2017 marks 150 years of Confederation for Canada and celebrations are planned all across the country for the whole year including free access to all National Parks and Historic Sites for all visitors. Even though July 1st is Canada Day every year it was bound to be a little more special this year owing to the anniversary, but heavy thunderstorms with lightning tried to dampen the planned fireworks displays. Luckily for us it eased off and they went ahead a little after 11pm in Cochrane and the balcony gave us prime viewing. Rather than bore you with a bunch of firework shots I thought I'd overlay them all on one image and wish a happy Canada Day to Canadians the world over from the little town of Cochrane, Alberta.
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Canada Day is here again and this year we returned to Calgary so we could enjoy the festivities there before visiting our friends in the city. As always seems to be the case on Canada Day the sun was out in force and we sought out the shade wherever possible. There was plenty going on in all areas of the downtown core and we enjoyed walking through them all before heading to friends for the afternoon. Below is a captioned gallery from our wanderings. The main shot is on Stephen Avenue from the shade of the hanging baskets there.
Our first Canada Day in Cochrane was really enjoyable with the celebrations being much more intimate than those in the city as a result of the 'small town' set up at the 'Cochrane Ranche' park in town. We saw a country and western singer called Sydney Mae who really has a great voice, Japanese Drumming and some of those 'Old guys making a rock band' fellas. Lot's of stuff for kids and of course hot dogs, burgers and ice cream. Click gallery below for slideshow.
It's great to be home for Canada day, the sun hammered down again as it did last year and we made our usual circuit of the city to share in some of the celebrations. Click an image below for a captioned walk through the downtown area.
July 1st is 'Canada Day' and even though much of the city is still recovering from the floods, most of us took time out to celebrate. The sun was belting down throughout the day with the city reaching 30 degrees. A number of planned events were either cancelled or moved to different venues because of the floods but the city came to life with some great shows. In the downtown core people clamoured to get the shaded spots on the left side of Stephen Avenue. There were jewelry stalls and arts & crafts spread along the length of the avenue as well as bands and street entertainers. There were free concerts all day from 11:00 am until 10:30 pm when the day culminated with a huge firework display from the centre street bridge. Sarah and I went down to Olympic Plaza to watch a couple of hours of the First Nations Pow-Wow A good crowd gathered in anticipation, the fortunate ones (or the early ones) got the best shaded spots close to the dance floor.....even in the shade it was very hot but the drums and chanting were soothing and we waited patiently for the event to begin. A short opening dance was led by a stunning procession with many nations in their ceremonial dress. Then a series of differing dances using different drums etc played out as we sipped our frozen lemonade from the shade of the trees. The dancing was incredible and we couldn't help but feel for the dancers in buckskins leaping around in 30 degree temperatures. I confess it was really nice to get away from the devastation of the floods for the day but so many victims are still in dire need , so tomorrow morning I'll be heading back out to the Siksika Nation to carry on the volunteering.
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AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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