Happy New Year!
As each new year dawns I take a moment to write something reflective about the past year and look forward to the future. This year as I write I find myself reflecting on some of the greatest “traditions” we have in our small town and how fragile it really is in a day of consumerism and conglomerations.
Recently, while speaking at a Christmas Concert I looked to my left to see one of the reporters for the Perth Courier sitting there not only enjoying the music, but hard at work covering the concert. At the time I remarked to the public how privileged we are to have had a true community paper that has been published weekly for just over 175 years now. The more I thought about this over the last few days, the more important it has brought focus to one of those things we often might not recognize: the importance of recording and retelling our stories.
We are, at best, a collection of fragments from our past. We assemble them, rewrite them, dust of bits, put others away and highlight some portions depending on the occasion. This past holiday has proven that to me: not only was I able to share stories from my family and our traditions, but to blend them with true life experiences drawn from the pages of the Bathurst Courier and Perth Courier. What a loss it would be to our small town if that reporter’s voice had been silenced.
The television surrounds us with adds about protecting local television. We see the results when a major local event happens and there is little to no coverage as the large national oriented networks prefer to focus not on the stories that shape our histories, but on the sound bites that will ultimately be forgotten as the next national sound bite comes to the air.
There remains something very important in that local reporter, writing not about something that will shape Canada’s agenda, but reporting on something that will form our personal story; our own interpretation of the town we live in. She stands in the footsteps of those who have recorded the legends that mold us into what we are and what we will become.
We call ourselves “the heritage town of Perth.” Somehow, had it not been for the voices of 175 years of reporters we would be less of a community. Had the Courier not been there to record and report on the little things that we recall so vividly today the memories might have passed and future generations would certainly have had a great loss.
To our stories and to another year to tell them … and to another year to create them.
May God grant you a happy and healthy New Year!

Mr. & Mrs. Town Crier
Posted: January 1st, 2010 under In Perth.
It is amazing what a little snow can do. Only a few weeks ago we joked about the warm conditions our community was going through and today, well, with the temperatures at the uncomfortably cold mark and snow piles deep at our door steps … things change.
These past few weeks I have had the opportunity to reflect once again on just how eclectic we truly were. As I pour through old newspapers and writings I see a very different little town … one which embraced a large spectrum of traditions and practices, particularly at this holiday period. It is easy to see the influence of those who came from France, Germany, Switzerland. It is apparent where the Irish and English influenced the celebrations within our town and how the Scottish embraced the coming of each New Year. The reports of community dances, of times of singing and concerts abound. When one considers how difficult it was to simply travel into town in the early days, these seem even more important.
Still, beginning in 1848 you will see mention of Christmas in the Bathurst Courier. It will be the 1890’s before we see Christmas advertisements, but there are a few editorials and articles which talk about the giving nature of this community throughout the holiday period. One article from 1849 is particularly heart-warming. These are the stories that Father Christmas has the rare opportunity to share wit h the young people who are visiting the Perth Museum this December.
This year’s Festival of Good Cheer had a special guest in the person of Father Christmas, who made his official appearance on the streets of Perth over the weekend. Call him what you want … a Green Man, Father Winter or the more traditional Father Christmas, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet visitors to our town and speak about the traditions of the first Christmas here in this heritage community.
Our Father Christmas continues the ancient tradition of wishing everyone “Waes Hael” … which is Olde English for “Good Health” or simply “Be Well!” He must never be confused with Santa Claus … that is the one blending that the Victorians themselves started in the 1890’s. No! No! … Dressed in his green robes our Father Christmas reminds us that the season is about enjoying the time we spend with family, with friends and even with our visitors. Father Christmas will be seen at many different events throughout this heritage community in the month of December, and true to form, will disappear for another year on the twelfth night of Christmas.
As this heritiage community prepares to enter into is season of Good Cheer the list of events gets longer and the days later. Watch out for this year brings about the appearance of Father Christmas to the street of Perth. A project that began over two years ago will make its first appearance at the Perth Museum on November 28th at the noon hour and then continue to bring greetings to events around the area for the month prior to Christmas.
The midway was absolutely buzzing on the Friday afternoon as the youth of our area stood shoulder-to-shoulder and pushed the rides to their maximum. Still, despite the noise and activities there remains a unique agricultural element to our annual back-to-school tradition and the show rings for the cattle, horses and just about every other animal were well attended. We were able to make a visit to the fair each day.
As I gaze back on my blog, I realize several weeks have passed since my last posting. Along the way greeting literally thousands of guests who attended the Stewart Park Festival, Band Concerts, the Art-of-Being Green Festival and others passing through on their way to the Rideau Canal Festival or Glengarry Highland Games.
One of the guarantees made to the disbanded soldiers and others who first settled at Perth and on lands adjacent to that place was that, with the building of the Rideau Canal, there would come corresponding improvement of the Tay which would render it, too, capable of navigation by steamboat. As time passed and the settlement grew, it became a matter of vital importance that this guarantee should be fulfilled.
Only years after our settlement was formed, the markets in Perth had outgrown local needs many times over and the roads could not handle the volume of materials or thousands of people who came through our community each year. The canal was of economic necessity if our small settlement was to succeed.