The May long weekend in Cranbrook is no longer a time of civic revelry, nor has it been since the early 1960s. It is a time to tend to the yard work, change the storm windows, head out to the lake to open up the cottage, or just get away for the weekend.

For those who follow the local dictum “No planting until the snow has left Mount Baker or the long weekend in May, whichever comes first,” it is time to start digging.

There was an era, however, when the Victoria Day weekend heralded the largest and most widely attended of Cranbrook’s yearly celebrations — Victoria Day, Empire Day, the King’s Birthday, and three days of fun and frolic all rolled into one.

In the year 1845, Canadian federal legislation declared May 24 as the official birthday of Queen Victoria.Communities across the country celebrated in various ways, generally involving things upliftingly British, including patriotic speeches and songs, fireworks, maypole dances and community bonfires. Following the death of the Queen in 1901, May 24 was decreed “Empire Day,” and made a national holiday. The terms “Empire” and “Victoria” remained nominally interchangeable from then on.

The official focus of the original Empire Day celebration was intended to provide for the entertainment and empirical education of children. This was in evidence locally in the 1912 Empire Day program. Automobile rides to the Agricultural Association Fairgrounds (the original Moir Park Hill adjoining the cemetery) brought 400 schoolchildren to partake of the activities. The newspaper of the day states, “The sports and entertainment which had been arranged in the children’s behalf reached the height of their expectations. Oh! But you should have just seen the way they jumped and skipped about those grounds ... They did enjoy themselves!” Moreover, just what was it that made the little ones so happy and bright? Well, the egg-and-spoon, wheelbarrow, and potato races with the “hot-wiener man” doing business on site likely captured their attention, but perhaps they were just mimicking the adults for they also “jumped and skipped about the grounds” that day. You see, Moir Park was not only the site of the Agricultural Fairgrounds but it also happened to contain a very nice quarter-mile horseracing track. For many years, the annual Victoria program included many activities for the kiddies plus a whole lot of racing for the adults. It was the furlongs, dashes, and heats on horseback that attracted crowds numbering well into the thousands.

By the year 1920, Cranbrook was the East Kootenay mecca of the Victoria Day weekend. Visitors poured into town for the three-day celebration. A local committee allotted houses, offices, and apartments for excess overnighters while the storeowners rubbed their hands in glee as they hired extra staff to deal with the crowds. Boxing matches at the Arena Rink, sideshows, vendors, and street entertainers amused the throngs that disembarked from special CPR passenger trains in time for the big street parade. Baseball tournaments abounded. Lacrosse, football, and bowling matches proved equally as popular. Free patriotic picture shows for the children supplemented their “Empire” education while the annual dance at the auditorium saw upwards of six hundred couples tripping the light fantastic. The occasional pick pocketing, robbery or shooting did little to quell the enthusiasm.

Above all, the horse races proved the most popular of the events. Kootenay Bay, Little Joe, Shoestring, Cranbrook Girl, and Lady D rounding the turn and barreling down the far straight in a huge cloud of dust, hitting the final corner as the crowd rose to its feet in one huge demanding roar in the name of Queen and Country.

One afternoon they just kept going, those horses of yesteryear, past the finish line and out into the clouds of time. The trains are gone, the athletes, the musicians, the vendors the grandstands, and the crowds. Even the hill is gone now. There is, however, one remnant of those glorious days. The city, having allowed the systematic destruction of Moir Park hill in order to quarry the rare and precious commodity of gravel, has ensured a large supply of dust.