49. NIAGARA FALLS VISIT 2025

In June 2023, I visited Niagara Falls for a couple hours. Friend Betty drove us from her Richmond Hill home to Fairview Cemetery so I could tend to my family’s grave: weeding, planting new flowers, and paying respects. Lunch with long-time family friend Robert Wong completed the visit.
Now two years later, I returned once again: staying a few days. On this occasion, my daughter-in-law and granddaughter accompanied me for their first Niagara Falls experiences.
We took in the majesty of the Niagara River as well as the carnival atmosphere of Clifton Hill. Present times were suffused with memories of growing up in Niagara.


On Clifton Hill, I looked for any identifying remnants of the old Honeymoon Gift Shop where I had spent a couple summers reminding tourists not to smoke while perusing the fireworks for purchase.








Walking towards the Falls, we entered Table Rock House. Self-serve aisles of merchandise had replaced the island counters where I, as a summer student hire, had been quizzed by groups of Japanese tourists if I was a fellow national.


Our drives around town eventually led to Park Street and Erie Avenue – my tong yan gaai. The once Chinatown area seemed compressed, so small. However, the gingko tree of my childhood survived – strong and large.


We went to Fairview Cemetery where only weeks before geraniums had been planted on all the Chinese graves during the annual Ching Ming Festival. The flowers were still in bloom and we added more.


On our visit later with Robert Wong, he said he thought there were not the same numbers in attendance at Ching Ming as in years past. He recognized fewer faces: not surprising.




Loy Chong, the principal Ching Ming Festival organizer is getting older. Who will step up and take over?

Will the annual Ching Ming Festival known in my family as hang san (“walk the mountain”) cease to exist?



I do not know if my thirteen-year-old granddaughter yet understands the privilege she enjoys in her childhood. On this trip to Niagara, I have endeavoured to show, and hope that she will see eventually.




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