Provincial Heritage Fair 2010

Many Smiles and Stories Shared During the Provincial Heritage Fair Showcase in Caraquet

June 28, 2010, CAMBRIDGE-NARROWS - This year's Provincial Heritage Fair Showcase started Friday evening in Caraquet, New Brunswick with a small reception for delegates and their families at the Caraquet cultural centre. Antoine Landry, mayor of Caraquet, addressed the room-full of students, who were excitedly anticipating their weekend of New Brunswick heritage and getting to know each other. After the introductions, refreshments were served and the room became filled with friendly chatter. After a period, families started slowly returning to their hotel rooms to rest up for the next day.
         
Saturday morning started bright and early, when parents dropped off fair delegates at the Village Historique Acadien. Some of the students stayed behind for interviews, while the rest went outside with their group leaders, to explore the village. When everyone met for lunch at La Table des Ancetres, several were showing off their freshly made nails from the blacksmith's shop. For lunch, we were treated to pea soup, with fresh homemade bread, and a choice of molasses cake or pudding for dessert. After lunch, we quickly scurried over to the church (in the rain) for a workshop about the Acadian flag. By the time the workshop had finished though, the showers had gone and the sun was starting to shine through, so, we took our time walking back to the bus.

Once everybody's duffel bags and camping supplies were loaded onto the bus, we took off for the Eco-Musée for our tour about oysters and pirates. The kids were especially grossed-out—or excited—(depending upon one's appetite) about the chance to sample some fresh Caraquet oysters. These oysters are said to have the flavour of almonds due to the mix of different water bodies coming together where the farm is located. Once everyone had their fill of oysters, we once again loaded the bus and headed down the road to Sainte-Anne-du-Bocage, which is a religious sanctuary for Acadians all over. Each year this historic site hosts la fête de Sainte-Anne which brings together about 10,000 Acadians. Our group of young historians were given a special tour around the site with Roberta Dugas, to see the graveyard, the founder's sanctuary, the natural spring, the chapel and the monument of l'Assomption. After the tour, we once again boarded the bus to travel to Shippagan to visit the Aquarium & Marine Centre. Once we reached the aquarium, we began our tour with a twenty-minute film about the local fishing industry. Then we were given a talk about the new life rafts now in use on local fishing boats. After, the group was free to wander through the aquarium and see fish from both salt and fresh water. The kids were especially taken with the jellyfish, wolf fish, giant lobster, and sturgeon.

Once through the tanks, we went outside to see the seals and enjoy the touch-tank. Everyone was fascinated with the touch-tank and loved the opportunity to hold the starfish, urchins, sea cucumbers, lobster, clams, mussels, and sponges. As a treat, the tour guide brought out a blue lobster and several of the kids had a chance to hold him. Once everyone had their fill of the aquarium we moved outside to the picnic table to enjoy some good old traditional pizza! By then, we were all pretty hungry from their busy day and needed to refuel before we started our evening events.

Once the pizza had been eaten up, we got back on the bus, but this time with one more passenger, a Lameque islander (Jean-Gilles Lanteigne) who was our tour guide for the drive to Miscou Island. As we started off, Jean-Gilles gave us some facts about the local fishing industry and showed us the one (and only) stop light in Lameque. Throughout our tour we saw many peat bogs in various stages of production, and lots of summer cottages. When we reached the tip of Miscou Island we stopped for a tour of the Miscou lighthouse.

The kids were thrilled to be able to go right to the top of the lighthouse and see such panoramic views looking back on the island or out to the gulf. Then, once our tour was finished, we headed to the beach to do some exploring. As the sun was getting lower in the sky, we dispersed across the rocks and sand, some making daisy chains and others searching for shells and rocks. Finally, as it was getting late, we reluctantly headed back to the bus to make the journey back to Shippagan to drop off Jean-Gilles, then headed to the Club Plein-Air in Caraquet for a campfire and well deserved sleep.

When we arrived at the Club Plein-Air, everyone set up their sleeping bags and a few of the leaders got the campfire started. Once the campfire was going strong everyone came outside and we all roasted marshmallows around the fire to make s'mores.  There were many stories, jokes and laughs to be shared, and by the time we started yawning (and the marshmallow supply was getting low) it was almost midnight—so we decided to call it a night.

Bright and early, the next morning, we began to wake up and get ready for the day. There were a few late sleepers that suffered a sleeping bag drag outside (to get them up and moving) but we were all ready to go by the time the bus arrived to take us back to the Village Historique Acadien.  When we arrived at our destination, several of the kids were interviewed and a few more added final touches to their projects. After a snack of popsicles, the group gathered together to sign t-shirts before preparing to enter the opening ceremony for the Provincial Showcase.

After opening the ceremony with a bilingual version of O Canada the delegates received their medals of achievement from The Honourable Graydon Nicholas, Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, who later stated that this fair was a "wonderful exhibition with a lot to offer the province about its local heritage. It offers a provincial perspective [to our history]". He also said he not only learned a lot from this Showcase but from the many Regional Fairs that he had attended as well.

The Minister of Wellness, Culture and Sport, Hédard Albert, also spoke, stating that "to know history is to know yourself", which rings very true to many of our participants this year. Once the ceremony was finished, the crowd was invited to stay and move around the room listening to delegates talking about their projects. There were many smiles and stories shared in the Showcase room, as the weekend of events wrapped itself up in a very successful way!

The fourteen projects will remain on display at the Village Historique Acadien until July 23.