A little more than 500 kilometres south of the Canadian border is a town that really embraces its name and identity – Little Canada.

The Minneapolis St. Paul area suburb has a population of about 10,000 and for three days a year most of the residents even sound Canadian. That’s because of the annual Canadian Days celebration, which this year runs from Aug. 1-3.

"We say ‘Eh’ a lot when they are here, by the end of the week we are saying it naturally," planning committee member Sue Nelson told CTVNews.ca.

The ‘they’ she is referring to are the contingency which comes down from their sister city, Thunder Bay, which is about a five-hour drive up the highway.

A big feature at the celebration is the Macgillivray Pipe Band, which makes the annual trek from Thunder Bay.

"Little Canada just loves this celebration," Nelson said. "Many people have become friends with the Macgillivray Pipe Band. It’s kind of like a family relationship."

Among the events are amusement games for kids, a volleyball tournament, a bean bag tournament, a classic car show, a petting zoo and performances by the pipe band plus the Maple Street Ramblers.

There is a pancake breakfast (hopefully served with real Canadian maple syrup) and a beer garden, but other than that there is oddly nothing overly Canadian like a Canadian tuxedo fashion show or a timbits eating contest.

The main event is the parade, where people march down a street with both Canadian and American flags hanging from the light posts.

“It’s a small fair, but it’s kind of awesome,” Thunder Bay Coun. Aldo Ruberto told CTVNews.ca.

Ruberto has attended the celebration six of the past eight years. “Every street sign has a maple leaf on it, they have lots of Canadian flags all over the place, they celebrate us. They always try to celebrate everything that is Canadian.”

About 50 Canadians go down for the festivities each year. Ruberto said that while it’s fun and they are treated extremely well, they also spend some time talking about business and how each city can help the other.

How did Little Canada get its name?

Little Canada was settled by French Canadians in the mid-19th century. They called it Petite Canada and the name stuck.

In 1976 the town hosted a U.S. bicentennial celebration and decided a celebration in the middle of the summer would be a good tradition to keep.

"Someone who organized that (the first Canadian Days in 1977) was from Thunder Bay and she thought it'd be neat to have a tie in with big Canada," said Nelson. "That's how it all started."

And it has been going for the past 38 years with the pipe band attending every celebration, and residents on both sides trading flags and pins.

Other Canadian celebrations

Little Canada isn't the only U.S. town that hosts a Canadian celebration.

In the southern end of Alaska sits the town of Hyder. It is completely cut off from the U.S., residents can pay for goods with loonies and toonies, they rely on B.C. hydro for power, use the 250 B.C. area code and children attend school in nearby Stewart B.C.

Every year from July 1-4 the two towns throw a joint four-day Canada Day/4th of July celebration.