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Langley honours Queen Victoria’s birthday with vintage style activities

Local May Day events continue the tradition of May Pole Dancing.
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(Heather Colpitts/Langley Advance)

Terry Greenfield is looking forward to his 89th birthday because he will spend it driving a 1950 Ferguson tractor in the 95th annual May Day Parade on Monday.

He donated the tractor to the BC Farm Museum where he is a volunteer. His father had Greenfield farm equipment in Murrayville – “where the John Deere is today,” he noted.

“I was a mechanic,” Terry explained. “I worked at my father’s service station.”

That service station was at the corner of Fraser Highway and 56th Avenue.

This lifelong Langley kid still loves working on vintage farm equipment and showcasing museum items to the public at May Day.

The parade winds through Fort Langley starting at 11 a.m.

The parade will form up on Church Street and will commence at 11:00 to go west on Mavis to Glover Road. Once on Glover the floats will go south to 88th Avenue.

At 88th Avenue, the parade will turn west again to Trattle St. It will then turn north and travel along Trattle to St. Andrews. At St. Andrews they will turn east and head into Fort Langley Community Park.

At the park, there will be lots for the public to enjoy.

The May Queens and the Royal Party will be piped in and then there’s live entertainment until 4 p.m.

Lots of kids from select local school will get to be part of an ancient tradition with the May Pole dancing.

The Lions Club has its barbecue chicken cooking up that day. There will be rides for children, mini golf, vendors, food and more.

And all the events are free to enjoy.

Community Park is near Langley Fine Arts School off Trattle Street.

History goes hi tech

The BC Farm Museum has chosen May Day to unveil its new interactive display system.

Official ceremonies for it take place at 2 p.m. on May 22.

“Our museum opened in 1966 and has two large buildings containing thousands of historical objects,” said museum president Todd Davidson. “We are looking for new ways to encourage people to come into our museum and enjoy our collection, and have decided to enhance our visitor experience by offering on-demand electronic media presentations.”

People can use their smart phones or tablets to watch a video of an object in action by scanning its QR code.

“Smart device users can also access our in house website to view more substantial information on some objects,” he added. “The website will adapt to any device.”

Don’t have a smart phone? The museum hasn’t left you out. There are pedestal kiosks around the museum where people can acess the material.

“We hope this initiative also helps us to work more closely with local schools, not only to produce media content but also to use the system to support educational objectives,” Davidson said.

This program has been sponsored by the provincial government, the Vancouver Foundation, and the Chris Spencer Foundation and was also provided technical assistance by the Vancouver Community Network.

Hey neighbour

The community of Bradner has celebrated May Day for almost a century.

The 98th annual celebration hosted by the Bradner Community Association starts off with a pancake breakfast at 8 a.m. in Bradner Hall, 5305 Bradner Rd., (on the Abbotsford/Langley border).

Then there’s a parade at 10 a.m. with the opening ceremonies and May Pole dancing at 11 a.m. at Bradner Elementary.

The May 22 festivities also include rides, games, concessions, face painting and more. Anyone needing more information can contact Nicki at 604-309-0458.



Heather Colpitts

About the Author: Heather Colpitts

Since starting in the news industry in 1992, my passion for sharing stories has taken me around Western Canada.
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