By Wendy Elliott

The Advertiser/NovanewsNow.com

Friends of the national historic park at Grand Pre will gather this weekend, and the annual celebration of Acadian Days will roll out.

Friday evening, July 25, Les Amis de Grand-Pré have organized an evening of conversation in French at Joe’s Emporium in Wolfville, from 6 – 8 p.m. Folklorist Georges Arsenault will give a 20-minute talk on Léah Maddix, a storyteller and singer from Prince Edward Island.

The monthly Francophone gathering is an opportunity for Acadians, Francophones, and Francophiles to get together and chat in a friendly atmosphere.

The Société Promotion Grand-Pré has sent out an invitation for July 26-27. This year, the focus of Acadian Days is on the anniversary of the fall of the great Fortress of Louisbourg to the British July 26, 1758.

Speakers set for Saturday will look at the impact of that event on the thousands of Acadians who were living in Cape Breton (Isle Royale) and on PEI (Isle Saint-Jean). Parks Canada historian John Johnston will put the fall of Louisbourg in the context of other events in Atlantic Canada.

He will be followed by historian Earle Lockerby who will talk about the deportation of the Acadians from PEI. Well-known genealogist Stephen White will discuss the fate of some of the Acadians deported from Louisbourg.

Island historian and folklorist Georges Arsenault will examine the case of some of his compatriots who survived the deportation of 1758.

The series of talks will start at 10:30 a.m. and finish at 5 p.m. and admission is free. Les Amis de Grand-Pré will be serving a light lunch on site around noon.

Sunday’s activities will start at 11 a.m. with a mass celebrated in French by Father Maurice LeBlanc.

Musical accompaniment for the mass will be provided by the young violinist Iain Beaton.

Throughout the afternoon, there will be activities for children, music, food, and display booths. This year,

there will be two concerts in the big tent. The Acadian group Grou Tyme Gumbo from Halifax will perform traditional Cajun music. They will be followed at 2 p.m. by Angèle Arsenault, the internationally renowned Acadian singer and songwriter from Prince Edward Island.

Entrance to the site is free for every one -- except commercial groups -- all day Sunday, July 27. For more details, go to www.grand-pre.com.





Commemoration day

By Sally Ross

July 28 is the official day of commemoration for the Deportation of the Acadians. It was on that day in 1755 that the decision was made to deport the Acadians from Nova Scotia.

July 28, 2005, the first service of hope and healing took place at the Covenanter Church in the Grand Pré. One of the driving forces behind this initiative was Hortonville resident Betty Curry. She lives with her family on the large dairy farm in Horton Landing where the Deportation Cross and Planter Cairn are located.

Curry was born a Wentzell near Bridgewater. After graduating from the Nova Scotia Normal College in 1949, she moved to the Annapolis Valley to teach in the little Grand Pré School. Not long after arriving, she met her husband, Fred Curry.

They settled on the land that the Curry family has farmed since the 1760s. Aside from raising nine children and doing all the bookkeeping for the farm, Betty Curry has been an active member of her community.

One of her most treasured projects has been the

restoration of the old Covenanter Church, built by Presbyterians in 1804. The church is now part of the charge of Saint Andrew’s United Church in Wolfville.

During the Acadian era, the land encompassed by the Curry Farm was known as Pointe Noire or Vieux Logis -- Black Point or Old Dwelling. The Deportation Cross, originally erected by the railway tracks for practical reasons, was moved to the area because it is now thought to be the actual embarkation point of 1755.

According to archaeologist Jonathan Fowler, in all likelihood, it was also “one of the earliest places settled by the Acadians in the Grand Pré district, since it has one of the only two natural landing sites.”

He also says that the Curry Farm was “the scene of some of the ‘action’ during the 1747 Battle of Grand Pré and the location of a small British fort between 1749-1754, which made use of three houses abandoned by Acadians.”

Fowler points out that there was a “significant skirmish fought on these lands in late 1749 between Aboriginal warriors and the British garrison.” In short, the Curry Farm lands have been marked by the First Nations, the Acadians, the French, and the British – in both happy and tragic circumstances.

Speaking of this year’s Commemoration Service, Curry says she firmly believes that by forgiving past hurts and past resentments, we can look with hope to the future.

At noon July 28, there will be a wreath laying ceremony at the Deportation Cross on behalf of the United Church of Canada, Les Amis de Grand-Pré, and other groups.

Bells will ring at 17:55 (5:55 p.m.) to mark two minutes silence. A Sweet Grass Blessing and a First Nations Prayer will follow the tolling. After the bilingual and interfaith service in the Covenanter Church, people are invited to participate in a Walk of Solidarity to Grand Pré National Historic Site, where a reception will be held under the auspices of Les Amis de Grand-Pré.