It takes a lot of work to get ready for a two-day party for 50,000 people, celebrating Canada’s 142nd birthday.

On Monday, McLeod Athletic Park was a beehive of activity in preparation for the 13th annual Langley Canada Day Celebrations, which began Tuesday and continue all day today.

Tamelia Platt and Linda Bellamy were among many volunteers setting up tents on the field, at 56 Avenue and 216 Street Monday afternoon.

Members of the Conservative Party of Canada’s Langley Electoral District Association, they will host a free bingo game with seating for 44, in which the winners receive a Canadian flag, and the callers include Langley City Mayor Peter Fassbender, Langley Township Mayor Rick Green, Langley MP Mark Warawa and possibly Fort Langley Aldergrove MLA Rich Coleman.

“We want to get the message out that we are proud to be Canadians, and Conservatives and Langley is a fantastic place to be,” said Bellamy.

Tamelia said the crowds will know when bingo games begin, as each game is preceded by the playing of O Canada.

Straight across from the bingo tent Warawa will have his usual Canada birthday cake, said Bellamy.

“They are big slabs,” said Bellamy indicating a cake twice the size of her two-foot-by-two-foot Happy Birthday Canada sign.

“On the 30th (of June) he has three slabs, on July 1, four slabs.”

The Canada-flag decorated cake will be served at 3 p.m. today (July 1), she said.

Across the field, Rick Soon, Armando Dovale and Ross Buettner wrestled with a huge multi-coloured tent they call the Adrenalin Zone. The tent weighs 1,500 pounds, and measures 30 feet by 40 feet, and 22 feet in height.

It houses an obstacle course, a giant slide and bouncing castle.

Soon, the owner of BC Event Makers, the Surrey company that supplies the tents, and rides, said he had 30 employees on site.

The entire field of tents and rides, including the Toddlers Zone area of rides, sponsored by The Times, would be set up in one day, he said.

The event uses about 150 volunteers, either in setting up or working through the event, said Sandy McKay, a member of the Langley Canada Day Celebrations Society.

Today’s events begin at 11 a.m., with opening ceremonies slated from 2:45 to 3 p.m. Parking for the event at McLeod Park is off 56 Avenue, between the Langley Bypass and 216 Street.