It was the spring of 2010 and I spent several hours immersed in research for an upcoming holiday.
We had used Air Miles to reserve our seats on a red eye flight to St. John’s, Nfld. and Labrador and upon arrival we would pick up our rental car and begin our three week journey to all the spots we had agreed would be worthy of our time. I picked the fairs and festivals while Housemate provided his picks of museums and historical sites.
One of the festivals that caught my attention was the week-long accordion festival at Eastport. The website provided enough information to capture my eye and, by paying attention to driving distances provided by Google, our journey was planned so we would be in the vicinity of Eastport just in time to take in some of the events of the festival: wharf stages (not sure how that worked), seafood buffet suppers, accordion music and clinics, dancing and kitchen parties at certain spots nearby. Even Housemate was excited by my excitement.
We weren’t able to purchase tickets in advance via online sites so decided to arrive in plenty of time to find a box office and a more detailed schedule than the one offered on the website.
Imagine our disappointment and dismay when we learned the tickets for certain events were already sold out and that the schedule we had studied was in fact not very accurate. The only event that we could possibly attend was at the end of the week. After some deliberation we decided to reluctantly move on without hearing one note from a button accordion or even eating a spoonful of cod stew.
I pouted and grumbled for much of the holiday and beyond, and threatened to write a letter to the organizers on behalf of other tourists who had come from away just to attend the accordion festival. I never did write that letter.
So it was with some excitement on a recent weekend while flicking through television channels that we happened upon a CBC program, Land and Sea, and learned the program would be based in Newfoundland. This show would highlight a group of seniors, Time in the Hall Dancers, who meet twice a week to square dance, Newfoundland style. In the second half, the Eastport accordion festival.
Right there in our TV room we sat and listened to traditional button accordion music, saw dancers, watched the crowd clapping in time to the music, filling their plates with so much food and generally having a wonderful time.
Again, 10 years later I was still disappointed we were so close but not close enough to become part of the laughing and clapping and dancing.
Next year’s festival is the third week in July and according to the various websites of the festival and host hall, it appears tickets go on sale in May. And it also appears they will be available online.
Now comes the decision: Alaska with Johnny Horton or Eastport with I’s the Bye.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
