The 2021 theme
"Honouring the Creston Lions Club who started the 1st Creston Valley Blossom Festival 1941"
Lions Club Starts the 1st Festival in 1941
The Blossom Festival, which takes place May 21-24 this year, was conceptualized and marked as a carnival in 1941 as a community spirit raiser during the Second World War. According to the Blossom Festival, when the war broke out, residents of Creston Valley rallied behind the war effort as they had rallied to deal with the June 1938 flood waters that broke through the dikes. The Creston Lions Club then met with the Village of Creston council in May 1940 to discuss the Park Pavilion and grounds. The village turned the Park Pavilion (now Centennial Park) and grounds over to the Creston Lions Club. In March 1942, Lion George Sinclair introduced the matter of some activity for the park and a committee was struck. In April of that year, Lions president Frank Staples announced there would be a carnival held during Blossom Week beginning on May 8,1942.
Coming Together to Celebrate
Over the decades, the Blossom
Festival has evolved into what it is
today and remains the community’s
largest annual celebration.
“When you think back to a little
Canadian village still reeling from the
Great Depression, recovering from
disastrous floods, with our country of
Canada embroiled in the Second World
War the spirit shown in putting together
a ‘carnival’ that garnered support and
no doubt lifted spirits is truly inspiring,”
. “There remains a
determined effort by the citizens of the
Creston Valley to keep the heritage of
the Creston Valley Blossom Festival
alive to this day.”