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Movie goers in Canada had a chance to see the famous Grimsby blossoms in 1935 and 1936 when Fox Movietone News filmed the blossoms at several local farms. Jean Green, Mary Irvine, Thelma Swayze and Marion Stewart, all students at Grimsby High School, were featured in the 1935 newsreel along with Reeve Mogg.

A promotional pamphlet in 1937 contained a route map and enticed visitors with this description. "A close-up on the gorgeous panorama can be secured by following the highway routes as shown...down through Grimsby, hailed as the prettiest summer town in Canada...Distance lends enchantment, and if time can be spared, there is no view in America comparable to looking down from the escarpment either above Grimsby or from Queenston Heights on the orchards and vineyards below. It is an unforgettable pattern."

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1937 Blossom Time Route Pamphlet (Front)
1937
Grimsby, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Grimsby Museum Collection

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1937 Blossom Time Route Pamphlet (Inside)
1937
Grimsby, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Grimsby Museum Collection

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1937 Blossom Time Route Pamphlet (Back)
1937
Grimsby, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Grimsby Museum Collection

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The Blossom Festival grew again in 1938 with the addition of the Blossom Parade. On May 11th, the parade which featured fifty floats formed up at the east side of Beamsville and made its way through Beamsville, along Highway No. 8 into Grimsby. The festival included Maypole dancing. The Grimsby Chamber of Commerce donated the Silver Cup that was presented to the Blossom Queen. Miss Florence Laing, directress of the grand Blossom Time Pageant, wrote the play "Garden of Canada" for the 1938 Blossom Festival. The play told the history of the area from the early 1600's to the 1930's. Six hundred and seventy-five people took part in the play including one hundred and seventy- five men, women and children in the cast and another five hundred in the chorus and orchestra.

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Niagara Packers 1938 Blossom Parade Float
11 May 1938
Blossom Festival Parade, Grimsby, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Grimsby Museum Collection

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Basket Float in 1938 Blossom Parade
11 May 1938
Blossom Festival Parade, Grimsby, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Grimsby Museum Collection

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Many Visitors Blossom Sunday
5 May 1938
Blossom Festival Parade, Grimsby, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Grimsby Museum Collection

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"Garden of Canada" in Full Bloom Newspaper Headline
5 May 1938
Grimsby, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Grimsby Museum Collection

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Eleven Municipalities Entered the Niagara Blossom Queen Contest
19 May 1938
Grimsby, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Grimsby Museum Collection

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The May 1939 Supplement to the "Grimsby Independent" outlined highlights of Grimsby's participation in that year's Festival which included a parade of seventy floats accompanied by bands including the Grimsby Lions Band, the crowning of the Blossom Queen, a school choir of over five hundred pupils and a sequel to the 1938 play also written by Florence Laing, "Romance in the Niagara Peninsula". Out of town visitors were encouraged to stay at The Village Inn "famous for Good Foods and 20 Rooms with Private Bath".

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1939 Grimsby Blossom Festival Promotional Basket
13 May 1939
A. Hewson and Son Basket Factory, Main Street West, Grimsby, Ontario

Credits:
Church, Lydia

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1939 Blossom Parade Sign
1939
Blossom Festival Parade, Grimsby, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Grimsby Museum Collection

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1939 Niagara Packers Blossom Parade Float
13 May 1939
Blossom Festival Parade, Grimsby, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Grimsby Museum Collection