TIGNISH, P.E.I. — Carol Wedge was working feverishly on Tuesday.
She plans to have window displays in 11 Tignish businesses completed by Saturday, and she still had a way to go.
The artistic displays celebrate the Acadian roots of a town that recognized the arrival of Tignish's founding Acadian families with bicentennial celebrations in 1999.
This time, though, the paintings are going up to recognize the town's Acadian heritage and history while welcoming visitors to the Community Day Tignish is hosting, Sunday, as part of the Congrès Mondial Acadien (CMA - World Acadian Congress).
Celebrations Sunday start with a 9 a.m. mass, which will involve representatives of the area's founding Acadian families.
Following brunch at area restaurants, a walking tour of Tignish will include stops along the way where founding families will provide musical interludes.
A quilt show gets underway at Tignish Co-op at 10 a.m.
There will be an outdoor carnival with music, displays, oyster shucking, local vendors and children's games at the West Prince Heritage properties all afternoon. There will also be tours of the region provided. Closing out the program, Tignish Legion will host a music jam and Acadian dinner, and the Tignish Parish Centre will be the site of a bilingual dinner theatre, both at 5:30 pm.
Eileen Chiasson-Pendergast is co-ordinator for the Tignish celebrations. She sees them as an opportunity to showcase the community's Acadian roots and lead to a deeper awakening of Acadian pride.
"We’re looking (forward) to a good time and we’re looking to something enjoyable and something (that) will stay with the people, especially the young, so they will continue this on."
The Francophone Tourism Association obtained Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and provincial funding to help cover the cost of special beautification projects in all six P.E.I. communities hosting CMA events.
Wedge's artistic displays compliment other preparations going on in Tignish, which include Acadian flags throughout the community and a display of individual lobster traps and clusters of lobster traps, all painted in the blue, white and red Acadian colours.
Monique Arsenault, director of the Conseil Rev. S.-E.-Perrey Inc., which has teamed up with the Town of Tignish to host the area's celebrations, said the reaction to the preparations have been very positive.
"The comments are unreal," she said.
The town is encouraging its residents to get involved, too, and many have responded. A house decorating contest will be judged on Friday.
Free play being presented on National Acadian Day Aug. 15
Play written for Congrès Mondial Acadien's community day in Tignish
The Prince Edward Island portion of the Congrès Mondial Acadien (World Acadian Congress) might end on Thursday morning, August 15 but the Conseil Réverend S.-É.-Perrey is keeping the party going into Thursday night at the Centre acadien de Prince-Ouest in DeBlois.
Thursday, March 15 is National Acadian Day and, to celebrate it, the Conseil Réverend S.-É.-Perrey is presenting an encore presentation of Eileen Chiasson-Pendergast’s bilingual play, “Quel bout de Chemin.”
The play debuts to a sold-out dinner theatre crowd at the Tignish Parish Centre during the CMA’s community day in Tignish on Sunday, August 11.
Chiasson-Pendergast, who is program coordinator for Sunday’s celebrations in Tignish, said tickets to Sunday’s dinner theatre sold out about six weeks ago.
“When we got our (ticket) quota we had to stop, and there were people asking for tickets, so we’re giving them the opportunity to celebrate the Acadian Feast day,” she says of the encore presentation.
The August 15 show is being presented free of charge on a first come, first serve basis. Seating is limited. Doors at the West Prince Acadian Centre in DeBlois open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. There is no meal included with the encore presentation but canteen service will be available.
The play, Chiasson-Pendergast says, “is an overview of our lives from the deportation to today, touching down here and there on things that became part of who we are, like farming and fishing.
Many elements of the play, she said, could represent Acadians anywhere, but some are localized to the Tignish area, including one vignette on the building of the St. Simon and St. Jude Church with mud hauled from Miminegash for the making of the church’s bricks in St. Felix.
“The point I wanted to try to make, it was the strong faith of the people: It was very important for them to build a church very early on in their settling here,” explained the writer.
There are more than a dozen songs in the play, all written by Chiaason-Pendergast, some written especially for Quel bout de Chemin and others taken from other plays she’s written over the past two decades.
The play involves more than 40 people, on stage or behind the scenes.
“There’s lots and lots of music, so it will be lively,” the writer said.
It was important that the play be bilingual, Chiasson-Pendergast explained. “We have people coming from France, Louisiana, Quebec, the Maritimes,” she said of the CMA’s draw. The deportation, the starting point of the play, would have caused some Acadians to lose their language, she noted.
“Even people who don’t speak the language – they still know who they are, and this is becoming a reality. I think that’s the part that is so important to me – the realization and the finding of their identity. To me, that’s the icing on the cake.”
Much of the narration for the play is in English, so, when the play proceeds in French, she says, “you know pretty much what is said from what the English voice says.”
Chiasson-Pendergast is thrilled with all the preparations taking place for the CMA celebrations in Tignish.
“They’re showing their pride by putting out Acadian flags, they’re asking for the traps painted in the Acadian flag,” she said. “People are calling to volunteer.
“To me, it has awakened being proud of being Acadian.”
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