The following is a re-print of a past column by former Advertiser columnist Stephen Thorning, who passed away on Feb. 23, 2015.
Some text has been updated to reflect changes since the original publication and any images used may not be the same as those that accompanied the original publication.
Wellington County’s 1954 Centennial Committee was headed by Bruce Freure of Guelph Township.
Early in the year, the group decided to centre the celebrations on Fergus; the town was as central as any, and had experience handling large crowds at the annual fall fair and Highland Games.
Freure and his committee eventually settled on July 16 and 17 as the best dates.
Waterloo County had held its centennial celebration the previous year, and Wellington’s committee reviewed their activities closely. They copied things that had been successful in Waterloo, while watching expenses carefully to avoid the substantial deficit racked up by their neighbours. At the same time, they wanted a celebration for everyone, and strove to keep admission costs to the various events low, and free if possible.
One disappointment was their inability to bring the Duke of Wellington to the county to participate. The Duke was not anxious to come, and costs exceeded the budget at Freure’s disposal. The committee’s working budget consisted of a $6,000 grant from the county.
The Fergus events would include two beauty contests – Miss Wellington 1954 and Miss Wellington 1900. Each of the county’s municipalities would have an entrant. The local competitions, held in various formats across Wellington during the two weeks previous to the Fergus events, stirred much interest in the centennial, and helped to attract volunteers to work on floats for the parade.
Fergus merchants embraced the centennial wholeheartedly. Copying an idea used at Kitchener in 1953, they decorated their front windows with historical themes. Some stores merely displayed some old photographs. Others assembled museum-quality exhibits.
Graham Ferguson scoured the basement and attic of his hardware store for older items. Lorne Pattison displayed various Beatty Bros. artifacts in the large windows of his furniture store.
Across the street, Thomson’s Furniture displayed furniture, glass, and household items that were over a century old. Russell’s outdid them all, with two manikins dressed in old costumes, and placed in a replication of an old drawing room. The photographs, maps, documents and historical relics attracted a huge crowd of Fergus locals on the Thursday evening prior to the celebration.
Freure’s committee wanted to attract visitors from outside the county, particularly those who had ties of one sort or another to Wellington. Hugh Templin of the Fergus News Record proved a big help, personally calling some of his many journalistic contacts across the province. The result was major stories in all three Toronto dailies during the week of the celebration, plus major features in the Hamilton, Kitchener and London papers. Dozens of weeklies mentioned Wellington’s centennial. In one sense, Templin regretted his assistance.
The News Record office became the headquarters for visiting reporters, who dropped in to see Templin and renew acquaintances with colleagues in the business. Consequently, Templin and his staff had trouble getting their paper’s July 15 issue together. It rolled off the press a day late, following an all-night work marathon.
The Wellington centennial booklet went on sale July 16. It included a program of the weekend events, plus brief histories of the municipalities in the county, with pen-and-ink illustrations by Russ Plyley of Elora. Hugh Templin did the printing, using two colours. It sold for 35 cents, and the committee hoped to recoup its expenses. The booklet also served as a fundraiser for various volunteer groups, who could purchase it in lots of 100 for $30.
Though not originally planned as part of the weekend centennial celebrations, the official opening of the Wellington County Museum took place on Elora’s Mill Street on the afternoon of Friday, July 16. The museum opening also stirred much media interest, and reporters for the dailies covered it as well as the Fergus events that evening and the following day.
A tea ended the museum opening, and it was over in plenty of time for the big Friday night event in Fergus: the Miss Wellington beauty contest and dance at the old Fergus Arena on St. Patrick Street.
About 2,400 people attended on Friday evening. The committee kept the admission low – $1 per couple, with children free. Altogether, 19 contestants entered the Miss Wellington 1954 competition, representing all municipalities with two exceptions: Erin Township and Village. Committee chairman Bruce Freure presided, with judging by Kathy Archibald of British Columbia, a former Miss Canada; Mike Waechel of Elmira; and Harry Worton, the future MPP who was then mayor of Guelph.
When the numbers were tallied, 18-year-old Jean Brett of Pilkington held the Miss Wellington title. She was a secretary at the Guelph Stove Company, but dreamed of being a model. Runners up were Luella Noble of Mount Forest (a Bell telephone operator), Bernice Sherman of Puslinch (a student at Queen’s University), and Myrna Noecker of Drayton (a high school student). Local favourite Pauline Trihey of Fergus placed fifth. Friday evening ended with a dance, to the music of the Clansmen of Guelph.
On July 17, the big day, the weather cooperated completely, with clear skies, a bright sun and a slight breeze relieving the summer heat. The agenda led off with a centennial luncheon at the Beatty auditorium. That event was by invitation only. Various dignitaries and public figures from across the county and beyond sat down to an ample meal. Again, Bruce Freure presided. Mayor Milligan welcomed the guests to Fergus, and reeve Angus Smith of Mount Forest proposed the toast to the county.
The public, meanwhile, gathered in Fergus during the morning and noon hour. The crowd, according to those considered skilled at making such estimates, hit the 20,000 mark. The five restaurants in Fergus had no hope of feeding that many. Some of the visitors brought picnic lunches, while others grabbed a little lunch at one of the six stands set up in Victoria Park. Junior Farmers and Women’s Institute groups ran them as fundraisers, and the committee allowed no commercial vendors on or near the site.
With so much advance publicity and growing excitement across the county, everyone expected the afternoon parade to be memorable, and few were disappointed. Parade veterans described it is the best in the history of Wellington.
Floats and bands assembled in the parking lot fronting the Beatty office on Hill Street. The route would take the procession through town via St. Andrew and St. David Streets to Victoria Park, the location of most of the afternoon and evening events. Officials believed the parade was about three miles long. The lead car, containing warden R.L. Palframan, reached the end before the last part of the parade had left the parking lot.
Miss Wellington, Jean Brett, followed the warden in a convertible; then the members of the centennial committee. The Cameron Highlanders Pipe Band of Mount Forest was next, followed by floats entered by the various municipalities in Wellington.
Punctuating them were other bands and attractions: the Arthur High School Cadet Band, the Fergus Pipe Band, decorated bicycles, the Arthur Pipe Band, the Mount Forest Brass Band, the Palmerston Legion Pipe Band, the Hillsburgh Band, the Guelph Pipe Band, and the Brampton Clown Band. Centre Wellington’s Womens Institutes also provided music: singing to the strains of an old melodeon.
As well as the municipal floats, businesses and volunteer groups also entered floats. The entries were judged, and the best received prize money, starting at $50 for the best in the parade. The financial incentive, combined with local pride, resulted in some outstanding entries. Several municipalities set budgets in the $200 range for their floats. Elora volunteers worked countless hours and kept their entry behind locked doors until the time of the parade. The municipality with the most points would get a silver trophy and a special $200 prize.
Among the floats were entries by Jack Fair (an old country store), Chief Skye and his group from the Six Nations reservation, Beatty Bros., the Harriston Co-op, the Fergus Co-op, the Stitch and Chatter Club of Elora, a joint offering by Fergus garage owners (using a fake streetcar previously used in parades by the J.C. Mundell Furniture Co. of Elora), the Ontario Agricultural College, the Wellington County Health Unit, and Junior Farmers groups.
A crowd-pleasing favourite was the Fergus Citizens Band, all in striped prisoners’ outfits, with mayor Milligan following on a truck-borne jail cell.
The judges rated the Elora float the best. It depicted that village’s symbol, the Tooth of Time rock, with Indigenous people in canoes shooting the rapids. It was so tall that a man in an Indigenous costume sat on top to lift overhead wires out of the way.
Guelph Township came in second, with a depiction of a pioneer homestead, followed by Maryborough and Peel, also with pioneer themes. Charles Sturrock of Elora entered the best business float (contrasting modern television with the old-fashioned stereoscope). The Beatty float, depicting the evolution of the washing machine, placed second.
Parade marshals kept the parade entries closely spaced, to the delight of the crowd. There was only one incident. George Jackson, dressed as an old-fashioned milkman, fell from the Fergus Dairy float. Volunteers rushed the unconscious man to the hospital.
*This column was originally published in the Wellington Advertiser on July 30, 2004.
