ROTHENBURGER – It was a great day to celebrate Canada, warts and all

IT WAS A GREAT Canada Day.

All the Canada Day traditions were in evidence at Riverside Park. There were bagpipes, drums and flags, and the reaffirmation of citizenship. The Folkfest food fair dished out perogies, bannock, noodles and burgers.

Politicians made speeches and circulated around the park shaking hands and chatting up constituents. It was like old times.

At one end of the park, a heavy rock band blasted out music; at the other end, the impressive creative talents within our community were on display at Art in the Park.

The weather was perfect, with a slightly overcast sky providing protection from the mid-day sun. And everywhere, people wore red T-shirts and hats and carried red-and-white umbrellas.

And flags. It seemed as though almost everyone there either waved the Maple Leaf or wore it on their clothing, and they did so proudly, not as some sort of act of defiance or protest.

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Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.