The Mystery of the Disappearing Festival!

It was a beautiful day for a drive in the country. The sun was shinning and the birds were singing! We had our route all planned. We would drive along the 401 Highway to Gananoque and then take the Thousand Island Parkway to Brockville. The website on the Internet had told us that we were going to the Brockville Celtic Festival. Judi loves Celtic jewelry so she thought she might find an interesting ring to purchase. I told my daughter, Ainsley, who is half Irish, that we were going to a Celtic festival and she asked to look for something Celtic for her. I re-checked the festival’s website the night before we were to leave just to make sure all was well. Nothing had changed on the site, all was well! With these things on our mind we got up early and headed out for our great Celtic adventure! The drive to Gananoque was clearly sailing all to way through, hardly any traffic. We reached the Thousand Island Parkway in great time. The road along the St. Lawrence Seaway is awesome. The water, the landscape and the hundreds of islands all add to its beauty. We stopped a number of times to take photographs. It was the time of year when everything is lush and green and the flowers are in full bloom. The trip was well worth it, just to take in the scenery! As the Parkway ends, the road to Brockville begins. Brockville is a beautiful historic town, full of century old homes. The road onto Brockville passes through this wonderful residential area. After a few kilometers we entered the historic downtown area. We assumed that the festival would be easy to find, so kept on driving into the heart of the downtown, all the way looking for signs of the festival. We drove right to the harbour front area thinking that the festival might be held there, but it was not. There was no festival sign to be seen anywhere! Judi said “Why not stop and ask someone where it is?” Being a stubborn man, I said “Let’s just drive around a little; I’m sure we’ll find it soon!” An hour later we were still “driving around”, with no festival, Celtic or otherwise, in sight! To make matters worse, we had driven in a complete circle and had ended back at the harbourfront! Fortunately a little voice inside me said “Listen to Judi, she’s right!” We easily found the town’s tourism office. It was just a few streets from where we had ended up. I parked in front of the office and asked Judi to go in and get directions. I was too proud to do it myself! Judi was in the office for only a few minutes. When she came out there was NOT a happy look on her face! She opened the door and before I could say anything she blurted out “It’s been cancelled!”

Epilog… All was not lost! We drove back along the Loyalist Highway. It runs along the waterfront from Kingston all the way to Trenton. It is a very picturesque drive. It goes through a number of small towns, including the quaint town of Picton. The drive even includes a short ferry ride.