Next weekend belongs to Fort Langley.
It’s Brigade Days, a three-day celebration at the province’s birthplace with re-enactments, musket demonstrations, music, and the traditional York boat and canoe brigade arrival at the Fort Langley National Historic Site.
Saturday, Aug. 5 will be full with encampment brigaders who will give demonstrations and talks, and preparing for that evening’s Chief Trader’s Dinner.
The dinner is held after the fort closes and honours the volunteers who help look after the fort. A pig and lamb will be roasted this year.
The next day, Sunday, Aug. 6, will feature a show of fur trade fashions and the popular Feats of Strength competition — which is open to the public.
Monday, Aug. 7, is B.C. Day and represents the climax of the three days of entertainment and activities of the annual Brigade Days.
It will feature the canoe and York boat re-enactment at the riverfront at 1 p.m., performed by the Fort Langley Canoe Club (FLCC), which the public can register to join through their website.
Julie Kell, the organizer for the boat re-enactment this year, said the club enjoys participating in sharing the history of Fort Langley.
“We are always eager to introduce people to the joy of being on the water, so the public is welcome to join us for this fun paddling experience,” she said.
Kell added that her first experience with the club was during the 2011 Brigade Days and has been paddling ever since.
Fern Gabriel will also share legends around the fire pit on Monday about the Kwantlen and Katzie First Nations. Métis artisan Pat Calihou will also present his York Boat, which he built at the fort, and demonstrate how to load up the boat with supplies.
The historic site will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, and admission is $8.50 per adult, $7 per senior, and children 17 years old or younger can enter for free.
At the BC Farm Museum, a blacksmith will be in action for the public to watch. Children can experience woodworking in the kids area, make rope, or wash laundry old-school style. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday. Admission by donation.
More than 2,000 people attended Brigade Days last year, said Amandeep Johal, interpretation officer and coordinator at the fort. This year, he expects to see even more.
“This is a good opportunity for us to reflect upon the story of B.C. and the trading that happened with Indigenous communities,” Johal said.
Fort Langley became a shipment depot for the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1849 on the West Coast, three years after the American border was created on this side of the Rocky Mountains.
Johal said there would be no all-British route to bring the furs from the interior forts to the ships docked in Victoria without Fort Langley.
Fur bales that weighed 80 pounds were brought to Fort Langley to be dismantled and built into larger bales and loaded onto steamboats to Victoria. It was also a time of reunion for workers, as they stayed at Fort Langley with their families until the next shipment arrived to divvy up to forts across B.C.
For more details and a full schedule of events, people can visit parks.canada.ca.
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