The Lake’s District’s historic celebration, Tweedsmuir Days, is being resurrected. The celebration last happened in 2002, but will start up again this year in combination with Canada Day festivities in Burns Lake.
“It’s going to be just one big celebration, where it’s just a single day instead of three, and we’ve actually changed the name… We’re going to call it Lakes District Canada Day: A Heritage Celebration,” said Randi Amendt, executive director of the Burns Lake and District Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber took over the project when two of the people who used to manage it came forward saying they still had funds leftover from the original Tweedsmuir Days 17 years ago. The two individuals wanted it to go to good use, and Amendt and the Chamber agreed to it, she said.
Amendt remembers attending Tweedsmuir Days as a child, growing up in Burns Lake. Her memories are vague, because of how young she was, but she remembers a dunk tank, along with live entertainment and canoe races.
The goal is in resurrecting the celebration now is to incorporate more history into the already existing celebrations in the District—hence using the word “heritage” in the title.
“We’ll basically have our opening ceremonies… We’ll have activities for people of all ages, a street market, live entertainment, and of course, different booths set up with the history,” said Amendt.
“The history we’re bringing in… It’s basically the same but we’re bringing in a lot more activities. We’re going to have a slideshow and pictures. We’ve never done that for Canada Day,” she added.
And there will be food vendors and a pancake breakfast, as well, she said.
Susan Schienbein worked on the committee who ran the first Tweedsmuir Days, for about five years, she said. She knows the history well.
“Tweedsmuir Days was a celebration that started in our community to celebrate the naming of Tweedsmuir Provincial Park by Lord and Lady Tweedsmuir. So Lord John Buchan and his wife, Susan, travelled to Tweedsmuir Provincial Park and decided it was one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and they made it what it is,” said Scheinbein.
According to the Governor General of Canada website, Lord Tweedsmuir was a well-educated man who wrote books, including a suspense-thriller called Thirty-Nine Steps which was later turned into a film by Alfred Hitchcock. Lady Tweedsmuir was also a novelist and playwright.
Lord Tweedsmuir—at the encouragement of his wife—created the Governor General’s Literary Awards of Canada, in 1936.
Sheinbein says the Tweedsmuir’s visit and naming of the park happened in 1938, and the Lakes District decided to start hosting Tweedsmuir Days to mark the 50th anniversary of that, in 1988.
Scheinbein recalled the event being loads of fun. Downtown businesses would dress up their shops to look like the 1930’s era, the museum hosted nostalgic activities like strawberry teas, where ladies dressed up and wore fancy white gloves. The museum also hosted a “boxed luncheon auction,” like an old-time event that used to happen in the area, which involved women cooking and packing lunches which men would then bid on.
And there were also a parades, dances, chili cook-offs, pie-eating contests, sack races, a Mr. Burns Lake talent contest for men, and raft building competitions. She laughed while reminiscing about the raft competition. This was a difficult and pressing task for teams. They were each given materials like logs, hammers and nails, and then had to quickly build rafts, and race them across the lake, trying to be the first one back. Often three out of four rafts didn’t make it back across the water the second time, said Schienbein.
“One would make it and the rest would fall apart. It was very fun for the crowd,” she said.
