Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Stanfest Canso Nova Scotia

Just returned from Stanfest, in Canso. We had the time of our lives! Drove up from NH, and met my buddy from Virginia, who I hadn't seen in years. The music was fantastic, met a lot of really nice people. The scenery was some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. There were people from all over Canada and the states. I met a young lad, who had flown up from Colorado. I think this is going to be an anual thing!

I'm glad you had a good time! Did you go for three days or did you get a chance to look around Canso and area? That's been going on for over 20 years. There's a lot of history and scenic places on the east coast too.

We don't mention that part of Canada here much. It's a shame. The pace of life is slower and people are friendlier than most other parts of Canada, I think. Have you ever explored the Cabot Trail? Gorgeous scenery!! The wife and I had considered retiring down east, but apart from visits, never got back. We lived in New Brunswick (about five hrs from Canso) for four years.

We were there for four days, did some exploring while we there. Your right about the scenery, the thing that impressed me, was how undeveloped it was , compared to New Englnad. Next year, we want to visit PEI, I have relatives on my maternal grandmothers side, that live there. Might have to make it two weeks, so we can make the concert, and spend more time exploring.

The east coast up here was primarily a lumber and fisheries area. The fisheries took a hit years ago. One of the problems was a drop in cod stocks in the 1990s. Quotas were imposed and many people moved out of Newfoundland and the Maritimes.

PEI used to be, and probably still is a touristy place. I cannot speak about the past 20 years, but most of the Maritimes was only open for tourists in July and August, with a few exceptions. Before they put the Confederation Bridge from NB to PEI, the ferry was the only way on and off the island. The island is dead easy to get around on, even if you do not have a GPS. There are signs everywhere. Most are small street signs that point to various towns, landmarks or tourist places.

In the 1980s, Anne of Green Gables was a huge thing in Canada. They made a multiple part series about an orphan girl from Nova Scotia who went to live on a farm on the Island. I imagine it's still being visited by lots of tourists every year. Busses full of Japanese school girls were always coming and going. When relatives came from out west, I would have to take them to Green Gables.

After a couple of hours at Green Gables house, we would drive up to the Fisherman's Wharf, a restaurant in North Rustico, for a seafood supper - lobster, clams, mussels, etc. The restaurant was built on the water and the lobsters were kept under the building. They had buffets and it was impossible to come out of there hungry.



Beside cod stocks declining, there were some other problems, but the area has bounced back. You could spend an entire summer exploring Cape Breton, mainland Nova Scotia and PEI. That doesn't even touch on Newfoundland or southern New Brunswick.

Canso and Stanfest are a great jumping off point!

I ate seafood almost every day, while we were there. There was a food truck at the concert selling lobster rolls. I struck up a conversation with the owner, it turns out he's Stan's cousin. Said he used to fall asleep, listening to Stan and his father singing in the living room. Fantastic lobster rolls by the way!

Wish I could've been there. I'm a big fan of Stan Roger's music. He will always remain a hero in my eyes.

I don't kow if it's ever been confirmed, but one of the women who survived the plane fire, said she remembered being pushed down the shute by a large balding man. The talk at the time, was that he was overcome by smoke, helping get other passengers off the plane. I think he would have been as big as Gordon Lightfoot, had he survived. An immensely talented songwriter, musician and singer!

Bogtrotter;
Good afternoon to you sir, I hope the day is behaving well enough for you out east today.

Thanks for the thread, I appreciate it and am glad to read there's folks outside of Canada who know about Stan Rogers.

If I'm not wrong, his "Northwest Passage" was voted the #2 Most Canadian song or something of the sort, but again I might be remembering the details wrong on that.

My personal favorite Stan Rogers song is "The Field Behind the Plow" for a few reasons.

While I'd heard it on the radio previously, in the early '80's I was running a 935 Versatile late into the night doing fall work and listening to the radio. When I'd live in the tractor like I did then, the top 40 playlists got boring after a month so I was listening to CBC radio doing an interview with Stan Rogers.

He related how he was on tour travelling by bus between Calgary and Regina or perhaps it was Regina and Winnipeg. They'd left after the concert and while everyone else on the bus was asleep, he'd gone up to chat with the bus driver.

When he did, he saw all the lights out in the middle of the fields - in the middle of nowhere - off of the Trans Canada Highway and asked the driver who in the world besides travelling musicians would be up at that ungodly hour?

The driver replied it was farmers combine and truck lights that they saw, as they were scrambling like we did every fall, to get the crops off before the winter hit.

From that experience, he wrote that song.

And yah, the only lights I could see that fall night, were the neighbors up still combining, like some of our crew were doing as well.

Thus, it has a special place in this Saskatchewan farm boy's heart.



Thanks for reading and thanks ever so much more for twigging a memory from 40 plus years ago now.

Finally, it must have been just before he died now that I think of it and yes, we'd heard the same story of a big bald guy pushing people off of the burning plane.

Thanks again.

Dwayne

It’s always fresh! WRT lobster rolls, a couple of franchises tried selling them, but it was a disaster. McDonalds was pilloried over their attempts to market them.

What I have always liked about the Maritimes is the slower, laid back feel. Not many people in a rush. Even Halifax.

Stan’s family and a few other performers helped make the east coast a great place to live. And the music is second to none!

Dwayne, One of the great things about Stan, was his ability to write songs about working people. "the idiot" is about an oil field worker, "Lies" is about a ranchers wife. He wrote some great songs about fishermen. "The Mary Ellen Carter" and "the Jennie C" are two of my favorites. It's a testament to the power of his music, that people gather every year to celebrate his memory and listen to wonderful music.