EMPIRE DAYS CELEBRATIONS 2014

Nanaimo Empire Days Parade From 2014

For over 140 years, the Empire Days Society, staffed by countless unpaid volunteers put on a first-class weekend of celebrations, including the longest running parade in Canada. 

On parade day, Commercial Street was lined on both sides from the cenotaph down to Victoria Crescent. You had to come early to find your spot.

The weekend was crammed with activities for young and old alike, with the HMCS Nanaimo being open to the public. The grand finale was the fireworks in the harbour, which filled the downtown with spectators. Traffic on the Pearson bridge had to be controlled by the police as the lights could not cope with that size of crowd.

The celebration in times past was a week long event with May Queen crowning and dance at the old civic arena with lots of good wholesome family entertainment.

Then in 2015, I believe, in keeping with the anti-colonial movement of the time, pressure was brought to bear on the Empire Day Society to change the name, as it was an offence. Everyone was still happy to let the hard working volunteers put the weekend celebration on, they just had to change the name.

When the name change wasn't accepted, funding was diverted and a new 'group' came forward saying they would run the weekend event without giving any honor to Queen Victoria or the offensive Empire.

Long story, short, the first year the new bunch ran the show, it was a mere shadow of itself, and in the years after it wasn't even a shadow of itself.

Is there a lesson in all of this?? Perhaps maybe not everything rooted in the Empire was such a bad thing after all?