Millertown 2022 Come Home Year scheduled for this summer ‘See the potential that’s here’
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The third time’s a charm — hopefully.
Fingers are crossed that this is the year the Millertown Come Home Year can happen.
Andrew Sheppard and
Fiona Humber are co-chairing the Millertown 2022 Come Home Year. The duo, along with the rest of the 10-member planning committee, have been busy planning the celebration since late 2018. It was initially set for 2020, then for 2021. Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic both those years it’s now planned for this summer.
The event was initiated by Sheppard. He spoke to a few people in town to see if there was enough interest to continue — and it was quite successful.
They have been looking forward to showcasing the region and the effort put into town beautification to transform the community in the past few years.
“There is a lot of increased activity in our area in recent years with Marathon Gold, exploration companies (and) logging companies,” Sheppard says.
“Most people think Millertown is going downhill, I guess, since Duck Pond because we counted on Duck Pond Mine for 10 years to bring business and stuff here, and I think a lot of people assume that Millertown is still losing population, but in actual fact it has been picked up quite a lot in the last few years,” Humber adds.
“We are hoping that people will come to Come Home
Year and see the potential that’s here ... A lot of people, their roots are here, and we want to see them interested in coming back and starting a family or a career here.”
Mining is just one piece of the rich and unique history of the community, a history that will be highlighted during the celebrations from July 17 to 24.
“Beothuk people wintered here,” Sheppard says. “They stayed here in the winter and went to the coast in the summer, so this was their winter home.”
“This is actually the location where the Europeans came and Demasduit was captured and her husband killed; that happened here on the shores of Millertown,” Humber adds.
In 1900, Lewis Miller arrived and started a sawmill for logging the large timber in Central.
“The town was run by AND Company and Lewis Miller and Abitibi until Abitibi gave it up,” Humber says.
And for the past 20 years, the community has been thriving on mining with Duck Pond and now being the closest community to Marathon Gold.
They plan on incorporating this history in different ways throughout the celebrations, Humber says, adding they have applied for Come Home Year funding from the provincial government.
One application was for information boards to be placed throughout town pointing out some important landmarks. Another was for repairs on the road to Indian Point, which is a National Historic Site that Millertown takes care of through funding and volunteers.
They also applied for a mural for the old vault that was used by the AND Company as part of their financial office.
“The old building is gone but the vault remains and it’s just a concrete little building,” Humber says. “It’s a mural of Millertown in the early days. We are hoping that would show a bit more about our history and get people interested in what’s going on here.”
The town’s museum will be open daily throughout the celebrations and there will be a day with slideshows of old photographs so people can gather and share memories. There will also be a town walkabout to look at important sites.
Sheppard added they have a wonderful relationship with the Qalipu First Nation and hope to be involved during the week as well.
Other events also have ties to Newfoundland and Labrador’s history, including Christmas in July — with its Nightmare Before Christmas theme and children invited to dress as mummers instead of in Halloween costumes — ugly stick making at the town hall, and a visit from Santa and fun games for the children.
Other organizations are also getting involved, including the fire department, which will be helping throughout the week and hosting a dart tournament as a fundraiser for the department.
The Red Indian Lake Heritage Society will help, while the Millertown Community Church will be hosting the art show, an event for local artists to showcase their art, which will be awarded by popular vote.
“We are promoting the local artists and the local history at the same time in the community church,” Humber says.
There will also be a shed crawl — like a pub crawl but in sheds around town — with plans for a different theme of special celebrations throughout the year, such as St. Patrick’s Day, New Years and so on.
There will also be a family day with a flea market, children’s games and prizes and concerts Thursday, Friday and Saturday featuring The Navigators, Rod Jackson and the Perfect Strangers, Atomic Blonde, The Mixed Tapes and Bic and The Ballpoints.
“We are really excited about securing those,” Humber says, adding the community has a current population of between 80 and 90, with the population fluctuating between winter and summer.
“We are such a small town so it’s going to be great to host such big names. Hopefully that will attract a lot of people and get the word out there about how much we want people back here for this mine, people moving home and tourists, too.”
With two postponed events, tickets have been on sale on Eventbright since November 2019 and sales are going well.
Humber said they are hoping to see 1,500 people come through to experience the different events.
“We are definitely a place people are going to want to put on their bucket list,” Sheppard said.
Sheppard is hoping people will reconnect with their Millertown roots.
“When you break it all down, we want people to leave here with a bigger sense of community pride than when they left,” he says. “Come for the celebration and leave with new memories.”
Visit www.townofmillertown.com for ticket information and more details.