City's diversity on display
Published Thursday July 2nd, 2009
The entries in this year's Canada Day parade were as diverse as the people who call Canada home.
Local artist William Forrestall said the parade was the whole that added up to more than the sum of its vibrantly varied parts.
And that's not unlike his folk art entries: two homemade go-karts built by himself and his daughters that were driven by family friends Sophie Theriault and Naomi Petrie.
"Canada is an ongoing creative exercise," Forrestall said. "It's not just a bunch of laws or legislation, it's all kinds of ideas and values coming together freely, and that's why it's important to be out here celebrating."
Nearly 10,000 Frederictonians took part in that celebration, gathering at the Civic Pride block party at noon for live music, before heading to St. Anne Point Boulevard for the parade.
The day was overcast and muggy, but the rain held off and Fredericton Civic Pride co-chairman Charles Barry said the weather wasn't a big concern.
"It was deadly hot last year, the sun made it uncomfortable," he said. "It could be a bit clearer today, but temperature-wise it's much better."
He said it would take much more than a chance of rain to dampen Fredericton's spirits on Canada Day.
"Having the community out like this on Canada Day shows how we care for each other and the freedom we want to keep."
Timothy Li, who was at the front of the line carrying a colourful Chinese dragon, agreed.
"It's not just the diversity, we're here to celebrate our shared vision," he said.
"That's why we brought the dragon, a big part of Chinese New Year, and we wanted to share it with you on Canada Day and show good love and prosperity."
Derek Davidson, a local artist who was part of the block party's Paint the Town Green, said cultural eclecticism was a huge inspiration as he painted a portrait of the crowd in Officers Square.
"I depend on these people to paint them, they depend on each other in countless ways," he said. "That's why we're here, in this country, and here today, to cherish that interdependence."
Forrestall agreed, saying his go-kart creations - and contributions from several fellow Gallery 78 members in the parade - are small examples of how all Canadians have turned nation building and cultural nourishing into an art form all of its own.
"We literally write the book every day in this country," he said. "And when we celebrate Canada Day, it's just another way we turn our best intentions into new creations."
Disabled
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
Comments (15)
All comments are subject to the site Terms of Use. For a full commenting tutorial click here.
Our editorial team relies on filtering technology and our visitor community to identify inappropriate comments. In the event that a site user has submitted offensive content that has evaded our filter, please select the option to Flag As Inappropriate presented within the comment. Thank you for helping to keep this site clean.
Until they stop making exceptions for "some" peoplem and expecting everyone else to walk, Fredericton's touted "Green Parade" is always going to be an exercise in hypocrisy. If they're going to cheat, it would be better to bring back the floats which were more interesting that just people walking (oh, and the Shriner's fire truck which I assume runs on fresh air and sunshine).
Most of what I saw barely crested the 50-60ft mark above the barge. Granted there were some really nice and big ones, someone spoiled the maple leaf with hearts though.
I'm glad I decided to make my way to the south side, had I stayed at the Green in Devon with friends I likely couldn't have seen much since they moved the barge upriver of city hall.
Heck even the hypocrisy around the boats was clearly seen when the white flare went off revealing 20-30 boats in the river, instead of outside the bridges or moored at the dock.
I should have stayed home and watched them on tv, they were likely bigger.