11-08-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
The story behind the August long weekend
Many Winnipeggers spent part of last weekend at the beach, in a park, or at a backyard barbecue to celebrate the August long weekend. It is a summer tradition that dates back 121 years!
The first civic holiday was proclaimed by Winnipeg's first mayor, Francis Cornish, in 1874. It was a tradition he knew from his time in Ontario, where many cities gave a day off in the summer to allow residents to celebrate the accomplishments of their municipality. It was usually held midweek to ensure that people stayed in town.
By the time Cornish's bylaw worked its way through city council, the holiday was celebrated on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 1874, with little time to create any events to accompany it. Still, the tradition had been started.
Supplied image
The first August long weekend was held in 1904, as illustrated by this notice in the Winnipeg Free Press on Aug. 17, 1904.
The following year, Mayor William Nassau Kennedy brought the holiday into August by proclaiming it on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1875. That year, the city was to begin construction on a new city hall, so a cornerstone laying that included a parade, bands, and speeches was the main event.
Newspapers reported that the city's parks were busy with sports days organised by athletic clubs and picnics hosted by unions, churches and other community groups.
In 1904, Alderman Harry Fry made a motion on the floor of city council to change the civic holiday to a Monday. He felt that the midweek holiday kept people in the city rather than allowing them to go on excursions. The fact that staying inside the city was the point of the holiday had already been lost to time.
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Fry's motion passed unanimously, and the first Monday civic holiday was held on Aug. 22, 1904.
The big winner of the first Monday holiday was the CPR. It was estimated that 3,000 people bought tickets to travel to its Winnipeg Beach resort over the weekend. Back in the city, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that the main streets were quiet, but: 'Possibly on no day during the whole summer have the parks been better patronised.'
An August 1937 Winnipeg Free Press editorial summed up what the spirit of the civic holiday should be about:
'Rambling round and round pleasantly idles away a civic holiday. It saves the cautious citizen from going too far or getting in too deep. In his meanderings, revelations pop out at him. He sees things that have always been there for him to see, but which he had never seen. He realizes that his hometown has a bloom he misses in other towns. It is home-like, healthy and open. It's not a bad place to live in. This may be why other citizens who have to move either to the East or the West say they wish they were back again. It would be less a truism if not heard so often. This is worth recalling on a civic holiday.'
The last civic holiday to be celebrated in Manitoba was in 2014, as the following year it was renamed Terry Fox Day.
