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Sackville Festival of Early Music celebrates its 20th year with ‘all the feelings’

The Eybler Quartet (left to right: Julia Wedman, Patrick Jordan, Margaret Gay, and Patricia Ahern) being introduced by SFEM co-directors, Alex Dobson, Jimin Shin Dobson, and Christina Haldane. Photo: Shawn Bostick

The Sackville Festival of Early Music kicked off Wednesday with a presentation at the Brunton Auditorium by the Eybler Quartet, who also open the festival concert series on Friday.

CHMA spoke with festival co-director Christina Haldane about this 20th year of the Sackville Festival of Early Music.

The SFEM is an “exciting and engaging musical experience that will entice ‘all the feelings’,” says Haldane, referencing the Eybler Quartet presentation on Wednesday, which explored the role of emotions in musical performance and composition.

“This is a special repertoire,” says Haldane, of the festival’s focus on music from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. Haldane says the program will “provide an opportunity for you to learn more about this rich and diverse repertoire from the early European art music scene,” says Haldane, “and a chance to enjoy some exciting musicians who bring this music to life on stage.”

In addition to the concert series, SFEM continues its tradition of incorporating education in its mandate, perhaps fitting for a festival housed in a music school. “Creating opportunities for meaningful educational experiences for young learners is central to the Sackville Festival of Early Music and its activities,” says Haldane.

The members of the Eybler Quartet (Julia Wedman, Patrick Jordan, Margaret Gay, and Patricia Ahern) arrived in Sackville Tuesday night, and by 8:30 Wednesday morning “were straight into our schools in the region to lead some educational sessions with our youngest learners.”… Continue

Sackville Festival of Early Music brings ‘an exciting and engaging musical experience’ to town

On today’s show, the Sackville Festival of Early Music has kicked off with educational programming in schools and a presentation Wednesday by the Eybler Quartet, who open the festival concert series on Friday at the Brunton Auditorium. CHMA listens in and talks with festival co-director Christina Haldane about this 20th year of the Sackville Festival of Early Music.

Plus in briefs, Marshlight Theatre is hosting auditions for a new play by Sackville playwright Ron Kelly Spurles, and the municipality is playing it safe with additional street closures for this year’s Sackville Fall Fair fireworks.

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Tantramar council okays Estabrooks’ request for a draft ‘tall grass’ bylaw

Councillor Matt Estabrooks at Tantramar council June 11, 2024. Image: TantramarNB on Youtube

Tantramar council has approved a motion asking staff to come up with a draft bylaw “to regulate tall grass or vegetative growth within Tantramar.”

Councillor Matt Estabrooks brought the motion forward in response to concerns he has heard from residents about possible fire hazards of long, dried grass near buildings, issues with long grass providing habitat for rodents, and the effect of unkept lawns on neighbouring property values.

In a slide presentation to council on Monday, Estabrooks said the Local Government Act’s dangerous or unsightly provisions do not cover lawns, and cited some other municipalities with lawn bylaws including Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe. Estabrooks said the intention of the new bylaw would be properties inside residential zones, “not farmer’s fields, or woodlands and fields without housing on the outskirts of our communities.”

Estabrooks also said he is “not necessarily convinced that a length measurement of grasses on residential lawns is a necessary component of this bylaw.”

“I feel discretion is critical in this area of the bylaw,” said Estabrooks. “I’m sure staff will determine how to quantify ‘unkept’ when or if they’re in research stage for us.”

Both Moncton and Riverview have bylaws that establish lawn height limits, but Dieppe recently amended its bylaw to remove a 20 cm height restriction, noting that Canadian case law suggests that “aesthetic criteria for lawn maintenance are arbitrary and unconstitutional.”… Continue

Crowd shows up to support call for priority on built heritage in Tantramar

Heritage advocate Meredith Fisher got up to address Tantramar council shortly after 7pm Monday night with a gallery full of about 35 supporters.

Fisher told council she wanted them to make heritage a priority in their upcoming strategic plan, and emulate places like Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where she says the town has been “reaping economic and social benefits” from its heritage by-laws.

Fisher reminded councillors that built heritage is fleeting. “Once lost, heritage is never replaceable,” she said, “and the community loses its sense of place, distinctiveness and aesthetic value.”

Fisher said that residents were full of ideas on how to preserve and protect the town’s built heritage, including the creation of a heritage advisory committee to “work with council to help create a sensible, practical heritage bylaw and to help implement a strategy.”

“It is vitally and urgently important to consider our heritage as a top level strategic planning goal,” concluded Fisher, “because it is our heritage that binds us together and defines us as a community more perfectly than anything else.”

Before Fisher got up to address council, Mayor Andrew Black made a statement clarifying something that had circulated in a letter from Tantramar Heritage Trust president Logan Atkinson in advance of the meeting. Atkinson’s letter paraphrased the mayor, saying he had advised “that Council needs to see that there is significant public support to include Heritage in the new 5 year plan.”… Continue

DTI minister cancels meeting on Wheaton Bridge with Mitton and Black

On today’s show, the fate of the Wheaton Covered Bridge is still up in the air after Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Richard Ames cancelled a meeting scheduled with Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton and Tantramar Mayor Andrew Black on Monday. We speak with Mitton to get an update on where things stand with the 108-year-old covered bridge, which was closed on July 11 due to structural issues.

Plus in briefs, Dorchester’s Moving Forward Cooperative has hired a new executive director, and Tantramar council voted to move forward with a draft by-law governing lawns on residential properties.

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Tantramar council hears public pleas for heritage priority and a fenced dog park

On today’s show, Tantramar council met on Monday night for their first regular meeting after summer break, and heard two public presentations. We’ll hear about a call for council to put a priority on built heritage in their upcoming five-year strategic plan, and also a call for a fenced in dog park in Sackville.

Plus in briefs, MLA Megan Mitton kicked off her provincial election campaign on Sunday in Sackville, and Liberal candidate John Higham has officially stepped down from the Rural Health Action Group to run for the Tantramar seat in the legislature. … Continue

QUEST Canada wants to help local governments help their communities get to net-zero

“I don’t think any community has figured out how to get to net zero,” says Eddie Oldfield, senior lead of projects for Quest Canada, who are now recruiting for their expanded Net Zero Communities Accelerator Program. “Let alone our provincial or federal governments. But it does take all of us working together to get there,” says Oldfield.

With $2 million in funding from ACOA and complementary funding from individual provinces, QUEST Canada will be helping 15 different municipalities in the Atlantic Provinces create plans and undertake initiatives to help them get to net-zero emissions.

The Net Zero Communities Accelerator Program was originally piloted in New Brunswick, and towns like Oromocto, St. Andrews and Riverview have all participated. The new program includes four New Brunswick communities so far, including Salisbury, Riverview, Grand Bay-Westfield and Fredericton.

Communities participating in the Net Zero Community Accelerator program as of September 9, 2024. Screenshot: https://questcanada.org/pan-atlantic-nca/

QUEST’s work with each municipality is a bit different, depending on where they are in the process of planning towards net-zero. In Oromocto, “they had a supportive council and staff that wanted to champion the way forward,” says Oldfield, so QUEST did brainstorming exercises, in-depth action planning, and helped the town come up with a community energy and emissions plan.

“There are other communities that come to us that already have a plan,” says Oldfield, but is not being implemented. “It’s literally a plan that sits on the corner of somebody’s desk,” says Oldfield.… Continue

Janet Crawford celebrates 40 years connecting artists and collectors at the Fog Forest Gallery

There were some who thought Janet Crawford was foolhardy to open a commercial art gallery in small town like Sackville, but forty years later, Fog Forest Gallery is a well-respected East Coast gallery and fixture of downtown Sackville.

To celebrate her 40 years in business, Crawford has invited 40 of her favourite artists to a special anniversary show, Forty Years in the Forest, which opens tonight with live music and refreshments at the Fog Forest Gallery on Bridge Street.

“It’s been a good ride for 40 years,” says Crawford, who has no plans to retire anytime soon.

“I want this to be a celebration, not so much of the gallery, but of the artists and the clients… Because without the artists and without the customers, I wouldn’t have been here.”

Hear the full interview with Crawford here:

Forty Years in the Forest opens Friday from 5pm to 7pm, and continues until October 11th. Fog Forest Gallery is open Thursdays and Friday, 10am to 5pm, and by appointment.… Continue

Heritage advocates calling for support at council presentation Monday

A group of residents called Friends of Heritage will be presenting to Tantramar council at their meeting on Monday September 9, in hopes of convincing councillors that the town’s cultural and built heritage should figure into its new five year strategic plan.

The former town of Sackville scrapped its heritage bylaw in 2018, and nothing has been proposed to replace it since.

Longtime Sackville resident Meredith Fisher is helping spread the word about Monday’s presentation in hopes that residents will fill the gallery as a show of support for maintaining and protecting local heritage buildings and streetscapes.

“We’re encouraging people to come and support this,” Fisher told CHMA, “this effort to get heritage going again, or at least some kind of a profile or priority again in the town.”

Hear more from Meredith Fisher here:

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Fog Forest Gallery celebrates 40 years connecting artists and collectors in downtown Sackville

On today’s show, a conversation with Fog Forest Gallery’s Janet Crawford, who is celebrating 40 years in business this month with a show opening tonight at the Bridge Street gallery. Crawford started putting on art shows in Sackville in September 1984, and the anniversary show features work from 40 artists, including many from the Sackville region.

Plus in briefs, Tantramar council meets on Monday night to consider an agenda including the extension of Burman Street for a growing subdivision and a motion from Councillor Matt Estabrooks calling for a lawn by-law in Tantramar. And Blind Forest Books has started their moving process, with two weeks left open at their current York Street location.

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