Coronation Celebration in Kirkland Lake

The Commonwealth celebrated the Coronation of King George VI in 1937. Kirkland Lake had its own way of commemorating the event, with the community coming together with activities in a display of patriotism. Sid Hamden, a longtime resident of Kirkland Lake, recalls what it was like.

Sid Hamden and his wife Myrta Hamden are sitting on a couch facing each other and take turns talking.

[Myrta] Yeah, well, King George VI was, coronation was during the thirties. Did Kirkland Lake celebrate at all?

[Sid] Our town, the Kirkland Lake, the Hub of the North, as I still see it, was very patriotic. The population was quite high in those days – 25,000+ – and 1937 was the coronation, as you know, of King George VI when he was crowned.

And the town being as patriotic as they were, they had a huge parade. And just to let you know how big that was, if you could visualize a small minority of people, Lebanese, the Lebanese had two floats in the parade.

[Myrta] Oh my.

[Sid] And they were well done. I remember them, and the parade was huge, long. Very long.

[Myrta] Okay, did you have fireworks or anything else?

[Sid] They sure did. It was a day that you just don’t forget if you were there. At the end of the day, they had fireworks at one of the best places that I think we ever had, and that was KLCVI, Kirkland Lake Collegiate Vocational Institute. They had the fireworks there, right in the back yard, and my understanding is they had a bonfire that the glow could be seen as far as Larder Lake. But at the end of the fireworks, they had an outline of the queen’s head and the king’s head in fireworks, which was very impressive.

[Myrta] That would be beautiful.

[Sid] It sure was. It sure was.