Deborah Dunleavy will bring her storytelling and musical talents to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum’s first-ever winter fundraising dinner to be held at the Bonnie Glen Pavilion near Alexandria on Friday, February 25, starting at 6:00 PM. She will be performing her award-winning show, “Beaver Hats & Bagpipes,” celebrating Scottish history -- a show that she fashioned while on tour in Scotland and Ireland and perfected in performances across Ontario.
“I’m very excited that we could attract a performer of the caliber of Deborah Dunleavy to launch what we hope will become a series of winter fundraisers for the Pioneer Museum,” states Lindsey Howes of Bainsville, one of the key organizers. All proceeds will go to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum to help finance the next season’s exhibits and events, such as the annual Fall Harvest Festival, Wood Fair, and War of 1812 reenactment, among others.
Deborah Dunleavy’s career spans almost 30 years of storytelling, musical performance, and theatre, starting as a children’s performer writing and producing songs for Jim Henson’s The Muppets. In 2008 she was the recipient of the Anne Smythe Award from Storytelling Toronto. She toured “Beaver Hats & Bagpipes” to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Wigtonshire. Currently she is the Artistic Director of FOS, the Festival of Storytelling, and editor of Pippin, the newsletter for Storytelling Ontario.
“It is a real pleasure to bring my performance to the heart of Scottish Ontario, Glengarry County,” said Ms. Dunleavy, who continues, “and I take special pleasure in supporting, in any way I can, the efforts of Glengarry’s Pioneer Museum, which I understand is dedicated to preserving and showcasing the history of the Scottish settlement in Canada.”
“Beaver Hats & Bagpipes,” by weaving historical accounts with haunting ballads and humorous chanties, pays tribute to the brave Scottish settlers who left their homeland in search of a new life in Canada,. It will follow dinner at the Bonnie Glen Pavilion, which is located at 19596 County Road 43, about 5 kilometers west of Alexandria. The social hour begins at 6:00 PM, dinner at 7:00 PM, followed by the performance.
Tickets for the Pioneer Museum fundraising dinner and performance are $35 each and are available online at www.GlengarryPioneerMuseum.ca and at the following stores: MacDonald’s Cleaners in Alexandria, Debbie’s Country Store in Maxville, and Vankleek Cottage in Vankleek Hill or by calling 613-527-5230.
For more information, please contact:
Jennifer Black, Curator, 613-527-5230; info@glengarrypioneermuseum.ca
Lindsey Howes, 613-347-2243; or visit www.glengarrypioneermuseum.ca
