Old-Style May Days

Well, the May long weekend has come and gone and it sure was an exciting one. I spent the weekend in New Denver, a little town of about 500 half-way between Nelson and Revelstoke on Slocan Lake. I grew up in New Denver, and my parents still live there, so my wife and I go up and visit regularly. The fact that New Denver is very beautiful and that my parents have a hot tub in no way influences the frequency of my visits, of course.

The May Days celebrations have been a tradition on New Denver for about 100 years, and this year they were a little more authentic than usual. A landslide blocked the Trans-Canada east of Revelstoke, so a lot of traffic was diverted through our normally sleepy backwater. Then another landslide blocked the road south of New Denver. Yet another landslide knocked out power lines north of Nakusp, which triggered both a 24-hour power outage and a forest fire… Welcome to New Denver - we've got no power, no gas and no exit.

So settle in and enjoy May Days, just like we had it in 1901!

What I found really interesting was the role that the New Denver Fire Department played in all of this. Since the highway south of town was out, and the gas stations were closed due to the power outage, they were set up in the middle of town, redirecting traffic across another pass to Kaslo. To say that people were unimpressed by an additional detour with no gas is an understatement!

It seemed to me that they handled everything with great tact and skill. They calmed motorists down, ensured that fuel was available, got generators running and still had time to march in the parade! I didn't know I'd be signing up to be a social worker/crisis counselor when I joined a Fire Department, but I'm realizing it now. People see the helmet and assume you know what to do. The level of trust is astounding, and it challenges you to live up to that trust. On their busiest weekend of the year, the New Denver Volunteer Fire Department certainly did.