REGATTA 1975 by Ralph Bice
From August 6, 1975
In the early days the Kearney Annual Sports Day was all regatta. Times it was simply referred to as Civic Holiday. Those days are perhaps the best days we have in the whole year. And seem to be getting better each succeeding year.
I do not remember when the idea started. I believe it was before the first world war. Emsdale had a field day on May 24th, Sprucedale on June 3rd and Kearney on July 1st. Those days the big event was the baseball game, sometimes two, and for a few years we even played soccer. Since Kearney had such a fine location on the water it was only natural that someone came up with the idea that there should be some water sports. The first that I can recall was 1912 and the water sports consisted of just one or two canoe races. Then the greasy pole was introduced and it was quite an attraction. But still the ball game was the main event. This was baseball, later called hard ball, and the competition between the local teams was very keen.
During the depression years the yearly events sort of disappeared but were revived following the last war. The first few were not too successful but the idea caught on and became a popular holiday. The Community Centre Committee was in charge and different groups added extra events until there were simply too many events. We even tried a beauty contest and someone came up with the idea of a race around the block with hand drawn Sulkies.
The land sports were usually held at Poplar Point in the morning. Then, right after lunch, the water sports would start and these continued for most of the afternoon. There would be a dinner served at the Community Centre, then a ball game and afterward a dance.
In the mid sixties interest dropped and one or two years we did not have such a day. The water sports increased both for swimming and canoeing. For a while there were motor boat races but it was felt that they took up too much time. The Kearney firemen took over and our sports days are going better than ever. Now we have two days. Saturday, the canoe race from Sand Lake to Kearney in the morning, and then the foot races etc. in the afternoon at the ball park. Saturday morning there is a float parade. This year we had the Haliburton Pipe Band lead the parade. After the ball game there were the fireworks. For the second time the old timers defeated the current Kearney ball team which pleased most of the crowd.
There was one thing I noticed this year and it was not good. For many years this was the day when many old timers returned to renew friendships and to many those visits were the highlight of the day. For a number of years there are fewer visitors each year but I believe this year would be the low. Hard to think the years are slipping away so fast.
It was another fine day and our hearty thanks to Chief Emmet White and his Firemen for providing us with such a pleasant weekend.