Central Saanich waves the flag for Canada’s centennial

Central Saanich waves the flag for Canada’s centennial

Published 5:45 am Friday, July 24, 2026

Heritage Acres continues its operation to the present day with more than 30,000 artifacts, dozens of restored buildings and even a miniature steam engine that circles the site. (Christine van Reeuwyk/Peninsula News Review file photo)

When Canada’s one hundredth birthday arrived in 1967, the country was gripped with the spirit of celebration. Everywhere, right across Canada, communities came together to celebrate this great nation.

Central Saanich, a young municipality, was not to be left behind.

Centennial Park had actually been established in 1958 to commemorate the establishment of British Columbia as a Crown colony 100 years before. Still, that niggling detail was put aside and the park was rededicated to celebrate Canada’s birthday. Picnic facilities were added at a cost of $10,000, with half of that amount to be defrayed by centennial grants.

The improvements included a “handsome picnic shelter” – a 40-by-80-foot concrete pad for dancing and barbecues. Councillor M.E. Salt, chairman of the council’s centennial committee made the announcement while studiously ignoring the repurposing of the name centennial.

In Central Saanich itself, centennial flags had become a hot item as they tended to be stolen by unknown miscreants almost as soon as they were hung. Tourists and newcomers were blamed according to the newspaper accounts of the time.

Meanwhile, Willard Michell, the chairman of the Central Saanich centennial committee, oversaw the opening of a new Centennial Museum on the grounds of the North and South Saanich Agricultural Society.

Willard Mitchell had even bigger dreams though, and those dreams came to fruition a year later (just a bit late for the Centennial) when the Saanich Historical Artifacts Society would come into being.

Michell was a retired dairyman with roots that went deep into Central Saanich’s history and he was determined to preserve the history and the physical equipment that had shaped the region.

He formed a committee and, with the acquisition of a 29-acre property, his vision began to be realized. The goal was “to collect, restore, house, display and demonstrate the artifacts telling the story of farming and country living” in Central Saanich and Vancouver Island as a whole.

Michell commented: “I got quite a lot of enjoyment watching elderly men come along and hold the handles of the ploughs. They would soon find one that felt like the one they had used in the early days.”

The site was eventually named Heritage Acres and continues its operation to the present day with more than 30,000 artifacts, dozens of restored buildings and even a miniature steam engine that circles the site.

There are also regularly scheduled demonstration of some of the old equipment, and even a working blacksmith’s forge, all working to keep Willard Michell’s dreams alive.