If you are the proud owners of late model children or grandchildren, don’t forget that this coming Saturday is Dunvegan’s annual “Visit with Santa” event. Regrettably, I don’t have a lot of information on what the organizers have planned for this year’s party, beyond what I had to say last week. However, I’m certain that what they have in store will delight young and old Dunveganites alike. From checking out the competing entries in the new Gingerbread House competition or decorating Christmas cookies to tossing rings on Rudolph’s Antlers and fishing with candy canes in North Pole pond, it’s a morning packed with family fun. And if that isn’t enough of a draw, there’s hot-buttered popcorn and a chance to meet Mr. and Mrs. Claus and three of their elves. Why trudge to a big-city mall, when your kids will have much more fun at the DRA Hall, 19053 County Road 24, December 14th at 10 AM.
Sunday school magic
For weeks and weeks, the children who attend Sunday School at Dunvegan’s Kenyon Presbyterian Church have been hard at work preparing for this year’s Christmas pageant. While it won’t be the Broadway-calibre performance of Come From Away, it will be an excellent example of the endearing performances young children have been staging in the newish church hall, and the old brick schoolhouse across the road, for well over a hundred years. The Dunvegan congregation would love to have you join them for the pageant this coming Sunday morning, December 15th, at 9:30 and have asked that I extend an invitation to one and all.
Yes, we have no trees
My sincere apologies for leading you astray last week. As those who showed up last weekend at the Glengarry Pioneer Museum’s first Christmas Market discovered, there were no trees to be had. The local grower who had committed to participate — Glengarry Evergreen Farm on Highway 43 — backed out at the very last minute, leaving the museum high and dry when it came to fulfilling folks’ Yuletide tree needs. Which is a real shame. Jennifer Black, the GPM’s curator, reported that, “around 40 people were interested in purchasing trees.” And Jim Mullin told me that two families from Ottawa drove all the way to Dunvegan so the museum would benefit from their buying a Christmas tree here. Terry and I will be looking for our indoor coniferous focal point this coming weekend. See if you can guess which Christmas tree lot we won’t be visiting.
Christmas at the Crossroads a big draw
From the reports I’ve received, it appears that Dunvegan reached the tipping point this year with its side-by-side holiday themed events: the Historical Crafters’ Fair at the DRA hall and the Christmas Marketplace at the Glengarry Pioneer Museum. Up to 500 visitors, and perhaps more, attended the two-day, two-venue gathering. “I was blown away with the people who drove great distances to come to this little event,” Jim Mullin, organizer of the Historical Crafters’ Fair, told me. “Montreal, Ottawa, Tremblant, Lachute, Gatineau, Rockland, Chateauguay, Smiths Falls, Valleyfield, Morrisburg, Cornwall, St. Jean Sur Richelieu, Laval, St. Jerome and Merrickville were just some of the places where people came from.” All in all, the Crafters’ Fair was a resounding success, raising nearly $650 for the Dunvegan Recreation Association in the process.
Linda Rutgers, organizer of the museum’s first ever Christmas Marketplace, was equally enthused. “It was a really good weekend,” Linda told me in her email. She was especially pleased the event attracted families that were new to the area. “One gentleman from Cornwall was snapping pictures all over the grounds and posting them on Google maps. Great exposure.” If Linda has her way (and I hope she does), the Christmas Marketplace will become an annual event on the museum’s calendar. Linda reports that all the vendors at the museum were very happy with the turnout and said they’d love to be included next year.
Jennifer wanted me to express her thanks to Jim Mullin who organized the craft fair in the DRA hall and Linda Rutgers who was in charge of the museum’s marketplace. Several other volunteers are also deserving of special recognition for taking time from their busy holiday schedule to support our small community. These include: Eleanor Sides, Mary-Tim Hare, Kim Little and James Prevost, who spent two full days keeping the museum’s bonfire going.
Dunvegan Carolling 2.0
On top of the two Yule marts, Jim Mullin reported that a gang of nearly a dozen like-minded individuals went Christmas carolling Saturday evening. They started at the museum and ended up at the DRA hall where they toasted the season with hot chocolate. Apparently, the carollers included three generations of a family from Cornwall. It was their first time in Dunvegan and they were so impressed with what they saw, they pledged to return for the museum’s regular season.
I’m delighted to see carollers on the streets of Dunvegan once again. Back in the 1980s, a number of DRA members, including Terry and I, Robb and Joyce Cutts and Phillip Connolly, hit the bricks with oil lanterns on poles to light our way. Carol sheets from the Montreal Gazette in hand, we raised our voices in seasonal celebration as we wandered from house to house. Unfortunately, the embryonic tradition failed to catch on. I sincerely hope Dunvegan Carolling 2.0 is a continuing success.
What light through yonder window breaks?
Last week, I mentioned that one item in the 1919 annual report from the church in Dunvegan really caught my eye… a $30 payment to the People’s Gas Co. for calcium carbide. This nearly what the church spent on heat that year. Few people these days are familiar with calcium carbide. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it brought about a revolution in rural lighting technology. Those in larger urban centres had been enjoying the convenience of gas lighting from as early as 1816. Originally, the gas was manufactured from coal. But late in the 19th century, natural gas began to replace coal gas. Stored centrally, the gas was distributed to homes, businesses and factories via underground pipes, just as it is today. However, there was no gas distribution network in rural areas, so county folk continued to rely on candles and kerosene lamps for their light.
All this began to change in 1862 with the discovery of acetylene, a flammable gas produced when calcium carbide reacts with water. However, there wasn’t enough naturally occurring calcium carbide to meet the demand… that is until a young Canadian inventor by the name of Thomas Leopold Willson came along. Willson was experimenting with the steam driven dynamo he had invented. While attempting to smelt metals in an electric furnace, he accidentally produced calcium carbide. Knowing that water and calcium carbide produces acetylene (a gas that burned much brighter than coal gas or even the electrical lights of that period), Willson set about developing an affordable process for producing calcium carbide. This he did and the market for this miracle material grew and grew. It was first used in acetylene generators for lamps for lighthouses, railway coaches, bicycle and motorcycle headlights and miners’ headlamps. However, soon acetylene generators were being installed in houses, offices and other public buildings with no access to a city gas supply.
The line item for carbide in the 1919 annual report suggests that, a century ago, the Kenyon Presbyterian Church was brightly lit with acetylene gas lamps. I also suspect that the DRA hall… or the Dunvegan Orange Lodge as it was known back then… also had an acetylene generator and a network of narrow pipes leading to gas lighting fixtures throughout the two-story structure. Evidence for this can be seen in an old black & white photo of the Dunvegan Ladies Orange Benevolent Association standing outside the open doors to the hall. Behind them in the foyer is what looks very much like a dual burner gas lamp.
In 1895, Willson sold his American patents and returned to Canada. The syndicate that purchased his process later became Union Carbide. After moving to Ottawa in 1901, he was the first person in that city to own an automobile. T.L. Willson died of a heart attack in New York City in 1915 at the age of 55.
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