It’s the May long weekend, and I woke up on this Sunday morning kinda annoyed that a neighbour down the street must have left his campfire smouldering all night, and was he burning garbage? Man it stunk.

Nope. No campfire. But definitely smoke.

A quick glimpse of my phone and I saw that The Pit was burning down. Dozens of posts on Facebook. It seems everyone was down town watching the flames.

It feels a bit inevitable. The Westminster Hotel (aka “The Pit” and “The Pink Palace”) is an ancient old place, dating back to the early days of this town. It was like a living room for a portion of our community, who met there every day to pass the time. It was crooked and hazardous. Back when I liked beer, I had great times in there, but I haven’t been there much in the last few years. It was a special place on the planet where the decade was not obvious once you were inside, nor anyone’s age. Everyone was friends inside the Pit.

In January, it flooded, and it’s been closed since then. Part of the roof of the side building had collapsed a year or so ago. It had a fire a couple of years back in another part.

People were determined to save the place, with plans to rip out the crooked old floor to repair the damage from the flood. But there were also people who were convinced there was no way that old place would be revived.

And now that is confirmed. It’s gone.

After a few hours went by, and the smoke died down a bit, Hank and I went for a walk around downtown to see the action.

People are hugging and crying. There are chunks of burned debris all over the downtown.

There is an excavator on scene now, pulling the rest of the building down while our fire fighters continue to hose down the building.

Having one of these massive old timber buildings burn is always a fear. Fortunately the fire department has kept it from spreading to other buildings.

An air advisory was issued for Dawson too – due to all the stinky smoke.

It’s the long weekend, and the weekend of the annual gold show (think plowing match, but for gold mining. A trade show with equipment and tents for various stakeholders.)

Town is really busy again. Miners are back. The seasonal bars and restaurants have reopened. Tourists are around.

The ferry went back in the river and resumed operations yesterday. I don’t think the snow has been cleared near the border, so the border crossing’s opening has been delayed.

Poor Jeff’s been missing all the action. He’s been called out of town for a search and rescue operation.

Before I sign off, here are some of my memories from The Pit: