When leafing through our local newspapers, it's hard not to come across stories about community spirit. There are neighbourhood festivals, shoreline clean-ups, memorial bench programs, to name only a handful.
This tradition of community gathering and building has always been a part of Coquitlam and there is no better example than the Booth Farm picnic.
Situated near Millside School at the foot of the Dawes Hill area, Booth Farm was the locale of "games, music, laughter and lovely cakes and pies," as Esther Petts recalls. The farm operated as a dairy farm for decades, supplying early Coquitlam with fresh milk and other dairy products. Produce was also cultivated and sold throughout the burgeoning city, delivered throughout by horse and wagon.
Despite being known as the Booth Farm, it was jointly owned and run by the Booth and Brehaut families, whose farm houses were located across from each other, and were an agricultural and dairy powerhouse.
We don't know the exact date when the families first invited their neighbours to a grand outdoor picnic. We do know that up until the mid-1930s, every summer, "everyone would come out [and] would bring a few things and have a community picnic," according to Hercules Lamoreux.
The women would pack their wicker baskets with homemade goodies, the men would dress in their casual ties and hats, and the children would get ready to play baseball, softball and tug of war, and to run races.
If you were really well prepared, you could even catch a trout or salmon in Booth or Millside creeks.
Of course, no party is complete without musical entertainment and Maillardville's band, La Fanfare Canadienne Francaise de Maillardville, is said to have played at the annual Booth event, providing a lyrical backdrop.
Some of the summer's picnics had religious overtones as local churches organized outings for their parishioners. Most, however, were simply for the larger community to celebrate neighbourhood spirit and summer. Canada Day saw one of the largest gatherings of the year, bringing together people and patriotism for a wholesome picnic.
Among the fun, there was also opportunity for romantic encounters.
The young population would be able to exchange amorous glances, perhaps a gentle touch when handing over a teacup. Many a courtship began at a Booth picnic. Emeri Paré, Coquitlam's first fire and police chief, met his future wife, Hélena Chevalier, at a 1914 picnic.
Picnicking has been a summer tradition for centuries. Up until Victorian times, picnics were mostly enjoyed by the wealthy. Then, with societal and economic shifts, picnicking became popular across all classes.
Last Sunday, we held a community picnic at Heritage Square to mark Mackin House's sixth annual open house and the 105th year since the arrival of French Canadians in Maillardville. While not all the men wore casual ties and hats, there was a mini farm market, tea tent, storytellers, crafts, heritage yummies and music.
Your History is a column in which representatives of the Tri-Cities' heritage groups write about local history. Sandra Martins is museum manager with the Coquitlam Heritage Society.
