“Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards - the things we live by and teach our children - are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.” - Walt Disney
February brings both Family Day and Heritage Week, and this year we’re combining both under the theme of Pastimes in Past Times. Heritage Week is an annual event that takes place during the third full week in February that celebrates and showcases local heritage across the province. Every year, Heritage BC launches Heritage Week by choosing a theme. This year, Heritage Week: Pastimes in Past Times celebrates the many ways people spent their leisure time throughout history, exploring how these activities have contributed to the cultural fabric of today.
Our community photo exhibit for Pastimes in Past Times is currently on display in the Leisure Centre lobby, but you can still add your picture to the exhibit. Just email a picture of your pastime from a past time to culture@mission.ca with a title and your first name and we’ll add you to our community collection. Your photo can feature a hobby, game, activity or sport, like Melissa’s photo from her glory days in the roller derby.
Join us at the Leisure Centre on Family Day from 8:30-4:30 for discounted swimming, skating and gymnastics, as well as free parlour games (from past times) from 11-2 and an old fashioned singalong (time TBD). Family Day at the Leisure Centre is always a fun, busy day and this year we’re excited to tie it to the Heritage Week theme.
Our friends at the Mission Museum have both online and pop-up exhibits to celebrate Heritage Week with Time Well Spent – How Our Leisure Activities Made Us Who We Are. The pop-up exhibit at the Mission Public Library and their online exhibit will show activities from the past and how they resonate today.
The Mission Community Archives are bringing a copy of their recently acquired 1891 Plan of Mission City to the Leisure Centre lobby. This 133 year old map was donated by W. Yeomans and the restoration of it was made possible by the generous sponsorship of The McPherson Family Foundation & Top Producers Realty LTD.
There will always be those who question why we invest in heritage, whether it’s saving an historical building, archiving documents and photos relevant to the community, celebrating stories of lives now passed or preserving the ephemera and minutia that contribute to the larger story of who we are.
For me the reason lives in the idea that where we come from and the events of the past all contribute to who we are now and the place we’re in. As more and more developments go up and are planned for Mission, it is important to remember what built the foundations new things are being erected on.
This is inseparable from the “small town feel” that is often cited as a reason people love living in Mission. Is the Soap Box Derby simply an event that’s been going on for a long time, or is it a tangible reminder of another time, when coming together as a community looked different? In our ever more digital current reality it can serve as grounding to reconnect with activities that involve only physical materials and require communal time outside of the online realm.
From February 17 to 23, 2025, try to identify things in your community that are a tangible link to Mission’s heritage. Maybe it’s a little online searching to learn who your street was named after and what their story is. Or you could spend some time on the Mission Community Archives heritage places website (Heritage-Places.com) to learn about the different historic communities and the places that matter to our heritage.
And maybe give some thought to how you are likely contributing to someone else’s sense of heritage, down the road somewhere, or how you can. This could be an opportunity to devise a neighbourhood project; a gathering, creative installation, placemaking initiative or beautification project. These are the types of grass-roots initiatives that the Neighbourhood Small Grants are meant to support.
These small grants offer up to $500 to cover materials for neighbourhood driven and based projects and activities. You do not have to be a formal organization or non-profit to apply, you simply need an idea, the support of your neighbours and the desire to create tomorrow’s heritage today.
Learn more about these grants at https://www.mission.ca/community-environment/municipal-grants/neighbourhood-small-grants
