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I'm not positive of the year but I know I was still in the Catholic School and the grades only went to 6.All the buzz in our house among my older siblings,(3still at home), was about all the students in Fernie public High School, (300+), going on strike from school for 1 day. The news was out in the Fernie Free Press, a weekly issue, that the stores were going to raise the price of pop and chocolate bars from a nickel to a dime. I mean, come on! We were just coming out of the rationing era caused by WW2 and the Great Depression, and they were gonna do this to us? After all, with Fernie being a remote, coal mining area in the heart of the B.C. Rocky Mountains, coming out of the Depression was about 10 years later than everywhere else in Canada. As far as I'm concerned, anyway.
The protest parade was all organized and coordinated with the School Board so as not to interrupt the schedule too much. The officials were for the kids getting a fair break on top of it all. The parade time was set and all the townspeople gathered on the sidewalks of Main St. to see it take place. Including us little kids.
The high school band started down the street with great gusto and all the teen age marchers following very proudly with their signs waving. The onlookers lining the street began cheering them on as they passed. The 5 pubs and all the businesses emptied out to take in the affair too.
It wasn't uncommon to see tippy-toed bar patrons at 2 pm in Fernie. After all, the coal mines operated around the clock in those days and even when the bars were closed, there were bootleggers aplenty.
It was a sight to see and hear, and thrilling to be part of the crowd.
The parade marchers had grins a mile wide when they marched on by, waving there make shift signs as the band played on.
I don't think there was anyone on the street at that moment, who wasn't proud as could be of the kids in the march. I remember some onlookers in tears and the goose bumps I had to this very day.
It's a great reflection in time.
Sadly enough, the price of pop and chocolate bars went up to a dime shortly after anyway.
The thing I'm proud of most though, is they didn't go roaring down the street busting windows of the helpless shop owners, burning cars along the way and shouting anti Capitalist slogans.
Although their efforts were in vain, they peacefully behaved in a way the townsfolk of those days were proud of, I'm sure. Just sayin.
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