Ceili Irish Music and Dance Camp: One of the Highlights at Harrison
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
Before there was Vancouver there was Harrison Hot Springs. The world-famous Harrison Hot Springs also known as "the healing waters of Harrison" was actually discovered in 1857 by some gold miners who were passing through on their way to the Caribou gold fields.
They discovered the hot water at the edge of the lake and from then on there was a great interest in developing a hot springs resort. Back before the turn of the century, taking the waters was very popular in Europe, especially in the well-known spa towns of Bath, England.
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LESSONS on the bodhran at the Ceili Camp in Harrison.
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In 1886 the first hotel was built in the resort village of Harrison which was called the Saint Alice Hotel. It later burned down because it was wood and heated with wood stoves. Later the Harrison Hotel was built.
The population of Harrison Village is currently about 1,600 people but in the summer months – the high tourist months – which start the middle of June and continue to mid- October; the population soars to anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000 in the village on a Saturday night.
Harrison will never be a big community because of its geographics, there is a lake at the north end, big cliffs on the east and farm land to the south. But Harrison will always be an important community and a world-renowned resort destination as it has been since 1886.
John Allen, who was born in Portadown, County Armagh, is the mayor of Harrison. He takes great pride in his Irish heritage and also in being the mayor of this famous resort village and welcomes questions about its origin and future plans.
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MAYOR JOHN ALLEN
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Like many of his fellow Celts, Allen is a bit of a character and he loves the music and “craic” and of course, talking to people. Along with his duties as mayor, he also owns the Sasquatch Springs R.V. camping resort. Allen, who plays the piano accordion and sings, encourages live music of all types at his camp ground.
Mayor Allen recently spoke to The Celtic Connection about his background and upcoming attractions for the summer months at the village. Laughing, he said, “first of all, let me be clear on one thing here. I play the accordion badly, but some of the tunes are recognizable. Actually, I sing better than I play but I can’t do the two things at the same time.”
Speaking about how he managed to get from Portadown to Harrison Hot Springs, John Allen said, “I immigrated to Chilliwack in 1970 to be a cherry farmer and six years later I moved over to Harrison and opened up the R.V. camping resort.
“As the mayor of Harrison, I am also the chief executive officer of the community, which means that I have to ensure that everybody’s doing their job. I arrange and chair all the council meetings and assign committee work to councillors, and I represent the community outside the village in dealings with the regional district of the municipalities, provincial and federal government.”
Speaking about some of the attractions at Harrison, Mayor Allen said, “we’ve got about a mile of golden sand beach on the edge of a fresh water lake and it’s a beautiful setting. Harrison is also the place where the world championship of sand sculpture is held and it takes place the weekend after Labour Day.
“We give away about $50,000 in cash prizes and we also pay for the travel and accommodations of these world-class sand sculptors. And all that is supported by the admission we charge to come into Sand Sculpture Park to see these sculptures.
“After they’ve finished their carvings, we preserve the sculptures for the whole month of September right up to Thanksgiving. People come out and enjoy them even after the competition. At the moment, and all summer long, we have a sand sculpture exhibition going on the beach called ‘The Enchanted World of Sand’, which is the largest sand sculpture in the world.”
But one of the upcoming events in Harrison, that is most near and dear to the heart of the mayor is the Ceili Irish Music and Dance Camp that takes place from August 14 to 20. “This is really a delightful event, particularly in the evenings when all the kids get together in the hall after dinner. They’re all out doing Irish dancing showing off the new steps they learned at the Ceili Camp. The instructors and musicians are really high calibre and they teach dancing, fiddle, bodhran, flute, pipes and this year, Gaelic football is also included.
“I was delighted when Leslie Wilson, the director and creator of Ceili Music and Dance Camp, contacted me about having the camp here in Harrison, since I’ve been promoting the idea of having an annual Irish music festival for years. Harrison is just a quiet little village and to see it full of musicians and kids running around playing the fiddle and dancing on street corners, it’s just a delight.”
Mayor Allen said, “I think there is a great potential with Harrison providing the perfect setting for an annual Irish music festival. What I am trying to do is use the Ceili Camp as the foundation or base to build the whole concept on. It would work so well with the workshops during the day and the performances in the evening.
“It’s actually already happening in Harrison, it’s just the scale of the whole thing that needs to be put together, but, as my mother used to say ‘I’ve only got two hands’.”
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For more information about Harrison Hot Springs (Village) call (604) 796-2171, e-mail: info@harrisonhotsprings.ca, or visit: www.harrisonhotsprings.org. For more information about the Ceili Irish Music and Dance Camp at Harrison, visit: www.dedanaan.ca and follow the links to Ceili 2005.
[N.B.: Special thanks to Shane Donnelly of Donnelly Landscaping in Vancouver for suggesting the article on John Allen the Mayor of the Village of Harrison.]
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