2007 Boxing Day Disappointments

I decided to check out the boxing day sales today.

First I went to the Pen Centre and there was not really any good sales this year on clothing at all. Most of the clothing stores were only giving discounts if you purchased 2 items or more. The most common sale I saw was buy 2 get 1 free.  Apparently the customer who only buys one item is not important.

I then ventured over to Chapters to see if I could spend my money there instead. They were offering 30% off.  I grabbed 3 books that I have been waiting to purchase on boxing day, got up to the check out and was told the sale was only on hard cover books. That’s right - full price for all of these books.

Since I was at the Fairview Mall, I wondered out to Mark’s Work Warehouse to look at winter jackets. There was a sign that said $45 off winter jackets. Great! I picked 1 out that was originally $100 and I was told that the sale was not on that coat, only the others.

All in all, I spent $223 and saved $0 on Boxing Day. What happened to the days when there were actually decent Boxing Day sales. The only place that didn’t let me down was Wal-Mart. They always come through with great discounts which is why they will probably be the last store left standing in about 40 years.

Boxing Day: A Canadian Tradition

According to Wikipedia, there are several origins to the meaning of Boxing Day. Below are a couple of my favourites.

Because the staff had to work on such an important day as Christmas by serving the master of the house and their family, they were given the following day off. As servants were kept away from their own families to work on a traditional religious holiday and were not able to celebrate Christmas Dinner, the customary benefit was to “box” up the leftover food from Christmas Day and send it away with the servants and their families. (Similarly, as the servants had the 26th off, the owners of the manor may have had to serve themselves pre-prepared, boxed food for that one day.) Hence the “boxing” of food became “Boxing Day”.

In churches, it was traditional to open the church’s donation box on Christmas Day, and the money in the donation box was to be distributed to the poorer or lower class citizens on the next day. In this case, the “box” in “Boxing Day” comes from that lockbox in which the donations were left.

In Canada, Boxing Day is observed as a holiday, except (in some cases) for those in the retail business. Boxing Day and the days immediately following are when many retail stores sell their Christmas and retired model products by holding clearance sales. Some shoppers will line up for hours at night (sometimes before midnight and after midnight on December 26) for retailers to open their doors. Except in Quebec, retailers often open their stores earlier than usual, such as 6 or 7 am. Some retail companies internally refer to the sales week after Christmas as the “thirteenth month.” It is similar to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, in the United States. Boxing Day 2005 was the single largest economic transaction day ever in the history of Canadian commerce (according to Visa). Individual big box stores can even gross over CAD$1,000,000 on one single Boxing Day.

As an exception, most retail stores are not permitted to open on Boxing Day in Atlantic Canada, nor in some Ontario communities. (The Nova Scotia government eliminated its ban on Boxing Day openings in 2006; however, most retailers voluntarily remained closed. The ban was reinstated in 2007.) In these areas, most stores offer the same specials on December 27 that they would offer elsewhere on the 26th. This distinction is not well known in central and western Canada.

In Alberta, employers have a choice of giving their employees the day off on either Boxing Day or Remembrance Day, which falls in November.

Animals Go Over Niagara Falls For Entertainment

Below is an advertisement that began to appear in August of 1827 for an event where ferocious animals, such as panthers and bears, would go over the falls in a cargo vessel. This is word for word, directly from the posters that hung in Niagara Falls so many years ago.

A cargo of ferocious animals will pass the great rapids and the falls of NIAGARA 8th September, 1827, at 3 o’clock
The first passage of a vessel of the largest class which sails on Erie and the Upper Lakes, through the Great Rapids, and over the stupendous precipice at Niagara Falls, it is proposed to effect, on the 8th of September next.

The Michigan has long braved the billows of Erie with success, as a merchant vessel; but having been condemned by her owners as unfit to sail longer proudly “above” her present proprietors, together with several publick spirited friends, have have appointed her to convey a cargo of Living Animals of the Forests, which surround the Upper Lakes, through the white tossing, and the deep rolling rapids of the Niagara, and down its grand precipice, into the basin “below”.

The greatest exertions are making to procure Animals of the most ferocious kind, such as Panthers, Wild Cats, Bears, and Wolves; but in lieu of some of these, which it may be impossible to obtain, a few vicious of worthless Dogs, such as may process considerable strength and activity, and perhaps a few of the toughest of the Lesser Animals, will be added to, and compose, the cargo.
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Crystal Beach Gone But Not Forgotten

Just one of the many stories from the book “Crystal Beach:The Good Old Days” by Erno Rossi

My memories of Crystal Beach Amusement Park can best be described as bittersweet. That which gives the most joy may also give the most sorrow. This was the case of my family’s relationship with the Park. Our story spans most of the 20th century.

I was born in 1926 in Crystal Beach just after the completion of the famous Crystal Ballroom and the infamous Cyclone roller coaster. My American mother Helen and Canadian father Charles had a home within walking distance of the Park. Here they raised sister Ruth, brother Fred and me.

Growing up in Crystal Beach during the first half of century could be compared to a vacation in Disney World for three months of the year. Excitement filled the air. From 11 a.m. until midnight, the clang of the riders, the screams of the riders and the shriek from the whistle of the S.S. Canadiana echoed throughout the village.
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Niagara’s Lost Town of St.John’s

The story of St.John’s vanished village of the Short Hills, has been told by a famous writer, the late Louis Black Duff, who established a summer home on the site. First to spy out the land was Benjamin Canby, from Pennsylvania. He was only interested in water power, so soon disposed of his holding to Hon. Robert Hamilton, whose executors sold it to John Street, who belonged to a well-known family of millers. He put the streams to work in 1817 and laid out a village site, which he called St.John’s. It became the most important industrial centre in the Niagara district. By the middle 1820s, St.John’s had outstripped all rivals. St.Johns was situated in the township of Thorold, two and a half miles north of Fonthill. At that time St.Catharines was merely Shipman’s Corners and Niagara Falls a one-mill hamlet. Thorold, Welland, Merritton and Port Colborne were unborn.

St.John;s was located on a beautiful spring creek. The village reached its peak of prosperity about 1840, when it had a Wesleyan Methodist church and an Episcopal church, a large hotel, several stores, tannery, carriage works, sawmills, grist mills and several woolen mills. At one time the village had five grist mills.

The Welland Canal feeder stimulated the growth of Welland and started the decline of St.John’s. Population dwindled to about twenty or thirty houses. Eventually both churches were torn down, leaving only uncared for cemeteries. Another cause for decline was the introduction of steam engines. The introduction of electricity finished the chaotic ruin of St.John’s. The population of the village at peak in 1849 was 150, not very large for so much business.
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A History Of Niagara’s First Public Hanging

The first such execution by public hanging on record in the Niagara peninsula took place outside the jail in Niagara-on-the-Lake on Monday morning, August 17, 1801, only twenty years almost to the day after the establishment of the settlement. On that day, Mary London-Osborne and George Nemiers were executed together for the murder by poison of Bartholomew London of Saltfleet.

London was among the first settlers to come into the Niagara region. Leaving a wife and children behind in Redstone, Pennsylvania, he cleared a track of land in Saltfleet and farmed it by himself for several years without apparently contacting his family back on the original homestead.
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Global Warming Put In Prospective

This video goes over the consequences of each decision we make, whether you believe that Global Warming exists or not.

Lock It Or Lose It

With the onset of the holiday shopping season, the Niagara Regional Police – Community Services Unit would like to encourage and remind everyone to be vigilant in making your holidays safe and enjoyable.

Everyday, someone makes it extremely easy for a thief to steal their property. Police urge the residents of Niagara to help prevent theft by following some helpful reminders.

Vehicals
Never leave your vehicle running and unattended.
Always lock your vehicle.
Park in a well lit area.
Never leave valuables/purchases in plain view.

Home
Lock all doors and windows.
Don’t advertise what Santa brought you.
Make it look like someone is home.

Encourage your neighbours to call Police if they see anything suspicious.

It only takes thieves seconds to steal your property.
Do your job, don’t help them with theirs.
“HAPPY HOLIDAYS” from the Niagara Regional Police Service

A Day The Falls Stopped In 1848

The winter had been unusually cold and Lake Erie was completely covered with a three-foot thick layer of ice. It was March of 1848, after a prolonged warm spell, strong winds broke the lake ice up into many large blocks. A powerful east wind drove most of the ice chunks to the western end of the lake. In the late hours of March 29th, when the winds changed direction, the ice filled the mouth of the Niagara River at Buffalo.

Shortly after midnight, woken first by silence and then by the excited shouts of their neighbours, the people of Niagara Falls walked to table rock to find the water was gone.

The American & Bridal Veil Falls became completely dry, while the Horseshoe Falls was reduced to a small waterfall at its centre.

In the hours to follow, the people went down into the riverbed and searched amongst the rocks and boulders. The people found muskets from the War of 1812, human bones, Native offerings to the Great Spirit of Niagara and thousands of gold and silver coins tossed in by tourist over the years.

The phenomenon excited most locals; however a few had fears about it.

On March 31st, the river began to flow with a mighty roar. This was the only recorded occurrence of nature turning off the falls.

120 Years later, in June 1969, the United States Army Corps of Engineers shut off the American and Bridal Veil Falls as an attempt to make the American side as attractive as the Canadian.

The plan was to remove the talus from the base of the falls so the water could fall a greater distance.

During the project, water was sprinkled on the bed of the American Rapids to keep the hot sunlight from expanding the numerous cracks in the rock. Many people were upset to see the falls in such an unnatural state.

By November, the decision had been made to keep the talus, as it would be too costly to remove it, and would give the falls an artificial look.

Imp On Exterior Of Former Lincoln County Registry Office

Have you ever noticed the little Imp along the roof line of the Old Lincoln County Registry Office in St. Catharines?

The story starts in the 14th Century with Satan sending 2 imps to the Lincoln Cathedral in England to cause trouble. The Imps started by smashing up tables and chairs and destroying the Angel Choir. One of the imps was brave and started throwing rocks at an angel but the other imp cowered under the broken tables and chairs. The angel turned the first imp to stone and this gave the second imp a chance to escape. The first Imp still sits high above the Cathedral while the second Imp was never found. There are several versions to the story and no one will ever know what really happened.

Local architects Arthur Nicholson and Robert Macbeth decided to include a similar Imp in the buildings design.