Canada Day
Canada Day
WOODSTOCK - Canada Day celebrations will takeover Woodstock's Southside Park.
The festivities will begin at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. Manager of Special Events Kristen Broadhagen says the overall layout of the event will be a bit different this year.
"If you have been to Cowpolooza, it's a similar setup to that with the staging. The seating for the main stage will be on the toboggan hill. Our headliner will be Scarecrow, a John Mellencamp tribute."
Other notable bands will include Sugar Tonight, The Do-Overs, Jack Demarest, Brian Neale, and Dance In Style.
In addition to live music, Broadhagen says we can also expect to see lots of food vendors, and activities for the kids.
"We'll be having a Canadian Kids Zone, with free activities. There will be a photo booth on-site where everyone can take home a souvenir photo. There will be characters, with a meet and greet with Moana, Rapunzel, and Spider-Man. There be free pony rides, a mini ferris wheel, face painters, circus inflatable, and a Touch a Truck area."
The Touch a Truck area will feature different vehicles from the City of Woodstock, the Transit Department, the Parks Department, and a school bus. You can also meet the new Woodstock Police Service Dog Taz.
The 20-minute fireworks show will begin at around 9:30 p.m. and the fireworks will be set off at the old gold course across the street.
Reimagining Canada Day: Celebrations take new approach to honour Indigenous people
Celebrations of Canadian pride balanced with country’s difficult history with Indigenous people
Many communities are reimagining Canada Day celebrations to recognize Indigenous Peoples, as the country continues to reckon with its legacy following the discovery of possible unmarked graves at former residential schools.
“Being Canadian is engaging with these really difficult things,” said Sean Carleton, an assistant professor of history and Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba.
“Being Canadian, in this moment, does mean reflecting on the history of colonialism and residential schools as a way of trying to establish new, better, stronger relations moving forward.
Organizers from coast to coast say they are trying to balance celebrations of Canadian pride with reflections on the country’s difficult history with Indigenous people.
Some events were silenced last year amid a sense of collective grief after possible graves were located on the former site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. More possible graves have been found across the country in the year since.
On Canada Day last year in Winnipeg, thousands of people took to the streets — dressed in orange in honour of residential school survivors — in a demonstration that led to the toppling of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth statues on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature.
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