We live in a small community of 1200 people, but we are part of the larger community of the Township of Trent Hills, which includes the towns of Campbellford, Warkworth and Hastings. Each town has a multitude of events throughout the summer months, but the times are fairly well coordinated to make it easy for the citizens of Trent Hills to attend as many as they’d like. When a major event happens, like Canada Day, the celebration venues and times are also coordinated throughout the day.
So we started our day with a pancake breakfast at the waterfront park in Campbellford. Despite the threat of rain, there was a good crowd.
We skipped some of the later events, and missed the Opening Ceremonies in Warkworth, but we were in downtown Hastings for the Opening Ceremony there. We grabbed lunch from one of the many food vendors; we joined in the singing of Oh Canada while a local pianist played the newly presented “community piano.”
We watched a medieval sword fight presented by the Blades of Glory.
We enjoyed watching a performance by the Firelights Belly Dancing Troup, and the brave efforts of audience members during a lesson in the art.
At 4:00 the parade began. As often happens, this small community parade was as interesting as many major city ones, and maybe a little more fun.
At 9:30 the crowds of people began to assemble on the shores of the Trent Canal and on the bridge, for the Annual Fireworks Display. Since we moved to Hastings we have agreed that this is the best fireworks display we’ve ever seen, and we’ve seen many. It is said that 10,000 people flock in from far and wide just to witness it. We walked the half block over to the park on our side of the canal and parked our chairs amongst the crowds. For some reason, perhaps because of the earlier thunder storm and deluge of rain, there seemed to be a problem getting started. It was an hour later that the first bursts of colour lighted up the sky right over our heads, but it was worth the wait! The money raised by our local firefighting teams to put on this show created another spectacular ending to the Canada Day events.
Mind Traveler 
Always interesting to follow your journeys. Reminds me of the parades that we watched from our front verandah on Concession Street in Westport which only had 711 people in those days. Community spirit was foremost with neighbours greeting each other with smiles, hugs, and cheers. Fond memories evoked with your pictures.
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Thanks, Helen. With all the political turmoil and negativity that we are bombarded with these days, it was a refreshing break to be part of the celebrations in this small, friendly community. I’m glad it brought back good memories for you.😀
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I was on double-duty yesterday as a spectator and reporter at Canada Day events in Napanee, Deseronto, and Tamworth. I agree that small communities put on just as much of a show as the larger cities, and they are more fun. This year, instead of watching the parade in the Village of Bath ( small community with a big parade), we opted for the smaller one in Tamworth. It had a real “country” feel to it with decorated fire trucks and tractors and local children riding their decorated bikes and scooters in the parade. There was also a ‘parade’ of antique and classic cars, some of which had been on display in Napanee and then were on display in Tamworth. Another highlight of the Tamworth parade was the entry from a septic system cleaning company that had a bubble machine on board! How appropriate. We came back to Napanee for the fireworks, which we were able to watch from a spot only about a five-minute walk from home, rather than get into the crowds at the arena where the fireworks were being staged. To commemorate Canada 150, there was a group of “voyageurs” in the parade, with one portaging a canoe! Great fun.
I’ve submitted photos for the paper, and then I’ll post some either in a blog post or on Facebook. It was indeed a great day.
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Really amazing to hear you had an excellent celebration. I like what you mentioned about the parade, I agree in that in small communities the parades are generally more “fun,” reminds me to appreciate not just the size of the parade but the spirit behind it.
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Thanks! Nice to hear from you.
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