Moose Jaw’s street carnival on Easter Monday in 1912, was the biggest local hoopla ever staged prior to the First World War. Its slogan was “Meet me in Moose Jaw carnival day — and bring Willie.” And as long as old-timers were around, they often spoke of the Bring Willie carnival.
The carnival committee was busy for weeks planning the events of which the wackiest was a proposed outdoor wedding to take place on a platform in front of the CPR station in the presence of thousands.
Several weeks before the carnival, the committee announced it was looking for a couple agreeable to a public hitching. The honour would go to the first couple applying, and a second couple would stand by in case the first pair developed cold feet.
The committee would supply the ring, marriage licence, clergyman and a gift of furniture to the value of $100, which was a generous dowry at a time when a good nine-piece dining room suite cost around $50.
If the bride and groom were out-of-towners, they would receive travelling expenses and a suite of rooms for the day in Moose Jaw’s newest and poshest hotel, the Royal George on Manitoba Street East, now the Park Hotel.
The local board of trade had a conniption when it heard about this “harebrained scheme,” and strongly objected “to a public wedding in the streets of this city.” One member said he considered marriage “to be the most sacred thing next to our relationship with our Maker,” and not something to be downgraded to a circus performance. The carnival committee scrapped the wedding idea.
Not even Easter itself could outshine the anticipation of the Bring Willie carnival. A week before, the Moose Jaw Evening Times reported: “Many backyards around the city are the scenes of much activity in building operations and some very queer looking things are in the course of erection. They are the floats being planned by the merchants and citizens for the big parade.”
Early on carnival day, three bands took to the streets to entertain the crowds already assembling. The Portage Highlanders from Portage la Prairie, natty in their kilts and red tunics, the local Salvation Army band and the local 27th Light Horse gave sidewalk mini-concerts at downtown hotels and business establishments.
Sharply at eleven o’clock, the bands appeared at the CPR station to help greet the hundreds of carnival goers about to arrive on special trains from Outlook, Swift Current, Regina, Weyburn and points between. A welcoming committee presented each visitor with a badge entitling the wearer to free streetcar rides for the day.
At noontime, visitors descended upon the hotel dining rooms and restaurants to satisfy their hunger. Then the crowds headed for Station Square, the venue for many of the carnival events. (The square was the open space in front of the CPR depot, which was then much larger because the station of that day sat farther south than its successor.) Soon Main Street, both roadway and sidewalks from the square to River Street, was a “swaying mass of humanity.”
The baby show saw “a great assortment of the coming generation,” 50 in all, carried onto the platform for the judging. Mrs. Herrler became the proud possessor of the red ribbon when one of her seven-month-old twin sons was acclaimed the best of the lot.
Then came the “Man with the largest family” contest. O.B. Fysh Sr., a former alderman, stepped forth with his brood of 11 children, and for a brief while there seemed to be no other contenders. Then a Mr. Hall walked onto the platform followed by his 12 children, and walked off with first prize.
Many of the carnival visitors, especially those from farming communities, were lured to the farm equipment display strung out along High Street West. Several hundred people walked out to the city’s market enclosure in the 400 block of High West to witness a powwow staged by over 100 Sioux from Wood Mountain “all in full war paint and headdresses of feathers and horns.”
After the powwow, the Sioux women and children put on a display of native dancing at the intersection of Main and High Streets.
The crowning event of the whole day was the grand Callithumpian Parade which, according to the Evening Times, “was witnessed throughout its length by at least 30,000 people. For splendour and magnificence, it has never been surpassed in this city.”
The best float in the parade was judged to be one entered by the local Chinese community whose members were strong supporters of the carnival. “The Chinese float was the most gorgeous in the entire procession,” reported the Evening Times, “and due to the taste and workmanship of Mr. Yip Foo (a prominent local businessman).”
Even without the street wedding, the Bring Willie carnival was a tremendous success.
Attendance lived up to expectations and memories lived for decades.
