Saturday, August 4th, 2018

Emancipation Festival in Owen Sound:  who knew that this town was the end point for the Underground Railway during slavery days in the United States!  Every year, Owen Sound has a festival devoted to those memories - and the main festivities are held at the cairn in Harrison Park.  We attended the re-dedication of this cairn, involving speeches and songs by people from Georgia, etc. - and the donation of a rock from a riverbed in Georgia,  Apparently, runaway slaves would take a rock from the riverbed and place it on the bank of the river, symbolizing this step in their road to freedom.  Very, very moving tributes and stories - and we talked with a number of attendees - many of whom had made the trip from the southern states in order to participate in this ceremony! The "floor" of the cairn was composed of coloured slates arranged in what I know as quilt patterns.  Each pattern had a different message for runaway slaves on the railway  At the end of the ceremony, Helen and I rented a canoe and paddled along the river and a few branches.  Soooo great to be in a canoe again!!

Alex' bonfire down the road from our sites.