A Lesson In Civics: the August holiday in Upper Canada.
So Monday is a holiday. I’m sure you’ve heard. It’s Simcoe Day in Ontario!
Named after John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada and founder of York (now Toronto), Simcoe Day is a celebration held on the first Monday in the month of August.
In 1869 Toronto City Council came up with the idea for a summer “day of recreation.” In 1875, it was settled and became known as “The Civic Holiday” until 1968, when Council decided to rename it after Simcoe.
More than being the inspiration for the name of a lake, Simcoe did some significant things during his tenure as CEO of Upper Canada: he abolished slavery, created Yonge Street, and even inspired the agricultural fair tradition that brings us the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.
Simcoe’s wife, Elizabeth, was good enough to keep extensive diaries that tell us much about that period in history. Elizabeth Simcoe was also known to have named roads in the province after her pets.
Although Toronto was the first to declare the first Monday in August a holiday, the other municipalities and provinces soon followed suit, though the day is known by a variety of names: British Colombia Day, Saskatchewan Day, New Brunswick Day…in Alberta, Heritage Day is “optional” (for whom? The employee or the boss?)
Close readers of Gadzooks will recall that Prince Edward Island, in its own freakish stray from tradition has, instead, Gold Cup and Saucer Day, on the second Friday of the month, to celebrate the harness race of the same name that happens that weekend, with a parade featuring the ambassadors, scantily-clad whip-wielding girls who represent each horse in the race.
In Ontario, a place to live and a place to grow, the first Monday is a province-wide holiday but is celebrated under different auspices throughout the region. Though Simcoe was a founder of the entire Province, other municipalities have opted to mark the day with their own damn military, engineering, administrative and car manufacturing heroes: Colonel By, Joseph Brant, Robert McLaughlin, Alexander MacKenzie, James Cockburn and John Galt Day…
No matter what anyone says, Toronto was the first to jump on the bandwagon for the August holiday, so there.
The intention of Simcoe Day in its inception is for relaxation. Gadzooks urges its readers to do just that.