Posted by 
Have you ever thought it odd that the Monday that makes the first weekend in August a long one in most of Canada is called “Civic Day”? The implication is that there is nothing in particular to celebrate, remember, reflect upon, or do during the day’s respite from the usual daily toil, it’s just a holiday for holiday’s sake. Like, a day off in the summer just because it would be cool to have another day off in the summer.
And while that’s a pretty good notion when you think about it, one has to dig a bit deep to get there. If that was truly the point of the holiday then the point could be made by calling it “Summer Day Off” or “Better Than Working Monday” or maybe “No Labour Day”, but I would suggest a different tack altogether. I would suggest that we use the day to honour, remember, and celebrate one of the greatest heroes in our country’s history and call the long weekend in August “Terry Fox Weekend”. Doesn’t hurt that his birthday is just a few days earlier, on July 28th. And it should be across the whole country too, none of this one-holiday-in-this-province-and-a-different-holiday-in-the-other crap.
You know what? I’m doing it: I declare that August Civic Day will henceforth be called Terry Fox Weekend. Here, I’ll start:
On Terry Fox Weekend of 2014 m’lady and I went to my favourite secret holistic music meditation education childhood appreciation festival, Blue Skies. Okay, it wasn’t exactly the whole weekend. In the later era of my Blue Skiesing it wasn’t unheard of for me to shun camping for the weekend (against my better will) and instead attend for a single day as I did in this case, on August 3rd*.
Odds are I would’ve been greeted at the entrance by either my friend Gray or my friend Jason, both of whom volunteer at the gate. Then I would’ve done a slow, smiling beeline to The Finger where most of my friends always camp, and there the relaxing and blissful enjoyment would certainly have begun in earnest. Maybe I would’ve tried to catch one of the workshops before they shut down for the afternoon…check that: I definitely would have tried to catch a workshop. Whether or not I managed to find a workshop worth the sacrifice of leaving the comfort and companionship of The Finger is the bigger question, and one I shan’t bother to guess at now. Suffice to say that the afternoon surely turned to night as I was enjoying myself to the fullest possible degree, as is the Blue Skies habit.
As it was a Sunday the choir would have had a performance onstage, along with a host of other homey, rootsy, thoughtful, inclusive acts. Oh, and speaking of the host, Magoo would be onstage extolling the joys and virtues of our holy little festival whilst decked out in any number of wacky getups and costumes including my favourite, a pink tutu that really brings out the colour of my eyes.
But I would likely be taking all of this in peripherally from my Doppler-spot eighty yards to the left of the stage, encamped in a borrowed folding chair and trading stories over beers and stuff. M’lady would’ve be driving. I don’t recall for certain but I suspect I would’ve made it one of the conditions of attending for just a day. And then the next morning, after enjoying the mellifluousness of Blue Skies I magically woke up at home in my very own bed with a whole day ahead of me.
All in all, another great Terry Fox Weekend in the books. Err…on the internet.
*And another thing: How much can you really do in a three-day weekend? Especially with kids (I assume)?!? By the time you get home on Friday and pack the car, well, good luck getting away before Saturday morning. And then you’re going to have to drive a ways, but again, with only three days free you can’t go too far. So you get wherever there is and get set up and before you know it Saturday night is upon you. Then you get all day Sunday to do whatever you came to do (hope it isn’t raining, unless you came to collect raindrops or some such thing) and then Monday is spent packing, driving home and unpacking. Some long weekend! When I’m Prime Minister I will institute a four-day weekend in the summer – with both the Friday and the Monday off – so Canadians can really get out there and see the sites (sights?). I’ll call it Explore Canada Weekend.
By the way, this is just the tip of my campaign iceberg. Making Turks and Caicos the fourth territory is in there too. And free dental. I expect many, many votes.
Todd Man Out 