Canada’s smallest city will celebrate the 125th anniversary of its incorporation this weekend, along with the 80th anniversary of the Japanese-Canadian internment.
Although Founders Day is held annually, it is expected to be much larger than usual this year.
“Because of those anniversaries, it’s huge this weekend,” says Janet Matsalla, one of the organizers. “We have been locked [down] for two years so a lot of people are excited to get and about. We have a lot of people meeting up that haven’t seen each other in years. It’s going to be a great weekend.”
Among the highlights are live entertainment, parade, vendors, gold panning with the experts, pancake breakfast, beer garden. A 50-50 fundraiser for the Phoenix ski hill is expected to have a grand prize of up to $10,000.
Things get underway tonight with a meet-and-greet at the McArthur Centre.
In 1942, Greenwood became home to more than 1,000 Japanese Canadians forcibly moved there from the Lower Mainland. Eleven of them are still living there.
An internment reunion concert on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the McArthur Centre will focus on that aspect of the city’s history.
Greenwood was incorporated on July 12, 1897, so the actual anniversary was on Tuesday.
More details can be found here.