In the video we are in Shelburne playing their Jr.Girls team…a few of the kids taped it for me so its focus is in and out a lot but I put together 6 mins of ok stuff ….

final score Lockeport 66 Shelb. 30

Aug 31th between 12 and 1 o’clock

Yes !! they won this race pretty easy….but  the real race is in two weeks!… “The International Dory Races”.

They won it all last year…we will going to Lunenburg to watch them this year again for sure!…Walt is 65 and Danny is 50(maybe) and what great shape they are in. Enjoy..

OK! …I did get a bit of video…but I was soooo busy I missed most of the music let alone video tape it. I did get Melanie Doane, some of the Day Stages, Lynne Hanson,and Michelle Wright. Didn’t get Irish or Coco or my open mic  or our Book Launch(some pics)which was the highlight of the weekend for me, the book had rave reviews and we signed books for 2 hours! It was a special time in my life that’s for sure. Also our Art Gala was a huge success,and I sold 2 of my pieces…so  for me with the Book Launch”Music is in our Genes”,The Art  Exhibit and Gala, and the Open Mic going so well I had a fantastic weekend!! Here are a few highlights of the weekends music….

Music is in our Genes

Stories of a time long ago of a little Island town by the name of Lockeport told by those who have the memories to remember.

They use to have kitchen parties and take big planks to carry the stove out and dust off the chairs and the place would fill up.  You paid 5 or 10 cents for the Green Harbor 8.  There wasn’t a lot of money around so when you run out of money some would take a penny and put tin foil over it and pass it off as a nickel, it was so dark so they couldn’t tell  if it was the real thing or not.

At Tom Cox’s they use to have house dances on a Saturday night and Harold (Sonny) would play there. Frank Townsend played the accordion and fiddle. Back then they played and sang where ever possible on street corner, front porches or on the sidewalks.  People would gather around to hear them.

“A historical collection of Lockeport stories of its music and history from the 1930’s to the early 1980’s.  Through many hours of interviews and a lot of research we’ve worked hard to give you insight to what the town was really like in the 1930’s by collecting memories from those who remember.  For being the small island community that we are Lockeport has a very rich history in arts and culture.”

A book Launch will take place during Harmony Bazaar music festival on July 29, 2011 from 5pm to 7 pm at the Holy Cross Anglican Church.  To preorder this book, call 656-3272 price $20.00. (First come first serve) Everyone is welcome to join us!!!!!

Written by; Julie Locke-Balish & Natalie Smith

In Partnership with Harmony Bazaar Festival of Women & Song

The Hupman Brothers were playing for a special birthday party !!

We here in Lockeport love the Hupman Brothers, their roots are from here and we are very proud of that.This year they are  WINNER OF 2010 ECMA FOR BEST BLUES/GROUP RECORDING.

This is just a short clip because the camera was not great for video but I did get a few highlights like when Momsie (who is 80-years old ) jumps up and sings us a tune!

What a special treat to be there for that!… It doesn’t get any better than this!… to be oh so lucky to be 80 and to be in great shape and great spirit like her. Life passes us by so quickly that we forget to spend time with the elders in our community… they have no pretences..no hidden agendas ….just true to themselves…..Thanks Bonnie for the nice evening  with the Hupman Brothers and for the special treat from Momsie!!….

(she has agreed to do my  Open Mic at Harmony Bazaar on July 30th at 12:00!)

(Sorry about the video not being great…I left my camera home and was very fortunate to be able to borrow one when I arrived)

This is a Documentary done in Lockeport about the 1939 Lockout!! It is fantastic! Errol Williams and Norman Anderson were very much in the front of this labor dispute. Boy.. the Williams family are very passionate people! If ever there was a family to tell the stories of the history of the people and Town it would be them…great storytellers!….fantastic memories!

Errol and Leon William’s  brother Victor Williams who will turn 88 in April is the only one still alive from a family of 12 children(9 boys & 3 girls) he has the most fantastic memory and is a wonderful person & story teller…right now I am in the process of recording all his stories(along with other elders in the town) that he wishes to tell me…which has so far been hours and hours and hours… I absolutely love to sit and talk with him.

In this generation respect for our elders  has gone along the wayside ….. it’s not a case of “you should respect your elders”, it is a case of we are all people, and the older people have been around for longer, and while times have changed, they have seen a great deal more than the one view we have had as a generation born into this world of technology…..it’s called WISDOM….we as a generation don’t realize all the wisdom that can be and should be handed down from our elders..once they are gone it will be gone along the history that may never again be told!!!!

Enjoy the video!

( this video is just the Lockeport part of the Documentary, I have another 30 min of Lunenburg & NFLD labor disputes that I thought may be too long to put on here)

For many years folks around these parts have been accustomed to seeing the beautiful lights that Danny Hopkins puts up around his house. Christmas is his favorite time of year. He works on them through out the year to prepare for the season. Folks from all over drive by his house to enjoy the light show. Not only is his house full of lights but the backyard is full also. He has put his light show to the music of radio station 106.9…WOW..this year they are again fantastic…he sure has a talent . He lives up the road from me so you can find me sometimes sitting up the hill with a hot toddy enjoying the whole show…I have taken a few clips and put them in a video for you to enjoy (but it really doesn’t give you the full effect of seeing it live)….tell me he doesn’t have the best show around…leave me a comment if you like ….Thanks Danny for all the great years of the best lights around!

NOW here is an interesting movie I made from Charlies clips…they are of Lockeport in the 1930′s,40′s & 60′s.

The first part of the video is a car/truck collision on the Sable River bridge…now there are 2 footage’s here one of the collision and one of them cleaning up after…I was told that there were actually 2 mishaps with that bridge one with a collision and one just of the bridge collapsing on its own…so I put both together not knowing if they are two separate events or not. Then we go inside Balish’s store…with Alec,Debbie Stephens and the girls who worked there…then Tomi Ungerer place over to the third beach…Charlie and grandson Paul standing by their car by the big beach…..shots of the point down to West Head…Lockeport Government Wharf…Lockeport Parade…small clip of Balish’s Store burning down… Next is the Old Ball field by Tah Stewarts with men getting ready for war and I think groups of scouts exercising …..then 1966 picture of the Jello tree that is still here today….then the Oxbow cabins( “Pine Tree Cabins “I think then) being built by Charlie along with the Drive-in he built..he sold all of it is the early 60′s to the Strange family.. if you have comments about who is who or mistakes I may have made please  leave me a comment (I love getting comments)…or if you have any info on some of the movies I have posted  , I would love to hear of any stories you may have or who some of the people in the movies may be…Cheers and Enjoy…I Love Lockeport!

I have here the fire that burned down The National Sea Fish Plant on July 23rd 1980.. and near the end of the video a short old clip of the old Fire Hall room they used for get togethers etc.(It was Charlie and Eva’s 60th anniversary) I only recognize Gatha Hallett and Joanne Williams but if you were around that time you  may be able to recognize others …enjoy … and keep posted I will have some more  great video coming soon…if you want to know exactly when I post them you should use the  email subscription “sign me up” button to the left and you will get an email when I post them…

( if you click on the pictures once to bring them up and then again you can see a larger picture)

Mr Charles Balish’s life was  intertwined with the history of Lockeport and its residents. He was of Lebanese descent born in Lebanon in 1896 and came to America when he was a young man and then to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia …he passed away in 1986. He was a very talented and out going person.When  he was a young man he had  his own traveling magic show…his son Harold( my father in-law) was the little boy who disappeared behind the curtain….. He also was a musician playing the accordion, mouth harp and saxophone( that later found it’s way back to his Grandson and my husband Michael)and Mike has carried on those traits of music.There are many stories about Charlie playing at the local barn dances.

When he came to Lockeport he started a General Store called “Balish’s Store”. It was on the corner in the middle of town so the corner became known as Balish’s Corner. It seemed like a three story building but I think it was 2 maybe 2 and a half. The old people remember going up to the second floor where there were Christmas gifts to buy and  downstairs were general things like groceries etc. His store carried all the new things like phonographs and musicial instruments , he was always on the cutting edge of things. Also later on he had  apartments upstairs that he rented out. In the early days he would have Music Concerts up there…. it was huge! In fact  famous Nova Scotian Singer “Hank Snow” talks in his book about going to the Balish’s store to play a concert there. He said Charlie Balish had the most beautiful daughters known to man…and he was right. Charlie and Eva had  5 children and all were very handsome with dark skin and black hair( and big noses! lol!)..traits that were passed down through the family.

He sold the store later in his life and the store caught fire and  burnt down in the great fire of 1975 taking out most of Lockeport’s main street. It was a horrible time and the town never really recuperated….a lot of our history seemed to go down with the fire. I wish they would have rebuilt the buildings. I was only 12 and looking out of the bedroom window on a cold frosty night watching the colors mix into the night sky and the fire siren howling gave me the most eerie and sad feeling. My mom wouldn’t let me go up town to see it but if I could have climbed out of that 2 story house I was in I would have. The next day the whole town was in shock.

He  built the original Oxbow Motel located in the next nearest town Shelburne  along with one of the first outdoor movie theaters. During those times not many had a camera to take pictures with let alone a movie camera, but he did. That is where all this movie footage came from. It was given to the Halifax Archives many years ago and was lost in a fire we were told…but now it has surfaced again much to our surprise and excitement. One of his sons Harold  ( my husbands Dad) started his own Pool Hall business and raised 9 children and it was kept in the family for many years.

One of the videos is about the famous Lockeport Lockout. During that time people were starving and it is said that Charlie was one of the only grocery stores that kept their doors open and fed the people……In the fall of 1939, more than 600 fishermen and fish handlers walked the picket line in front of the town’s only employers, Swim Brothers and the Lockeport Company.

Both fish plants had locked their doors rather than recognize the Canadian Fisherman’s Union as official bargaining agent. For eight weeks, as autumn turned to winter, the men, with their wives and families, held firm. It was a bread-and-butter struggle that made national headlines – one of the first major attempts by Nova Scotia fishermen and fish handlers to win union recognition, and one of the first major tests of the EN’S. Trade Union Act, passed in 1937.

Another video is about how they cut their ice to have for the fish plants… the man you see in the video was actually killed by the machine that cut the ice. The personal home movies are of Charlies children and family. There also is a video of  a parade that was held in the  next town  Shelburne . I would like to have a showing of them at the local library so the older generation can see and talk all about them, they would enjoy that very much!

The first video is the Ice processing…making ice to take back to the fishplant… lots of town pictures going down Sutherland’s hill showing the Old Blacksmith shop etc.train coming in town..excavation of Post Office..(1938-39)..and then the shipwreck off of Arnold’s Point(Archie F Mackenzie 1941). The second video is the men gathering together to get wood ready for the winter during the lockout..( Leon Williams is the man using the wheel barrel).skating on the old school pond on the beach corner…there is part of Sam Turners wedding and.then..the old schoolhouse…  a house fire in town,we are not sure who but believe it was up the north end of town(Hardings Barn?)…next would be the Shelburne Parade. The last video is the Balish family…Alec and Harold,Alma and Charlie himself. The little girl is Carol Ann. When they are driving their cars on the beach it was at Louis Head beach…..The movie’s are in black and white and are silent…enjoy….