With both the Quesnel Visitor Centre and the Quesnel & District Museum at its front and Quesnel's largest mural as a backdrop, LeBourdais Park today is a municipal park. With large swaths of green space, a spray park, a high tech playground and a band stand, the park is one of the most used gathering places in the city.
Around the park are several picnic tables and benches and, at the rear, a washroom and changing building. At the western edge is Pioneer Cemetery; at the eastern end a ball diamond. Near the western edge is the
Billy Barker Days headquarters building; in front of the museum is a heritage rose garden. During Billy Barker Days, LeBourdais Park is the site of a midway, the focal point of the festival, Quesnel's largest annual blowout.
The park was named for Louis LeBourdais, a local who went on to be elected to the B.C. Legislative Assembly in 1937, serving for ten years.
Louis Adelbert LeBourdais (June 26, 1888 – September 27, 1947) was a telegraph operator, life insurance agent and political figure in British Columbia, Canada. He represented Cariboo in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1937 to 1947 as a Liberal.
He was born in 1888, the son of Adelbert LeBourdais and Eleanor Connick, and was educated in Clinton and New Westminster. LeBourdais married Kate-Elizabeth Pughe on April 17, 1912 at Larkin, British Columbia (halfway between Vernon and Armstrong). He lived in Quesnel. LeBourdais had mining interests in the Barkerville area. He was also an amateur historian. From 1941 to 1948, he was a member of a Liberal-Conservative coalition in the provincial assembly. LeBourdais died in office in 1947.
From Wiki
LeBourdais Park
In 1963 the park was named in honour of Louis LeBourdais.
He was a telegraph operator, amateur historian and a very popular politician, who represented the Cariboo in the BC Legislature from 1937-1947.
He is buried on the edge of the Quesnel Pioneer Cemetery, overlooking the park.
THIS LOCATION HAS SERVED AS A GATHERING PLACE FOR SPORTING EVENTS AND COMMUNITY CELEBRATIONS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY.
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in 1912, a cricket pitch and a race track were constructed on Chew Doy Foo's field. He was known locally as "China Charlie."
- The annual Dominion and Labour Day celebrations featured a parade through town to the track, followed by a baseball game, athletic competitions and horse races.
- Quesnel's first golf course, the Willingdon Links, was located in the vicinity from 1930-1956.
- Stock car races were a popular attraction during the 1950s.
- An outdoor swimming pool was built as a Centennial project in 1967. It was demolished after the construction of the Recreation Center and the Splash Park was built in 1990.
WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIES OF THE PARK? HOW MANY EVENTS CAN YOU IDENTIFY ON THIS MURAL?
Aboriginal Day, Billy Barker Days, Canada Day, the Highland Games, Relay for Life...
From the Plaque a the rear of the museum