A Sense of Community…

One of the great things about being a “Festival Nomad” is being able to visit unique rural communities! Over the years, we have had the privilege of visiting a 100’s of such communities. Our first festival took us to Elmvale. This is a small town located northwest of Barrie. They host a wonderful Maple Syrup Festival each spring and attract thousands of people to it! Colborne was our next rural experience. Colborne, located just east of Cobourg, is the home of the Old Tyme Apple Blossom Festival. Judi was able to find a few “treasured” books in the book sale that was held in their town park! Other great rural communities followed, Frankford (located on the Trent-Severn Waterway), Gravenhurst (in the heart of Muskoka), Warkworth (where we discover that Cowboys and Cowgirls do exist in Ontario!), Smith’s Falls (where chocolate filled the air), Buckhorn many times!), Wellington (a great retirement community), Bala (where the street on a fall weekend are lined with Cranberry products) and Waterford (where the pumpkins glow in the dark and people’s homes are decorated to match the theme of their festival).

There were, of course, more, many more, but I think you understand what I am trying to convey. While big cities may be the engine of our economy, rural communities and their residents are the “heart and soul” of our province. They represent what most of us would like to achieve in life, “peace, quiet and a sense of community”!

My own town, Thornbury, gives Judi and I this sense of well-being. I hope you find or have found your own “heart and soul”!

If You Can’t Trust The Weatherman… (Part Two)

At approximately 8:25 PM the rain had stopped and organizers were starting to set up the battle area. At 8:45 PM, the battle had begun! People had flocked to the beach to see the battle. We stayed to then of the re-enactment then started on our trip home. Was it worth the time and wait, you bet it was, but no thanks to the weatherman!

The next day we went to the Canadian Aviation Expo in Oshawa (Note: it was moved to Waterloo, but I think it’s now been cancelled permanently). This event included an air show that was scheduled to start at 3:00 PM. It was like “déjà vu” all over again! The weather was sunny and warm (just like the weatherman said)! At 3:00 PM the announcer told us that the show was good to go. There was a little dark cloud off to the west, no problem! The air show started. Two of the scheduled participant completed their flybys. Then the announcer came back on the PA to tell us that the show had been suspended for one hour and that we should all take cover in the buildings (déjà vu). Once again we debated and waited. Finally, at a little after 4:00 PM, the air show started again. The first performance went off without a hitch. The second performers, 4 Harvards, took off to darkening skis. They just finished landing when the announcer once again came on the PA system and declared that the remainder of the air show was cancelled! We had just enough time to reach our car before the heavens open and the heavy rains came!

Did the weatherman really mess up this weekend or was it the “Weather Gods” just having a little “fun” at our expense?

If You Can’t Trust The Weatherman… (Part One)

If you can’t trust the weatherman, who can you trust?

We visited two different events. One was in the south western part of Ontario, Port Dover and the other was in Central Ontario, Oshawa. The first festival we visited was the Marine Heritage Festival (retired) in Port Dover. The drove three hours to attend! The festival included a marine/military re-enactment on the shores of Lake Erie. This was the main event we wanted to see. Acquaintances had told us that last year’s re-enactment was exceptional, so we were really looking forward to this year’s event! The battle re-enactment was scheduled for twilight (8:30 PM). The whole day was mainly sunny and how (as forecasted). About 7:00 PM we walked to the beach with our lawn chairs to settle in and wait for the battle. We set up our chairs on the beach. The sun was still shinning and the lake was quite calm. About 7:30 PM event organizers came onto the beach and staked out the battle area. We moved our chairs back behind the “Caution Tape”. We had just settled into our chairs when we noticed a dark cloud across the lake! Then there was thunder and lightning! Then the winds started and the temperature dropped! Waves started to roll in and the wind began to blow harder! Finally the dark cloud was over us and the rain started! Someone shouted that everyone should take cover! We ran for our car and made it just in time before the heavy rains started! The time was now about 7:45 PM. We sat in the car debating whether or not the battle re-enactment would take place and should we start now on our long drive home. I felt that it was worth waiting as we had driven so far just to see the main battle, so we waited! 

(To be Continued…)

Back to the Future…

Over the years, we have been able to visit a number of Pioneer Villages and Re-enactments. In doing so, Judi and I have not only had an enjoyable time, but we have learned a lot of about the history of Canada and its pioneers.

Our first encounter with the past was at the “Battle of Stoney Creek”. This was a re-enactment of the 1813 battle that took place in Stoney Creek between the British and the Americans. At the re-enactment we saw the British encampment, browsed the merchant tents and witnessed a “mock” battle. Along the way we learned about Canadian and United States relationships and our respective histories.

Our next journey back in time was to the Black Creek Pioneer Village. As we wandered through the Village we were able to investigate the fascinating historical buildings and watch as Village interpreters told or showed us who our forefathers lived and survived.

These were followed by visits the Queen’s Park to see democracy at work in the Ontario Legislative Assembly. Then it was Lang Pioneer Village for their Christmas by Candlelight. In Perth we visited the elegant Matheson House. Here we could catch a glimpse of the life and times of an 1840’s family.

A while ago we traveled to Keswick to the Georgina Pioneer Village. They were featuring a re-enactment of the Rise to Rebellion. This is where William Lyon MacKenzie in 1837 tried to incite Canadians to throw off British rule.

We visited Chatham one year and witnessed the Gregor’s Crossing Medieval Faire (no longer run). Knights competed against one another for the favour of a fair maiden.

And then there were a Naval and Military encampment and battle in Port Dover and a military re-enactment at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg?

The past is definitely our future! (See Ontario Heritage Visited at www.ontariofestivalsvisited.ca for articles about our Heritage Adventures.)

Fun and Games…

I like to go to festivals and events that have a lot of action and have interesting things to do and see! Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy art and craft shows. I really appreciate the talent and effort that goes into creating works of art, but ultimately I like action. The McCann Super Dog Show is a great example. Watching these wonderful animals perform near impossible tricks catches my attention. Judging by the number of people who turn out to watch these shows, I know I am not alone. Then there is the West Coast Lumberjack Show. This show is not only exciting; it is filled with zany humour! A while ago I was at the Toronto International Circus Festival. The aerialist show was dangerous and spectacular! Three talented aerialists manipulated their bodies on thin ribbons of cloth, thrilling the crowd below! The Gregor’s Crossing Medieval Faire was the most awe inspiring event we have seen so far! Four Knights compete in various medieval games, trying to out-best each other. The culminating event was the joust. This event is not for the faint of heart. Here the combatants go head to head in a REAL joust. Yes, they are protected by armor, but the lances are real and each Knight wants to best the other to win the event. Knight against Knight, charging towards each other at great speeds with their lances lowered! As they reach each other and make contact, splinters of wood fly everywhere! One Knight was hit by a lance on his helmet and got knocked off his horse. He lay there for quite some time recovering! Fortunately he wasn’t badly hurt, but it was definitely breath taking for the audience. Like I have said before, we enjoy and visit all kinds of festivals and events and we don’t deliberately seek action filled festivals, but it is great when we do find them!

What Not To Wear…

Judi and I were traveling from an event and started talking about clothing. The conversation was not about how each other looked. It was about how many times we had gone to a festival wearing inappropriate clothing! Over this past year or so, we have definitely had our share of “What not to wear”!

There was time when we visited the Shelter Valley Folk Festival. We had parked our car in a farmer’s field. The field had just been freshly cut so there were lots of sharp edges! For some reason Judi had decided to wear sandals (she never wears sandals!) and the sharp edges really cut into her feet! Lesson learned!

Then there was the time that I visited the Brighton Winterfest. I decided to wear a pair of cotton pants and deck shoes. The weather was supposed to be sunny and reasonably warm for that time of year. It started off that way. Unfortunately it didn’t continue that way, and once I had reached Brighton large flakes on snow were falling! One of the festival’s events was snowmobile racing at the Brighton Speedway. This is where the snow really started to fall! There I was, the lowly “Festival Nomad” sitting in the stands with cotton pants and deck shoe, surrounded by “winter” people all dressed in heavy parkas and warm snowmobile boots! As the snow continued to fall, I am sure I started to look like a giant snowman!!

You would have thought a reasonably intelligent man would have learned a valuable lesson, but not the “Nomad”, lesson NOT learned! A few weeks later Judi and I visited the Ajax Winterfest. You guessed it; I was wearing the same cotton pants and deck shoes! Although it wasn’t snowing, it was extremely cold and it had just snowed the night before. I am sure I must have posed quite the figure as we tramped through the snow following other festival visitors who were wearing snow boots or snowshoes! I had to follow in their tracks so that I wouldn’t have to break a new path in the deep snow. As it was snow managed to sneak into my shoes causing a wet crunchy feeling next to my socks! Lesson FINALLY learned???!!!

Getting There (Part Two)…

Fortunately, this time I followed Judi’s advice and turned right. We followed Hwy. #48, passing the “Sutton this way” sign and headed south towards Toronto. A few kilometers south of Sutton we saw a sign saying “this way to Keswick”. We turned right and followed the sign’s directions! We eventually came to Woodbine Avenue and another “Keswick” sign. We turned right again and this time drove straight in to downtown “Keswick”. From there it was easy to find the re-enactment! It was being held at the Georgina Pioneer Village which was part of the Georgina Community Centre complex. The way to this complex is very well marked, we couldn’t go wrong! The sad ending to this story for the “know-it-all Festival Nomad” is that if we had turned left in Jackson’s Point, as Judi had suggested, we would have driven directly to the complex and the re-enactment. We would have arrived a half hour earlier and would have saved a quarter tank of gas! The moral –

“The Nomad isn’t (sigh) always right, but his trusty side kick (Scoop Judi) is!”

UPDATE ~ I wrote this Blog article a number of years ago. Since then GPS devices have taken over the directional thought process. It’s a “sure” way of getting to you final destination… well, MAYBE not so “sure”! One Christmas, my daughter and her husband gave us a GPS device. We were so happy to have it that we named it LUCY, after Schultz’s “know-it-all” cartoon character. All was going well with “LUCY” until I programmed if to find a route to Creemore. LUCY seemed to start off right until we got deep into a forested road. All of a sudden, in the middle of the forest she told us to “turn right” We entered a road that was a “Dead-end”. As we stopped, LUCY announced that we had “Reached Our Destination”! Creemore, my friends, is NOT located in the middle of a “forest” on a “dead-end” road! We started out again, this time with Scoop Judi navigating the route and we successfully found our way to the “real” Creemore. To “punish” LUCY, I put her in the car’s “glove box” while Judi (me navigation hero) and went into the town’s great bakery for a coffee and goodie.

I think that this punishment might have taught LUCY a lesson, because she didn’t “mess up” again!

"Coffee & Goodies Galore!"