North Van City Has a Birthday Party
It’s hard to believe, but the City of North Vancouver is 100 years old. So it was fitting that they threw a birthday party.

Dignitaries arrived at Mahon Park and gathered on the stage. Then- Lieutenant Governor Iona Campagnola made appropriate remarks (see photograph 1), watched by MP Don Bell and Kevin Evans, CEO of the BC Industry Training Authority.

For me, the high point of the day was the maypole dance. Now, I have seen old faded photographs of my sisters dancing around a maypole many years ago; I’ve even watched a derivative ceremony at “midsommar’s night” in Sweden, but I have never before seen a real, live maypole dance.

It was positively enchanting. As a member of the Act Now Leadership Council, committed to increasing activity among our youth, and implementing the slogan “Every move is a good move!” I decided to bring forward a maypole program at our next meeting.

Finally, after the speeches and maypole dancing had ended, there was an opportunity to circulate in the crowd and talk with the movers and shakers. There, I found former Mayor Barara Sharp talking with School Trustees Susan Skinner and Jane Thornthwaite. As usual, there was a lot of municipal gossip to share. Politicians, current and past, feed on it.

Along the way I learned something about sawmiller Sewell Prescott Moody, who founded Moodyville 140 years ago. I learned about the Wallace shipyards and the electric trolley car which ran up and down Lonsdale Avenue. I learned about the PGE railway, which built a passenger station in North Vancouver in 1914, earning the slogan “Prince George Eventually.” I learned about the 100 ships built in North Vancouver shipyards by 14,000 workers during World War II, a huge factor in Canada’s thrust to military victory. I learned about the shutdown of the cross-harbour ferry system in 1958, with the ignoble survival of one specimen as a seafood restaurant into the 1990’s, kept afloat by high-speed bilge pumps. And finally, I learned about the high spirits and good management which continue to characterize this vibrant, changing, North Shore community. What a party!

Happy Birthday, City of North Vancouver.
 

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