and so I know that this is important (to people in the Sault) and if we can do something to let people who can’t normally access it, we’re going to do it,” said Bunting O’Connor.

Boston said his group has received a number of messages of people mostly from the autism community saying they’d never even considered going to a parade before but this year they’re going to try it out.

Any parade watcher that wants is encouraged to sit on the block and floats will still be playing music and doing everything else as they normally do.

“People are funny and some families have traditions of sitting on the same corner to watch the parade for generations and we don’t want to mess that up. People are absolutely welcome to sit there. The only difference on that block is that there will be no sirens, airhorns, or honking,“ said Bunting O’Connor.

Volunteers from the AAF will also be on that block offering assistance if needed.

A full schedule and other information on the Rotaryfest can be found on its website.