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Some thirty years ago, many questioned the viability of summer tourism in Sutton and the Townships in general. To some it seemed that without numerous lakes like the Laurentians, the area would not attract many visitors in the summer. The main tourism trade would be reserved for alpine skiing from December to April. Despite this, a handful of vacationers used secondary residences and provided the modest summer tourism patronage.
The statistics and customer behaviour of that time somewhat justified this defeatist attitude. Fortunately, a few enterprising individuals kept their heads up, each betting on emerging tourism products such as the great outdoors and/or changes in customer patterns. Together they developed new incentives of sorts for an outing or a pleasure trip of one or more days in the area.
Today, workers and businesses benefit respectively from more interesting work and revenues in the summer and fall than in the winter. Truly, it has become noticeable by observing what is happening in our beautiful nature as it supports cycling, hiking, and landscape appreciation and fauna and flora observation. It is much the same for the food industry thanks to the vineyards and their Wine Route, to orchards and to farm growers who deliver unique delicacies and tasty foods to the table. The field of the arts benefits as it completes the list of pleasures during a stay: the Tour des Arts, the Côtes d'Ardoises sculpture garden, Festiv'Art and the many theatres and exhibition halls, etc. Those leaders must notice these results and feel some plenitude even if the values that vouch for this success remain health, authenticity and human warmth.
The dilemma between earning a living and living, between using and conserving, between receiving and giving will always wrestle with plenitude, because the present doesn't allow for a clear cut determination of the limit between remaining competitive and yielding to decrepitude.
The region will surely undergo some economic jolts that will affect tourism for a time. However, one should not lose confidence in the power of intrinsic values and in the quality of the tourism supply. The ensuing refinements will fill the sail of revival when the time comes.
Happy reading!
Denis Boulanger
Five reasons to celebrate plenitude
1. Friday night suppers at the Maison des Jeunes
Local kids aged 12 to 16 have a place to get together, relax, play games and music, and share a home-cooked meal with the lovely staff at Le Spot in the John Sleeth Centre. At $3 a plate, it's the best deal in town. Of course, the ‘animatrices' ask for help planning the meal, buying groceries and cleaning up afterwards - that's part of the deal!
2. Skating around on your local rink - or a pond! (with or without the help of a chair)
Reviews of the outdoor rink in Abercorn are glowing - like your cheeks after two hours of skating. You might even luck out and get a play-by-play commentary of your game. The rink in Sutton's park on Western St. has lights, a heated cabin and a round track for perfecting your glide. Sweet!
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3. Fairs, winterfests and ‘vide-greniers'
At any time of the year, there's something fun for the whole family happening in the region: Brome County Fair (a real country fall fair, complete with giant pumpkins, clowns, farm equipment as far as the eye can see and a midway that'll test the strength of your stomach); the annual Apple Pie Festival in Stanbridge East; all the craft sales & fairs just south of the border; sugaring-off; a community-wide family garage sale in the spring; the Tour des Arts studio visit & sale in the summer; and winter family fun at the Plaisirs d'hiver event. Visiting a local museum might set you back a couple of bucks but the opportunity to touch a piece of history is, as the commercial says, priceless.
4. The treasures to be had
The local library is so much more than just rows and rows of dusty, boring books. In the area around Sutton, there are no less than 6 public libraries (2 here in town, 1 in Richford, 1 venerable library in Knowlton, 1 in Dunham, and the excellent Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Giroux-Bertrand in Cowansville). Each has its own programs, collections and qualities: Sutton, Richford and Cowansville all have a regular read-aloud story time. The Cowansville Library alternates English & French-language programs and also has evening programs throughout the year with visits from the Granby Zoo mobile, puppet shows, and seasonal stories - parents are welcome, too!
5. All of the great stuff that we can make with our own two hands
Once a month, kids from a local daycare group make the trip over to the retirement home to do crafts with seniors. One craftsy mom hosts Saturday morning sessions for kids above Le Cotillon. Back at Le Spot, many young people have discovered needle felting using 100% ‘pur laine', to make whimsical animals and dolls. At least one Friday per month, many of the boys and girls in the after-school daycare program in Sutton make knitted creations, either on a tabletop loom or patiently wielding a pair of needles. There are classes and acti-vities at the Sunshine Center, above Sutton's local gym and fitness venue; getting together with friends or as part of a collective kitchen to make large batches of food to take home to put in the freezer, sharing favorite recipes, sewing skills, learning how to tape drywall seams or juggling beanbags for the first time. It is truly never too late to learn just about anything.
Recommended reading:
www.bibliothequecowansville.com
http://arvinabrown.wordpress.com/2008/03/
(the library in Richford, VT)
http://www.townshipsheritage.com/
(list of heritage sites in the Townships)
http://www.bromefair.com/en/
http://www.nicolehindes.com/2006/12/02/needle-felting-a-tutorial/
http://www.ressourcefamillesutton.blogspot.com/
http://www.cowansville.org/
Kelli-Ann Ferrigan
There is a new business in the heart of the village of Sutton since this autumn. The BELLE BOULE BLEUE provides ecological printing and publishing services. The owners' specialize in the conception of books. They also print family photos, colour posters, flyers, brochures and many other things.
Many have the health of our beautiful blue planet at heart and want to do their part (but). Denis Ouimet and Josée Guilbeault have put these ecological goals into action in their printing business. From their own publicity printed with a wax procedure on Enviro 100 paper to ever so many other printing possibilities, their work is clearly ecological. They provide standard printing using recycled paper containing a minimum of 30% certified fsc (harvest controlled forest products). Specialized work can be printed on 100% cotton made from recycled clothing, on washi, on banana and on many other types of paper.
And that is not all! The printing and publishing equipment has been selected for its economical use of ink, for its recyclable cartridges and its low pollution-emitting properties. After discussions with several different suppliers, the BELLE BOULE BLEUE also became a partner with other businesses with like environmental credentials.
Many know that ecological actions are often more economical and those who do business with BELLE BOULE BLEUE have noted that not only is it economical but the products are also appreciated for their remarkable aesthetic quality.
And there is more ! Denis recycled himself after years of experience with the public and with the media. He has written two books for children of pre-school age. And then there was a moment when all of his personal and professional experiences stood before the possibility of fusing into a new life as a printer and publisher.
This transformation was preceded by much reflection, sessions of pencil and paper and discussions with friends and professionals. The result was the decision to open this green business in Sutton !
There are many printers in Québec, but few that are appropriate for books. The publishing of books requires more specialized material and equipment such as a perfect binder at the Belle Boule Bleu they have one using water-based glue.
It is so obvious that Denis loves what he does. His years of experience with the public translate into an ease with which he understands the needs and tastes of his clients. Because of his own work as a writer in search of a publisher and as a printer, clients appreciate the freshness and frankness of his approach.
One feels the knowledge Denis has of his trade, his equipment and his materials. There is an atmosphere of plenitude. There are plenty of choices, which are beautiful, economical, ecological and just plain good. Here one can say that an attitude of respect for our beautiful planet is compatible with a sense of plenitude. We could coin a new word for this planetary attitude as ‘planetude'. The BELLE BOULE BLEUE shows us that plenitude and ‘planetude' can be compatible and complementary.
Denis and Josée have put their words into actions to preserve the ‘Beautiful Blue Planet', at la BELLE BOULE BLEUE.
Info : 450 538-1222 belleboulebleue@hotmail.com
Maaike Zuyderhoff
“I'm finally heading home to Sutton,” I mused, as I sat at my boarding gate in London. I had left Sutton last March for India and Thailand. The UK bit was a last-minute addition, but still it was a plenitudinous finale, a bona fide finish to my journey.
Neither Lynda nor I had planned Christmas in England. (Lynda Graham, Gîte Vert le Mont.) But then Lynda's mam, Pat, hadn't planned to die. So there we were doing our parts, to mourn and to celebrate a life, and then sort out Pat's house. Amidst the sad times and obligatory tasks, there was a Christmas to enjoy. Pat would have insisted. So, with Lynda as my guide, I treated England and Wales as foreign countries and like a birder in an aviary, I settled in to observe the English celebrate yuletide in their native habitat. Lynda's cousin Terence and his fiancée Nikki became local consultants and together, we endeavored to enjoy every possible tradition.
The English, like most Europeans, are deci-dedly secular, and this shows in how they celebrate Christmas. The “panto” is a good example. A Christmas pantomime is a full stage-show of a fairy tale (we saw ‘Cinde-rella') but told in a peculiarly irreverent fashion. It's like watching cartoons - the children's jokes are obvious while the adult jokes are full of subtle innuendo. Mickey Rooney played Cinderella's father in our “panto.” Fabulous!
For Christmas week we “let” a cottage on Dartmoor and spent most days walking the moors. One day we drove to the ‘seaside' to eat fish and chips, bundled and shivering under a shelter on the beach. On Christmas Eve we had a special dinner at a pub. There we crossed arms around the table, made wishes, and together pulled our ‘Christmas crackers'. If you've seen English Christmas films, you've certainly seen crackers. They look like big Tootsie Rolls that pull apart with a snap and contain a small prize, a fortune and a “paper hat”. The latter is a crown, which you wear for the rest of the evening even though you look ridiculous. You finish it off with ‘Christmas pudding'.
On Christmas Day we walked the ‘tors' and dales, dropped by the pub for the traditional afternoon Christmas pint, and returned home to watch the Queen's speech on the ‘telly'. Throughout the season there were mince pies and numerous toddies. December 26th is Boxing Day (the true origin of which is lost to history) and we pretty much repeated Christmas, but had our ale while bundled up on a sun-drenched picnic bench before heading into the Taverstock Inn for lunch of ‘bangers and mash'.
After Christmas, there were the Royal Institute's ‘Christmas Lectures', a series of televised science lectures aimed at children (and thus comprehensible to normal adults)! This has been tradition since 1825 when none other that Michael Farady gave the first series. New Year's Eve brings ‘First Footing', the tradition of trying to be the first across another's threshold carrying as gifts some coal, coin and alcohol (health, wealth and happiness) in exchange for some food.
The UK is a jolly union, and alcohol seems to lubricate all of life. The pub culture of pints and cider, jazz and Irish music, skittles and darts, and ‘pub grub' and chips make for a very social society. In Wales you can add laver bread (fried seaweed), Welsh cakes, and such shellfish as mussels, cockles and winkles. It's festive year round, but even more so at Christmas.
Spending Christmas in another country is bound to seem special. I have been to England many times, but I sort of fell in love with it this Christmas. Still, I'd been away for a long time. I missed Sutton a lot, and there is some regret at having missed Christmas in Sutton. Heck, I'd been looking forward to that since sometime in August, since somewhere in India. Come to think of it, I'm already looking forward to it.
Jay Sames
Finding Plenitude on Two Wheels
As I'm writing this article, I feel very little plenitude, as I have to ride my bike indoors to get fit for next season. Even a bike shop owner with all the latest technology on hand has trouble mustering up a feeling of gratitude and fullness during this dark and cold season. Where to train when I'm indoors – the shop feels too cold, the basement is too hot and the air isn't right. I finally park myself in front of the TV but even the latest news headlines fail to inspire me to push through each long training session.
Jumping on the cross bike and going outside to train has its own set of problems. The biggest – it's freezing. No matter how many layers I put on, or how high-tech the clothing, when I'm out there trying to navigate slippery roads, some extremities are thoroughly frozen by the time I get back.
I don't want to head out in the morning since it's probably 10 degrees colder than mid-day, but neither can I go too late in the afternoon since it's dark by 4:30 leaving a very small window of opportunity, which is pretty easy to miss when the will to get out there at all is lacking.
But there's something that happens with the coming of spring. As I get out there and ride through a pocket of warmer air, I'm jolted by the realization of the upcoming season's goals and objectives. It's getting closer. My body still feels rusty after the long winter and there are still some cold fingers and toes but I feel the anticipation and it keeps me going.
Then comes the day when I win the yearly race of seeing the first robin. As I ride the pothole-ridden dirt roads, I hear a familiar chirp. I scan the yellowed grass and there it is -the first robin hopping along the thawing ground. I can't wait to get home to tell my family that I've won the race yet again. As I pedal, I notice that the pain is less. My legs feel fluid. This is progress.
I start to see the occasional rider along the highway. I'm no longer alone on the roads. I push hard to catch up to a rider I haven't seen all winter. We ride along easily and catch up on the long winter months. There will be time to push each other harder later in the season.
I start to feel my heart expand with the goodness of spring, the sunshine, the birds and the SUVs pulling into my driveway to drop off bikes to tune up. As I chat with my customers in the shop and get their bikes running just right, or their positioning just perfect, I realize I've missed this. My fingers are black with bike grease, my thumbs cracked from changing tires, and there's a pile of old worn-out tires and tubes by my feet. I feel the fullness of the shop around me – ready to welcome fellow cyclists. This is plenitude.
By Stephan Marcoux
VeloZoom
Have a question?
Heather Darch – Missisquoi Museum
"We will watch, and pray, and preach until He comes, for soon our time, and all prophetic days, will have been filled”. W. Miller
When American settlers arrived in the Eastern Townships in the late 18th century, they were settling a wilderness region covered by dense forest. Their priorities for survival included creating shelter, opening the land for farming and developing economic networks. Although most were “God-fearing” they built very few churches initially and this lack of religious focus was equated with spiritual darkness. It was the prevailing feeling among church leaders prior to 1820 that people living in the Townships were "destitute of religion". As individuals did not attend regular church services, they "most certainly faced eternal damnation". In 1808, the Reverend Charles James Stewart, the Anglican Rector for St. Armand wrote about the state of religion in his parish:
The people …are very rude...They have all sorts of notions and sects in religion... and no wonder they are divided, where they have no teachers except Methodists and Baptists, and they are very ignorant.
This concern led to an extensive missionary movement from New England. Missisquoi Bay served as a transportation and economic water route and kept the population oriented towards the United States in social and religious matters. Baptists, Congregationalists, Universalists, Methodists and Quakers directed the American religious influences. Although this immigration pattern continued after 1820, the period from 1820 to 1840 was marked by the entry of British and Irish immigrants to Quebec. It is impossible to estimate the actual number that came into the Townships but their presence was significant enough to establish many new Church of England and Roman Catholic congregations throughout the region.
In the 1840's and 1850's, the emigration of French-Canadians from the seigneurial lands of the St. Lawrence River increased dramatically. That almost all of the new churches opened in this period were French-speaking Roman Catholic reflects this population movement. By 1851, the initial settlement of the Eastern Townships was complete as was the initial establishment of organized religion. By this date there were approximately 64,000 people in the Townships and 15 different denominations. The variety of religious groups were in competition to win over the souls of those with no specific church connection but at the same time the faith community helped to provide a sense of balance and security for the milestones of life. Faith provided a sense of plenitude for the early settlers.
An extraordinary religious group, and perhaps little-known today, also came to the Townships and for a few years flourished in the wilderness. “Millerism” a new fundamentalist Christian sect was an apocalyptic movement that heralded the second coming of Christ. “Millerites” were the followers of the teachings of William Miller (1782–1849) who was an American Baptist preacher originally from Vermont. Through a literal reading of the Bible particularly the prophecies of Daniel, and using the Karaite Jewish calendar, Miller became convinced that Christ's second coming was imminent. “I believe that the second coming of Jesus Christ is near, even at the door, even within twenty-one years, on or before 1843.” Indeed Miller went so far as to predict the Day of Reckoning as being April 14th 1843.
Millerism was a moderate movement in its early stage and was adopted by many Baptist congregations in the Townships. From 1840 onward however, Millerism was transformed from an obscure, regional movement into an international campaign through the power of the printed word. By May 1844, 5 million Millerite periodicals had been distributed world wide. While the majority of Miller's followers were based in New England, his ideas were not limited to the United States. Miller himself led a conversion crusade in the Townships on at least three occasions in 1835, 1838 and 1840 and he launched a Millerite paper “Faithful Watchman” which was published in Sherbrooke from 1843 -1845. In 1842 one of Miller's chief lieutenants, Josiah Litch, led a series of revival meetings in Hatley that drew "waves on waves of people". In 1843 the doctrine of the “Advent Church” was preached in Sutton where “various preachers of this denomination…have visited and laboured in the township”. Millerism even influenced denominations that rejected their principles. In the Methodist Dunham/St. Armand Circuit a sharp spike in adult baptisms in 1842 and 1843 can be seen clearly in the baptismal records. It was better to be safe than sorry.
As the date of Christ's predicted return approached, Millerism became more aggressive and emotional. Large revival meetings encouraged the faithful to prepare for eternity and were "extravagant, given to shouting, bellowing and praying". Miller commissioned the biggest tent in North America for his camp meetings. “The Great Tent” could seat 6,000 followers at one time.
The fervour of mass revivalism began to wane when Judgement Day passed without incident. The immediate time period after the failed apocalypse became known as “The Great Disappointment”. The Millerites changed the date for the end times to October 22nd 1844 and when the heavenly horrors predicted in Revelations again failed to occur, many turned away from the movement and Millerism lost much of its appeal. Both Millerite leaders and followers were left generally bewildered and disillusioned. Some Millerites continued to predict different dates - among them April, July, and October 1845 but by 1846 Millerism began to fade in the Townships, its believers increasingly "open to ridicule". Miller never gave up his belief in the Second Coming. He died on December 20, 1849, still convinced that the end of the world was imminent. Miller was buried in Low Hampton, NY and his home is preserved as a museum. His direct spiritual heirs include the Seventh-day Adventists.
It is impossible for us today to understand fully what it must have been like to wait for the apocalyptic April. At no time previously had so many people expected to see the world come to its fiery end on a specific day. The Millerite movement may have been short-lived but it filled a spiritual need among its followers and for a brief time served to give a sense of purpose and fulfillment to many Townshippers.
Sources: Histoire des Cantons de l'Est- J.P. Kesteman et al; Millennial Invasion – Millerism in the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada- Jack Little; The History of the Eastern Townships – Cyrus Thomas; MHS Archives Church records;
Musée Missisquoi Museum
2 rue River, Stanbridge East Qc J0J 2H0
(450) 248-3153
info@museemissisquoi.ca
Abundance, ample sufficiency, ampleness, amplitude, bonanza, boundlessness, and bountifulness are all synonymous with the word plenitude. Whenever I dance, these words often come to mind. An amazing sensation comes over me, feeling this endless source of creative ways to move, to express. For this I am grateful.
Being grateful for what you have is to acknowledge it. Just sit for a moment and think about all that you take for granted and don't acknowledge in your life. We've gotten used to seeing life from the perspective of what is missing and then work towards filling that void. However, if you want to achieve some kind of peace in your life then you must begin by seeing how you are already blessed.
Try the act of dancing as a path to find your peace. Let the music fill your auditory sense and allow it to move you into submission while you interpret the sounds. Feel the vibrations throughout your body and give in to its invitation to shake, jitter or gyrate from deep within your being. Don't listen to that small voice within you that judges your every move - instead, do it anyway. Let go of your limbs, your head and your pelvis and flow into the endless possibilities of movement in the moment. Jump, bump or thump around without a care in the world. Keep going, don't stop and when you feel like there's no more to give or express, wait until the next song comes on and you'll be amazed at how it can start all over again - if you let it.
After you've gone through this experience of dancing away all your worries and cares, all that is left is peace. When the physical tensions melt away, it allows an opening of total plenitude to wash over you. You realise all that you need is already within you. When you experience this feeling over and over again you feel nourished.
The more often you dance the more you want to dance and it becomes a part of your life. When you give yourself permission to go to this place of complete surrender, amazing things start to happen in all areas of your life and this human experience becomes a less frightening one. You allow more joy into your everyday life. You may realise you're tapping your foot to music you hear while waiting in line at the grocery store. Maybe you're nodding your head and conducting a symphony with your finger to music from your car radio. You never know! What is important is to remain open to dance.
Have you ever wanted to take dance lessons - maybe Salsa, Line Dancing, or Modern dance? Then go for it. Find a class near you and sign up. Commit to a whole session and give it a fair shot. If it is not what you expected, then try something else but just keep dancing.
Ilia Kavoukis
Editor's note: Ilia Kavoukis is a dance animator who offers a weekly dance class in Sutton. For more info go to: at www.sunshincenter.ca