Columbia International College

On August 19, 2010, thousands lined the streets of downtown Dundas for the city’s Cactus Festival Parade. The colourful annual parade kicked off the three-day Dundas Cactus Festival.

Joining in the Fun

This year, the Dundas Cactus Festival celebrated its 35th anniversary and the Parade’s Memories 35 theme marked this important milestone. The crowds watched hundreds of floats, bands, performers and local participants marching in the parade. Mr. Roger Ferreira, an art teacher at Columbia, was even spotted playing the drums on a float put together by the Hamilton Youth Steel Orchestra.

Columbia students volunteered their time and took part in the parade as marshals, flag bearers and banner holders. Many of those who participated greatly enjoyed the family event.
“It was very exciting. I was cheering with everyone else. It was my first time in such a parade and it was so nice to see so many people in the streets,” said Grade 12 student Wang, Lin excitedly after the parade.

At Columbia, community service and participation play a huge role in student life. The Parade is just one of many opportunities for students to meet and interact with the local community and for many it was a first. Many of those who took part in the parade were new students.
“I really liked it! I got to see how a community comes together as one. I also saw so many different cultures in one place. Although there is Carnival in Trinidad, we don’t have anything like the Dundas Cactus Festival,” said Grade 11 student Gregory Pereira after the parade.

Canada’s Cactus Capital

The Dundas Cactus Festival has been voted one of Ontario’s ‘Top 100 Festivals’ two years in a row. The festival, which began in 1976, welcomes at least 100,000 visitors every year. The festival was named in recognition of Barend Veldhuis, a Dutch immigrant who ran a large greenhouse specializing in cacti. He was the reason Dundas became known as "the cactus capital of Canada", from which the festival gets its name.