St. John's Newfoundland: 'One of North America's Greatest Adventure Get-aways'
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GEORGE STREET in downtown St. John's features all kinds of Irish entertainment on the street and in all the Irish pubs on St. Patrick's Day.
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From her pine-clad hills and mountain glens,
To her shores of shingle and sand;
God bless and keep you as you are...
We love you, Newfoundland
- Chorus of Tribute To Newfoundland
By John Barr aka 'Little' John Cameron
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
Newfoundland or 'The Rock' as it is fondly referred to, has a proud history dating back to the arrival of the first Irish on its shores in the late 1500s.
The Irish influence is everywhere and in particular in the lively cultural traditions. Newfoundland's love for music and song is legendary. So it's no surprise that St. Patrick's Day is a major celebration in the province with all provincial and municipal offices closed for the day. In spite of the holiday, it's still a busy day and many retail outlets remain open, including all the liquor stores.
St. Patrick's celebrations in St. John's, Newfoundland start on March 13 and finally come to a close on the night of the 17th. George Street in downtown St. John's is where the full-on Irish party takes place with all kinds of concerts and Irish entertainment outside on the street and in all the Irish pubs.
Elizabeth Lawrence with Newfoundland Tourism and Culture and Kevin Gushue who is responsible for tourism for the city of St. John's, spoke to The Celtic Connection recently about the Irish influence in the province.
"The first Irish influence on Newfoundland would have been in the late 1500s," Elizabeth Lawrence said, "that was when the first fishermen from the Waterford and Wexford area of Ireland came to fish the cod. From then on there was a type of migratory fishermen, who came back and forth from that particular area of Ireland. Merchants from the Waterford and Wexford area set-up establishments in Newfoundland in about the 1700s."
Kevin Gushue said, "during that period, settlements became common in Newfoundland. On different parts of the Newfoundland coast, including St. John's, they had huge Irish components, especially south of St. John's where to this day the accent is still Irish. On Signal Hill we have a sign post that says the next stop from Newfoundland is Shannon, Ireland."
One of the largest rivers in St. John's is the Waterford River which drains into the harbour and along that river is the Waterford Valley. About five years ago a delegation from Waterford in Ireland made a visit to St. John's and were taken aback when they had lunch at a heritage house called the Waterford Inn.
St. John's, known as the "City of Legends," is also the oldest city in Canada, and has an interesting and illustrious history. Cradled in a harbour carved from granite and surrounded by hills running down to the ocean, it is noted for its quaint side streets of a thousand colours.
The harbour is located in the historic downtown area of St. John's and has provided shelter to explorers, merchants, soldiers, pirates and mariners of all kinds over the last 500 years. Historic buildings, coves, plaques and parks along the route help to depict its colourful history.
Newfoundland was the last province to enter into Confederation with Canada at one minute before midnight on March 31, 1949. The Dominion now spans seven time zones and nearly 6,000 kilometres.
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KEVIN GUSHUE
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St. John's is also a city of firsts. It was in December 1901 when Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless transmission in an old hospital building on Signal Hill.
On June 14, 1919, Alcock and Brown left St. John's to successfully complete the first transatlantic flight, landing in Clifden, Ireland some 16 hours later.
St. John's is also the first to see the sun rise and set in the western world and the first to celebrate New Year's eve.
Forty percent of the population of Newfoundland live in St. John's and environs and so the city is the centre for commerce, business and government for the province.
The main employer in Newfoundland is the public sector with health care as the largest, followed by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. In the private sector some of the main employers are inbound call centres, the telephone company and their affiliate Technology IT.
The oil and gas industry also has a fairly significant impact on St. John's with a number of the oil companies and supply companies there.
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ELIZABETH LAWRENCE
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Elizabeth Lawrence said that based on their numbers, about $800 million of the gross domestic product of the city is attributable to the oil and gas industry. The GPD growth in St. John's last year was about nine percent and a large portion of that was a direct result of the oil and gas industry.
Recently the Department of Economic Development for the City of St. John's has noticed an increase in the number of calls from Newfoundlanders now residing in Ontario, inquiring about work and housing and considering the possibility of returning home.
St. John's offers some great summer festivals including the St. John's Times and the Royal St. John's Regatta, which is the oldest continuous sporting event in North America.
"The Regatta is interesting," said Lawrence, "because if it goes ahead on the planned day, it's a holiday, if it doesn't then people have to go to work. The regatta is wind dependent and so you can never tell what the weather will be like until the day of the race. It's kind of like the character of St. John's."
There are many historical buildings and points of interest in and around St. John's, but one area in particular is called Quidi Vidi. This is a historical village within St. John's.
"Quidi Vidi has retained its character of an old fishing village, even though it's smack dab in the centre of the city," said Kevin Gushue. "Going into that village is like stepping back in time."
Newfoundland has also become an interesting spot for conventions and Fodor's Travel News has just identified Newfoundland and St. John's as "one of the greatest adventure locations in North America."
For more information about Newfoundland and Labrador, visit their website at: www.newfoundlandandlabrador.com.
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