The Voice of The River in Dundalk

“We begin again… last night in Dundalk on a sunny and breezy evening we held a parade that traveled from the Town Hall to Memorial Park where we performed the Voice of the River. The parade were filled with the large puppets from Dunnville, from Paris, from Grace, from Dundalk and all communities between. There was flag waving, music provided by a 12 year old and our own Cathy Nosaty on her accordion. We gathered people from the street and put them in crow, fox, and kingfisher masks. We hooted, we howled, and we walk the streets more joined the parade. By the time we got to Memorial Park we were a community of beings who made a large circle with those in the Park and watched Dave as Pierre perform a song of songs in French and English. From there we performed in song, dance, scene and monologue. The Deputy Mayor, Barbara Dobreen, and Councilor Joan John of Southgate Township were in a scene that had Barb as Agnes Macphail (first woman elected to Canadian Parliament) and Joan, playing herself, the first Black woman elected to office in Grey County in an imagined conversation. It was grand and lovely and a story that needed telling. We packed up after the event and headed for our next port of call in GUELPH on Saturday August 2nd and the confluence of the Speed and Eramosa Rivers Join us if you can and keep going with the flow.”

– Peter Smith