Day 1 of Stars and Thunder 2018 was a roaring success, with sunshine and fireworks helping kick off the festival.

More than 3000 people gathered for some St. Jean Baptiste Day celebrations at Hollinger Park. In fact, the crowd of 3,351 surpassed the opening day of the festival from 2017, which saw only 2,129 festival-goers.

Carole Champagne was the first to take the stage to start things off for the festival. Timmins-native Celeste Levis was a crowd-pleaser, and she was followed by Le Groupe Swing, Roch Voisine, and Marc Dupre.

The night ended with a roaring display of fireworks from Team Brazil at 10:30 PM.

The 50/50 United Way draw had a jackpot of $8,335 for the first draw. Tickets for the 50/50 United Way draw are $10 for 10 tickets or $20 for 60 tickets. There is a draw every night of the festival. Lisa Moore, a volunteer for United Way, the 50/50 Draw was a huge success last year, and they’re expecting similar success for this year’s festival.

“It was a great success last year,” Moore said. “We started out on the first day [last year] with $5,000 for 50/50. By the last day, they sold out at 3:00 in the afternoon raising $50,000 for both Science Timmins and the person who won, so that’s great!

“This year there is no cap,” Moore continued. “So we can go all the way up to $100,000 or more if we want to. So, whatever people support us with, that’s what it will be.”

This year the pot is split each night between the winner and United Way.

The first night of festivities wrapped up with fireworks from Team Brazil.

https://www.facebook.com/KISSTimmins/videos/1934575949888865/