Canada Day has fireworks. Ottawa marks it with fireworks; Nelson marks it with fireworks; most cities of any size in Canada do. But, why? How did this come about?
No fireworks were used when this picture was taken. In 1909, my family gathered to mark Dominion Day in Rossland. They displayed a four-province Canadian Red Ensign (Canada's flag of the day). In the scene appear my great grandparents, my grandmother and my mother. My grandfather took the picture.
Canada’s national day—it once was called Dominion Day—did not used to be marked with fireworks. No fireworks were used on the day when I was a child; indeed, other aged folk tell me likewise.
I remember my father, RT Fraser (1905-1991), sometime in the 1970s, lamenting the recent practice of using fireworks on July 1st. His reasoning was simple: Americans have long used fireworks for their National Day because it commemorates their birth in battle. Canada came about through evolution, not revolution; Canadians did not use fireworks to proclaim their birth. Why were we now (1970s) starting to ape an inapplicable American practice?
It seems that some forty years ago, the combative symbolism of fireworks waned and they became transformed into nothing more than a celebratory spectacle.
I would like to know when and why this change took place. I suspect that it all started in 1967 for the Canadian Centennial. Then, within a few years, fireworks began to appear across the country on July 1st without any sense of inappropriateness. But, this sequence is somewhat speculative.
As to local use—a check in the Nelson Daly News reveals no mention of fireworks here on July 1, 1967. Soon afterwards, J.D. Spurway created a composite print from multiple pictures taken from his home on the North Shore. The picture is undated, but was probably taken circa 1970 (the bridge had been painted orange by this time).
The final two pictures were taken last night during Nelson’s Canada Day celebration. They are single images—I resisted the temptation to make a composite of many pictures as Dick Spurway had done.
Fireworks are certainly fun—and maybe that is all that matters—yet, they are a fairly recent innovation in the marking of Canada’s national day. If any of you have long memories and can shine some light on when and why the transition took place, please comment. Indeed, this posting may need updates as I learn more.
A composite image of fireworks on the Nelson waterfront probably taken circa 1970 by J.D. Spurway from his home on the North Shore. (used courtesy of Touchstones Nelson).
Two pictures of the Nelson’s celebratory fireworks on July 1, 2011 as seen from the south side of the Lake.
Promoter incompetence
I am enthusiastic about this region—something clearly shown by this website and blog. So, I am unenthusiastic about regional promoters who misrepresent us.
There seems to be streak of incompetence that runs through local tourism promoters. What else are you going to call it when they encourage people to visit all those nonexistent places: the many West Kootenays?
In a January posting, Plural ascending, I wrote about the roots of the plural form of our singular region. As far as I could tell at the time, the implication that there is more than one West Kootenay to be found on the map was largely confined to books written by sloppy authors.
Surely organizations that represent us to the world (sometimes with tax dollars) would hold themselves to a higher standard than do individual authors. Apparently not. Consider the first picture. Someone actually spent money to hang this in the terminal of the Castlegar airport (picture taken last March).
Quite a few tourism websites show equal incompetence. A website offered by West Kootenay Park Management welcomes people to the “Provincial Parks of the West Kootenays.” Kootenaysbc.com tells viewers about these phantom places three times and suggests that “About 100 years ago, prospectors came to the West Kootenays….” The International Selkirk Loop website offends so many times that it takes Google to list them all.
When it comes to touristic websites, my favourite abomination is Wikitravel which has a page devoted to all those many West Kootenays, but none for the one that actually exists: the West Kootenay. I attach a screen shot of the upper portion of that page. I particular enjoy the unidiomatic first sentence: plural subject, singular verb, missing preposition. (The same site has a page devoted to the East Kootenays).
Within all of this promotional nonsense, there does not appear to be any hint of purposeful deception—just incompetence.