The third-annual Maple Creek Massacre Demolition Derby went off with a crash this past Saturday and was chock full of collisions, monster truck rides, and a death-defying stunt.

The program was created by Bill deRepentigny and his nephew Tallen Stopanski to support the small community.

The Derby kicked off with a stunt performed by Stopanski in which he drove a car into another car which was balanced on its bumper with its back end in the sky, the result of which was the suspended car landing on the roof of Stopanski's car, flattening the roof, but leaving him unharmed.

deRepentigny said that they had planned for this to happen and that Stopanski knew how to position himself in the car so he would not get hurt so he could go on to compete in the derby, which he did.

"It was a crowd pleaser. It had everyone on their toes I'll tell you that," he said. "We kind of expected that to happen what he was to do, so it was pre-planned where he was going to be in the car, the fire department knew where he was going to be, everybody knew what was going on."

The community benefited in many ways according to deRepentigny, with hotels and restaurants gaining business from visitors, as well as donations to the Salvation Army and the volunteer fire department, in addition to some going towards a fund for a toy drive sometime in the future.

deRepentigny said that events like this are needed in smaller communities like Maple Creek because the charities in the town often go neglected in terms of donations because people are drawn to bigger cities for their charity events.

"The surrounding centres take away from the smaller communities, Medicine Hat has a toy run, so all the guys from here leave, and the Salvation Army here doesn't get help, you know they go to Medicine Hat or Swift Current instead, so we needed something to boost the people that are here."

The event had a beer garden and a free raffle for a drone, in addition to the Salvation Army cooking hamburgers to raise funds, and a raffle for charity in which the winner would get a chance to compete in the event.

A monster truck called the Rabbid Rabbit also made an appearance, giving out rides five dollars per person.

About 12 cars participated in the event, with short periods of maintenance for the cars between the shows.

There was even a demolition derby for young children held called Cowtown Kids Toy and Candy Store Thunder Tots, in which children in miniature electric cars have two balloons taped to their cars and try to pop the other contestants' balloons without getting theirs popped.