Back to School in Kingston
The Kingston Family YMCA very generously supported an extra day in town for the Six String Nation project to present at Canada's oldest high school, Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute - founded (in a different building) in 1792. KCVI's alumni include our first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, and author John Ralston Saul among others.
Skye Cuthbertson is the student who took on organizing the event on behalf of her school as part of her Leadership Project and she did a great job. And thanks to the YMCA and Homestead Landholdings we were also able to mount the portrait feature following the presentation.
Two students played Voyageur for their classmates as part of the presentation so thanks very much to Mike Patterson and Brogan Chaput (both pictured) for bringing the guitar to life at KCVI.
After school it was back home to Toronto - but not before getting in a quick visit to Cooke's Fine Foods - a store that still has the feel of an old provisioners. Cheese man David Currie had come by to get his portrait on Monday so we dropped in to taste some wonderful Fifth Town cheeses. Then we stopped for a burger at Harper's on Princess St. Don't miss it if you're in Kingston!
Thanks also to principal Darlene Scarlett and the rest of the staff and students at KCVI.
Posted at 9:50 PM
We Are Family
In 2008 - the first year of the new February holiday known mostly as "Family Day", we were in Winnipeg (where the day is known as "Riel Day") at the Festival du Voyageur, officially bestowing the nickname Voyageur on the Six String Nation guitar.
Three years later, Voyageur was front and center for Family Day in Ontario at the Kingston Family YMCA. It was an incredible turnout - with 1300 people in the building shattering expectations for the event. It was a full house in the gym (pictured) where I delivered the presentation to a crowd that included Kingston Mayor Mark Gerretsen and our old pal Speaker of the House Peter Milliken - a Kingston native. It being Family Day, there were quite a few little kids running around during the presentation. It occurred to me at one point to ask Speaker Milliken to call "order" but then I realized he's used to way worse in the House of Commons and I got through the presentation just fine! When it came time for someone to play, the folks lined up chickened out so Jeff Lamothe stepped up. Not only did he play brilliantly, but he played Don Ross' "Dracula & Friends", which is no mean feat!
This was also a special presentation because I was able to announce the addition of a brand new piece to the project. But I've decided to leave that an exclusive for the people of Kingston at the moment until the piece(s) are officially mounted on the strap next week. Stay tuned.
Special thanks to Joy McNevin, Trevor Cornelius, Mary Kloosterman and the rest of the YMCA staff for their help. Thanks also to Skye and Andy for volunteering at the portrait station and swimming legend Vicki Keith for bringing by her "penguins" from the Y Knot Abilities team to get their portraits taken with Voyageur. And to Homestead Landholdings for sponsoring the portrait feature. Look for the photos on Flickr in a few weeks.
Posted at 8:16 AM