ASHLAND NEWS
by Susan Feeney-Hopkins
A special bean-hole bean dinner was held Saturday, June 21 at the Portage Lake Town Hall. The event was organized by the Portage Lake Historical Society, and included a community dinner, as well as the Society’s annual meeting to elect a slate of officers for the coming year.
However, this year, the event was combined with another activity sponsored by the town’s 2014 World Acadian Congress (CMA) Committee. Known as the “Tripling Project,” the activity unites one town from each of the three CMA regions — southwest Quebec, northwest New Brunswick and northern Maine. The unification is based on population size.
According to Lorraine Pelletier, Maine regional coordinator, “The goal of the Tripling project is to get people from all three regions together to share their common heritage, culture and history.”
“There are 16 Tripling community groups,” she said, “each of which is expected to work together to create a unique project to be unveiled during the New Beginnings Ceremony on Aug. 24 in Témiscouata sur-le-lac (Cabano) in Quebec.”
The town of Portage Lake is grouped with the towns of Lac Baker (New Brunswick), Packington (Quebec) and St. Jean-de-la-Lande (Quebec). The group has already met in each of the towns; however, this dinner in Portage Lake was the first time they met and worked on their Tripling project. Future meetings of the group will be held in Lac Baker, St. Jean-de-la-Lande and finally in Packington.
During the initial meetings, the group developed an interesting and unique idea for their Tripling Project. Samuel Moreau, the CMA representative from Packington, explained the project combines a legend from the 1755 Acadian Deportation from Nova Scotia with local hook-rug making artistry. The legend for the project describes how the women in Grand-Pré (Nova Scotia) met every Sunday afternoon to practice their hook-rug craft and were working on a rug that illustrated their beloved church building. On this particular Sunday, while the women were working, English soldiers entered the church and loaded these Acadian women onto boats. This was the beginning of the Deportation. However, the unfinished rug was smuggled out of the church and hidden before all the women were taken. Miraculously, after more than 250 years, the unfinished hook-rug was recently found in the town of Packington. According to the legend, the remaining pieces of yarn to finish the hook-rug were also lost, that is, until some of the yarn was found during this visit to Portage Lake. The search continues for the remaining yarn, especially in the Lac Baker and St Jean-de-la Lande regions.
“The evening in Portage was a great success,” said Corrine Routhier, Portage Lake town treasurer and member of the Portage Lake Historical Society. “When the Tripling Project was proposed to us last November, we immediately thought it would fit right in with our Historical Society annual meeting. We wanted to make this a community event and to also make the people from the Tripling towns feel right at home. It is obvious from the more than 150 people who attended, this was a success.”
The dining room in the Portage Lake Town Hall was well decorated with the Acadian flag colors, as well as CMA signs and posters. Even a paper mache figurine of Evangeline, the famous personality from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline,” was on display.
“I borrowed Evangeline from the Grosse Tête collection at the CMA office in Madawaska,” said Linda Caron, chair of the Portage Lake CMA Committee. “It shows some of the work being done by other Valley communities for the World Acadian Congress. This is our opportunity to showcase our beautiful area to the many visitors of the Congress.”
The evening meal also held an Acadian flavor. “There is nothing more traditional than baked beans on Saturday night,” said Anita Theriault, member of the Portage Lake Tourism Committee. “My husband and I made our specialty bean-hole-beans for this meal. The beans are baked on a bed of hot coals in the ground for a long period of time. They are great!” The beans were accompanied by baked ham and several types of salads.
Immediately after the meal, the Historical Society held a brief meeting and elected the following officers: Corrine Routhier, president; Sarah Brooks, vice president; Barbara Pitcairn, treasurer and Rachel Law, secretary.
The 2014 World Acadian Congress will be held Aug. 8-24. Family reunions, concerts, community activities and conferences will be held throughout the CMA region. The biggest of the activities, the Acadian National Day, will be held in Madawaska Aug. 15. Included will be a large outdoor Mass, a Tintamarre parade, a concert featuring many famous Acadian artists, and a huge fireworks display. A complete schedule of all CMA events can be found at http://officialprogram.cma2014.com.
Ongoing events
The Portage Lake ATV Club will meet every first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Office. All are welcome to attend. Contact Rena Belanger for membership or more information at 435-2780.
The Ashland Area Senior Citizens meet the first and third Thursday at noon for a potluck luncheon at the LeBlanc Junkins VFW Post 9699 on the Portage Road with a meeting to follow. This active and growing club of senior citizens also takes trips to various restaurants throughout The County, hosts cookouts, enjoys guest speakers and entertainment such as musicians. For more information, contact Roberta Savary at 435-6422.
The Portage Lake Over 50’s Club lunch is held on the last Tuesday of every month at 11:30 a.m. at the Town Hall. All individuals 50 and over are invited to attend and can bring a potluck dish to share. For more information, contact Jean Clark at 435-8034 or Donna Martin at 435-7108.
The Red Hat Loonies of Portage Lake meet every third Thursday of every month at Dean’s Motor Lodge. Membership dues are $2. Come and have a great meal and a great time, too!
Susan Feeney-Hopkins is the correspondent for Ashland, Portage Lake, Oxbow, Masardis, Garfield, Nashville Plantation and the surrounding areas. She can be reached at 227-7760 or Feenhop@aol.com.
