BUXTON – The homecoming celebration in this community that served as a terminus on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves seeking freedom in Canada returned to normal for the 99th annual event held over the Labor Day weekend.
BUXTON – The homecoming celebration for this community that served as a terminus on the Underground Railroad returned to normal for its 99th annual edition held over the Labor Day weekend.
There were no signs of the reduced programming of the past two years, replacing the COVID-prompted virtual or scaled-back versions with an in-person Buxton Homecoming celebration that welcomed hundreds of people.
“It’s really nice to be able to see the crowds of people back here,” said Heather Robbins, a member of Buxton’s Next Generation, a group of younger adults and youth that took on an active role in organizing the homecoming celebration from their parents and other relatives.
“We’ve got a great foundation that they’ve created for us and so for us to be able to continue forth with that it’s quite a privilege and honor.”
The Buxton community will soon be focusing on the centennial event next year.
“It’s a really big moment for us to be able to celebrate 100 years,” Robbins said.
The hamlet in southwest Chatham-Kent attracts hundreds of visitors – many with familial connections – to its annual homecoming celebration.
Tracy Cain of Guelph, Karen Burke of Brampton, Beverly Thomas and Cheryl Daly of Brantford, and Darlene Jones of Toronto – descendants of SR Drake of the British Methodist Episcopal Church – were eager to take part in the homecoming weekend.
Cain, who has been busy researching her family’s genealogy, had already visited the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum three times this year.
She had also come to the Buxton Homecoming several years ago with her sons and enjoyed it.
“But this time it’s a lot more because I’m getting to understand the family and the depth of what our family did to get here, and all the things that they’ve accomplished through the years and decades and centuries to make our family successful ,” Cain said.
Her family tree, she said, has a lot of Underground Railroad freedom seekers who came to Canada from the US to escape slavery.
Burke remembered coming to homecoming as a young girl with her grandmother, Florence Jones.
“I have those memories. . . of seeing the parade, seeing the wonderful Sunday dinners and the quilts with our family names,” she said.
Being a teacher, Burke said it was difficult to be way from home on Labor Day since school was scheduled to start the next day.
(But) this year I really needed to be here” since so many of her relatives were coming, she said.
Looking to the 100th homecoming celebration next year, Burke shared her own excitement, saying she’s “going to have to bring more people.”
Thomas came to homecoming several years ago with her mother and returned about seven years ago.
“It’s just the history,” she said about her decision to return to homecoming.
Even with an increasing awareness about the impacts of systemic racism, Jones said it was critical to be aware of the struggles of past generations.
“In the age of anti-racism and the abolition of racism, we need to remember out history,” she said. “Coming back to North Buxton is a great (reminder) of the resilience and passion they had to get here and be free, which is why we are free and how got to Canada.”