Williams Lake will be once again celebrating the unique civic holiday of ‘Wrestling Day’ on Jan. 2, 2020, something that started locally in the 1930s. (Photo courtesy of the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin)

Williams Lake will be once again celebrating the unique civic holiday of ‘Wrestling Day’ on Jan. 2, 2020, something that started locally in the 1930s. (Photo courtesy of the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin)

Some in Williams Lake get Jan. 2 off for city’s Wrestling Day

The uniqe public municipal holiday dates back eight decades

Williams Lake once again marked a rather unique holiday on Thursday, to mark the day after New Years Day when no one is ready to get back to work from the Christmas season.

During the regular meeting Tuesday, Dec. 3, council unanimously proclaimed Wrestling Day as a public municipal holiday, something council does each year at a regular meeting closest to Dec. 1.

Since the 1930s, the extra holiday has been a part of the local fabric, after Syd Western and Alistair Mackenzie got talking and noticed no one was around downtown, and concluded everyone in the village was “wrestling” a hangover, so having Wrestling Day follow New Year’s Day made sense.

READ MORE: Wrestling Day civic holiday dates back to 1930s in Williams Lake

There was one year when Tom Mason was mayor in 1977 and he cast the deciding vote declaring an end to the day, however, the decision was not popular with many residents and was reinstated the next year.

Today, businesses can choose whether to be open or not, with employees taking an extra day with friends and family.


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