Every June, Cumberland holds Miners Memorial Weekend to remember the estimated 321 workers killed in the coal mines that built the town, a toll that includes the 1901 No. 6 Mine explosion, which killed 64 men and boys in a single disaster.

CBC’s coverage of the 40th anniversary weekend talks to descendants and organizers about why the ritual still matters four decades on, and what it means for a town whose identity is still shaped by an industry that’s been gone for the better part of a century.

A good companion piece to A Place Called Cumberland, which covers the same mining history at greater length.