Saturday, July 1, 2023- Sharon Temple, Ontario

     It is the 160th Anniversary of Gettysburg, and for much of the past year, Scot was expecting to be in Gettysburg with the "154th New York" this weekend.  We even had hotel reservations not far from the reenactment site.  But the a few weeks ago, Scott began to realize that the Gettysburg thing felt like an obligation that was going to be expensive, time consuming, crowded with people that he didn't know,  and just plain hot.  On the other hand, the reenactment at Sharon Temple was the same weekend, was much closer, cheaper, smaller, and would be attended by his friends from the 1812 unit.  Ultimately, he decided to attend the Canada Day commemorations here and we didn't regret it.   We don't usually blog about Scott's reenactments, but we aren't planning a big vacation this summer, due to Anna's impending nuptials, so this became a family get away with Julie, Emma, and Abby joining him on the trip up past Toronto.

     This reenactment is of the small fight that took place between the Patriot "rebels" and the soldiers representing the "Family Compact" that controlled British colony of Upper Canada (i.e., Ontario) in 1837.  Settlers in this region rose up to try to get a government that was more representative of them and which had to listen to their demands.  People from this area joined in, many of them carrying pikes, the way Scott did today, and marched south towards Toronto to a battle on Yonge Street at at a place called Montgomery's Tavern.  Sharon Temple, the large white building in the middle of the grounds here was a meeting house that was built from 1825 to 1831, by the "Children of Peace," a Quaker sect.  Its members supported William Lyon Mackenzie's calls for "responsible government."  The event here today has been an annual event (with a pause for the COVID years) for Canada Day.  The members of the 22nd US that Scott falls in with for 1812 re-enactments become the Lloydtown Company in this time period. 

     We arrived shortly after the grounds were opened to the public.  We couldn't drive the car in, so Scott and Emma carried the tent poles and materials from the parking lot to the camp and set up the tent to give Scott a place to put his things during the day.  While they were setting up, Julie took Abby to the bounce houses and inflatable activities that were set up on the front yard of the Temple.   Abby loved the bouncing, of course, as well as feeding the chickens that were there, and she didn't want to leave when the time came.  We got a  hotel for the evening though, and the three-year old needs her nap.  In the early afternoon, Julie, Emma and Abby went to the nearby hotel for a quick dip in the pool and nap-time in the afternoon, which was always the plan.  Scott stayed behind to carry his pike first to the Canada Day ceremonies held by local politicians, and then into the small battle at 2:00.  It was very hot and humid, and we got news that a small tornado touched down nearby, but at Sharon Temple, the rain held off all day.  The air quality levels were quite bad, though, because of the many wildfires still burning in Canada this year.  

     Once the battle was done, the "rebels" relaxed in the shade of the trees near camp.  Scott had brought along his mandolin in hopes that people would break out their instruments and play some music like they have in the past, but they didn't.  The lack of music and the humidity were the only two disappointments this weekend.  The girls returned, and after we visited with our friends for a bit, we broke camp and returned to the hotel.