ABSTRACT
On a sunny weekend in June 1992 I arrived in Elmford,1 a prosperous Southern Ontario town of 100,000 inhabitants, to attend their annual ‘Lakefront Festival’. I had come especially for their ‘National Neighbourhood Party’ sponsored by Canada 125 Corporation. Planned on a national level but carried out locally, the ‘Neighbourhood Party’ event asked participants at local festivals in towns, villages, and neighbourhoods all over Canada to stop their activities at 2 p.m. exactly. They would then all simultaneously make a toast ‘to all our neighboursà tout nos voisins’ in all parts of the nation. The toasts in Elmford and across Canada would be made with Canada Dry Ginger Ale because the events were cosponsored by a major manufacturer of the drink. In Elmford itself, the organisers planned that everyone at the celebration would hold hands along the lakeshore route for their toast, in order to make a several kilometre-long ‘toast to the Nation’.
