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October 17, 2003

Notes on Summer 2003 Heritage Events

I visited London Ontario recently and found several heritage events that I would like to share with you and encourage you to stretch your wings and find similar activities.

A Celebration of First Nations Arts and Wisdom

On September 26 & 27 a fascinating array of native crafts, films, demonstrations and talks took place in London. The event was called A Gathering of Good Minds - A Celebration of First Nations Arts and Wisdom. The first day was at the London Museum, which includes the Art Gallery and was an ideal spot for native art displays and talks. A sunrise ceremony with a ceremonial fire on the lawn of the museum opened the event. A Birchbark Canoe demonstration attracted a large crowd on the lawn. Native dancers were well received. James Bartlemon Ontario's first native Lieutenant-Governor was in attendance and spoke at the opening ceremony and reception.

Jan Longboat talking about herbal medicine at First Nations event in London

On Sunday the event was moved to the London Museum of Archaeology and Lawson Prehistoric Iroquoian Village Site in N.W. London. The Museum Gallery explores 11,000 years of native life in Southern Ontario. The site is the location of a prehistoric Neutral Iroquoian Village where 1500 native people lived 500 years ago. My 2 grandchildren especially enjoyed the ongoing archaeological dig where they screened earth for artifacts.

Doug Mackey's grandchilden at Archaeological dig at London event.

There were many other events including Jan Longboat, who gave a talk on herbal medicines. An Ojibwe elder demonstrated canoe building and there were lots of crafts and good food.

Heritage Steam Train

The London newspaper mentioned a Heritage Steam train leaving the London train station on Saturday at noon. The nearby Covent Gardens Market had a sale of native crafts as a part of the festival above so it was easy to slip over and see the train.

St. Thomas Central Railway Steam Engine No. 9 at station in London.

St. Thomas at one time had 8 railways passing there and has the excellent Elgin County Railway Museum with a large (inactive) train. Another group the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society in the same building acquired and completely restored the St. Thomas Central Railway Engine No. 9 and a string of cars. This 1923 vintage coal-burning steam engine takes trips around the area to places like London Stratford and Guelph (519-631-3260).

A huge crowd with cameras ready waited for the departure and were thrilled by the steam whistle and steam display as the train left the station. For someone like me whose great grandfather and grandfather spent over 40 years each on the railway it was a real thrill to see a fully operating steam train again.

Doors Open

You may have received a booklet in the mail on the new heritage initiative Doors Open which started in Ontario 3 years ago and has spread widely. Doors Open started in Glasgow Scotland in 1990 and has spread across Europe and beyond to 47 countries. The Ontario Heritage Foundation took the lead in Ontario and Doors Open events stared with 17 events in 40 communities. This year there were 27 events involving 130 communities.

The idea is to provide free access to sites that are usually not open and in some cases like a museum or church areas not usually open are opened. The events are free and thousands of people attend. There is nothing in our area yet but the Local Architectural Advisory Committee in North Bay has discussed it and it may eventually happen. It may get into smaller communities in the future. Red Lake which honours the famous Norseman plane had an event in July and Sudbury had an event in September.

The weekend after the native and train events above was London's Open Doors event and was a great success not only as a local heritage event but as a tourist draw. The idea behind the event is to create tourist dollars along with sharing history. The London event jumped from 47 sites to 67 this year, more than you could see in a week.

The remarkable organizational feat of presenting the event included the opening of the Hospice of London in an old home and the presentation of a plaque to a famous London bridge builder. The Fanshawe Dam and the Local TV Station celebrated 50 years and the University of Western Ontario 125. The Beth Emmanuel British Methodist Episcopal Church the centre of London's Black community that I wrote about in Black History month celebrated its 155th anniversary.

Heritage Canada supports Open Doors and provides information on its website on how to organize an event (www.doorsopencanada.ca) and there is detailed Ontario information at dooropenontario.on.ca. The booklets on the event, although they are over for this year are available at information centres or at 1-800 ONTARIO (668-2746).

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