It was a riot of bellbottoms and wacky hairdos as the Willow Bend Seniors float trundled through the streets of Stewiacke during the Town Days 2018 parade on Aug. 4.
Days Gone By was the theme of this year’s parade, featuring old cars and trucks as well as elegantly decorated horse-drawn buggies, but the elderly Willow Bend ladies felt the message of the Swinging Sixties still held true in today’s often-troubled world.
“It keeps you alive and full of fun – you don’t remember the flower girls and flower boys from the 60s,” said Shirley Lacey, who dressed as singer Sonny Bono, wife of Cher. “We need more love.”
She was joined by her friend Virginia Broome, who dressed as Cher herself. Both Sonny Bono and Cher were Sixties superstars, alongside the Beatles, whose name also adorned the Willow Bend float.
Another parade participant from Willow Bend was Betty Hewitt, who hailed from the Beatles’ homeland, her British accent still strong after 60 years in Canada. She showed up for Town Days in a light white dress, a typical hippy clothing accessory 40 or 50 years ago.
“I was a flower child years and years ago but not very often,” quipped Hewitt.
Now 88, London-born Hewitt emigrated to Canada with her husband, who later joined the Royal Canadian Navy but retired some years ago.
However, the Willow Bend ladies’ Sixties tribute float was by no means the oldest display.
Slightly ahead of them in the Town Days parade was Stewiacke resident Bill Jones, who sported a silver-painted 1927 Model T Ford and two grandchildren on the passenger side.
He admitted bringing his car to the parade to “show off.”
Today an antique, Model Ts once graced highways across North America, the world’s first truly mass-produced car that was exported worldwide.
Once an icon of the Roaring Twenties and Depression-era America, only a few model Ts survive today, but Jones is one of a handful of enthusiasts who keep these 90-year-old cars in good driving order.
“I always wanted one and I had a chance to get it and I grabbed it,” said Jones.
Other aspects of history on display at the parade included Truro band Nowhere road playing classic hits such as Bill Haley’s 1955 song Rock Around the Clock.
People also rode into town on 19th Century-style horses and carts, harking back to a time before cars or even the railway.
Stewiacke Town Days 2018 runs over the August long weekend from Friday, Aug. 3 to Sunday, Aug. 5. As well as the main parade, locals and visitors enjoyed a host of other activities such as a Sunday ball tournament, an art show, the opening of a local playground and fireworks on Friday night, to name but a few.
For more information, please visit https://www.stewiacke.net/stewiacke-town-days-2019.html
