To celebrate the Centennial, on Saturday, June 10, \u00a01967, the roughly 400 residents of Rathnelly Ave. and several nearby streets decided to quit\u00a0Toronto and Canada.<\/p>\n
The Toronto Star<\/em> broke word\u00a0of the new country on the front page the following Monday.<\/p>\n “[Rathnelly] seceded in a bloodless, post-breakfast coup and seized control of the five blocks west of Avenue Rd. and north of the Davenport Rd. tracks,” the paper said.<\/p>\n A small army\u2014the Republic of Rathnelly Irregulars, which was made up of\u00a0uniformed kids\u2014 claimed\u00a0a nearby park and renamed it Freedom\u00a0Square.\u00a0A space rocket fleet made out of cardboard was assembled on one of the front lawns, and barricades went up at the end of the street, closing it to traffic.<\/p>\n The street festival-cum-declaration of independence even received a visit from Mayor William Dennison and\u00a0Metro Controller\u00a0Margaret Campbell, and the two governments officially\u00a0entered into talks.<\/p>\n “As tankards of Rathnellian mead\u2014the republic’s only liquid assets\u2014were handed round, statesman met statesman in an attempt to hammer out a treaty,”\u00a0wrote the Star<\/em>. In the end, the two sides reached an agreement, and the\u00a0Republic of Rathnelly peacefully rejoined the city and country at midnight.<\/p>\n