marke slipp
7770 Hwy 221
RR#2 Centreville
NOVA SCOTIA
B0P 1J0
(902) 678-3748
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Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The ROSCOE FILLMORE PICNIC
Saturday, July 10, 2010 Noon til Evening
at the Chas. Macdonald Concrete House Museum
19 Saxon Street in Centreville, Kings County, NS
* Picnic goes until 5pm. Further discussion & activities TBA*
Rain Date: Sunday July 11
Bring your picnic lunch, radical ideas, chairs, & beverages,
musical instruments (if you like), sunscreen, bug repellent,
a blanket &/or what-have-you for your afternoon's enjoyment.
Special Guests:
Nicholas Fillmore reading from his book, Maritime Radical
Zachariah Wells reading poetry from, The Essential Kenneth Leslie
Chuck Lapp will be in attendance with his film God's Red Poet
Musical interludes will be provided by Bill Tupper & Friends
(bring along your own instruments and join in if you like!)
There will be a special art exhibit in the museum's Legge Gallery plus a selection of Charlie Macdonald's painting and drawings in the main gallery
Why a picnic named for Roscoe Fillmore?
Roscoe Fillmore was a figure that represented the values of community, equality and a socially-conscious lifestyle. Maritime Radical was written about his life by his grandson Nicholas Fillmore. Entrepreneur, writer, activist, gardener, political candidate Roscoe Fillmore was involved with a group of farmers, artists and like-minded folk back in the 1930s. The Centreville Socialists and would congregate on Sundays, talking about the values of equality & community, singing political songs to the melodies of hymns, and imbibing host Jim Simm's hard apple cider under the shadow of the North Mountain.
Roscoe used to gather friends on occassion for a picnic social, which would have guests like Socialist Party of Canada organizer Tim Buck, poet/editor Kenneth Leslie and others in attendance. After Roscoe's passing there was a desire to revive the idea of a picnic social to gather friends and like-minded together:
In July 1978, on the ninetieth anniversary of Roscoe's birth, the first Roscoe Fillmore memorial Picnic was held at the home of Kaye and Charlie Murray in Lower Sackville. More than 200 friends and admirers, many of them socialists in one variety or another, sat in the yard of the Murray home, amid Roscoe's plants and flowers, recalling what they could of Roscoe and talking about the difficult times facing socialism. Delivering a tribute to Roscoe at the first picnic, Dane Parker read Ken Leslie's poem, "There Is A Man Within".
There is a man within, a sure one.
He having taken your heart will hold it ever,
will hug and hold his treasure ever and ever.
You may wander and lose yourself, you may return,
you may forget him, you may betray this lover,
but he will never mislay the heart you have given.
He will hold his treasure forever and ever.
from Maritime Radical, pg. 246, by Nicholas Fillmore
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Here's some other info you might find interesting regarding the Centreville Socialists.
More info on Roscoe Fillmore:
NOTE: Anyone wishing to purchase Maritime Radical in advance should contact Nick Fillmore at fillmore0274@rogers.com to reserve a copy. Cost: $20.00
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for more information, please contact:
mslipp@ns.sympatico.ca
Please feel free to forward this to your friends.
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