Description Roland Sherwood Pictou Parade

Roland Sherwood’s

Pictou Parade

07/06/18 PA

LOBSTERING

                Isaac Vigneault, retired fisheries inspector, loaned me an itemized statement dated 1889, dealing with the sale of lobsters from the Burnham Morrill Company to McNeil and MacMaster. On July 1^st, 1889, the account was for 18,690 pounds of lobsters at 75 cents a hundredweight for a total cost of $140.17. That same amount of lobsters today would cost over $2,000. For such things as twine, rope, salt, lathes, etc., the total cost, aside from the lobsters, was $31.95. At that time, $30.00 was paid on account, leaving a balance of $1.95 still due.

TOWN CRIER

                Peter Cox, a professional Town Crier of Historic Properties in Halifax will be a feature of the two-day Lobster Carnival. He will arrive on July 7^th, in time to announce the Doll Carriage parade, and will, in the old time manner, parade the streets, ringing his bell and shouting the news, which, during the Carnival, will be announcements of what features are to be presented. He will be a great attraction here as he was in festivals at Halifax.

CARNIVAL DAY

                Pictou will be a busy place on Saturday, July 8 with two separate “Official Openings”, plus an unveiling. The Northumberland Fisheries Museum will be officially opened on Friday evening, I believe, and there will be an unveiling of a plaque to designate the Pictou Community Recreation Centre, (old CNR station) as an historic building. Times and who will do the various jobs will be announced later.

WHO IS HE?

                Who was Jotham Blanchard? He was the Patriot of Pictou, the forgotten Patriot who, through his newspaper, the Colonial Standard, advocated and secured Responsible Government, the kind you have today.

                He also advocated provincial elections and the abolishment of the Debtor’s Act, and he represented this county in the Nova Scotia Assembly. Quite a man, but forgotten all these years.

                June 28 will be the start of a “Jotham Blanchard Day” to honour the memory of one of the greatest men in early Nova Scotia, which, it is hoped will grow into a bigger celebration with each succeeding year.

WRONG YEAR

                By some miscarriage of fortune, the date when Babe Ruth was here in Pictou at the Lobster Carnival, as noted in a “Flashback” a couple weeks ago, was given as 1945. That date was just 10 years after the Babe had been laid to rest. The year of his appearance in Pictou was 1935…. Not 1945.

CANADA WEEK

                I not that the Federal Government is spending, under the heading of Festival Canada, $4.5 million to support more than 1,000 communities which plan special events during the week. And where does that leave Pictou? As far as I know I’m the only one organizing something for Canada Week by opening the first Jotham Blanchard Day on June 28.

                True, the idea is to honour the memory of the fiery editor of the Colonial patriot, published in Pictou, but the idea goes farther than that. That day will be something for Pictou. It will bring out the young people who will demonstrate their own particular routines, such as the Brownies, the Girl Guides, the Scouts, dance teams and others.

                The main part of the afternoon show at the Pictou Community Recreation Centre grounds will be the performance of the Pictou Community Centrettes which show will be right up the theme-alley of Canada Week. This unique show for majorettes will be “Our Canadian Heritage” something we all should know about. The show is fast moving, colorful, musically correct, with brief narration, using the National Flag of Canada, the retired Red Ensign, and every provincial flag across Canada. This is something that no other group in the whole province attempts, and has never attempted in the years past that the Centrettes have presented such shows.

                At this writing I do not see that any of the available money to stage community events has been offered to Pictou. To stage the Jotham Blanchard Day, June 28, I did not ask the Town Council for any money, nor did I expect any. All I want to do is honour the memory of the Forgotten Patriot of Pictou, and while it ties in with Canada Week, and the community program outlined above, I think the idea is worthy of some financial support.

                The theme for Canada Week has been stated as “Canada, it’s you and me” with 100 per cent community affairs. Well and good. I wonder, “Is Pictou in that picture?”

PARTING THOUGHT

                Speak your piece so that public may know.

By Roland H. Sherwood (D. Litt.)

Historical writer