Fenelon Falls Centennial, 1975
In the mid twentieth century, many communities throughout central Ontario took an interest in their pioneer period as the last of the original settlers passed away. Fenelon Falls founded a museum in 1963 in the home of its one of its original proprietors, and when it celebrated Canada’s centennial four years later, many of the events stepped back in time to 1867. By the time the village of Fenelon Falls was preparing to celebrate its centennial in 1974-5, there were still some living memories of the actual event, as there were some participants whose parents would have lived in the village at the time it was incorporated—notably, Alice Hand, whose father E.D. Hand founded the Fenelon Falls Gazette in 1872. Once again, the celebrations would hearken back to the village’s founding moments.
Though 1974 was the actual anniversary of Fenelon Falls’ incorporation, the celebrations were postponed one year due to sewer construction. The festivities took place between May 30 and June 8, with the actual anniversary taken as June 5. The most anticipated event was a parade up Colborne Street on Saturday, May 31, which featured about 60 or 70 floats. Most were historically themed, and some of the spectators also came in period costume. That day, as throughout the celebrations, there were many ladies in long dresses and gentlemen in top hats. Memorable floats included a Fenelon Dairy horse-drawn milk wagon, the Kawartha Steam Club’s traction engine pulling a threshing machine, the Blythe Women’s Institute quilting, livestock, horses with carriages, Hepburn’s horse-drawn Imperial Oil gasoline wagon, and the Bury’s Green Women’s Institute’s entry: “Homemaking! Why Not?” Many of the families participating had been in the area for four generations. Garnet Graham served as the town crier, with his yip sticks, of course!
Many community organizations contributed to making Fenelon Falls’ centennial special. The event began with a game of “football in some style” at the Fenelon Arena between the CKLY No Stars and Lloyd Kelly’s Cataract Colts—at the time Lloyd was a much-loved local personality. A fashion show at the arena featured outfits dating back to the 1870s, including men’s bathing suits (which once were full body woollen). Afterwards the Chamber of Commerce offered a dance. The museum hosted a garden party, featuring the Lindsay Pipes and Drums, spinning, tatting, rug hooking, wool carding and butter making—historian Gladys Suggitt gave daily butter making demonstrations throughout the festivities. Public School students created original artwork, especially of the old bell tower, one of the recently demolished buildings that once stood on Fenelon’s island. The Salvation Army hosted a concert by their Toronto church band, while St. James Anglican Church also hosted a Toronto church choir. The committee hosted a dinner at the arena for everyone in the village who was born prior to 1900, and the Rotary Club facilitated a photograph of the village’s octogenarians.
Fenelon Falls marked the anniversary with one notable infrastructure upgrade—the construction of a water tower on the church hill, north of the former location of the Anglican Church. Since the first Anglican church was erected in 1838, it had been a local landmark, visible in the distance to visitors from the south. The second St. James Anglican Church had burned in 1967 (services had been held at the third St. James chapel since 1902) as Fenelon Falls was celebrating the dominion’s centennial. Then in 1975, as the village celebrated its anniversary, it received a new landmark on the church hill. Building a water tower there was controversial, but in the end, the site was chosen because it allowed for better water pressure. Today many villagers might find it curious that many people once got worked up over this very practical landmark.
