The Royal Lancers may have danced their last dance at the May Day banquet but they`ll be taking a spin on the dance floor at the May Day Community Heritage Picnic.
After supporters of the Royal Lancers packed council chambers and appealed to city council to reverse its earlier decision to eliminate the dances from the city’s dinner, council agreed to meet with the lancers on April 28. Ultimately, council stood by its decision.
“The dance will not take place at our banquet,” said Coun. Lorrie Williams, one of three councillors who met with the lancers. “We want to reconsider their role at the banquet. We are not excluding them from the banquet. They are welcome. We were trying to explore another role. Would they be the guardians of both the boys and the girls, and march them in to that nice tune? We didn’t dissolve the lancers, we didn’t make any magic stroke and suddenly they don’t exist anymore. We just don’t want the dance. We want the boys included. Traditions do change.”
Instead of doing the quadrille dances with the Royal Lancers at the May Day banquet, members of the May Queen Suite will be doing a maypole dance with the Royal Knights at the May 20 banquet at Anvil Centre.
David MacGrotty, chair of the Royal Lancers, said the group’s role has always been to march in the May Queen Suite, dance the quadrille (square) dances with girls in the May Queen Suite and march them out at the end of the banquet. This year, they`ll be dancing with members of the 2014 and 2015 May Queen Suites at the May Day Community Heritage Picnic.
“The lancers have received an invitation from the May Queen Suite coordinator to dance. Yes we will be dancing.” he told the Record. “We are very happy. The May Queen Suite is very pleased.”
According to MacGrotty, the May Queen Suite coordinator has indicated she has had “overwhelming” support from girls wanting to dance with the lancers at the event.
MacGrotty and wife Karen Baker-MacGrotty have unveiled a plan they hope will generate a positive outcome from councils’ decision. A newly formed May Day Community Heritage Group, comprised of former May Queens, Royal Lancers, coordinators of the May Queen Suite and Royal Knights and other business and community members, is organizing a new May Day Community Heritage Picnic.
Baker-MacGrotty said council’s decision about the lancers generated “an overwhelming public outcry” to protect the rich traditions of May Day and resulted in an intense outpouring of community pride.
“This topic had sparked conversation, united families, old friends and even strangers, all with a common bond of May Days past,” she said in a press release. “It was apparent citizens needed to embrace and celebrate the positive aspects of May Day. We also could no longer sit back to allow more than a century of tradition to disappear.”
The May Day Community Heritage Group is inviting residents to pack a lunch, wear spring hats or period outfits and attend the first May Day Community Heritage picnic on Sunday, May 24 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Armoury of the Royal Westminster Regiment. Everyone is invited to attend the free event.
“The picnic concept recreates, in a small way, the early beginnings of May Day in the Royal City,” Baker-MacGrotty said. “May Day is not only a celebration for children. As we look back to the early days in our city’s history and the reason for the creation of May Day, you find it was a celebration of all ages with its purpose to build community spirit for the disheartened citizen at that time. We want the celebration to be fun and light-hearted. We invite everyone to join, including our mayor and council.”
With less than a month to organize the event, MacGrotty said the plan is to start small and simple for the event’s inaugural year.
“As an open an inclusive event, bringing together citizens of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities, the community picnic will foster the bonds between families and neighbours and help bridge the gap between youth and seniors,” he said. “It will have a positive impact on the social fabric of our citizens."
