History of Streetsville and the Bread and Honey Festival

Streetsville Ontario - It really is all bread and honey

Often several separate neighbourhoods that retain their own identity, and develop their own culture will develop within a large city or town. This is definitely the case in Mississauga Ontario. Though the city is usually seen as a whole, really it is so large that it can be divided up into several smaller neighbourhoods, each with its own culture.

One of these smaller neighbourhoods that make up the city of Mississauga is Streetsville, located along the Credit River. About 55,000 people call Streetsville their home, and although you can see the modern developments of the big city from almost every part of Streetsville, the neighbourhood has managed to retain much of its unique, small town appeal.

The river itself is responsible for much of the shaping of the culture of Streetsville, as it was an ideal location for the industry common in the 19th century. Entrepreneur Timothy Street recognized this, and in 1818 he bought up a huge parcel of land along the river, with plans for a settlement and for the creation of a sawmill and gristmill.

Obviously Street’s vision has come to fruition. Although mill and labour intensive industry are no longer as integral to the town economy as they once were, the fact that this is where Streetsville has its roots is an important part of the cultural endeavours of the city. One manifestation of this is the Bread and Honey Festival.

The Bread and Honey Festival was started in Streetsville in 1973. The celebration was conceived by the Promotion Committee and was held on the first Saturday in June. The population showed such an incredible amount of support for the festival that it soon became an annual event, and continues to exist today, although it has been expanded to cover the entire first weekend of June.

The key themes of the festival are a tribute to industry both past and present. Bread, of course, is in recognition of the mill and the workers that began the history of the town; both Kraft and ADM milling still run large mills at the Streetsville location. Honey was the natural complement to the bread, and with several bee farms surrounding the town it was a natural extension of the theme.

The festival itself has always been held at Streetsville Memorial Park a 30 acre amphitheatre and green space located right on the banks of the Credit River.

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