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✇The Globe and Mail
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For Canada Day, a nation with ‘elbows up’ asks how it should party down

Par :Eric Andrew-Gee · Photography by Ashley Fraser

The residents of Almonte, Ont., were elbows up before it was cool.

The picturesque town in the Ottawa Valley is named for a Mexican general who fought valiantly when the U.S. invaded his country in 1847. Canada had its own border dispute with the Americans at the time – some Yankee politicians wanted to seize what is now British Columbia – so a group of Anglo farmers and mill workers seem to have felt a brief surge of solidarity with a Spanish-speaking statesman named Juan.

© Ashley Fraser

The oldest wooden grandstand in Canada is located at the Almonte Fairgrounds where Mayor Christa Lowry took pause for a moment. Mayor Lowry still shared a smile or two, thinking about how the community has really stepped up to come to support the families effected after this tragedy struck their town. She hopes people are still wanting to celebrate the special day but knows it will have a very different tone than originally planned, including her remarks she plans to make.

Almonte, a picturesque town in the Ottawa Valley, west of the city, has begun the preparations for their popular Canada Day festivities, with some of the planned decorations in place, Sunday, June 29, 2025. While the community marks the national holiday, a recent tragedy involving a local child has cast a reflective mood over the usually spirited events. The scenic town, often featured in Hallmark holiday films, is observing the holiday with a bit of a subdued tone following the tragic death earlier in the week.

Photo by Ashley Fraser, Globe and Mail
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