Julien St-Jean
Sheenboro July 1, 2021
To celebrate Canada Day, Sheenboro residents decorated their homes and drove through the town on floats.
Residents were invited to decorate their homes by the Sheenboro Recreation Association (RA), who gave out Canadian flags and mugs that read, “Canada Day, the COVID way.” Live music – including local fiddlers, and guitar players – was set up at two loctions so residents could stop in and listen while checking out decorations around town.
According to Jean Gleason of the Sheenboro Recreation Association, they decided to celebrate by decorating houses and with floats because it made it easier to social distance.
“We decided to go at it this way, celebrating at a distance,” said Gleason. “We’re hoping people can drive through in their cars.”
According to Gleason, this has been one of the only events the town has been able to have since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The RA started planning for it in April.
“We haven’t seen this many people in over 17 months,” said Gerald Wheeler. “There’s free music. It’s nice to be able to do something semi-normal again.”
Locals and visitors could be seen around town celebrating, singing along to music and dancing. A Canada day float drove around the town, waving and stopping briefly wherever others were gathered.
According to Gleason, the day wasn’t all celebrations. Recent discoveries of unmarked graves near Canadian residential schools prompted members of the community to set up a display as a tribute to Indigenous children who attended residential schools.
“We want an acknowledgement of whose land we’re on,” said Gleason. “We still feel like proud Canadians but these events really gave us pause. We need to look at what’s happening and try to make a better place for all.”
