[From the Ontario District's newsletter, The Trillium, issue 59-03, July - September, 2005 , Waldo Redekop, editor.]

Barons, black flies, and Bluenose II

By Al Davis

The Barons of Barbershop, a seniors’ mini-chorus comprised of past and present members of the Scarborough Dukes of Harmony, decided to celebrate their tenth anniversary in style. Gerry Adams (Ontario Barbershopper of Renown) suggested a visit to Liverpool, Nova Scotia, not far from his brother’s home.

Fifteen of us and our ladies arrived on Thursday, June 23, 2005, the first warm and sunny day there for some time. We immediately set about rehearsing for our first gig, a church service at the United Baptist Church on Sunday. It was very hot and, while everyone else including the minister was in short sleeves, we stubbornly kept on our white jackets to sing "The Lord Is In This Place", "Softly and Tenderly", and "It Is Well With My Soul".

Later, a twenty minute drive brought us to home of Gerry’s brother John and his lovely wife Judy whose gracious hospitality provided an afternoon of eating, drinking, singing and frivolity. Those who chose to sit outdoors on the deck or the grounds discovered that the only unfriendly creatures in all of Nova Scotia were the black flies.

John, we soon discovered, was a bit of a character. In addition to being a magnificent host, he was a very skillful carver of wooden signs and an extremely talented musician. His trio, Tumbleweed, entertained us with their mixture of western (Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Sons of the Pioneers) and country (Patsy Cline) material while John enthralled us with his jazzy improvisations on guitar.

On Monday we drove a couple of hours to the other side of the province to visit the Dukes of Kent (Kentville Chapter) who laid on a wonderful pot luck dinner and evening of barbershop harmony. Our gift to them was a Roy Keys' arrangement of a song written by Allister MacGillivray, a famous composer from the Maritimes (“Song for the Mira,” etc.), called “Here’s To Song” with lines like “Here’s to friends who raise their voices high” and “We have friends and song no wealth can buy.” How appropriate!

Tuesday found us in Lunenburg for a delightful two-hour cruise aboard Bluenose II in ideal sailing weather and, of course, more singing. We even tried out the acoustics in the recently restored and reopened Saint John’s Anglican Church featured on national TV a few weeks before.

Our big show came Wednesday evening at the Astor Theatre back in Liverpool. This 345-seat hall has hosted many Canadian entertainers and was ideal for us. Tumbleweed did their thing between our two half-hour sets. We managed to attract people who had heard us in church at Kentville and on Bluenose II.

It turned soggy on Thursday but that didn’t deter the locals from participating fully in their three day Privateer Days festival which included rides, amusements, a beer tent, craft shows, historic tours, a parade, and us, among others, on the main stage in the park.

Of course, we all dined together most evenings and sang for our supper often. All in all, it was a wonderful way to celebrate. Those easterners surely are the warmest, friendliest, most hospitable people anywhere.

[ED: I asked Jim Rehill for some information about when the trip took place and how they all got to the East Coast. Jim replied “We arrived on June 23 and left July 3. Everyone went on their own. Some went through the States and took the ferry from Bar Harbour. Others took the St. John ferry to Digby.

We all stayed at the Privateer Inn on the banks of the Mersey. We were thrilled to have Lloyd and Shirley Allen join us from Alberta. We also were happy to see a former Duke, Frank Maxwell, who now sings with the Dukes of Kent.”]  k