New Year's Day - 1890
“Who can imagine a more dreary day than that which marked the opening of the year 1890?” “How the Day Was Spent : Rain Prevented Much Fun, But Society Whirled Just the Same” Hamilton Herald January 2, 1890 With that rhetorical question asking how much more bleak a start to a new year, in terms of weather conditions, the reporter for the Hamilton Herald described in detail what a desolate and disappointing season, New Year's Day as well as the Christmas holidays generally had been in Hamilton: “At this season of the year, it is customary for Canadians to expect good skating on the bays, rivers, creeks and ponds; to have the roads covered with a canopy of snow, upon which sleighs speed merrily behind fast horses. Altogether the season is one of jollification and enjoyment. This season has brought a complete change. There have been no sleighing parties, no coasting, no tobogganing, snowshoeing or other outdoor amusements.”