Nanaimo Heritage Days

ABOUT NANAIMO HERITAGE DAYS

Nanaimo Heritage Days is a community based celebration that takes place on the May long weekend of every year.

Nanaimo Heritage Days is a 100% community organized and volunteer based non-profit event. 2017 marks a year of community support that has reached a whole new level.

In recognition and appreciation for all that local business and volunteers achieved in ensuring the event would continue, volunteers in the community have joined together this year to step up and make Nanaimo Heritage Days happen so that this cherished community event will continue forward this year and for many years to come.

We look forward to seeing you downtown on Sunday May 21st, 2017 – come take part in all the fun that’s planned and celebrate our heritage in this amazingly beautiful place called Nanaimo.

See you there!

NANAIMO HERITAGE DAYS HISTORY

The earliest known record of the Nanaimo May long weekend celebrations (previously named “Empire Days”) can be found in the British Colonist paper of May 30th, 1863. Nanaimo boasts the oldest annual continuous community celebrations of the May long weekend without a break in Commonwealth, which unless proven otherwise, remains undisputed to this day!

In 2015, the name changed from “Empire Days” to “Nanaimo Heritage Days” in recognition and respect of the strong desire for our community to be truly inclusive and honor the roots of its diversity.

The event was reinvented as a celebration of Nanaimo and all the cultures, heritages, and histories that come together within the city. To strengthen this new direction, local business and volunteers stepped up and committed to ensuring its success during the years of 2015 and 2016.

Today in 2017, Nanaimo Heritage Days proceeds forth as a 100% community organized and volunteer based non-profit event.