UPCOMING EVENTS FOR 2020 – *******PLEASE NOTE THAT EVENTS TAKING PLACE IN APRIL HAVE BEEN POSTPONED*****
NATURE ON PELEE ISLAND –THE SECRET IS OUT!
A group of islanders has been working to break the secret ! With the help of a Gosling Foundation grant, a program of nature events was developed. In March we had a Salamander night walk to see the unique to Canada Small Mouth and Blue Spotted complex salamanders returning to their breeding ponds and hear about ongoing research. The Pelee Island Bird Observatory will soon begin monitoring spring migration, visitors welcome. Every month through to December is packed with events, see the full program here: PELEE BUZZ.
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19th Annual Springsong – A Celebration of Birds and Birding – May 8-10, 2020
ANNOUNCEMENT: APRIL 9, 2020
THE SPRINGSONG/PIBO 2020 ONLINE GALA
From: Kim Gardner, The Pelee Island Heritage Centre – peleeislandhc@gmail.com
Suzanne Friemann, The Pelee Island Bird Observatorysuzanne.friemann@pibo.ca
Date: May 9, 2020Time: 7:00 – 8:30pm EST Link to online event to be announced
Dear Friends & Supporters:
As you may imagine, in this time of COVID19, we at both the Pelee Island Heritage Centre and PIBO have had to cancel our spring fundraising dinners. In the case of the Heritage Centre, it’s Springsong, and in the case of PIBO, the dinner in Windsor, traditionally held the Wednesday before Springsong. Of course our friends from the USA would not be able to come, nor would anyone planning to join us from far away. And we could not have held large gatherings.
Nothing daunted, we set ourselves the task of finding out how we could present both of these events online, retaining all the features of both – or as many as we could! And, thanks to the expert advice given us by Fraser Stark of Facebook, we have come up with some solutions that will allow us to do that, and to add some special extra features as well.
We have combined both events into a rollicking online extravaganza that will take place on Saturday, May 9th, from 7:00pm to 8.30pm EST, on Facebook Live, on the PIBO Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/SpringsongandPIBOonlineGala2020
Paul Vasey will be our Host, as usual, with assists from Kim Gardner and Ron Tiessen from Pelee Island. Margaret Atwood will do her usual introductions, from her kitchen in Toronto (or some other part of the house, depending on bandwidth). She will also conduct The Rubber Chicken Choir, as usual, singing their two hit songs, Old MacDonald Had a Farm and Bye Bye Blackbird. The rubber chickens do the choruses. If you have your own rubber chicken, bring it and sing along! And post a video of yourself on your own Facebook page, to share the joy.
The Green Bird Race and the Conventional Bird Race will take place as usual from Friday, May 8th at 12:00 noon to Saturday May 9th at noon, though not necessarily on Pelee Island – at whatever time zone you are in. Birders from afar will be encouraged to join in. It will be the honor system: go birding in a safe space, and count how many species you can find in the 24 hour period. We’ll have a spot where your results may be posted online, after noon on May 9. Though we can’t bird together physically, at least we will be doing so in spirit.
There will be door prizes, silly and not, for ticket numbers drawn as usual by Kim. There will be a silent auction, available for viewing and bidding both before the event and for a set time afterwards. Site and times of the silent auction will be posted on the PIBO website.
Our honorary writer this year is award-winning poet and memoirist Lorna Crozier, coming to us from the West Coast. Our honorary birder is Trevor Herriot, environmentalist and author, coming to us from Saskatchewan. Books will be sold online by Biblioasis, signed by the authors via specially-designed bookplate. There will be an online audience question element, run on Facebook Live.
As for the dinner itself, we are creating a multiple-choice menu, with many options: chicken, fish, vegetarian and vegan, with starters, mains, and deserts in each. The recipes will be from our staff, friends, volunteers, and past authors, and the recipes and photos of each item will be posted online a week in advance, so you can cook along at home and eat with us at our virtual table. Merilyn Simonds is coordinating that part of the event.
Along with video footage of PIBO and The Heritage Centre in operation, we are also planning some surprise entertainment features.
More later!
As this event is a fundraiser for both organizations, we will be selling a certain number of tickets, all for the same price – the Springsong price of $85. Ticket holders will each receive a book of Margaret’s, signed, donated courtesy Margaret and Penguin Random House Canada. The number of tickets sold will be limited. The event will be live streamed for whoever feels inclined to watch, ticketholder or not – thus giving birds and birding and Pelee a potentially large audience, unlimited by location.
For Springsong ticket holders who have yet to pay, please pay though our website:
https://www.peleeislandmuseum.ca
Extra tickets may be purchased at:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/springsongpibo-online-gala-may-92020-tickets-101896705790
More information will be posted on the PIBO website and the Heritage Centre website as it becomes available. Anyone who has already purchased a ticket for either event and want a refund because there will not be any actual food deliveries should contact Kim or Suzanne.
For all others, we look forward to joining you on May 9 in the first gala of this kind ever brought together. It is unlikely to be smooth – don’t expect Hollywood. Instead, expect surprises!
With warm wishes,
Kim Gardner, Curator, & the Pelee Island Heritage Centre Board of Directors
Suzann Friemann, Director, & the Pelee Island Bird Observatory Board of Directors
Springsong Weekend – Traditionally held on Mother’s Day Weekend. It is a weekend of celebration involving books and birds. This event was started seventeen years ago as a fundraiser for The Heritage Centre with the help of Pelee Island Bird Observatory and Margaret Atwood. There is a 24 hour green “bird race” competing for the coveted Botham Cup. Margaret Atwood continues the tradition of bringing award winning authors to our island where they are introduced by her at our traditionally sold out banquet.
We are thrilled to announce our guest author for Springsong Banquet 2020 –
LORNA CROZIER
was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. As a child growing up in a prairie community where the local heroes were hockey players and curlers, she “never once thought of being a writer.” After university, Lorna went on to teach high school English and work as a guidance counsellor. During these years, Lorna published her first poem in Grain magazine, a publication that turned her life toward writing. Her first collection Inside in the Sky was published in 1976. Since then, she has authored 16 books of poetry, including The Garden Going on Without Us, Angels of Flesh, Angels of Silence, Inventing the Hawk (winner of the 1992 Governor General’s Award), Everything Arrives at the Light, Apocrypha of Light, What the Living Won’t Let Go, Whetstone, The Blue Hour of the Day: Selected Poems, Small Mechanics, The Book of Marvels: A Compendium of Everyday Things, The Wrong Cat and What the Soul Doesn’t Want. She has also published a memoir, Small Beneath the Sky, and three children’s book, Lots of Kisses, So Many Babies, and More Than Balloons. In 2015, she collaborated with world-renowned photographer Ian McAllister on The Wild in You: Voices from the Forest and the Sea. Whether Lorna is writing about angels, aging, or Louis Armstrong’s trout sandwich, she continues to engage readers and writers across Canada and the world with her grace, wisdom and wit. She is, as Margaret Laurence wrote, “a poet to be grateful for.”
Since the beginning of her writing career, Lorna has been known for her inspired teaching and mentoring of other poets. Now a professor emeritus at the University of Victoria, she conducts poetry workshops across the country, particularly at Wintergreen and Naramata, and has taught at the Banff Centre.
Beyond making poems, Lorna has also edited two non-fiction collections – Desire in Seven Voices and Addiction: Notes from the Belly of the Beast. Together with her husband and fellow poet Patrick Lane, she edited the 1994 landmark collection Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poets; in 2004, they co-edited Breathing Fire 2, once again introducing over thirty new writers to the Canadian literary world. She also compiled and edited Best Canadian Poets, 2010.
Her poems continue to be widely anthologized, appearing in 15 Canadian Poets and 20th Century Poetry and Poetics. Her work has been translated into several languages. A Spanish edition of her poetry, La Perspectiva del Gato was published in Mexico City. She has read around the world in every continent except Antaractica and she is the official travelling poet of the award-winning magazine Toque and Canoe. An Officer of the Order of Canada, her numerous awards include five honourary doctorates and a Governor-General’s Award for Poetry. In 2005 she gave a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II.
Her reputation as a generous and inspiring artist extends from her passion for the craft of poetry to her teaching and through to her involvement in various social and environmental causes. A frequent guest on CBC radio, she hosted a special edition on poverty on “The Current.”
Author Celebrity Birder
2002 Margaret Atwood Kevin Seymour
2003 Farley Mowat Unveiling Stone Road Plaque
2004 Alistair MacLeod Orlando Garrido & Arturo Kirkconnell (Cuba)
2005 Jane Urquhart Bill Lishman
2006 Alice Munro Peter Matthiessen
2007 David Suzuki Fred Bodsworth
2008 Vincent Lamb Bridget Strutchbury
2009 Joseph Boyden Mystery Birder
2010 Brian Brett Robert & Birgit Freybe Bateman
2011 Nino Ricci Trevor Herriot
2012 Wayne Grady & Ian Davidson Merilyn Simonds
2013 Elizabeth Hay TBA
2014 Linden MacIntyre TBA
2015 Lawrence Hill Trevor Herriot
2016 Miriam Toews Graeme Gibson the Younger
2017 Michael Crummey Wayne Grady
2018 Madeleine Thien Sean Dooley
2019 Steve Burrows Danny Catt
2020 Lorna Crozier Trevor Herriot
peleeislandhc@gmail.com
THANK YOU TO ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT FOR OUR ONLINE GALA!! YOUR GENEROSITY WILL HELP FUND THE HERITAGE CENTRE.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!
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Botham Cup Bird Race
– Take part in the 24 hour “green” bird race and rally for the coveted Botham Cup. The official gong is sounded at the Heritage Centre, Friday at noon. Your team will have 24 hours to spot as many of the 311 species of birds that visit our island. Finish the day at Springsong Banquet where Margaret Atwood will give out the famous rubber chicken awards!
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Empty Nesters (Anne Bell & Jerry DeMarco) 124 species WINNERS OF THE BOTHAM CUP
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NC C-Birds(Jill Crossthwaite, Mhairi McFarlane, Noor Cheema) 102 species
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Guelph Gliders(Stan Kozak, Leanne Johns, John Ambrose) 99 species
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Pelee Island Bird Brigade(Paul Jones, Jodie Van Dieen, Peter Simpson) 121 species
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Harried Coots(Judith King and Vivianne Hebert) 102 species
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No Egrets Emily Sinclair, Ian Sinclair, Paul Hevenor, Josh Hevenor 78 species
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ATTENDED AND TO ALL PARTICIPATING TEAMS!!!
| $20 per team, max 4 members |
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CANCELLED
7TH ANNUAL
ISLAND UNPLUGGED MUSIC FESTIVAL
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14 & SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
The 7th Annual Island Unplugged Music Festival on Pelee Island that was originally planned for Aug 14 + 15, 2020 has been cancelled. Our festival relies heavily on ticket sales, tourism industry partners, food and beverage sponsors, as well as provincial and federal funding to come to life every year. In these uncertain times, the board unanimously agrees that it would be prudent to cancel the 2020 event at this time.
We have considered the safety of our artists, vendors, volunteers, and festival goers, the best interest of the island, and finally the financial health of our organization while coming to this decision. We hope that by making this tough decision now, we will be able to return in 2021.
As CoVid19 continues to have a profound impact on our artists, we humbly ask that you continue to support artists by buying their music. Watch our facebook page for regular artist links with some of our favourite music to purchase.
We also ask that you support our sponsors where you can. These local businesses have given year over year to support this event. Please do your part to #supportlocal.
We wish all of you peace and good health.
Stay safe, festies!
Love from the island…
Cathy, Kim & Amanda
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10th Annual Chili Cookoff – Sunday, August 16,2020 @ Pelee Island Wine Pavilion
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE 10TH ANNUAL CHILI COOKOFF IS CANCELLED THIS SEASON. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO SUPPORT OUR FUNDRAISING EVENT AND HOPE TO SEE YOU BACK NEXT YEAR!!
2019 CHILI COOKOFF JUDGE’S RESULTS ARE:
1ST PLACE – Chili Chili Bang Bang – Dave & Clark 2nd PLACE – Spicy Steingart’s – Josh and Shirley 3rd PLACE – Chili Vanilli – Mel & Mugsy
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
CHILL OUT – Wolfgang Moritz – 4th YEAR IN A ROW!!!
THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR PARTICIPATING TEAMS!!!!
Chili Cookoff – Now in the 10TH year, it is a great community gathering where teams compete for great prizes the Official Chili Cup and the People’s Choice Award. A great fundraiser for the Heritage Centre; it is drawing competitors from outside our country making the Pelee Island Southernmost Chili Cookoff a truly international event. To sign up as a contestant please contact the Heritage Centre at 519-724-2291.
Official Rules and Regulations2019
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13th Annual Heritage Weekend – Friday, September 11 & 12, 2020
TO BE ANNOUNCED
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12th Annual Harvest Dinner – Saturday, September 19, 2020
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE 12TH ANNUAL HARVEST DINNER WILL BE CANCELLED THIS YEAR. OUR FUNDRAISING EVENTS ARE CRUCIAL IN HELPING FUND THE HERITAGE CENTRE. PLEASE JOIN US NEXT YEAR FOR THIS WONDERFUL END OF THE SEASON DINNER!!
THANK YOU!!
Join us at the Pelee Island Wine Pavilion for a scrumptious end of the season banquet! And don’t forget – Island Pie for dessert! Tickets are limited and are non-refundable. In the event that you cannot attend, please contact the Heritage Centre and every effort will be made to re-sell your ticket. Our last Harvest Dinner was a sold out event so save the date as this will no doubt be a very memorable evening!
Harvest Dinner is part of the new Pelee Fall Flight Weekend – an event from the new PELEE BUZZ!!!
