LUCK, PLUCK AND A DASH OF CREATIVITY
FOR SOME SMALL TOWNS IN ATLANTIC CANADA THE PATH TO SURVIVAL HAS BEEN ONE OF LUCK AND PLUCK; OR SHOULD THAT BE THE OTHER WAY AROUND? AFTER ALL, THE ADAGE “THE HARDER I WORK THE LUCKIER I GET” HAS BEEN PROVEN TIME AND AGAIN BY RURAL RESIDENTS. IF YOU WANT AN EXAMPLE, LOOK TO THE NORTH EAST COAST OF NEWFOUNDLAND, TO TRINITY BAY, WHERE THE CITIZENS OF CHAMPNEY’S WEST TOOK A DO OR DIE ATTITUDE AND PUT IT INTO ACTION. IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING THE CLOSURE OF THE NORTHERN COD FISHERY AND DECIDED IF THEY DIDN’T ALL PULL TOGETHER, THEY WOULD SIMPLY FALL APART.
If not for hard work and imagination, Champney’s West might not have survived.
“Only for volunteers, we would have nothing left,” says Wanda Pippy, one of the residents of this small community in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador.
“Our people are the biggest asset we’ve got.”
Pippy and Bev Freeman are two of the year-round population of about 50. In the summer, the population swells to triple digits as people return to their summer homes.
After the northern cod moratorium in 1992, rural coastal communities in this province took an economic hit.
Places like Champney’s West struggled and some didn’t last.
But the people of this little town decided they wouldn’t go down without a fight.
They turned to their own creativity.
They decided to laugh their cares away, staging an oldfashioned variety concert featuring local people playing local people.
Drawing on their own talents for music and storytelling and following the mantra that ‘we’re all in this together’ the community banded together and rolled up their sleeves.
What started as a very small local event, to lift the spirits of local citizens, is now nearly 30 years old. And it has morphed into a sold-out annual event, not only on the small stage in the local community centre but at the larger Garrick Theatre in nearby Bonavista.
Among those who pitched in to help, and is still helping, is 80-year-old Austin Hookey, one of the oldest residents in the community.
Like so many of the others, he’s talented, handy with fiddle and guitar.
Born and raised here, he left for a time to work on a boat in the Great Lakes and he lived in St. John’s for a spell, but always ended up returning to the place he was born and raised; the place he calls home.
“I never wanted to stay away. Never. I was only too glad to get back,” he says.
He can remember a time when the main livelihood for families here was from fishing.
Today, there are just three harvesters who have their boats anchored in the small harbour.
“There was a lot of fishermen before the moratorium,” said Hookey. “After that, people sold off their gear, a lot of them. It was rough times.”
Thankfully they held on to their humour, and their imagination.
“We don’t hold nothing back here,” Hookey laughs. “People got to know that over the years and they don’t know what could happen next!”
As the success of the annual variety concert began to grow, imagination kicked in again, and the cardboard boat race was born.
This annual summertime event has been pulling people towards this place for years now.
The money raised from these events has been pooled back into the community; helping them develop other things to entice people to stop in for a while.
An aquarium and café, and the Fox Island Walking Trail, are just two of the latest attractions.
While this tiny town in Trinity Bight has not seen a significant population growth, they seem to be holding steady as they find ways to grow.
Things like the aquarium — acquired with fundraising and funding — are helping, providing some seasonal work for local people and a reason for travellers to make the right turn past Port Rexton to see something different.
In the summer, say Pippy and Freeman, the aquarium “gets as busy as a Wal-mart on Sunday.”
Add to that the community museum The Heritage House, the popular Fox Island hiking trail for hikers, and the archaeological site at Fox Island, fortified during the Queen Anne War in the 18th century, and Champney’s West is becoming a point of interest in tourism brochures. “That’s a lot to be proud of,” says Freeman.
Pippy agrees.
“It’s a wonderful place to live.”
IMAGINATION, CO-OPERATION HAVE SECURED A FUTURE FOR SMALL NEWFOUNDLAND OUTPORT