July 1st was marked with great music and lots of fun in St. George. The Firefighters and Lions Club started the day off on a great note with a pancake breakfast that served 1,000 or more people. They also sold out in many sizes of their Canada Day t-shirts.

On the Main Street, the music was great – from Cindy Alexander and Offsuit, Gary Gray & John Ludgate (who brought along two of his talented sons from the band Beautiful Nothing) and Barry Hussey and the Frisky Business Band.

Dave Thomson was up early to make sure the the road was closed to accomodate setting up for the event – and he helped trouble-shoot throughout the day.

Eric Bower and Dave Jensen worked hard to make sure the music all sounded great with the sound system they brought and assembled.

Howard Snodgrass and his crew assembled the stage early in the morning and came back promptly to take it down so that the Main Street could be reopened.

Paul and Jackie Long let people have a sneak peek at the Rustic Mug Cafe, while at the same time helping run the Charity Barbecue along with many other great volunteers on the day.

Cliff Jones had extended hours at the St. George Museum and Archives, which saw a lot of visitors, some book and map sales, and lots of comments in the line of “I have never been in before!”

Cindy Alexander’s daughters and their friends organized the great children’s games and contests on the street – from sidewalk chalk art, to sponge relay races, to dinosaur races!

Thanks to Shirley and Roy for donating a big bag of Canadian Flag fridge magnets as prizes – and to Entertainment Quest and the Ice Cream Shop for providing gift certificate prizes as well.

When the music wrapped up, and that was hard because Frisky Business didn’t want to stop playing, the focus moved up to the Cenotaph. We were pleased to have members of the Royal Canadian Legion Colour Party participate, as well as MP Phil McColeman, MPP Dave Levac, Mayor Ron Eddy, Councillors John Wheat, Steve Schmitt and Roy Haggart.

Nora Fueten lead a stirring rendition of O Canada, and then everyone lined up to enjoy the beautiful Canada Day cake donated by Trevor McLean and the staff of the St. George Foodland.

Thanks to John & Fiona Clarke, Betty Ames and Nora Fueten for helping serve the cake and refreshments.

The weather was perfect for the day and remained so into the night for a magnificent “Fire and Thunder” fireworks display courtesy of the St. George Firefighter enjoyed by thousands of people in King William Park.

I will have forgotten some people in this first attempt at summing up the day, and I apologize for that, but there was a lot going on and a lot of people helping to make it happen.

If you took part in St. George Canada Day and had any complaints, concerns, recommendations or compliments (!) please send an email to the Historical Society at [email protected] so that we can continue to improve the event.

Happy 143rd birthday Canada!

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