No joy in Mud Creek

Two things dominated coffee-talk discussion this past week: the demise of the Atlantic Theatre Festival and Kings-Hants MP Scott Brison’s marriage to long-time partner Maxime St. Pierre.

To say that each was not without drama would be to understate the case, but I’m a big fan of perspective and I think it’s important to weigh the significance of these two situations.

I was a little surprised at the fuss surrounding the Brison nuptials, particularly when such unions these days are hardly front page news. However, Brison is the first Canadian MP ever to have a same-sex wedding, so his marriage will stand as a piece of history. Fair enough.

The events preceding the ceremony Saturday afternoon at Cheverie United Church were hectic, to say the least. Reporters for NovaNewsNow.com were told it was possible that Highway 215 leading to the church could be closed to accommodate not only crowd control, but safety concerns related to the guests expected to attend.

Think about it; an entire thoroughfare shut down because someone’s getting married. Granted, this wedding is unique, but the manpower required to effect such a thing would be huge, and so would the expense to Canadian taxpayers.

Private security was hired to manage the event, but just the same, when you have former prime ministers like Paul Martin and Joe Clark, former premiers like Frank McKenna and sitting federal MPs like Ken Dryden, Bill Graham, John Godfrey, Mike Savage and Geoff Regan to name a few in attendance, the RCMP is tasked with security. And who pays the RCMP? You got it - taxpayers.

But I quibble. The bottom line in any marriage is compatibility and love, the willingness to share one’s life with another, and I believe all of us deserve that chance if we so desire.

However, comparatively speaking, the ATF closing is a much more significant event locally than Scott’s wedding. Not to minimize the importance of the wedding or its value to Brison personally, I think Scott would agree that the economic impact of the ATF’s demise is huge and will be felt immediately. What’s so disappointing is knowing how hard people worked to resurrect the Atlantic Theatre Festival two summers ago only to have it fail before it really found its wings.

I know – some of you have said in the past ATF was too high-brow, too expensive and too ambitious a dream for this area, and you may be right. But in a town like Wolfville, with its wonderful mix of arts and culture, it was positioned perfectly.

Maybe this year ATF didn’t have the money to pursue its audience as aggressively as it had in the past, but the productions it offered were top-drawer and worthy of support even if the aspect of the whole thing was a bit over the top.

The arts community, retailers, restaurateurs and theatre-goers will feel its absence, and the Town of Wolfville itself will likely have to create a replacement attraction to supplement the revenue now lost.

Brison’s wedding will stand as a curiosity for some and a precedent-setting event for others, but the ATF’s demise will hit where we live, hard and fast.

Forty people are out of work, tourists have cancelled trips and reservations already and we’re not even into the second week of the fallout.

I wish Scott well in his marriage, but extend heartfelt sympathy to all those affected by the ATF situation. For me, the gravity of the latter tempers the joy of the former and that’s unfortunate. Ironically, that’s just the way it is when it comes to real life, isn’t it?