Sunday afternoon, June 23rd, at Waverley Park. About 200 people turned out to celebrate its 150th Anniversary. People sprawled in fold-up chairs or on the green sward (that’s a word that’s at least 150 years old).
About a hundred metres from where we (sister Sue and I) sat, Roy Coran’s Big Band was belting out show tunes and all-time favourites. Rodney Brown, singer and songwriter, was also scheduled to perform in the bandshell. Some of the audience cut a rug on the concrete sidewalk.
One source states the park was established in 1881 and “formally opened” in 1906. Well, 2024 take away 150 equals 1874, but who’s counting? Not on a beautiful day such as today. And not today’s organizer of the celebration, who was likely in the crowd squeezed into the bandshell. I didn’t spot him ̶ just as well.
The bandshell? Built in 1979 and reconstructed in 2018. But I missed seeing the Hogarth Fountain, donated to the city in 1965 by the widow of Major General Donald McDonald Hogarth (you could look him up). It is an artifact from England, 234 years old (according to one source). I gotta pay closer attention.
Note one kid with a balloon gun.
about 200 years ago, well before there was a Lakehead.
and his mother for the same permission. Denied.
But today was a day for pure pleasure, not historical nitpicking. No flies, no rain, just lotsa sunshine. And music. And happy kids. And smiles.
From time to time, a passerby brushed by our chairs and stopped to smell the lilacs. It was a day for smelling flowers.
P.S. I took pix with my iPad, which saves them in HEIC format. I used Pixillion to convert them to JPEG, but this software refused to cooperate. Finally I downloaded a version that works. That accounts for my tardiness in posting.
E.J. Lavoie's Blog 3 
Hi Ed,
I’ve learned a lesson: compose a comment in a document and cut and paste it so it doesn’t get lost. I had a lot to say about this post —so here goes again:
The park land was created and declared as such in 1871 when animal drawn carts establishing a road to the west, first attempted the steep Waverley street then opted for the gradual gradient of Red River Road. The patent for the parkland was obtained from Ontario by Mayor Clavet in 1907. Waverley Park has a very good Wikipedia page and there is lots on the City of Thunder Bay website The Park is actually 153 years old but 2021 Covid mandates prevented the celebration before this past June.
The Coalition for Waverley Park is a completely volunteer board of 8 people who did all the work for the picnic on a very modest budget at a time when municipal budgets and inclinations would not make this happen. The founding of the Coalition in 1994 was to prevent Central School (1901 and one of only a few remaining brick school houses in the province) from becoming a condominium in a development that would encroach on the Park—The Park is the centrepiece of one the few Heritage Conservation Districts in northern Ontario, and the only one in Thunder Bay.
The pavilion or bandstand was built in 2018 with money raised in part, by the Coalition to replace the deteriorating Rotary Bandshell (1984-2011) so that we can ensure the tradition of weekly public concerts in the park continues. With the Musicians Trust Local 591 and The City of Thunder Bay, we offer a free Monday evening concert every summer—we start July 8 and run for 8 weeks till Aug 26.
I created the 15 minute slide show, set it up on loop and often saw 4 or 5 very interested people at a time watching and commenting.
The trees are Gilead and donated to the city in 1887 by Arthur Harvey—they are referred to as cottonwoods as they produce a white fluff when pollinating.
The costumed people at the picnic are members of the Jane Austin Society (so predate the Park)
My husband did a crowd tally at one point and counted 300 people in spite of threatening skies. Over the course of 3 hours, we hosted close to 400 people.
The Cenotaph is 100 years old next year and we plan to celebrate that anniversary as it too was the effort of a volunteer group who raised the funds for it. Our focus now is the restoration of the Hogarth Memorial Fountain. Like all of our endeavours, we hope to succeed!
I am glad you attended and created a blog entry about it.
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