Caledon East community celebrates village’s 200th birthday

August 31, 2022 · 0 Comments

Plaque unveiling event attended by Councillors

By Zachary Roman

Members of the Caledon East community celebrated their village’s bicentennial last Saturday.

On August 27, the Caledon East & District Historical Society and Heritage Caledon led a plaque unveiling ceremony on the Caledon Trailway where it intersects with Airport Road.

Beginning at 4 p.m. with the Sandhill Pipes and Drums marching in special guests, the ceremony educated all in attendance about Caledon East’s interesting history — or as one speaker noted with a laugh, as much as can be explained in a short speech.

After the plaque unveiling ceremony, people were invited to come to Caledon East Park, where there were sweet treats and freshly grilled hot dogs and sausages available. Local vendors, games and activities for kids, and a booth with historical posters were just some of the many things going on at the park.

The day of fun finished with a fireworks show.

Robyn Innis, President of the Caledon East & District Historical Society (CEDHS), explained much planning went into the bicentennial celebration, which was unfortunately delayed due to the pandemic.

CEDHS and Heritage Caledon collaborated to plan the celebration, as well as to create the text and choose the photos for the plaque that was unveiled.

“We tried keeping it down to… I believe it was around 700 words. It’s kind of hard to condense a history into that when there is so much history in this town,” said Innis. “It was [placed] on the trailway because the train station… was an important part of the town. What made or broke a town back in the day was if the train station came through.”

Innis said without Heritage Caledon’s help, the bicentennial wouldn’t have been a success.

Since Heritage Caledon and CEDHS are both volunteer organizations, Innis said it was nice to see the time all the volunteers put in culminate in a successful celebration.

Innis became interested in Caledon’s history because she married into the Innis family. Innis’ children are the seventh generation to grow up in the Innis farmhouse in Caledon.

“It draws you in that way,” she explained. “You want to know your history… if it wasn’t for the pioneers, we wouldn’t be here.”

Deanna Pacheco, Vice-President of the CEDHS, was responsible for designing all of the historical posters which were on display at the CEDHS and Heritage Caledon booth at the park.

Heritage Caledon provided the photos and Pacheco then designed the posters since she has a design background. She said it was great to be able to combine her passion for history and passion for design.