It was five o’clock on a cold November 11th morning when the residents of Meaford were awakened by factory whistles and ringing bells. The news raced from home to home. After four long years, the war overseas had ended. Throughout the town, the noise and clamour kept rising as parades were formed, flags were flown, and voices cheered from sunrise to sunset. By the end of the day, the town went to bed, exhausted but victorious. Soon, the boys would be coming home.
Nine months later, on August 19, 1919, a Soldier’s Day was declared in Meaford to welcome home the men and women who had served in His Majesty’s forces. Celebrations were one of the things that small town Ontario did well and Meaford outdid itself with a mammoth parade of decorated cars in which each soldier took a seat. They were followed by the callithumpians – boys with tinhorns and decorated bicycles. The parade, led by three bands, wound its way through town streets to the Market Square.
There, Mayor Gray of Meaford and Reeve Lemon of St. Vincent offered speeches thanking the men and women of Grey for doing their part in the Great War, assuring them that the town was theirs for the day.
There was an exhibition of airplanes offering to take passengers up into the air and the Star Theatre was showing Canada at Mons. Nearly all the returned men attended, some of them staying to view the film a second time.
In the afternoon, there was a parade of massed bands, Boy Scouts and automobiles. There were horse races, a baseball game, a lacrosse match, and the Boy Scouts performed fancy drills. At 3:00, three minutes of solemn silence were observed followed by a band playing Abide With Me. A banquet, fireworks, and an evening concert ended Soldiers Day. Over 40 of Meaford and St. Vincent’s men had been killed in the war. Many more were injured. But now it was time to go back to the farm and factory as life went on in small town Ontario.
Originally aired July 23rd 2016
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