St. Anthony hosted its second Come Home Year celebration since 2012. Thousands of people that year registered and flocked to our largest community on the Great Northern Peninsula to celebrate that special place, “Home”. I enjoyed participating in the celebration immensely and meeting residents from all over the province. My colleague Dale Kirby came with his family to participate and engage in a number of meetings with groups and organizations. It was a remarkable nine days of celebration, where I even camped out several nights, as weather was beautiful!
A small group of volunteers worked tirelessly over a couple of years to plan and organize such an event. Some billed the second Come Home Year as “too soon” but I never feel it is “too soon” to come home. However, given the short time lapse from the last celebration, looking back now, it may have been better to plan a shorter four day event from a Thursday to Sunday. I’ve seen weekend Come Home Celebrations happen like this on the South Coast and similarly the Annual Garden Parties of Conche and Goose Cove see residents return home each year to take in a weekend of planned festivities.
Little over a week before the official start, an email circulated that Come Home Year 2015 was cancelled. Several hundreds of people were registered including myself, vacation plans made, bands were booked and many commitments made. Certainly no easy decision from this six person team. However, this decision led to many community organizations and local businesses stepping up with sponsorship and a willingness to see Come Home Year 2015 take off and take off it did!
The opening ceremonies was attended by hundreds of registered guests and more than 1500 toutons were served at the Legion that day as guests registered. It was a pleasure to bring greetings and encourage people to enjoy their week of activities and commended the committee and community sponsors for ensuring that big things can happen in our small communities.
Community organizations like the Legion sponsored dances during the opening weekend, which provided a change on venue and ensured meals were available for the large crowds throughout the week. A condensed showing of concerts seemed to work well under the revised plan and some activities were spearheaded by the others like Monday’s Carnival of Fun and Tuesday’s Grenfell Heritage Day Celebration & Teddy Bear Picnic.
Monday’s Carnival of Fun by the St. Anthony and Area Boys & Girls Club was Minion themed (for those of you who didn’t know, I love the Minions). It brought lots of kids out for a fun filled day to support a local organization that offers programming, social and various activities for our youth!
Partnerships work and the St. Anthony Come Home Year, originally partnered with the Grenfell Foundation and LG Health to host the Annual Grenfell Heritage Celebration was promoted as well by the committee. I volunteered at the door for the Teddy Bear Picnic, which saw more than 300 children visit and participate in all the fun. It was quite the afternoon and the most successful to date. Additionally, at night a number of people flocked to the floor of the Polar Centre to help further raise dollars for essential medical equipment by purchase tickets, buying food and listening to local talent of headliner Skipper Hot’s Band. It was great to also hear others share their talents like Calvin Blake, Adam Randell, Brandon White and Jade Gibbons. There may have been others and if I missed them I apologize.
The concerts throughout the week were well attended, my mom and friends were so very excited to hear Johnny Reid – it was a major highlight for her and the close to 1,000 others watching that night. I’ve only heard rave reviews!
I would have loved to watch the lantern release on fishing point. I saw some photos and video on Facebook that showed it was quite the magical experience. As well, the craft fair showcased so much amazing talent of local artist and craft producers! I got many Christmas presents and enjoyed engaging with the artists.
A few volunteers truly engaged community, business and organizations to make great things happen. St. Anthony had a great schedule of events for everyone to enjoy with a balance enabling sufficient time for seeing family, friends and visiting the attractions and loving home. I want to thank you all for your hard work and memories you have given me and the people who call St. Anthony home! I encourage you all to keep making big things happen in our small communities!
Live Rural NL –
Christopher Mitchelmore, MHA (The Straits-White Bay North)
