PG Designs

Today marks 57 years since one of humanity's greatest moments.

On July 20, 1969, millions of people around the world gathered around their television sets to watch Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon. In Prince George, something remarkable happened.

Downtown fell silent.

The Prince George Citizen captured an almost unbelievable scene just before the landing. At 12:10 p.m., about an hour before Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface, the city's streets were nearly empty. Cars had disappeared. Sidewalks were deserted. Businesses were quiet.

Where had everyone gone?

Home.

Families crowded into living rooms, neighbours gathered around the newest piece of technology in the house, and people held their breath as grainy black-and-white images arrived from nearly 385,000 kilometres away.

For a few extraordinary hours, it didn't matter whether you lived in Prince George, Paris, or Perth. The whole world was watching the same television broadcast.

When Armstrong spoke the words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," those words echoed just as loudly in Prince George as they did anywhere else on Earth.

Sometimes history isn't just about where something happened.

It's also about where we were when we witnessed it.

On this day in 2026, it's worth remembering that for one Sunday afternoon in July 1969, downtown Prince George became one of the quietest places in Canada—not because nothing was happening, but because everyone was watching history unfold together.

Photo 1: Downtown Prince George moments before the Moon landing as residents gathered around their televisions.
Photo 2: Front page coverage following mankind's first steps on the Moon.

Source: The Prince George Citizen, July 1969.





Email: trish @ pg-designs.ca