History

Loyalist Days Present

The revival of Prescott Loyalist Days began in 2007, when town Councillor Brett Todd began efforts to revive the annual summer festival after over a decade. As Loyalist Days was an important part of Councillor Todd's childhood, and a vital way to build on our lagging tourism, he made the task of bringing back the festival a platform of his election campaign in 2006.

What turned into Loyalist Days in 2008 actually began with Councillor Todd's pitch of a summer concert called the Summer Splash to the Prescott Downtown BIA's Board of Directors. A successful inaugural event took place in June of 2007, with country-rock band Ambush headlining, and a second concert was held in May of 2008 with rock duo Healey and Orr.

Most of the members of the BIA group organizing these shows evolved into the current Loyalist Days Committee, which began meeting in the fall of 2007. Tremendous support from the Town of Prescott, along with generous financial assistance from many local business owners and service groups, allowed the first Loyalist Days in 13 years to take place August 8-9-10, 2008.

A full weekend of events was arranged. Over 5,000 people took in the Historic Military Pageant featuring the King's Royal Regiment of New York (the Yorkers) and the Tryon County Battalion of Minutemen, the Brigadier's Bash Friday night concert featuring Ambush, the Yuk Yuk's Comedy and Social Casino on Saturday, and the tremendous Flash & Roar Fireworks Show (courtesy of HFI International/Hands Fireworks) on Sunday evening.

Loyalist Days is pushing ahead full steam for 2009, with the weekend taking place on August 7-8-9. An expanded schedule is being prepared, along with a bigger Historical Military Pageant that will feature landing craft bateaux and battles in "The Siege of Fort Wellington. For more information, please check the 2009 Schedule of Events page.

Loyalist Days Past...Not so long ago, and not so far away

While the current incarnation of Prescott Loyalist Days was started in the summer of 2008, the festival has a lengthy history that goes all the way back to Canada's Centennial year. It was in 1967 that a number of the Fort Town's leading citizens began organizing summer historical events based at both Fort Wellington and along Prescott's St. Lawrence River waterfront.

These early celebrations of Prescott's history were small, involving such things as the visitation of Canadian warships and the Fort Wellington Confederation Caravan in 1967, and historical displays in storefronts and a showing of frontier artist Frederic Remington's work at the Fort Wellington Blockhouse in 1969. But the events soon grew in size and began to incorporate large military re-enactments using the Fort and the river as scenic backdrops.

Read on to check out a timeline of key events in Loyalist Days past:

1970: A replica of the Hudson Bay Company's famous Nonsuch ketch visited Prescott and took part in a mock battle against Fort Wellington and the Fort Henry Guard out of Kingston. Scottish dancers and bagpipers also took part in the Historic Military Pageant..

1971: The Historic Military Pageant includes band concerts, parades, and sunset and retreat ceremonies.

1972: Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau makes a two-and-a-half hour visit to Fort Wellington during the Historic Military Pageant.

1974: Attendance numbers top 12,000, making Loyalist Days the largest single-day event in Eastern Ontario.

1978: Loyalist Days moves from a weekend celebration to a week-long one with the formation of the Loyalist Week Committee. Events such as an antique show and sale, antique car show, canoe race, outdoor concerts, and a waterfront fireworks display are added to the schedule of events, although the centrepiece remains the Historical Military Pageant at Fort Wellington.

1982: The Historical Military Pageant is honoured as the largest two-day Revolutionary War battle re-enactment in North America. Approximately 500 re-enactors take part in the mock engagements at Fort Wellington and on the St. Lawrence River..

1984: Prescott celebrates its 150th anniversary with a visit from Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip.

Late 1980s Through Early 1990s: Loyalist Days continues to draw huge crowds to large Historical Military Pageants. More events take place on the waterfront to the immediate south of Fort Wellington, and tall ships even participate in some battles. Concerts become bigger and better, with top acts like The Pursuit of Happiness and Tommy Hunter playing the Leo Boivin Community Centre in 1989.

1995: After a nearly 30-year continuous run, Loyalist Days comes to an end after the 1995 festival.

2008: Loyalist Days is reborn on August 8-9-10! The Historic Military Pageant at Fort Wellington is a huge hit, with over 120 re-enactors from the King's Royal Regiment of New York and the Tryon County Minutemen Battalion staging mock Revolutionary War battles on both Saturday and Sunday. Other big events include the Military March Parade, Brigadier's Bash concert, Prescott Kinsmen Yuk-Yuk's Comedy and Social Casino, and the HFI International/Hands Fireworks' Flash & Roar Fireworks Show on the waterfront. Over 10,000 people attend the weekend's events.

2009: For a second year, the reborn Loyalist Days draws large crowds to Fort Wellington and Prescott. The big event for the year is The Siege of Fort Wellington. This two-day Revolutionary War battle takes place on the St. Lawrence River, the shoreline and fields south of Fort Wellington, and on the Fort Hill, with the invading Americans in bateaux gunboats seizing the fort on Saturday and the British defenders coming back to chase away the rebels on Sunday. Over 150 re-enactors from the King's Royal Regiment of New York (the Yorkers) and the Tryon County Minutemen Battalion take part in this battle, and stay for the weekend-long grand encampment on the fort grounds.

Additional highlight events include the Military March Parade, Brigadier's Bash concert at the Leo Boivin Community Centre, Prescott Kinsmen Yuk-Yuk's Comedy and Social Casino, Grenville County Historical Society Wagon Tours, Woodlands Chicken BBQ, and the HFI International/Hands Fireworks' Flash & Roar Fireworks Show on the waterfront. Over 10,000 people again attend the weekend's events.