Sunday, 8 June 2025

Pioneer Days, 2025


     Yesterday was the big day for McBride’s Pioneer Days celebration.  I took the photo above of the parade down Main Street which always is the big start of the activities that took place on Saturday.  As I watched these two “cowgirls” parade their cow through the throngs of people that lined Main Street, I wondered what the poor cow was thinking, first having a saddle on its back and then all the noise and chaos of the parade.

    Several bystanders told me that the province had passed a law banning the throwing of candy during parades, which everyone would agree could cause a tragic accident with the kids running out upon the streets to pick up the sweet treats, however since our village is so remote and isolated, that law didn’t seem to be adhered to (photo below).

    In fact even the RCMP parading in their police cars with their sirens and flashing lights, were throwing candy to the kids. 

    I wasn’t able to watch the whole parade because I had to set up our equipment in the park pavilion for our jam, which began playing immediately after the parade finished.  

    As soon as we got done playing our music, I had to rush across the park to join the square dancing demonstration.  There were enough square dancers (sixteen) for two squares.  After several songs, some of the onlookers, after a quick lesson, were given a chance to square dance on a song with simple maneuvers.

    Then three of us did a few environmentally-themed songs at the Seniors for Climate table.  After that I hung around to watch a high school rock band, that was quite good.  I really liked the fact that most of their repertoire were the same songs popular during the era when I was young.

    At 4:00 I walked across the park over to the Whistle Stop Gallery which had a opening celebration for its 25th Anniversary and the new Main Street banners.

    My wife who had gone home early from Pioneer Days texted me saying that I should pick up a burger “with all of the fixings” and bring it home for her supper.  So before I left for home, I stopped in at the Elk’s Hall where they were selling burgers and picked up two of their top-of-the-line “Pioneer Burgers” without really knowing what they were.  We were surprised when we got home and started eating them to discover they were basically cheese burgers with a sliced hot dog among the other “fixings”.  While unusual, they were tasty.



Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

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