Your City Hall is closed for WHO now?
Bonjour from the North — three cities, one corridor, and the stories that don't make it south of Barrie.
Okay, so you wake up Monday morning, maybe you need to dump some stuff at the landfill or you have some business at the Civic Centre. You roll out, grab your Timmies, and then… *fermé*. Closed. Why? For Sir William H. Hearst Day. Now, if you're like me, your first thought is, "Sir William H. *Who*?" Tabarnak, I've lived here my whole life, and I've never heard of this guy getting his own city holiday. It’s not like Easter or Thanksgiving, eh? This isn't a federal holiday, it’s just *us*.
### So, Who is This Guy, Anyway?
Sir William H. Hearst was a Sault Ste. Marie local, a lawyer, who eventually became the Premier of Ontario during World War I. He was pretty instrumental in developing Northern Ontario, pushing for things like the Trans-Canada Highway coming through, and supporting our resource industries. He was a big deal, no doubt, but giving him a *civic holiday* in the summer? That's the part that gets me. We have Labour Day, sure, but this one is just… out of left field for a lot of us. It’s not exactly a household name for a lot of people walking down Queen Street today.
* **What was closed:** The Civic Centre, the city landfill and hazardous waste depot, city transit running on a modified schedule. * **What was open:** Pretty much everything else, like grocery stores and private businesses. So, it's not a full shutdown, just a city services pause.
It's one of those Sault things, eh? We celebrate our history, which is good. But it makes you wonder how many people actually know *why* they had a day off from city services. It's a reminder that our history here in the North runs deep, and sometimes, you just get a civic holiday for a Premier from a century ago, and you just roll with it. Just another layer to what makes the Sault, well, the Sault.
Marc-André Desjardins, MiTL Sports Desk, Sault Ste. Marie.
My buddies on the morning show are probably still scratching their heads about this one – check them out live at mornings.live.