People of all ages partied into the wee morning hours this past weekend during the Guelph 190: History@Night Party at the Guelph Civic Museum.
“We wanted to go for a nuit blanche idea and recognize Guelph’s 190th birthday in a unique way,” said Val Harrison, supervisor of visitor experience for the Guelph Civic Museum. “There was something for everyone of all ages and interests.”
The party offered a variety of performances, interactive displays, art exhibits, face painting, food, brewing and of course, cake.
“Where else would you get all of this together in one place,” Harrison asked. “It is all reflecting Guelph’s history.”
The party opened on the front patio with a First Nations’ dance and song presentation by the Gonrah Desgohwah White Pine Dancers.
Ojibway storyteller Aaron Bell introduced each of the performances and shared historical and often humorous tales of the area’s First Nations’ culture.
Later in the evening Bell joined The Making Box Brigade in the second-floor programming room. The improvisational comedy troupe performed skits that were loosely based on characters and events in Guelph’s 190 year history.
The Elocutioner aka local historian, Jay Wilson, recited a poem first penned by Guelph poet Charles Foster in 1879 for Guelph’s 52nd birthday. It celebrated the City’s origins and reflected on the price of progress as the growing city skyline of trees was replaced by buildings and the sounds of nature were drowned out by the “shrieks of engines, the horses of modern times.”
Throughout the evening singer-songwriter and wandering musician Iain Reid performed for visitors and Stephanie Clarke of Night Sun shared stories of influential Guelphites.
The evolution of industry and technology was demonstrated in a number of ways including a blacksmith’s forge, set up and operated on the front patio by blacksmith Mick Smith and his assistant David Brandow.
In the first-floor reception area Wendy Rofihe of Canary Clothes gave visitors the opportunity to try their hand at sewing using one of Guelph’s early industrialists, Charles Raymond’s, sewing machines manufactured here in 1910.
On the second floor of the glass box Kyle Mackie, in cooperation with the Guelph Public Library, Central Public School and Ward 1 Solutions, programmed a 3-D printer to reproduce a miniature scale copy of the original Central Public School building.
For the young at heart, artist Tania Crook of Makin’ Faces offered face and body painting while her husband, Arthur Kerrey, a graffiti artist, applied his paint and brushes to the windows of the front entrance and stairwell.
When the clock struck midnight, two birthday cakes were brought into the second-floor programming room accompanied by an enthusiastic group rendition of Happy Birthday.
“What better way to celebrate Founder’s Day weekend and Guelph’s birthday,” said Harrison. “It was the party we were hoping for and then some.”
