Frye Festival, Day #6

What an amazing day! Saturdays at the Frye are always about kids for me, starting with KidsFest.

My daughter and I grabbed the big tub of kids’ books we had gathered from the basement along with the huge bingo machine I had borrowed from the Riverview Lions Club and we raced to KidsFest (especially after we had received the panicked call that three volunteers were no-shows).

Suzanne Cyr organized a very special event for an Atom hockey team from Shediac that has an incredible coach. Shane Doiron insists that the boys on his team read books…and that they bring them to practice each week and discuss them together! He’s been doing this for a while and the boys love it. So, in order to make a better story for Radio-Canada TV, Suzanne invited the team to have a private session with Geronimo Stilton. With their jerseys on, the boys had a great time meeting and chatting with Geronimo and then telling their stories about how much they enjoy reading and playing hockey.  (For more on the story: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/atlantic/young-hockey-players-hit-the-ice-then-the-books/article1939486/).

Thanks to the masterly organization by our coordinator James Fogerty (you may be interested to know that this wunderkind is heading off to England for his Masters in Composition at King’s College in the fall) the event was simply spectacular. Hoards of kids and their families arrived, ready for all kinds of word play. They swapped books, read books, played animal bingo, made cat puppets, fished for words, wrote poetry, created letter-filled door knob hangers, watched some great theatre presentations, mobbed a rodent (we may need one every year now!), participated in writing workshops and of course, heard authors.

I met some fascinating kids: Kenneth Oppel fans who had driven from far and wide for the chance to meet him; young writers who have been actively writing books for three years (and they are only ten!); Reynald Cantin fans who were absolutely determined to find the book that he had read in their classroom; Annie Groovie fans who had adored meeting her in their classroom and had come out in droves to introduce her to their parents (and buy her books!). It was a great event with about 1,500 kids and their families through over the course of the morning. Phew!

After cleaning up (which went incredibly smoothly this year thanks to our hard-working volunteers!) I raced on to Budding Writers. The lobby was packed at the Capitol Theatre as 16 students from Grades 5 to 8 read their own creations. What diversity, although I must comment that there was division along gender lines! The boys wrote compelling arguments almost exclusively (the need for a Moncton-based NHL team, the need to change the Riverview bi-laws and why the “band” the Gorrilaz are the best band of all time!) and the girls took on a more storytelling role. All the presentations were excellent and the students were just so polished and professional. Both Susan Judy and Annie Groovie who acted as mentors for the event were completely blown away by the talent. 

I unfortunately missed the literary trivia contest at Navigator’s Pub, but it sounded like a lot of fun…maybe my clone will be ready for next year? Next on the agenda was the literary lounge which was fun, chatting with fans and authors in such an informal setting.

Time for a quick shower and back to the Capitol. I was just picking up the Frye Academy Award at the office when Danielle gave me the call at 7:35: where was Atwood? Where was Rhonda Whittaker who was interviewing her? They were supposed to be back stage at 7:00 for a sound check and there was no sign of either one! Yikes! (I had visions of myself reciting French poetry on stage…and it wasn’t good!) All I knew was that Rhonda had asked me if it was OK to take Margaret on a tour in the afternoon and I had visions of them going “off piste” somewhere in Fundy! I tried to make my way through the throngs in the Capitol Lobby but quickly gave up. I raced out the front door and along Main Street when I heard Rhonda yell “Dawn, here we are!” and sure enough there was Rhonda along with a dark-hooded incognito character, who was thankfully Margaret! Phew. We rushed them in back stage for a quick sound check, some pointers on how she likes book signings to go and then to the stage. For a terrific account of the “lecture” and Q&A, see Bob Mersereau’s blog: http://www.cbc.ca/nb/features/fryefestival/ (I completely agree with him…brilliant and funny!)

Immediately after the event, the line formed…and formed, and formed! More than 200 people stood in line for up to an hour and a half to get a book signed. Margaret was incredibly good-natured about it all and never stopped. In fact, when a certain partner of a certain board member waited at the end of the very long line to ask a special favour of Margaret, she completely indulged him, writing copiously in the book and analyzing this board member’s difficulty with “ring” stories. It was very funny. I literally had to entice her to leave with her coat. Rhonda had two good friends who were enormous fans who desperately wanted to walk Margaret back to the hotel, so they got their wish and I set out for Frye Jam.

WOW! I knew it was going to be crowded, but this was crazy! You could not move at City Grill. What a great location for events (despite the columns). Lots of familiar faces, but lots of new ones too. I did a quick tour, but since I had been receiving texts from my family all night that they would like me to make contact, I decided at 11:30 I should probably miss the fun and go home. Too bad. I didn’t want to leave, but I knew I still had to think about what I was going to say at the Poet flyé dit Bye-Bye event…so I had better get some shut-eye!