For its 50th anniversary, Mississauga will get its own anthem

“O Mississauga, our home and native …”

Wait, that lyrical idea has already been taken.

Not to worry, though. There are plenty more creative ways in which Mississauga residents can pay musical tribute to their city as it prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary in a few short months.

Mississauga-based musicians and songwriters are being invited to try to leave their mark on music history in Canada’s seventh-largest city by creating an original anthem about Mississauga.

The “Mississauga’s 50th Anthem” contest invites those interested in participating to submit entries by Nov. 6 at 11 a.m.

The brainchild of Ward 1 Councillor Stephen Dasko, the contest is being run by the Mississauga Arts Council, Metalworks Studios in Mississauga and SoundsUnite, an online vehicle through which people can create music.

The contest seeks to find “the best anthem incorporating the word Mississauga and reflecting the spirit and diversity of our dynamic city and its promising future,” organizers say.

The winner, as chosen by a jury comprised of those with ties to the Mississauga music community, will receive a recording and mixing session from world-famous Metalworks Studios and have their song forever named “Mississauga’s 50th Anthem.”

The winning entry will be announced in December and the successful composer may also be invited to perform the song at an official public celebration of Mississauga’s 50th anniversary, officials say.

Dasko said on his website that on the occasion of Mississauga’s upcoming anniversary, which will be celebrated with numerous events across the city throughout 2024, he had a vision to create an anthem to mark the moment.

“My initiative was received with open arms by Metalworks Studios, Mississauga Arts Council and the creative industries at the City of Mississauga, who collaboratively came together to host this song contest for the most unique and fitting song to help celebrate the City of Mississauga’s milestone,” the councillor wrote.

Metalworks founder and CEO Gil Moore, part of the iconic Canadian rock band Triumph that debuted to much success in the 1970s and carried its popularity into the ’80s and beyond, said he’s proud to be involved in the creation of an anthem for the city.

“Mississauga’s 50th anniversary is a milestone that should be celebrated and what better way than recording a new city anthem,” he said on Dasko’s website.

A half century ago, popular Canadian country singer Tommy Hunter, now 86, wrote and performed a song to mark Mississauga’s birth as a city (see link below).

Hunter was living in the Lorne Park area of the city at the time and the song he penned is called, simply enough, Mississauga.

“In 1974, the year of City of Mississauga’s incorporation, the great country singer-songwriter and Mississauga resident Tommy Hunter wrote and recorded Mississauga, a song to celebrate and uplift the newly formed city,” Mississauga Arts Council officials said in announcing the anthem contest online. “Fifty years later, the time has come to create an iconic anthem for a new era to celebrate community pride.”

Bonnie Crombie, who has stepped away from the Mississauga mayor’s seat to pursue the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party, said earlier this year that Mississauga’s 50th birthday celebration in 2024 will be a “party for the ages.”

“A lot of plans…are well underway and we are going to create so many new initiatives and events,” said Crombie, noting that new public art, city-wide street banners, a commemorative Mississauga Library card and a wide array of anniversary-themed programming and events are just a few things planned for the City of Mississauga’s year-long 50th anniversary bash.

A time capsule is also included in the plans as Mississauga prepares to mark a half-century of existence.

In all, more than 50 initiatives throughout the entirety of 2024 are in place to mark the milestone, city officials said earlier.

And the big bash of 2024 will be launched at Mississauga’s annual New Year’s Eve party at Celebration Square in the downtown core.

In 1974, the townships of Streetsville, Port Credit and Mississauga amalgamated to form Mississauga.