86 years ago. . .
Salmo, BC, celebrates Dominion Day with a parade and sports day on July 1, 1939. After the parade through town, Dominion Day queen Sara Kristina Hamberg is crowned, local men compete in a mucking contest and a baseball game, the Nelson Boys’ Band plays, and everyone enjoys an ice cream cone.
The Nomads of Avrudaka drill team
One of the day’s highlights was a performance by the “crack drill team” of the Nelson chapter of the Nomads of Avrudaka, which was probably affiliated with the Pythian Sisters Temple No. 10. According to Wikipedia, the Nomads of Avrudaka were a female auxiliary of the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan, a side degree of the Knights of Pythias. These may be out-takes from a longer film; the South Kootenay News (at right, July 6, 1939, p. 4) seems to indicate that the performance was half an hour long!
These video clips comprise edited excerpts from silent 16 mm film footage shot by Vancouver filmmaker Alfred E. Booth (1892-1977). In the 1930s and 1940s, Booth travelled extensively in the BC Interior, shooting footage of the various regions and communities for his company, Travel Films. The source film is the compilation reel “[Kootenay-Boundary area] : [footage and out-takes],” one of 39 film reels in the Alfred E. Booth fonds at the BC Archives.
“We ALL scream for Ice Cream!” (Digital frame grab)
For more examples of BC Interior and Vancouver footage shot by Alfred E. Booth, see the following blog posts:
Seriously Moving Images 
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