With the Rotary Community Day Parade less than a week away, SooToday.com and the Sault Ste. Marie Museum thought it would be cool to show you how Sault Ste. Marie used to roll when it came to the annual summer tradition.
How many people took part in the first parade? What was the weather like? And who won the first Rotary car raffle?
Find out below, and check out the photo gallery to get an idea what the parade used to look like.
The following is from the museum's archives:
The Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie was founded in 1918 with 49 Charter Members and held its first meeting at the YMCA on Spring St. on June 15th.
The first President of the club was George S. Cowie.
In 1922 the Rotary Club organized the city’s first Community Day held on September 22.
According to news coverage of the day there were 3,000 entries in the parade of which 175 were children.
Weather was so cold, ice formed on trumpets of band members.
Sea Cadets led the parade.
The parade lined up at 7pm on Gore St.
The parade began at 7:30pm, went along Queen St. to Pim St. and returned to the Court House grounds where a program of street dancing, singing and other events took place.
The parade included decorated floats, marching bands, adults and children in a variety of costumes.
The club raised $1,200 the first year through silver donation.
The money was used to purchase a car known as the “Babies Car” for Miss Bertha Miller the Public Health Nurse.
Community Night July 29, 1925 saw the first year that the Rotary Club raffled a car, a Tudor Ford Sedan. \
The winner of the car was Mr. E. Ross MacKay, Editor of the Sault Star.
He won by guessing within two the number of tickets sold.
Find more entries here, and check out what the museum has to offer at www.saultmuseum.com
You can also check out LOCAL2's new Friday feature, The LOCAL2 Time Machine, which features historical images and video courtesy the Sault Ste. Marie Museum.
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