Emancipation Day Picnic
Originally called, "Big Picnic", the event began in 1924 and it was held on the first Thursday of August every year. It observed the liberation of slaves from Britain in 1833. Port Dalhousie was the chosen location for the picnic because in 1793, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Governor Simcoe signed the historic Act Against Slavery, which contributed to the overall emancipation of slaves that occurred on August 1, 1834, by the British Commonwealth.
In 1924, the organizer of the Emancipation Day Picnic, B.J. Spencer-Pitt, sent out invitations and between 6000 to 8000 people attended the event. The Picnic was last officially hosted by the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1951. Since then, the size of the event has lessened. But Emancipation Day is still celebrated by families to this day.
