Canada Day 2017!

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 92 - July 1, 2017

Ses·qui·cen·ten·ni·al ~ relating to the one-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of a significant event.

Canada Day 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of something, but not exactly "Independence Day"! Pay attention, this is your history lesson for the day! The British North America Act of 1867 united the British provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario into the Dominion of Canada. This new Canada maintained a strong connection to Britain and the U.K.'s military, ironically because of British fears that the Union, victorious in the Civil War, would seek to annex Canada!  On January 10, 1920, Canada joined the League of Nations as an independent nation. However, full governmental independence was not achieved until even later, through the Canada Act of 1982, in which the British Parliament transferred the power to change Canada's constitution to the Canadian Parliament. Queen Elizabeth II, however, retains her role as Queen of Canada. The holiday was called Dominion Day until 1982, when the name was changed to Canada Day.  Source: Why Canada Day Is Not the Same as Canadian Independence Day, Olivia B. Waxman, Time History,June 30, 2017.

Canada Day crowd at Centennial Park, Trenton
(Kimberly Russo photo)

None of this prevents the Canadians from having a heck of a good celebration! We rode our bikes across the Trent River to Centennial Park, which was a sea of Canadian Maple Leaf flags, hats with Maple Leaf flags, and tee-shirts with Maple Leaf flags! There was some good humor too, since we saw a lot of tee-shirts with "Eh?" printed in the middle of the maple leaf! There were a couple of music stages (we missed all the performances), about a thousand food vendors and two thousand souvenir booths, along with some serious civic booths and with a couple of Mormon missionaries to boot!

The real highlight of the celebration, though, was the Firefit competition. Volunteer firefighters from just about every fire agency anywhere around Trenton compete on a course that has two lanes and a number of defined activities, where they are timed from the start to the finish. The activities include climbing a six story tower, lifting a 45 pound weight on a line hand over hand from the bottom to the top, coming back down, simulating a forcible entry with a sledge hammer, walking or running to the other end of the course weaving in and out of fire hydrants, dragging a fully charged fire hose all the way back, hitting a target with the fire hose, and finally dragging a 175 pound dummy back to finish line on the other end walking backwards. There are, mercifully, age brackets so the 50 and 60 year old volunteers are not competing with the 20 and 30 year olds! In reality, though, most of them are simply trying to improve on their own prior personal best. Here is an iPhone video of just a part of the competition!

And here are some more photos!

Firefit stairclimb tower

Firefighters hauling 45 pound weight up from ground

Dragging rescue dummy

At the finish line with rescue dummy

The celebration was capped with a fireworks show. We had watched the fireworks transport barge being loaded with the fireworks right across from our slip, and saw it leave, destination unknown, with a police boat escort.  I don't think a fireworks show in Canada has the same emotional connotation for us as Americans as fireworks shows in the U.S., since Canada was not forged in a revolutionary war:

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there!

It was still a pretty good fireworks show!

Canada Day fireworks show in Trenton

More fireworks!

As a reminder of Canada's close connection to Britain, as it happens the future King of Canada, Prince Charles, along with Camilla, will be in Trenton tomorrow at the Canadian Forces Base Trenton! We have not received our invitation, and probably will not be at the reception!