An outing on a Tuesday night

The municipality of the Northern Bruce Peninsula extends from Pike Bay to Tobermory. It has 3900 year around residents. Their ancestry is mostly Scottish. They work the fields, the forests, are shop keepers and wait persons at the local eatery. They band together around their faith, believing in the fundamental nature of all things of heaven and earth. They sing, grouped in unison to give concerts in small congregation churches up and down the Peninsula. The Spirit Singers are a 50 person group. The women are decked out in white blouses and a long Bruce Tartan scarf draped over their left shoulder while the men wear a Bruce Tartan vest. The Spirit Singers' director, accompanist, instrumentalist-music writer, as well as the Suzuki violinist are from one family; grandpa to 7 year old grandson.

We gathered, some 125 of us, in the Bethel Missionary Church which has been preaching the gospel for 105 years, recently in these new digs, but before, in a clapboard structure resurrected from a bygone era. The gray heads, the all-one-color-hair older people, plus a smattering of salt and pepper styles made up the majority of the crowd.

The song selections matched the environment: church music, Down East Nova Scotia sea and parting with loved ones music, medley of 1950's Broadway Musicals, and the most impressive piece to me, the choral rendition of two Elvis Presley's ballads. Fiddler On The Roof medley was opened by the 7 year old Suzuki violinist and closed with same. Several pieces were written for them, by them as they performed them. The choir sang with good diction and enthusiasm.

The middle set featured various soloists, instrumentalists, and the 7 year old "fiddler" doing early English tunes, some from Scotland, and some others straight out of Appalachia. His father had arranged the music for "Dueling Fiddles" which was a gas: father and son.

The last set was an extended Broadway Musical medley finishing with a "Restoration" piece written by the father of the fiddler.

The music was fun. What was interesting to me was the plaintive tunes from "Down East", Appalachia, mixed with Scottish Presbyterian church songs that contained some of the song phrases heard in Gospel music.

At the end of the concert, people began filing out slowly, chatting with one another. Choir women's purses were still out on the chairs, and the white heads bobbed towards the vestibule, bulletin boards announcing various doings including "Deconstructing Darwin" on Thursday night at the Sauble Beach Fellowship Hall.

Outside and to the West, layers of pastel colors remain as the sun fell. Night time approaches, and, if it is a clear sky, then the early phases of the Perceid meteor shower may be seen. I will look for it.