While often simply called "May-long," the first long weekend on the warm side of spring is officially known as Victoria Day.
That is a fact still remembered in Barkerville.
They even built an annual event around it. Monday is when their magical theatrical wand gets waved and Queen Victoria comes to the Cariboo to celebrate her birthday in gold rush style.
"It's our 17th Annual Victoria Day Royal Tea," said Barkerville spokesperson James Douglas.
"There is a seating at 1 p.m. and one at 3 p.m. and before each of the seatings, the stage coach drives Queen Victoria around town. People line the streets; she waves; she gives a polite, formal address to the crowd and she then has tea with everyone. I serve Her Majesty and help her with meeting the public. The tables of people have the opportunity to have a private audience with Her Majesty to wish her a happy birthday, and express their feelings about how it is to be Canadian and part of the Commonwealth, and that's really cool. It's a lot of fun."
Douglas said the biggest joy for him is watching the people in the tea house give over to the performance. As a cast of actors portray people of that era, there is no breaking of character or ironic winking during these displays of theatre.
As people realize this isn't going to be a caricature performance but an honest enactment, they, too, shift into a role of their own.
"We play it very straight," he said, even though it is all made up. Queen Victoria never visited Canada, let alone Barkerville, but it is built on a vision of how it might have been had she ever made such a royal appearance.
"There is some humour in it, but it is an interpretation of actual historical spirit, not a joke we make out of history. It can be fun in a lot of instances around Barkerville with any of the actors in their roles, but this is one in particular that I love to watch," Douglas said.
Tea with the Queen happens at the Wake Up Jake Restaurant in the heart of the historic museum village.
The May long weekend typically draws in about 3,000 people, but all of May is becoming more popular in recent years since the caretakers enacted an inclusive admission policy. During this first month of the new Barkerville season, people are permitted to pay what they can. Those on tight budgets are therefore able to bring their families to the national historic site, while those of more substantial finances often feel moved to pay more than the regular ticket price to help support their efforts to entertain and inform in one of the country's most unique ways.
"All the actors are just rarin' to go," said Douglas. "It's exactly like opening night at a live theatre. There's a freshness to the magic, at this stage of the game. It's a great time of year to be revving up the activity."
The rush of human activity also parallels the rush of spring action back in Barkerville's heydays. As the snow melted, there was an annual burst of people and supplies into the active mining town. Now it is in different form, but no less exciting to the people who live and work there. Everything from the 15th Annual Barkerville Quilt Retreat to the first campers of the season are joining there for some fun and stimulation in the heart of provincial history.
