So here's to you, Peter Robinson

Of all the holidays, the Civic Holiday is no doubt the least heralded.
For most, it holds little significance compared to Victoria Day or Canada Day, or even Good Friday, which, by the way, should be renamed Great Friday. Every Friday is good -- it's the end of the work week for most. Being off work on a Friday is truly great.
As much as we hate to acknowledge it, we owe much to Toronto for the existence of the Civic Holiday. In 1869, that city's politicians came up with the idea of a summer day of recreation. Six years later -- the wheels of politics moved slowly then too -- it was official: the first Monday in August would be that day. It was called the Civic Holiday in the Big Smoke until 1968 when it was renamed Simcoe Day in honour of the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada.
Today, the Civic Holiday is known by different names in equally different municipalities. In Ottawa, for example, its Colonel By Day in honour of English military engineer John By (1779-1836) who supervised the construction of the Rideau Canal which led to that city's founding.
What about Peterborough? Well, we too used the nondescript, oh-so boring Civic Holiday tag locally until a few years back when the day was designated Peter Robinson Day in honour of the War of 1812 veteran and fur trader (1785-1838) who facilitated the exodus of more than 2,500 County Cork, Ireland families to Lanark County, Carleton County and Scott's Plains -- the latter the future site of Peterborough.
So our Civic Holiday has an identifiable figure attached to it. That's kind of cool but it probably won't mean a whole lot to you Monday as you're digging through the cooler for a cold one or slathering on the sunscreen. But if the conversation dries up, you now have new and very timely material with which to impress. You'll thank me later.