Fort Vermilion anniversary parade celebrates ‘where Alberta began’
Town started as a fur-trade post in 1788
Fort Vermilion residents celebrated the 225th anniversary of one of Alberta’s oldest settlements with various weekend events, including a parade of floats marking milestones from the northern Alberta hamlet’s history.
Dressed as a trapper in a plaid shirt, a beaver hat and her Métis sash, Ilene Lizotte, 70, rode atop a float decorated with a fur-trade theme.
“This is where Alberta began,” said Lizotte, a director with the Fort Vermilion Recreation Board. The board organized the parade for the hamlet’s 700 residents and made the fur-trade display.
Horses pulled the float through town as Lizotte and others threw candy to the crowd below.
The float highlighted Fort Vermilion’s start as a fur trading post established by Charles Boyer with the North West Company on the banks of the Peace River in 1788.
“Events like this really bring the area’s history out,” Lizotte said, adding the last big celebration was 25 years ago, when residents marked Fort Vermilion’s bicentennial.
Lizotte said both Fort Chipewyan, located about 130 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, and Fort Vermilion were established in 1788. Fort Vermilion is located about 660 kilometres north of Edmonton.
On Saturday morning, parade floats showcasing important dates from the community’s past wound through town in chronological order, including the signing of Treaty Eight in 1899 with local First Nations, and the experimental farm and research station the federal government set up in 1907.
“We have three First Nations and they were the first people in Fort Vermilion. When Fort Vermilion began it was Cree, Beaver and Dene First Nations people here,” Lizotte said.
A hospital float showcased the history of health care in the community, both past and present, beginning with the Sisters of Providence in 1910.
Various local groups were in charge of decorating each parade entry, including a float for the daring winter flight in 1929 from Edmonton to Fort Vermilion to bring vaccine to the community to combat an outbreak of diphtheria.
A float marked the bridge built in 1974 over the Peace River, eliminating the need for a summer ferry and winter ice bridge to reach Fort Vermilion.
Other parade entries, including two wagon trains and a burgundy 1929 Ford in “perfect condition,” followed the oldtimey floats down River Road, from D.A. Thomas Park to the Experimental Farm site.
“It was a beautiful parade,” Lizotte said.
“The floats were amazing,” said Louise Smith, secretary of the Fort Vermilion Recreation Board.
“There were lots of people watching and the street was lined up.”
Smith, 70, said Fort Vermilion’s storied past has made way for a quiet and picturesque community today. She has called the hamlet home for 50 years.
Smith helped organize other weekend festivities to mark the 225th anniversary, including fireworks, a social with a dance and live music from local band New Brew, and flat races, a horse pull and other events held Sunday at the rodeo grounds.
For Lizotte, a retired nurse who has lived in Fort Vermilion for her entire life, events such as the parade help celebrate the many cultures in the area and the rich history they encompass.
“We’re all interested in the history here,” she said.