Invitations & Ephemera
1925
Old Home Week celebrations were designed to bring people "home" to their town. Although OHW was therefore advertised more generally, there was a real emphasis placed on getting former residents to come. This was particularly true for North Bay's 1925 OHW which was celebrating North Bay's new status as a city. North Bay's progress would be most noticeable to those who had known as a few houses emerging at a railway stop in the swamp and wilderness. It was also felt that those who had contributed to making it what it was should be there to celebrate. Everyone who knew anyone who had lived in Norrth Bay in the past was therefore asked to help by providing names and addresses so those people could be personally invited and over 5000 invitations were sent out.
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The 1925 invitation was in Old English and took the form of a proclamation from George V. It was addressed to all "Olden Boyes and Girles, far and nygh" asking them to assemble in North Bay on August 2nd through 8th for the celebration of Old Home Week. It was signed by John Ferguson as President of OHW. Produced on thick cream paper with decked edges and with a red seal affixed to it, the invitation looked very official. Music, parades, sports and dancing in the street was promised. Over 2000 people responded positively to their invitation and many more were expected to arrive without answering first. (Invitation as PDF.) |
Courtesy of @ Heritage North Bay |
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The envelope that was used to send the invitations and the letterhead paper that was used by the committee had a totally different tone to it. The logo on it, a drawing by local artist R.S. Huntingdon, shows two men, explorers, emerging from a thick forest, one of them portaging a canoe. They are approaching a lake with a sunset which proclaims "Prosperity for all". The trunks of two tall trees are crossed by a banner to form the shape of a gateway. The banner proclaims: " The Gateway to the North ." In the corner is the text " Back to 'the Bay ' Aug. 2nd. to 8th. -1925." The image is inviting and bids you to walk into the light and the promised prosperity along with the travelers. |
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Courtesy of North Bay Chamber of Commerce |
A large number of Old Timers attended OHW and helped to shape the nature of the celebrations. Veterans were remembered on Soldier's Day. Old Timbers played lacrosse and other sports. Mostly, they must have met old friends and reminisced. Unfortunately these stories were never recorded and the guest books that carefully recorded the names of all the guests that registered were lost with the rest of the Board of Trade records in a fire. The names of those who registered with the OHW committee, however, were published in the paper and a full list of these names could be compiled, although in some cases the microfilm is light and hard to read. For a list of the Old Timers whose names (with the place they came from) were published on August 7th, 1925 see List of Old Timers. Even from these names alone, one can see that people did come from great distances, but more came from Toronto than anywhere else. For anyone interested in these Old Timers from a genealogical purposes, the list is somewhat limited as women are often referred to only as Mrs. John Smith. If they grew up in North Bay before they were married, it will be impossible to identify them without knowing who they married.
"Come back to the lake where you fished and swam,/ And rolled on the sun-drenched sand,..."
(Oneita McEwan) |
The Women's Canadian Club held a competition in 1925 for the best poem on the history of North Bay, Old Home Week, or the incorporation of the city. The winning poem by Miss Oneita McEwan was in the "Call to Old Home Week" category. For full text, CLICK HERE. |
1935
Ten years after the very successful celebration of OHW in 1925, North like the rest of the country was in the throes of the Great Depression. Unemployment caused great hardships for many families and individuals. For those who did keep working, however, times were not so bad. Perhaps it was because of the grim conditions that the birth and survival of quintuplets in nearby Corbeil in May of 1934 captured the imagination of the world. The survival of all five of the Dionne quintuplets through the first few months of life almost guaranteed that they would become a major attraction. The Ontario government's actions in taking over guardianship of the girls played a role. By placing them in a separate nursery away from their parents, they greatly facilitated the emergence of "Quintland", a tourist attraction that would rival Niagara Falls for a few years at least. The Quints would be a year old in 1935 when North Bay celebrated its second OHW. The promoters of OHW were well aware of the tourist potential of the Quints and used it to their benefit.
As in 1925, an invitation was sent out to as many people associated with North Bay as possible, in an effort to get them to attend. This time the invation featured the Quints. It shows the five girls with their names and the slogan "Five reasons to visit North Bay - Gateway to the Land of Gold ." Stationery with this image sold at one cents a page and earned $150 indicating that up to 15,000 sheets may have been in circulation. (The Nugget, May 8, 1935.) Envelopes were produced as well. The image on the right is a facsimilie based on a copy of the letterhead which Jos Murphy included in his history of the Knights of Columbus and the image in the souvenir book which was clearly the same used for the letterhead. If anyone knows where to find an original, please let me know. |
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Approximately 20,000 people attended the OHW celebrations of 1935, many of them visitors. The 159th Battalion reunion brought many veterans together again. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen also chose to have their 50th anniversary reunion during OHW thereby bringing many of the original railroaders to town. Many other Old Timers were present and the Nugget featured some of them in its pages. Locals also called the paper with the names of those who were visiting and these were published in the personals, as they were year-round. Based on the personals which refer to OHW specifically, one finds that visitors arrived from across Canada and the United States, but that more came from Toronto and Sudbury than anywhere else. (For an alphabetical list of these personals, CLICK HERE. This PDF is searchable.)
In 1935 an Official OHW song was produced with lyrics by Ernie Mills and music by Bill Davis. (PDF copy)
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Courtesy of @ Heritage North Bay |
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