Intern joins South Dundas Recreation

 The volunteer board of the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage is eager to present its outstanding 2013-14 season.

“This is the first year that we have been able to have our entire concert year planned from the outset,” said board member Derek Hunter. “The financial support we gained this year has allowed us to set up and publicize the full series of 10 performances.”

“I think people are going to leap to their feet cheering for the line-up at the Stage this year,” added board member, Bill Carriere.

The St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage is now an officially registered charity (able to issue tax receipts). Board members are both excited and grateful to have earned the on-going financial support of the municipality of South Dundas, as well as two years funding from Heritage Canada. “Fingers crossed, we should hear any day now from the provincial funding people as well,” said board member Sandra Whitworth. “We have also been utterly flabbergasted at the financial response we have had from our local business community. The sponsorship of area businesses has been priceless.”

 In the 2012-13 concert season, the board saw a dramatic turn around in audience attendance after December. Audiences built to around 65-70 per cent capacity for each show, “very good news for us and for our funders, and for the future,” board members said.

Audiences are coming from the broader SD&G region, as well as from Cornwall, Ottawa and even from as far away as southern Ontario. Family groups are putting the Stage on their schedules: once introduced to the quality of the performers at the Stage, many young people are returning to other concerts, a trend the board is pleased to see. “We have an incredible mixture of shows scheduled, shows which will appeal to a wide range of tastes and ages,” said Whitworth.  “The St. Lawrence Stage is for everyone.”

“I think there is a confidence in us now,” Carriere said, “a confidence from the public that we are going to put on good shows. We have a predictability in the level of talent we present: the performers are outstanding. People really know that they will be attending first class shows.”

There can be little doubt that a first class line up of artists is coming to the Stage.

Opening the season on September 14,  is the phenomenal Shane Koyczan, who literally electrified all of North America and the world with his stunning piece in the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics.  “We have funding from the Eric Baker Family Foundation to thank for our ability to bring Shane here to Morrisburg,” Whitworth said. 

Singer/songwriters Ian Sherwood and Coco Love Alcorn are bringing their exciting show to the Stage in October. “They play multiple instruments, including horns,” said Carriere. “They have a great, great sound!” 

Artist Garnet Rogers will light up the stage in November. Rogers is regarded as one of the major folk talents of our time. He will be joined later in November by the big blues sound of the 24th Street Wailers, an explosive force on the North American festival scene, and recently featured, August 2, in the Ottawa Citizen’s Arts & Life section. In January look for the outstanding fingerstyle guitarist, Antoine Dufour, the Juno Award winning banjo playing of Old Man Luedecke in February and Chic Gamine out of Manitoba in March. With their Motown sound, and incredible four part harmonies, Chic Gamine was among the closing acts of the Vancouver Olympics. In April the band, Digging Roots, will bring the joyful energy of their hip hop, folk, reggae and blues sound to the Stage.

In keeping with their philosophy of giving up-and-coming artists a professional venue in which to perform, the St. Lawrence Stage will also present two Intimate Acoustics concerts in December and May, featuring future stars. 

As they continue to bring extraordinary music and talent to South Dundas, the board is going through a bit of a re-orientation itself. Whitworth, Hunter, Carriere and Tony McCadden have been in conference with Peter MacDonald, manager of Chamberfest in Ottawa, “who worked with us on thinking through issues and ideas to ensure that we continue to exist and to grow. Even though we remain made up of volunteers, we are putting together a more professional approach to the Stage. We hope to attract more people to the board who may have different kinds of expertise.”

Currently, the sale of season’s passes for the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage’s 2013-14 season has been extended to August 17. Check at www.st-lawrencestage.com to learn of exciting ticket options, and to book concert passes. 

It will be a great series.

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   The bickering, wealthy Worthingtons, Ashley and Billy, want to divorce. However, in the true spirit of There’s A Burglar In My Bed, each is soon convinced that he/she has a solution to the ticklish […]

From the pop bottle to the exquisitely cut glass of a beautiful chandelier, glass is both practical and extravagant.  

At Upper Canada Village this weekend, visitors can discover the magic of glass blowing, magic lantern slides and mirrors.  Painted and stained glass, kaleidoscopes as well as industrial applications will all be on display.

A special feature of the weekend will be the remarkable stained glass windows painted in the 1880s by famed artist Harry Horwood for the home of distillery owner J. P. Wiser.  

Two newly restored Horwood windows will be on display in Crysler Hall for the first time since the 1950s.  

On Saturday, September 22 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., Brian Eagle of Northern Glass will discuss his restoration work of the Horwood windows.  

David Martin of Ogdensburg, NY, a stained glass photographer and historian, will make presentations on Sunday, September 23 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. about Harry Horwood, the remarkable artist who created the windows.

“This event was inspired by the beautiful Horwood windows that we now have on display at Crysler Hall,” says Dave Dobbie, Manager of Upper Canada Village.  “It is amazing how glass has so many uses.  From its use as an art form to industrial or general household purposes, glass has done it all.  It is very versatile and you can find beauty in even the everyday items.  I hope that our visitors find this as fascinating as we do.”

Various discussions and presentations will take place on both Saturday and Sunday in Crysler Hall and Providence Chapel:

•Brian Phillips will present the story of the Mallorytown Glass Works, opened in 1839, the first glass factory in Upper Canada.  Presentations will be at 12 noon and 3:00 p.m. Saturday only, in Crysler Hall.

•Professor M. Lindsay Lambert is returning to the Village with his popular 19th Century Entertainment!  Three times each day (11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.) both Saturday and Sunday in Providence Chapel, he will present a Magic Lantern show.  Using vintage glass slides and a lantern from circa 1900, Prof. Lambert tells a fascinating story of life and entertainment before film and video.  

•Suzanne Plousos, Archaeologist and Material Culture Researcher from Parks Canada, will be on hand to display and discuss bottles and drink-related tableware recovered by archaeologists excavating War of 1812 through to 1840’s National Historic Sites, including artifacts from Fort Wellington, Fort Malden and Fort George.  Visitors can discover why glass beverage bottles have different shapes, learn to identify British products from French, Netherlands and early American beverage bottles and discover a long standing British military tradition for toasting the monarch.  Presentations will be at 12:noon and 3 p.m. Sunday only in Crysler Hall.

Other displays throughout the Village on both Saturday and Sunday will include: Discovery Centre-Paperweight Collectors of Ontario; Fairgrounds-Paul Reid, Reid’s Beads, sales and demonstrations; Janet Potter – The Glass Case – jewellery and more; Ron Squires – Squires Wood & Glass Works – stained glass demonstration.  

Upper Canada Village education staff will also be organizing family activities including games and music.

 Upper Canada Village will feature various Village artifacts including optical glass in Crysler Hall and other glass items and artifacts in all of the buildings.  

Special discussions will take place in Robertson House (garden cloche); the Cabinetmaker’s (window glass); Crysler Store (poison bottles); the Physician’s House (glass use in medicine); Dressmaker (mirrors) and at Ross Farm House (decorative painting).

Admission to Upper Canada Village is Adult (13 to 64 years) – $17; Senior (65 years and over) – $14; Youth (6 to 12 years) – $14 and Children (5 years and under) – free. 

For more information call the Customer Service Unit at 613-543-4328 (locally) or 800-437-2233 or visit the website at www.UpperCanadaVillage.com.

Visitors to Upper Canada Village are reminded that on select nights from October 5 through October 31, a Hallowe’en experience will unfold unlike any other in the region.  

Visitors are invited to come and stroll through an all-new, hauntingly beautiful and spellbinding outdoor exhibit of thousands of hand-carved pumpkins, set against a stirring night-time backdrop just inside the gates of historic Upper Canada Village. 

This mesmerizing installation of artist-inspired, glowing pumpkins is a not-to-be-missed event for ALL ages.

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