The Victoria Day weekend is coming up. Whether you call it Victoria Day, May 2-4, the May 24th weekend or whatever, it has long been thought of as unofficial kickoff to summer.
There are those who will argue it’s not summer. At least not according to the calendar. And they would be right. But it is the weekend that a lot of people start to feel like summer is here. Or if not actually here, it’s pretty darn close.
It is also the weekend when a lot of people will head for the outdoors. It’s a Canadian thing.
I have never been quite clear on why that particular weekend marks the start of getting back outdoors once again. You would think it would be a little more weather dependent. But I have seen people, no matter what the weather, head out camping on the long weekend in May.
There were several years when I lived in Newfoundland. If you’ve never been there, you may not be familiar with gravel pit camping, but it really is a thing. As roads get built, you see those little turnoffs and places where equipment would be parked over night. Some of them may have been actual gravel pits, but they don’t have to be. But about every wide spot on the edge of the road would fill with people. Yes, there are campgrounds, but they fill up quickly, and there are far more people looking to go camping then there are campsites. And people don’t just want to go camping. There seems to be an overwhelming need to go camping.
We might not see that happen around here, but there are still a lot of people looking to get out this time of year. And now that the weather has started to warm up a bit, we seem to need to get out. Get some of that fresh air. Feed the bugs and ticks. That sort of thing.
And there will be plenty of bugs. There always are. But that doesn’t stop us.
It’s like there is a giant clock, ticking down the minutes until outdoor season gets underway, and this weekend is when it happens. For many, it just seems to be built in. Victoria Day means getting outside.