The way local residents celebrate Canada Day has seen many variations over the past one and a half centuries since Canada’s Confederation in 1867.
The nation’s holiday, once known as Dominion Day, was first observed on July 1, 1868 as a celebration marking the first anniversary of Canada’s official formation as a country. In those early years, celebrations were organized at the local level, which were often hosted by community groups and associations.
Across Esquesing (present day Halton Hills), it was quite common to see residents mark the occasion by engaging in picnics, garden parties, and baseball games. It was also a popular day to take the opportunity to boat and fish at either Fairy Lake in Acton or Wilber Lake, once located in downtown Georgetown. Those would be often popular places to spend the holiday as most residents did not travel far from home in those days.
When looking through the local newspaper archives, there are many good examples of events that were organized to celebrate the nation’s birthday.
For instance, dating as far back as 1871, the Milton Canadian Champion reported the residents of Hornby spent Dominion Day watching sporting events and horse races. Winners of the day’s events included Rowland Orr, Benjamin Tuck, R. Porter, and Robert Armstrong.
Another example, as written in the Acton Free Press of July 9, 1908, was the residents of Acton marking Canada’s birthday with celebrations conducted by the Acton Fire Brigade. As part of the 1908 festivities, the Fire Brigade and Acton Citizens’ Band welcomed a great number of firefighters, from places as far as St. Mary’s, for a fire brigade parade and a baseball game – all of which were greatly enjoyed by those in attendance.
Other local celebrations would be a garden party in 1918, held under the auspices of the Women’s Patriotic League at the Georgetown home of L.E. Fleck. The garden party’s program featured entertainment provided by the 20th Regiment Band. Admission to this party was 25 cents, as noted in the Georgetown Herald.
The Dominion Day celebrations would remain relatively low-key for the decades that followed, especially during the Second World War, until enthusiasm ramped up for Canada’s Centennial in 1967. The Centennial would see a renewed sense of patriotism and pride, which included a number of locally planned events, mostly held in Acton, such as a large parade marching down Mill Street and even the Acton Scouts had a camporee in Prospect Park to mark the occasion.
The Centennial anniversary was also a special time for the town of Acton as the Legion’s Choraliers were a big hit with their performance at Expo ‘67.
Spawning from the festivities in honour of Canada’s Centennial, it would lead to annual Canada Day traditions that we have become accustomed to, which includes Canada Day in the Glen and the Canada Day fireworks at Prospect Park - the latter being a yearly tradition dating back to 1970.
To this day, celebrations marking Canada Day continue to be an annual highlight in Halton Hills, by combining both old and new traditions to make it one truly Canadian experience for all to enjoy.
Article written by Scott Brooks, with information from Dills Collection / The Canadian Encyclopedia / HHPL.
