Prince George residents looking for a way to celebrate Canada Day on July 1 can take inspiration from Dominion Days of the past.
Dominion Day became the country's official national holiday in 1879 and was celebrated until 1982, after which the name was officially changed to Canada Day.
We dug into the Prince George Citizen archives (and other early Prince George newspapers) to take a look at how residents marked the holiday throughout the decades.
HORSE RACES, BASEBALL AND DANCING ALL NIGHT
Dominion Day 1915
Prince George residents gathered under sunny skies to watch the very first parade to grace the streets of the city, the Prince George Post reported on July 3, 1915.
A band led a procession of gaily decorated wagons and horses down George Street, the paper reported.
"At the new recreation grounds, which have been laid out parallel to lower Patricia Avenue, near the Fraser River east of George Street, the morning events of horse racing and athletic events were held," the Post reported. "The races provided much excitement, several good horses being seen in action on the track."
Grey Eagle, ridden by F.M. Ruggles won the half-mile open race. Other events included a quarter mile pony race, ladies' pony race, "Indian pony" race, a bucking contest and a "slow race," with riders changing horses.
Sporting events rounded out the morning's activities, including foot races for boys, girls, men, young ladies and married ladies. There was a wheelbarrow race, three-legged race, fat man's race, high jumps, broad jumps, shot putt, a 50-yard dash carrying 50 pound packs, prizes for the best-decorated wagons and storefronts, and even a pie-eating contest for the local newsboys.
"The afternoon events were opened by the ball game between Hazelton and Prince George, which proved to be more or less a frost owning to the great superiority of the local team over the Hazelton team," the Post reported. "The Hazelton team were under the disadvantage of not having their proper battery, and Sinclair, who pitched for them, was suffering from the effects of ptomaine poisoning and was under the care of Dr. Lazier until shortly before the game started."
The Prince George team won 16-2.
The Ritts-Kifer hall concluded the day's events with a dinner and dance to raise money for the Patriotic Fund. The event was "well patronized by the inhabitants of the three towns (Prince George, Fort George and South Fort George), as well as by a large number of strangers," and raised a good sum for the cause, the Post reported.
"Dancing was kept up until a late hour, daylight having appeared before the national anthem was played," the Post reported. "A great deal of the success of the dance is due to the orchestra, which came in for a full meed of praise, and the music was greatly appreciated by the dancers."
AIRPLANES AND WHOOPEE
Dominion Day, 1937
"With two United Air Transport planes piloted by Sheldon Luck and Ernie Kubicek, Prince George residents and visitors had the thrill of a lifetime joy-riding both on June 30 and July 1," the Citizen reported on July 8, 1937. "In the afternoon Roy Lomheim made two parachute drops from altitudes of between 3000 and 2500 feet, with Ernie Kubicek at the controls. On the second jump he baled out at what he figured would be about right to land on the field, but just when about 200 feet above the ground a gust of wind caught the 'chute and carried him across the road to the east of the field and he landed in the trees, which gave the onlookers an added thrill."
Lomheim was no worse for wear, but his parachute suffered a few small tears.
At the midway at the corner of Dominion and Third Avenue, there were "many expressions of pleasure and much whoopee acclaimed."
"The Dominion Day celebration last Thursday was favoured with Prince George's best brand of weather, and the Board of Trade and its various committees provided excellent entertainment in a program of sports that crowded every minute of the day and well on past the midnight hour," the Citizen said.
A baseball tournament drew teams from Stoney Creek, Wells, Quesnel, Prince George and Wingdam.
A railway tie making contest "brought out five old timers at the business, and the cup was won by Carl Davidson of Prince George; Harold Holst of Salmon Valley took second money."
"In the boxing and wrestling tournament some splendid sport was served up by Chairman Munro to a fair-sized crowd. His local stable of young school-age kids certainly stole the show," the Citizen reported. "The main bout for the welterweight championship of the Cariboo between Alf Plume of Wells and Rocky Duckworth of Edmonton, stopped in the third round when Duckworth, who had pitched three games of ball and had dislocated his thumb, decided he couldn't take any more chances on his sore hand and conceded the bout."
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS
Dominion Day, 1967
"The Dominion Day weekend in Prince George was a Centennial 'swinger," the Citizen reported on July 3, 1967. "(The) biggest attraction was the colourful street parade Saturday morning."
The parade featured the largest number of floats seen in the city's annual Dominion Day parade, the Citizen reported. The parade featured beauty queens; pipe, accordion and trumpet bands; a Chinese dragon and more. Beatrice Beekman was named Queen Aurora, the city’s beauty queen, on June 30 and rode in a float with visiting beauty queens: Miss PNE, Miss Nanaimo, Miss Vancouver Princess and Miss Cariboo.
"The winning float was a big hit with the children – a B.C. Hydro 'cherry-picker' made up a giant giraffe. The theme of the float was a tribute to the late Walt Disney," the Citizen reported. "Army, Navy, and Air Force marchers, baton-swinging girls, scouts, guides, vintage cars, a fire truck, and a variety of floats rounded out the successful parade."
At Fort George Park (now Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park), a team of seven Prince George men challenged children to a tug of war. The team went undefeated until a team of 30 children challenged them and won.
"Other events at the park included races for the children, horse-shoe and rolling-pin tossing, and a pet show," the Citizen reported. "The family day was followed by a fireworks display on Connaught Hill about 11 p.m. Sunday."
Prince George paddlers Gene Scott and Jim Robertson won the tenth annual Northwest Brigade Race, with a record-setting time of 12 hours and 35 minutes. The 139-mile canoe race started in Fort St. James on June 30 and finished in Prince George on July 1, after an overnight stop.
THE LAST DOMINION DAY
Dominion Day, 1982
Prince George celebrated its last Dominion Day with a bang on July 1, 1982.
Members of the local Black Powder Club fired a nine-cannon salute and the Bel Canto Children's Choir and Rhinegold Singers sang the national anthem to open Folkfest '82 at Fort George Park, the Citizen reported on July 2, 1982.
Roughly 3,000 people attended Folkfest in the park.
"The four-hour, multi-cultural event featured 14 local groups representing nationalities around the world that help make up this nation's cultural heritage," the Citizen reported. "Folkdances varied from lively whirling, cossack-kicking Ukrainian numbers, quick-stepping, top-pointing highland flings and Irish jigs to a slow-moving, hauntingly-beautiful Chinese butterfly dance and processional dances by the Croatians."
The Prince George Native Dancers performed a number of traditional dances as well.
"Master of ceremonies Monica Becott introduced 93-year-old William Bellos who, years ago, set aside and provided the land for Fort George Park," the Citizen reported. "Speaking briefly to the crowd, the Prince George pioneer urged, 'Build a country; build a Canada and teach your children to be good citizens.'"
But while thousands of Prince George residents celebrated the country's 115th anniversary, Dominion Day events across the country were marred by protests, the Citizen reported.
"In Ottawa, where the very name of the day has been the source of controversy – Progressive Conservatives wishing to retain the name Dominion Day and the government wanting to change it to Canada Day – the celebrations got off to a rocky start," the Citizen reported. "A telephoned bomb threat caused officials to clear the Centre Block of Parliament for about two hours. No bomb was found. By the time O Canada was sung by a noon-hour crowd of about 110,000, a scheduled ringing of the Peace Tower Carillon, which has been silent for about two years for renovations, was cancelled."
Pro-separatist and anti-separatist groups held duelling rallies in Montreal.
"(More) than 100 members of the St. Jean Baptist society fuelled a Dominion Day bonfire with an effigy of Prime Minister Trudeau and several hundred copies of the new Canadian Constitution," the Citizen reported.
But it wasn't also chaos and controversy, the Citizen reported.
"Five-cent hot dogs, 10-cent ice cream cones and a high-powered stage show drew about 45,000 to the lawns of Queen's Park in Toronto," The Citizen reported. "A birthday cake big enough to feed a lucky 1,500 was baked by chef Jee K. Heng and taken to Robson Square in Vancouver by a police escort. Eighty-four dozen eggs, 30 kilograms of sugar, 30 kilograms of flour and 10 kilograms of jam were used to make the cake."
