--December 11, 2017.
As the saying goes, everyone loves a parade. Whether you're in one, or watching one from the sidelines, there's nothing quite like the sight and sound of marchers, horses, brass bands and drummers... The following quiz will test your knowledge of parades and the towns they have taken place in around the Eastern Townships over the past century and a half.
1) This parade (complete with a steaming "locomotive!) took place in Granby on a Roman Catholic feast day in the 1890s. What was the occasion?
a) Christmas Day
b) The Fête Saint-Jean
c) The Easter Parade
d) None of the above
2) This photo was taken in Mansonville c.1915. It shows the archway on the parade route of the Corpus Christi parade. Corpus Christi is another feast day in the Catholic calendar. What does it commemorate?
a) The birth of Jesus
b) The Eucharist, or Body of Christ
c) The soldiers of Christ
d) All of the above
3) What was the occasion for this livestock-themed parade, c.1920?
a) The Ayer's Cliff Fair
b) The annual Sherbrooke Horse Show
c) The Sherbrooke Fair
d) The Lennoxville Car Show
4) This photograph, taken in Coaticook c.1880, features marchers in what army?
a) The Canadian Army
b) The American Army
c) The Grand Army of the Republic
d) The Salvation Army
5) This parade, c.1925, took place in a town that is famous for parades, especially St. Patrick's Day parades. Name the town!
a) Danville
b) Richmond
c) Waterloo
d) Cowansville
6) This photograph features the 53rd Regimental Band on parade in a park in what town?
a) Granby
b) Coaticook
c) Sherbrooke
d) Richmond
7) Some parades are fraternal celebrations. This one took place in Sutton around 1910. The marchers are members of a fraternal organization. But which one?
a) The Odd Fellows
b) The Masons
c) The Knights of Columbus
d) The Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire
8) Nearly 800 marchers from all over Quebec and Vermont took part in this 1903 parade which crossed the Canada-U.S. border (no passports needed) in Rock Island. What was the occasion?
a) The 4th of July
b) The centennial of Golden Rule Lodge
c) The death of Martha Washington
d) The coronation of Queen Victoria
9) This parade, featuring clowns and other costumed performers, wound its way through downtown Magog in 1919. Name the occasion.
a) Dominion Day
b) The 4th of July
c) The end of World War I
d) The arrival of Barnum and Bailey's circus
10) This winter time parade, led by a stout man wearing a traditional ceinture flechée, featured drummers and a long line of boys with toques and ribbons -- winter carnival, perhaps. Name the town!
a) Magog
b) Drummondville
c) Sherbrooke
d) Windsor Mills
All photos courtesy of the Matthew Farfan Collection.
Click here for the answers....but NO peeking!!