Has any one else out there noticed our Cherished Leader’s love of the rolled-shirtsleeve look? Every second photo op features him sans jacket, with his cuffs at half-mast. I assume it’s wardrobe shorthand for “Trust me, I’m just like you in the middle class and those working hard to join it.”
I remarked on this to my wife Terry the other day, and speculated that Justin’s shirtsleeves might be pre-rolled. To my eye, the sleeves in each shot looked exactly the same. They were just too perfect. It was gently suggested that I was dreaming. Nevertheless, I decided to dig deeper and a very brief Internet search brought me to a 2016 Huffington Post article that talked about a collection of pre-rolled white shirts designed by our prime minister. According to the article, “the standout feature is the pre-constructed, perfectly rolled sleeves, which Trudeau believes is a symbol of ‘effectiveness’ and ‘work ethic’.”
As Terry pointed out, the article was too good to be true, and she was right. It was an April Fools gag. However, it does suggest that I’m not alone in thinking Justin’s rolled-up sleeves schtick rings false. I see little difference between these “let’s roll up our sleeves” shirts and the Jodhpuri and other traditional outfits he wore while touring India. They are all just costumes. Now that the writ has been dropped, I wonder if our local Liberal candidate will knock on doors in Dunvegan with sleeves rolled up?
Fall Festival is BACK
I’m told the most common question posed to staff of the Glengarry Pioneer Museum these days is “will there be a fall festival this year?” So I’m pleased to announce that YES, there will be a Harvest Fall Festival in 2021. It will take place on Sunday, September 12th with new, longer hours: from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Naturally, the event will be scaled back a bit to respect the reality of Covid-19. There will be no horse parade this year, or musical concerts under a tent. As well, masks will be required whenever social distancing cannot be maintained.
Nevertheless, the organizing committee co-chaired by Lindsey Howes and Clay MacWhirter is confident their blueprint for FallFest 2021 will deliver a memorable day of fun for visitors. Tentative plans include: vintage harvest machinery demonstrations; heritage trade demonstrations; individualized children’s activities; pop up performances by music buskers; and the always-popular harvest sale table with preserves, garden produce, flowers and plants.
There will even be a new Cow Pie 50/50 raffle. Each numbered raffle ticket will correspond to one square on a fenced-in grid laid out on the field to be “fertilized.” At a time yet to be determined, the bovine star of the show will be turned loose to wander across the grid. It’s then up to Bessie to select the winner. Whosoever holds the numbered ticket that matches the square where she decides to make her first “deposit” will be declared the winner. In the event that the cow pie is shared by adjacent squares, a lucky judge or judges will decide which square’s portion is largest. The details have yet to be finalized, but a 20-square by 20-square grid, for example, would result in 400 raffle tickets. If all were sold at say $10 each, this would generate an impressive gross purse of $4,000 to be shared… at odds a whole lot better than a 6/49 ticket.
I’ll have more details, as we get closer to FallFest Sunday. However, in the meantime, if you’re interested in displaying an antique collection, demonstrating a heritage trade or exhibiting a vintage farm machine, please contact Clay MacWhirter at clay.macw@gmail.com or call 613-306-2578.
Harvest table help!
As I mentioned in the previous item, FallFest 21 will feature a scaled-down version of the Harvest Tent Sale. It won’t be in the same location as it has in the past. To save money, it will forgo the big tent and move under the Williams Pavilion. Former Dunveganite, Barb Newman, is once again heading up the Harvest Sale, and she is calling upon the community at large for donations. Her hope is that friends of the museum will contribute the preserves, garden produce, plants and other items from a bountiful harvest that are needed for this key fund raising table… just as they have ever since the Sale was introduced so many years ago. As Barb remarked to me years ago, “It’s a chance for members of the community to share the fruits of their old family recipes and heritage gardens in the name of a great cause.” You’ll no doubt note that delicious home baking was not on Barb’s wish list this year. At least, yet. She’s still awaiting word as to whether they’ll be allowed to sell bread, rolls, cakes, pies and the like. For more information on how to make a donation, please call Barbara Newman at 613-361-2703.
Radio remembrances
When I was researching the recent ‘Front of Glengarry’ story, I stumbled across a nugget on rural life in Kenyon Township in the late 1930s when the word “wireless” had a whole new meaning. The source is my stringer from Blackburn Hamlet, Ken McEwen. Ken grew up in the 7th concession south of Dunvegan on Lot 35, now known as Fraserloch Farms.
As Ken vividly recalls, it was the autumn of 1939 and he, his brother Gregor, his father, their hired man George Michaud and his son Lionel were standing in the doorway of the machinery shed. As they watched, the neighbour’s son, Warren Smith, came trudging around the corner of the barn and announced, “Pa told me to come over and tell you they’re at it again.” The Smiths lived on Lot 34, immediately to the east of the McEwen’s place, on the farm that was once home to the Sinclair Brickyard. Warren’s father, a veteran of World War One, had sent his son over to announce that World War Two had just been declared. The Warrens had heard the news over one of Johnny Sinclair’s homemade radios.
I’m not sure whether the date of Warren’s announcement was September 3rd when the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany, or seven days later when Canada formally announced hostilities. That day was the impetus for the McEwen family to seriously consider acquiring one of those new-fangled devices. Later that fall they ordered their first radio from the dealer in Maxville. The McEwens wanted a table model, but they were out of stock. So, while they waited for delivery, the dealer loaned them a console model. It was probably much like the large button-rich unit that was in our house when I was young. To this day, I remember fondly the amber glow of its tuner and the joy of sitting close to the cloth-covered speaker listening for Santa Claus to confirm that I was on his Good Boy list.
While a hydro line was strung along the road between the 7th and 8th concessions in 1939, the declaration of war put an immediate stop to electrifying houses and farms. Copper was required for the war effort. So, from 1939 to 1944, the McEwen’s new radio was battery powered. It must have been an exciting day when three men arrived to install it and the aerial. The latter went up the west side of the house and was then strung between the three chimneys to form a triangle. For lightning protection, the aerial also required a ground. Initially, the ground wire was attached to a metal rod driven into the earth, but this wasn’t very effective. So, in the end, the ground wire was lengthened and dropped into the cistern, which
acted as a perfect ground. In the latter half of 1944 the restriction on civilian copper use was eased and the Smiths and McEwens shared the cost of bringing a line up from the concession road, and Ken’s family radio was modified to run on electrical power.
I asked Ken about the programs he and his family would look for on the dial and he replied, “Adults listened to Fibber McGee and Molly, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Don Messer and His Islander’s and the CBC news.” Another must was the Foster Hewitt hockey broadcasts on Saturday night from Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. “It was not unusual for neighbours without a radio to drop in to hear the hockey broadcasts,” Ken told me. “My mother might make fudge, or pop corn to add to our listening pleasure.”
Like myself, Ken recalls that, for kids, listening to radio during the run-up to Christmas and the arrival of Santa Claus was “a highlight indelibly imprinted in our minds.” He has no idea what girls listened to, but amongst he and his friends Jack Armstrong, the All American Boyand The Green Hornet were popular. And The Lone Ranger (with Tonto) was obligatory.
The advent of radio did open up the world for rural residents like never before. However, it and all the media advances that followed served to slowly dissolve the social fabric that had held the community together for well over a hundred years. Life on the farm would never be the same again.
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