Huge crowd celebrates Bread and Cheese Day at Six Nations

Even with 8,500 bricks of cheddar wrapped and ready, Shirley Johnson was sure they were going to run out.

She was among dozens of Six Nations of the Grand River volunteers distributing large chunks of bread and cheese on Monday, the highlight of a festival with roots going back to Victorian times.

“It’s a time of community,” said Johnson of Bread and Cheese Day, which also includes a parade, amusement rides and a one-mile Tom Longboat race. “It’s one of the few days of the year that people who live off territory come back. It’s a time of meeting family and friends you haven’t seen in a while.”

After the parade, led by the Royal Canadian Legion Brant 163 Pipes and Drums from Hamilton, and Six Nations Veterans Association color guard, thousands of people lined up to enter the Gaylord Powless Arena to pick up their food.

“It’s an exciting day,” said Six Nations elected Chief Mark Hill. “It has really evolved into us creating something for the entire community.”

Hill said the cost of the bread and cheese, about $75,000, is covered by the Ottawa Trust Fund. The cost of other events, including free midway rides, amounting to about another $75,000, is paid for by Six Nations of the Grand River elected council.

The bread and cheese tradition has its roots in a gesture that Queen Victoria instituted following the War of 1812.

She ordered that the people of Six Nations were to be given blankets every year in gratitude for their help in fighting the Americans.

When the blankets proved too expensive for the growing community, the gift changed to bread and cheese.

The practice stopped when the Queen died in 1901 but when elected council took over in 1924, it revived the bread and cheese tradition as an act of public relations.

“It’s like a big family reunion,” said Wendy White, who was among hundreds of people lining the parade route.

White said she bought her son a big bag of macaroni and he was using her chunk of cheddar to prepare his special mac and cheese recipe — using half-and-half and bacon – for Monday night’s dinner.

Robin Fraser waited on the parade route with her granddaughter, five-year-old Clarity Carter. She said she enjoys the festival but thinks it might be time for some changes.

“Now that Queen Elizabeth is gone it doesn’t mean as much,” said Fraser. “The community needs so many other things.”

She thinks the celebration should continue but money spent on bread and cheese could be better used for roadwork or other local services.