For the first hour or so of Sunday’s Harvest Fall Festival in Dunvegan, I was worried. The sun-drenched site had far too much in common with Death Valley. However, around 11:30, the trickle of visitors began to increase and the museum grounds gradually filled up. By the time the gates closed at 4:00 pm the handheld clickers had recorded around 750 admissions. And that figure doesn’t include the 70 volunteers and 120 artisans, entertainers, vendors and the like who were on site as well.
I must admit, I didn’t get to see many of the goings on; I spent most of the day in Cow Pie mode. However, I did steal a few minutes to marvel at the opening act of the day’s entertainment program: six folk musicians playing their wooden Swiss Alpenhorns. Freakishly long, the instruments produce a rich, haunting sound that one reviewer likened to “a tuba, but with the mellow sound of wood.” After the dearth of music at last year’s festival, Sunday’s talent tent provided a wonderful musical background throughout the day… all thanks to the organizational skills of volunteer Sandra MacPherson.
As for the Cow Pie 50/50 raffle, I’m sad to say that ticket sales were not as strong as I had hoped. We still have to analyze online and direct purchases before finalizing the prize amounts. However, I can at least announce the winning tickets: #19 in the noon raffle and #155 in the 2 pm one. As those who were there will recall, the afternoon ‘deposit’ landed on two adjacent squares and the judges decided that the portion of poop on #170 was larger than that on #155. Unfortunately, ticket #170 was unsold, so #155 won the second raffle.
It was through no fault of the volunteers staffing the Cow Pie ticket tent that we missed the hoped for ‘Sold Out’ target. Claire Wallace, Zac Bowland and his father-in-law, Jim Tilker, put their heart into convincing visitors to participate. Other key individuals who made this year’s Cow Pie Bingo possible (or Cow Pie ‘Battleship’ as Zac calls it) included Lyle Howes, Jack Fraser and Ben Williams with sons Oakley and Dawson.
The kind folks from the 6th of Kenyon who contributed the bovine elements for this year’s event also deserve a huge round of applause. Without the generosity of Bernie St. Denis, along with daughter Laurie Bartlett and her husband, there would have been no ‘cow’ in our Cow Pie event. As well, judges Jim Tilker and Zac Bowland deserve another mention for keeping things on the straight and narrow. And last, but in no way least, I’d like to thank Jabera, the Holstein who also starred in the 2021 raffle. This year, two heifers, whose names I lost, joined Jabera on the dropping line. I made note of their monikers, but promptly misplaced my clipboard before the afternoon was done.
Everyone has a story
When I was but a wee lad, a magical gift landed in my lap. It was a total surprise. June was not a month I associated with presents. I remember playing with it on the covers of my bedfor hour upon hour. Who was to know that if I hadn’t, I’d be $683.53 richer today. That’s the eBay price for a mint condition 1953 Matchbox die-cast metal replica of the late Queen’s gold-like coronation coach with eight white horses and scarlet-jacketed riders… and the box they came in.
I am 74, and Elizabeth II was the only titular head of our Commonwealth I ever knew. However, at least one of my readers remembers when her parents, George VI and Elizabeth(or Queen Mother as she was later known) toured the Dominion of Canada and our neighbour to the south in 1939, just before the outbreak of WWII.
Our friend Ken McEwen, who regular readers will recall was raised on the 7th of Kenyon, was seven at the time and remembers when the Royal couple’s train stopped in Alexandria. While steam engines could carry sufficient coal for the journey from Ottawa to Montreal, they needed to replenish their boiler’s water supply about midway. “Scads of us kids were seated on the grass, on the north side of the track in Alexandria,” Ken emailed me. “The Royal Couple came out on the rear platform and waved to the crowd.” He also noted that RCMP officers in full dress red serge disembarked and stood beside the train. Perhaps this sighting sparked his eventual career path. Unbeknownst to Ken, his future wife was in the crowd too.“However, we were not to meet until ten years later,” Ken continued. Incidentally, thelocomotive that pulled the 1939 Royal train is in the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa.
Twenty years later, Queen Elizabeth II was in Canada to officially open the St. Lawrence Seaway. She also opened the Shakespearean theatre in Stratford, Ontario. And Ken was there… with the RCMP. The Mounties had secured the theatre at 8:00 in the morning and Ken and another officer were on ‘plain clothes’ duty. Following the play, the Royal coupleasked to meet the cast. “Not wanting to surround them back stage with a flock of members in red serge, my colleague and I were detailed to accompany them.” It was the only time Kensaw the Queen at close quarters. “Two things struck me: first was how small she was, even then in her prime of life, and second was how much more attractive she was than any pictures depicted. She had a demeanour, an aura, about her that the camera didn’t capture.”
Another long-time reader from Dunvegan also contacted me with an account of his three close encounters with Her Majesty, but we’ll have to save this for next week. I’m already 8% over my 900-word limit and worried about turning into a pumpkin.
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