Canada Day - the first day of summer

On 1 July the whole Canada gets off work and celebrates the Canada Day, the national day of Canada.

Even though Newfoundland only joined Canada in April 1949, Canada Day, which commemorates the joining of three British colonies into a single country called Canada in 1867. Based on the radio ads and what I saw around me, Canada Day seems to be referred to as the country's birthday (heard in a commercial: everyone's birthday is a big deal, but our country's birthday is the BIGGEST!).

Often, people have also referred to Canada Day as the first day of summer, and many have told us that "Come Canada Day, the weather will have turned and it's going to be warm".

I asked around what one should then do on Canada Day in St. John's. It seems that Canada Day is celebrated here with family, often with BBQ and there are fireworks in the evening. The opinions of the people I talked to differed on whether or not it's similar to 4th of July in the US - in general, it seems that Canadians consider Canada Day to be a bit more solemn - you celebrate, but you also think about the past and it's not all fun and carneval only.

There are three main things to do in St. John's for Canada Day: the 6am Sunrise Ceremony at the Signal Hill, the afternoon family fun and concerts by the Confederation Building and the fireworks at the Quidi Vidi lake in the evening. As 6am was too early for us, and the fireworks at 10pm too late, we opted for the party at the Confederation Building. There were cup cakes, bouncy castles, balloons and music - it was all very well organized and everyone could use the washrooms inside the Confederation Building. People were collecting trash the whole time and once the last band finished playing at 16.30, it took 10 minutes to get the place cleaned and wrapped up! We were amazed - we and a few friends were the last ones around in front of the band stand and by 17 there were no signs of the party of thousands anywhere to be seen. Very efficient!

The Maple Leaf-guy came to say hi to the kiddos

 We were very lucky to also experience the part of Canadians getting together with their family to BBQ, as our friends Mr. MD and Mrs. AD were so kind as to take us along to a family BBQ that evening. It was a very cosy evening in a house in downtown St. John's and we met people we otherwise would not have met on our own. Very nice!

Even the birds get to celebrate Canada Day

St. John's finest were also there, showing their fleet and offering some eye candy for all the mamas around

So then to discuss the elephant in the room: was it really the first day of summer? Well, it depends on your definition of summer. Over here summer comes and goes, is my observation, which means it's summer. One of the sure signs is the fog laying over the harbour of St. John's. If you're out of the fog, it can be very warm indeed! It's humid, and the sun is very warm and bright. To me it seems like there are pockets of warm air where the fig doesn't reach. 

The fog rolling in over the harbour of otherwise sunny St. John's

 I've learned not to trust the weather forecast too much, though.On a day when the weather forecast said 15 and cloudy, my felt temperature was 25 and sunny (even though it was 10 and cloudy in the morning). So you never know in this city! I've learned to bring a sweater everywhere and to come home in between and change from my sneakers into my sandals. My daughter always gets a change of clothes to the daycare or else I bring it when I pick her up. There are days when I send her over in pretty much snowsuit and pick her up in flipflops and t-shirt (that happened yesterday!).

Summer evenings in St. John's can be very pretty. The one below is from our neighbourhood of Georgestown on the evening of 1 July. Happy summer everyone!