HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-12-07, Page 7Wednesday, December 7, 2016 • Lucknow Sentinel 7
Blyth Festival announces 2017 season with 'bold, original Canadian plays'
In announcing the shows teeming crowds.
of the 2017 summer season Though his own father ada-
at the Blyth Festival, the mantlyopposedGuy'sloveof
organization is looking to Jazz, and Canadian radio sta-
push the envelope with four tions showed active disinter -
ground -breaking plays. est, Guy's dedication to his
"On the heels of our wildly craft was all consuming, and
successful 2016 season, we are no obstacle could block his
continuingtopushboundaries, path to his dreams. Friend
break rules, and blow our own and influential colleague of
hom to celebrate this incompa- some of the biggest names in
rable country, said Gil Garratt, show biz, including Louis
Artistic Director. `And this year Armstrong, Sophie Tucker, the
the ribbon will be cut on our Andrew Sisters, Al Jolson, Bing
$3.8 million newly renovated Crosby, and others, Guy Lom-
andreadytogoMemorial Hall." bardo and His Royal Canadi-
June 28 to August 19 1 ansblazedapathfromHuron
WORLD PREMIERE County to the Big Apple the
MR. NEW YEAR'S EVE: A likes of which has never been
Night with Guy Lombardo seen, before or since.
BY DAVID SCOTT July 5 to August 19
For forty-eight consecutive THE BERLIN BLUES
years Guy Lombardo was BY DREW HAYDEN
North America's "Mr. New TAYLOR
Year's Eve'; bandleader of the Two German developers
biggest holiday broadcast on arrive unannounced on the
the continent. Together with sleepy, fictional Otter Lake
his band "The Royal Canadi- reserve.They have with them
ans," Lombardo sold more international investors, $164
than 300 million records inter- million dollars, and blueprints
nationally. To this day, they still for a "Native Theme Park" com-
play his recording ofAuld Lang plete with bumper canoes, an
Syne as the official ball drops intemationallonghouse ofpan-
on the annual festivities in cakes, and a giant laser dream
NewYork's Times Square. catcher. What ensues is a hilari-
A son of Italian immi- ous, laugh -a -minute riot, as
grants, Guy was born and some members of the commu-
raised in London, Ontario, nitytrytoshutdownthedevel-
but it was his summers play- opment, while others leap in
ing the biggest beach band- with both feet. Full of absurd
stand in Huron County's gags and indelible, larger -than -
Grand Bend, where this local life characters, The Berlin Blues
musical titan cut his teeth isaslapdowndrag'emoutcul-
and learned to play both his tural appropriation comedy of
many instruments and the the highest (and lowest) order.
August 9 to September 23
1WORLD PREMIERE
THE PIGEON KING
BY THE COMPANY
When Arlan Galbraith cre-
ated his company, Pigeon
King International, he
boasted some fifty -years as a
top breeder; he was a promi-
nent member of the Cana-
dian Racing Pigeon Union,
the Canadian National Tip-
pler Union, the National Bir-
mingham Roller Club, and
even the charter President of
the Saugeen Valley Fur and
Feathers Fanciers Associa-
tion. When he announced
he'd even bred his own dis-
tinct prize winning line of
racers, Strathclyde Genetics,
few of his friends doubted
his downy coronation.
But around 2001, Gal-
braith began approaching
local farmers and neigh-
bours asking them to invest
in a piece of the royal action.
Claiming to have access to
lucrative pigeon racing mar-
kets in Saudi Arabia and
throughout the Middle East,
the Pigeon King began to
sign ten year contracts with
guaranteed profits for buyers
of his breeding pairs, prom-
ising to personally buy back
all of the chicks.
Over the next seven years,
Pigeon King International
became a massive empire,
worth tens of millions of dol-
lars, with farmers investing
from both sides of the border,
mortgaging century farms,
Bruce County History: Big Ben of Bruce County
Bob Johnston
Bruce County Historical
Society
The following story was
written by Mrs. Marion
McGillivray in 1968 for the
Bruce County Historical
Society's yearbook. I have
adapted it for today's reader.
Unusual innovations and
contrivances have always
been legion on Western
Ontario farms.
None has been more unique
than the famous clock tower
which for years surmounted
the bam on the old Bartleman
farm near Maple Hill, between
Hanover and Walkerton. Dur-
ing the years it was standing,
hundreds of people visited the
place and climbed up into the
tower to see the clock mecha-
nism and look over the sur-
rounding countryside.
Peter Bartleman was born
in Haddington, Scotland, in
1795.
In Edinburgh he learned
the trade of building
waterwheels for mills. In 1822
he sailed for Canada, bringing
with him a set of bagpipes
made of walnut with bone
furls, that he had made. After a
six-week voyage in a sailing
vessel, the family first arrived
in Bytown (Ottawa) and later,
in 1855, moved to about two
miles from Walkerton.
CONTINUED > PAGE 12
and hatching hundreds of
thousands of birds, only to
collapse in a bankruptcy fil-
ing of epic proportions.
Finally convicted of fraud in a
Waterloo Court, Arlan Gal-
braith was sentenced to
seven years, for his preposter-
ous Pigeon Ponzi scheme.
The Pigeon King is a country
parable for our times, remind-
ing us that what takes flight,
always comes home to roost.
August 16 to September
16 WORLD PREMIERE
IPPERWASH
BY FALEN JOHNSON &
JESSICA CARMICHAEL
The Blyth Centre for the
Arts sits today on land surren-
dered through Treaty 29, the
Huron Tract, part of the tradi-
tional territories of the People
of Kettle and Stony Point.
In 1942, the Government
of Canada used the War
Measures Act to expropriate
a 2400 acre tract of land from
the Stony Point First Nation;
dispossessed families who
lost their homes were moved
into neighbouring Kettle
Point, while they waited anx-
iously for armistice. The Feds
promised to return the land
when the war was over.
In 1995, after 50 years of
et s 1 o our s art, • ease rec c
waiting, of protests, of unpro-
ductive legal appeals and
demands, one infamous dem-
onstration turned bloody, and
48 year old Dudley George
was shot and killed by OPP
officer Ken Deane.
This was known as the
Ipperwash Crisis... and it
continues to reverberate
coast to coast to coast.
Now, more than 20 years
since Dudley's death, the
land he died protesting for is
being returned; On April 14,
2016, a settlement was rati-
fied finally returning what
remains of the land that
formed Camp Ipperwash.
Ipperwash is a play about
the ever difficult path to
change, the need for whole-
ness in healing, and a complex
country's hunger for hope.
As Garratt concludes
"Come take your brand
spanking new seat, and join
the thousands of adventur-
ers who come ready to see
some of the finest, boldest,
most brilliant theatre in the
land. 43 years and running.
Always relevant, always real.
This is Blyth"
Passes are now on sale for
the 2017 season. Call the Box
Office at 519.523.9300, Toll
Justine Alkema/Clinton News Record
Memorial Hall under
construction in Blyth.
Free 1.877.862.5984 or
online at blythfestival.com.
Buy before December 24 and
save up to 31% over the price
of single tickets.
Blyth Festival acknowl-
edges the support of
the Canada Council for the
Arts, the Ontario Arts Coun-
cil, and the 2015-2017 Sea-
son Sponsor Parkland Fuels/
Sparlings Propane.
The Blyth Festival is a pro-
fessional theatre that enriches
the lives of its audience by
producing and developing
plays that give voice to both
the region and the country.
The theatre produces a reper-
tory summer season of exclu-
sively Canadian theatre, with
an emphasis on new work.
Blyth Centre for the Arts,
including the Blyth Festival,
was founded in 1975.
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Don't Forget:
Look for your 2017 Blue Box Schedule available on
our website January 2017 or in your flyer package
this month
www.brucerecycling.com