B.C. Day turns 50 and is now one of the most popular holidays of the year

It’s officially known as British Columbia Day, and is held the first Monday in August.
By: John Mackie
On Aug. 2, 1858, the Colony of British
Columbia was created in London, England. One hundred and sixteen years later, it provided the impetus for a holiday Monday on the August long weekend, British Columbia Day. The first B.C. Day was on Aug. 5, 1974, which means this is the 50th anniversary.
It’s now a staple of the calendar, the
busiest weekend of the year for B.C. Ferries. Between Aug. 1 and Aug. 6, B.C. Ferries is expecting to handle 215,000 vehicles and 600,000 passengers.In Vancouver, the August long weekend is the time for many popular events, such as the Pride Festival and the Powell Street
Festival.But the first B.C. Day in 1974 wasn’t as big a deal as you might expect. After Dave Barrett’s NDP government made it a holiday in March, some companies didn’t give their employees the day off.
This led to a “personal protest” where two B.C. Tel employees who were denied the holiday dressed up in striped convict uniforms outside the U.S. consulate in downtown Vancouver.
“They call themselves the B.C. Telephone Company, but they ignore B.C. Day, the day honouring the province,” said protester Sidney Brewer. “They are treating us as second-class citizens.”
The Vancouver Sun didn’t even write a story about B.C. Day on Aug. 6, 1974 —
it simply ran a big photo of sunbathers cramming Kits Beach.
To be fair, there was more pressing news. U.S. president Richard Nixon was expected to resign after confessing that he ordered the Watergate coverup, six days after the break-in at the Democratic party national headquarters.
The big B.C. news was sad — 32 people had died in accidents on the first provincial long weekend, which The Sun said made it “the most costly holiday weekend in human lives in the province’s history.”..
Source: vancouversun.com/news