There was a time when various municipalities in the Eastern Townships prohibited the wearing of shorts in public, which in some cases included even wearing them on your own property. Each community had different rules and regulations set in place, some more strict than others, to determine how short was too short when it came to wearing shorts. In the 1950s and 60s, women were targeted for wearing shorts, which were understood to be taboo. While that type of dress code has come and gone, our archives provided more insight into what the situation was like at the time and the different laws in place across the Townships.
An article from 1949 gives a good idea of the extent to which forbidding shorts was applied in Sherbrooke. During a football game taking place in the city, authorities showed up to the game and pointed fingers at the cheerleaders for their uniforms. They were wearing yellow sweaters and short green skirts but the bylaw that was in place restricted wearing shorts or short skirts in public. Authorities forced the girls to cover up using long coats, which they did, for the rest of the game. According to an article dating back to June 1961, police were keeping an eye out in various towns and cities across the region, and not just in Sherbrooke. See full story in the Thursday, Jan. 16 edition of The Record.
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