Tent Dwellers spirit alive at junior guides’ meet

Twenty-five local youth competed in traditional woodsmen sports July 19 and 20 to an enthusiastic crowd of supporters and onlookers.

The event, part of the Tent Dwellers Centennial Festival, was the culmination of a weeklong junior guides’ school where campers learned canoeing, navigation, wilderness safety, food preparation and fishing and hunting basics.

“It’s always exciting to see the kids come through here and pick up so much practical knowledge. This meet is a great way for them to show off what they’ve learned,” said Susan Whynot, school coordinator.

Junior guides aged 8-17 demonstrated their skills in events such as canoe racing, fly casting, log rolling, kettle boiling and moose calling, skills that were central to the 1908 book, The Tent Dwellers.

The Albert Bigelow Paine book chronicles a wonderful canoeing and trout fishing trip through the interior of southwestern Nova Scotia in the early 1900s.

“It feels good to know how to take care of yourself in the outdoors, that you can survive without very much stuff,” said Ally Greek, 16, of Bridgewater, who has competed at the meet for five years. “My strongest event is the canoe rescue; I can jump back in [the canoe] fast because I’m small.”

The junior guides’ school is hosted annually by the Nova Scotia Guides’ Association at their campground in Hibernia, N.S.

For information on upcoming Tent Dwellers Festival events, visit www.tentdwellers2008.com.