A Hot Canada Day in Georgetown

Our day began with a pancake and sausage breakfast in the 100-year old hamlet of Glen Williams (a Georgetown neighbourhood) where parade participants were already preparing their vehicles.

We met and shared a picnic table with Georgetown newcomers Tara and Brent, then dove into factual lore on a tour led by expert regional historian Mark Rowe. Like a mother hen leading a brood, Mark brought past mercantile ambitions and religious rivalries to life.

The town hall (left) was built as a temperance center to counter the demon drink: alcohol. In one unexpected way, the nasty beverage protected the town when night watchmen patrolled the streets in fear of Irish American Fenian raids in the mid 1800s. Popping in to a hotel bar "for a quick one" ensured a full complement of volunteers. At that time, the current Copper Kettle pub (right) was then a purposefully 'dry' general store and post office. Times change.

With clipboard in hand and a portable speaker, Mark fed us some surprising links to the wider world. For instance, the building that now houses a realtor was the store where Timothy Eaton began his career, eventually founding the T. Eaton Company, Canada's national department store chain for many years.

In a brief respite from the heat, on the opposite bank of the Credit River we appreciated a welcoming lemonade in the little Anglican Church of St. Alban. It's not your imagination; the wooden ceiling does look like a boat's hull, representing an upside down Noah's Ark.

Group of Seven member A. J. Casson made paintings of the neighbourhood, and a former glove manufacturer (white building, black shutters near the river) likely outfitted an earlier member of President Donald Trump's family making their initial fortune in the 1886-89 Klondike gold rush. Who knew!

Noon signalled a start to the traditional Canada Day parade with a mix of marching bands, antique vehicles and elected officials. Plus the mounties, of course.

As always, it's community volunteers who make it all happen, and the day continued on the sports field where souvenirs and food were available through a wiltingly hot, humid afternoon.

I retreated to the air conditioned Glen Williams Town Hall for strawberry shortcake and coffee. It was free for residents of the glen, but my being "60 seconds outside of the glen" scored as "close enough" to qualify.

Others cooled off in the slow flow of the Credit as it meandered lazily through town.

Photos

© 2026 Gary Crallé