Petrolians enjoyed a wide range of social activities right from the start. As early as 1869, there had been a town band, a tradition which was maintained virtually without interruption for nearly a century. In the 1870s, the Oil Exchange Hall opened its doors on weekends for touring stage productions. It was not long before the town had its own dramatic society which, by 1889, enjoyed the theatre facility in Victoria Hall. The reading public in the town formed a literary society in the 1870s and a Mechanic's Institute was organized with a substantial library in 1879 to keep Petrolians abreast of the explosion of practical knowledge which was sweeping North America. Church bazaars and picnics were popular but a distinctive feature of the Petrolia social calendar was "The Assembly", a fancy dress ball held four times a year. These balls were held in Victoria Hall's second-floor Opera House from which the seats were cleared for the purpose. This photograph shows one of these gala events.
Team sports, football, baseball and hockey, were always an important part of the sports scene and, in 1888, the bicycle craze arrived with the formation of the first of Petrolia's several bicycle clubs. A particularly unique feature of Petrolia's social life was established in 1882, when a number of businessmen founded the Greenwood Park Driving Association. The 8.5-hectare park site with an excellent clay track made Petrolia an important regional centre for races, sporting events and fairs.
