137th Village of Clinton Annual Ball

Clinton, BC

04/05/22
 

Director of Ceremonies: Dave Farber, Mr. and Ms. Clinton (Jim and Donna Walch), Your Worship Mayor Stankey, Ball Committee Chair - Doris Gates, Member of Parliament - Betty Hinton, Member of the Legislature - Walt Cobb, Mayors Chris O’Connor of Lytton and Andy Kormandy of Ashcroft, Clinton Citizen of the Year Regional Directors, Councillors, Administrators, Honoured Guests, Spouses, Partners and fellow British Columbians:

In keeping with the protocol of our immemorial past in this land, I acknowledge with respect the culture and traditions of the Secwepemc and Southern Carrier Peoples in whose traditional territories we are convened for this historic evening.

It is a true pleasure to join you in this 137th Village of Clinton Annual Ball, and to have been driven here this evening by stagecoach under the watchful care of a fine drivers and outriders from the Hat Creek Ranch - thanks also to Ken Poulsen and the beautiful 108 ranch stage coach bearing Mr. and Mrs. Clinton to the Ball in fine style! They are all expert drivers who I am certain could qualify for the Wells Fargo tomorrow! Along the route I was practicing my very best Queen Victoria ‘wave’ through the streets of Clinton in honour Canada West’s 1845 declaration of May 24th as Victoria Day. To say the least, I am amused when I see how this day has evolved along with our country through being called a public holiday, Empire Day, Commonwealth Day and now the 24th of May ‘long weekend’. As we are aware, our beloved Canada is ever and always in a state of ‘becoming’, always a work in progress, constantly adapting and adjusting to the needs of its peoples of every beginning as well as to the hard realities of a complicated world.

This May holiday has undergone many changes, from one of devotion to the monarchy through a number of other interpretations, to being presently regarded as an appropriate time to ‘storm the nurseries’ and confidently plant beans and annuals without fear of frost! Not trivialized however is the continuity of a tradition of loyalty that British Columbian Canadians have kept alive through a century and a half. Just as this ball is a special link to both our colonial past as well as to the Canada that we have become, as an internationally respected sovereign nation. Rather like the post I hold as you Head of State, by preserving this May holiday, in spite of ever-accelerating speed of change, we hold on to some of the tradition that is embodied within this longest running annual event of its kind in the country. Just one year after Canada’s Confederation, Clinton set the pace for the nation with this Ball.

Originally designed to help new arrivals longing ‘for home’ to feel more comfortable as they ‘established themselves’ in what was to them this strange new land. The Clinton Annual Ball has withstood the storms of time by dint of determined people like Doris Gates and her committee who simply ‘carry on’ in the same spirit in which the ball was established. Think about that first ball, with guests arriving by coach and on horseback from as far away as San Francisco and Chicago to the biggest and best Hotel on the Cariboo Road in the gold rush days, where co owner Mrs. Mary Smith created several luxurious days of celebration, culminating in the Grande Ball! Through hard times, the ‘Dirty Thirties’, two World Wars, Korea and fluctuating populations and economic conditions, the Clinton Ball has prevailed!

We are blessed today with a magnificent voluntary spirit that as you can see tonight is alive and well in your town, in the presence of the wonderfully exuberant Doris Gates and her equally effective and honoured committee members as well as in the young servers who did such a super job this evening. All over our province you will fine superb volunteers giving gifts of themselves to their communities. If they were to stop for just one day, so would British Columbia! Volunteerism is part of our heritage! What was once considered ‘pioneer spirit’ is today a widely inclusive ‘community spirit’ such as has characterized Clinton through the years and although the once ‘longed for’ homelands no longer pull at local heart-strings with the intensity of the past, that same resilient spirit of survival is just as strong here, undaunted by circumstance, and insured by hope! As a century and decades have passed we have gradually come to respect and to love our own shared land now called British Columbia and we do it with the same passion that our forebears once knew as they yearned for countries of their birth.

Here in British Columbia where the First Nations Peoples were all so very different from each other in languages, spiritual beliefs, arts and cultures. In the last two centuries every root and branch of the whole human family have been added to those who preceded us on this land, to make us all one of this world’s most diversified human populations! Our many differences strengthen us, as scientists affirm that the more diversified a people, the more creative they become. challenges to constantly adjust to change leave us unfazed; we simply invent new directions and we follow them to new beginnings with confidence in ourselves and in our strengths.

Here in Clinton you are experiencing growth in eco-tourism from a world that is hungry for the natural beauty that surrounds you. In everything from small business to remote electronic access, Clinton is on the map for tomorrow. As proud British Columbian Canadians we are all grateful that our country affords us such a breadth of freedom of expression and beliefs, such broad access to democratic rights and such an abundance of comfort and beauty surrounding us all. We are challenged to continue to make our country the best on the earth and we know such conviction starts right here at home!

Canada is a mighty trust that each one of us shares with the generations who will follow us in life’s ever-moving continuum. So as we enjoy this evening of ‘time travel’ to yesterday, none of us forgets that we are also forging a world where all our children will inherit a firm foundation of honest history. We are British Columbian and we are proud to build on our past, proud of the present that we have built together and proud of the future that we building now for all our children. Our children are our messengers to tomorrow and tonight’s celebration helps to equip them with something of their special heritage in this province and can strengthen the communities that they will lead in their turn.