The Citizen, 2013-05-30, Page 23THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013. PAGE 23.
A year after a successful revival of
the Alice Munro Festival of Readers
and Writers, North Huron Township
Council decided to incorporate the
committee responsible for the
festival into the township, making it
a committee of council.
Beth Ross, one of the committee
members of the original group,
explained the purpose of the festival
and why they were so excited that it
had been such a success.
“Our mandate is to recognize and
celebrate our renowned and award-
winning author Alice Munro,” she
said, adding that the Festival has
already found support in the
community. “We have confirmed
sponsors in the Blyth Festival,
CKNX, the Huron County Library
and Social Services department,
Royal Homes, Stainton Home
Hardware and the Wingham and
Area Horticultural Society.”
The group is updating the
competition, raising the prizes in the
youth category to match those in the
adult category. First place in both
categories will receive $500, second
place finishers will receive $300 and
third place writers will receive $200.
Ross explained that the committee
saw more than 50 entries last year
and that this year’s competition will
close at the end of July.
Following that, on Saturday, Sept.
28, the two-day event will kick off.
On that Saturday, there will be a
workshop on self editing for the
writers as well as presentations
about reading Munro’s works and an
open mic event.
“Reading Allowed/A Loud in
Huron is an event where poets,
comedians and short story writers
can have an opportunity to present in
front of a live audience,” Ross said.
“It will be held at the studio in
Together two festival committees
are hosting a presentation by actor
and creative director Peggy Coffey
in a reading of her mask and story
piece I Was Born at 2 p.m. on June
19 at Trivitt Memorial Anglican
Church, 264 Main Street South,
Exeter.
Peggy brings alive the stories of
women who began their lives at the
turn of the 20th century in rural
Ontario; extraordinary women who
lived through some of the most
dramatic changes of any generation.
The presentation is based on stories
of the women of the Women’s
Institutes, which were collected and
published by the Women’s Institute
(WI) in a book called From This
Place by Pat Salter.
“I was immediately taken by the
power and historical significance of
the stories these women tell about
the lives they lived in the early part
of the 20th century in rural southern
Ontario,” Peggy says. She quickly
began to envision a theatre piece that
would tell these stories and celebrate
the lives of these remarkable
women.
Working in collaboration with
Heather Ruthig, a prop and mask
maker from the Stratford Festival,
they created the first mask. Grace is
a 90-year-old woman who tells the
first story in the book. Peggy recalls:
“I envisioned Grace standing on a
white pedestal with “circa 1901” on
a sign at her feet, the idea being that
she is a 'museum piece'. Then
Grace steps off the pedestal and tells
her story.”
Peggy gives “voice to an entire
generation, whose perspective
stands in illuminating contrast to our
crowded, chaotic, and ever-
shrinking world” one audience
member said after seeing Peggy
perform this piece. Marion Adler
says it best: I Was Born is “a
magical, immediate, exhilarating
experience of the past (achieved)
with simplicity and grace.”
Doors open at 1 p.m. with the
reading performance to take place at
2 p.m. Tickets are $10 per
person and are available by calling
Bonnie Sitter at 519-235-
1909 or Karen Stewart at 519-523-
4328.
North Huron donates to Munro Festival
WI stories brought to the stage
Start of the season
Famed Canadian musician Fred Eaglesmith performed at Blyth Memorial Hall on Saturday as
part of the Blyth Festival’s remount of last year’s Dear Johnny Deere, which featured
Eaglesmith’s music. The concert, which was well attended, hit the stage ahead of the Dear
Johnny Deere remount, which officially takes to the stage on Thursday, June 13. (Jim Brown
photo)
Calling all
Artisans,
Entertainers,
Vendors &
Volunteers
We Need You!
The Blyth Business Improvement Area is forming a Streetfest on July 27, 2013.
The festivities will include Music, Entertainment, Food, Craft Vendors, a Farmers’
Market, a ‘Kiss the Pig’ challenge, Horse-Drawn Wagon rides and more!
To participate, please call Lorna Fraser at 519-523-9687
or Sharon Davis at 519-523-9028. We look forward to hearing from you!
Blyth Business Improvement Area
Box 269, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0
blyth&area.ca • info@blythBBIA.com
“Lettuce” Entertain You!
Hip Hip Hoera
Opa John Albers turns 60
June 5
Love Ethan, Owen, Jackson, Logan & Aiden
and
Ivonne, Theresa & Shane, Mike & Mary-Lou
Adam & Kim & Laura
273 Hamilton St., Blyth • 519-523-4590
www.blytheastsidedance.com
Blyth East Side Dance
Learn the Swing
Jessica Elizabeth Sparling graduated May 26,
2013 from the College of Human Ecology at
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, with a
Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Ecology.
Jessica has been named the Cornell Global
Health Program Fellow for 2013-2014, and will
begin her Fellowship following an internship as
Program Assistant, Cornell Summer India
Program at Vivekananda Memorial Hospital,
Kenchanahalli, Karnataka, India.
Post-Fellowship, Jessica will begin Master’s
studies at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice at Dartmouth
College, Hanover, New Hampshire.
Jessica is the daughter of Steven and Laurie Sparling, Blyth, and is a proud graduate
of Blyth Public School and St. Anne’s Catholic Secondary School, Clinton.
Graduation
Jessica E. Sparling, B.Sc., Cornell Fellow
Entertainment Leisure&
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 24