HRM Point of Interest #19: Freak Lunchbox

Freak Lunchbox, in downtown Halifax on Barrington Street, has won The Coast's Best Of Halifax Best Retail Sign award for the least two years, and one look at even this low quality photo of the store front (above) will tell you why. However, Freak Lunchbox is so much more than just a great exterior.

It is also covered on the inside with great original artwork by the owner, which makes the roof and walls of the store look like a Ripley's Believe It Or Not Cover. I wasn't allowed to take a picture of them though, so I thought this shelf full of candy and bobble head dolls would be a good substitute. Moreover, Freak Lunchbox makes its money by selling candy, toys, etc., which is the reason I went there in the first place.

I first discovered Freak Lunchbox while exploring the streets of downtown Halifax during my original cross-country voyage back in May. At that time (my inner Korean is coming out now), I was overjoyed to discover that my favourite candy, Lotsa Fizz, while absent from many convenience store racks across the country, was still on sale at FL. When I came back again during the Christmas Tree Lighting just last week I discovered a reinvention of a Canadian classic - The Pop Shoppe bottled beverages.

And that's the best part about Freak Lunchbox. There are just so many items to peruse that it's almost impossible to see everything the first time. Long story short, you'll have to go back again and again and again to find out what you missed the last time. Freak Lunchbox: great business model, or greatest business model ever?

(Who's that handsome guy?)

Halifax Christmas Tree Lighting: November 27, 2010

It was November 27th this last Saturday, and in Halifax, that meant lighting the official city Christmas tree. I didn't even know this event was happening, but my fortunate EP ways came to my rescue again, as EP Dan and I stumbled across it whilst partaking in some Christmas shopping downtown.

Many hundreds, if not thousands of people crammed into the Grand Parade to watch the spectacle. The Halifax honour boys choir started off the evening by singing some Christmas carols, and the Backyardigans - some apparently popular children's television characters I had no idea even existed - entertained the younger set in the crowd for nearly a half-hour after that.

(Tyrone, Pablo, and Uniqua, take three minutes to tell you that they are The Backyardigans via song and interpretive dance. Aren't you sad you missed it?)

After The Backyardigans' performance, Santa Clause came out on stage, along with some of the teenagers who helped design and paint over 50 of the giant tree ornaments.

Exactly one hour after it started (the most punctual event in history - it started at 6:00 PM as advertised), the festivities came to a close with the lighting of the HRM Christmas Tree - no War on Christmas here - and a small fireworks display. Fittingly, Nova Scotia Power, was one of the main sponsors of the Christmas Tree.

Elmiet: October 16, 2010

The woman standing on the steps is Ursula Johnson. During Nocturne: Art At Night, she performed a ritualistic scalping in protest of a law that says the scalp of a Mi'kmaq man, woman, or child can be turned in for a bounty of 25 pounds sterling (probably about $40 now).

The bounties were placed by former Governors Lawrence and Cornwallis (regular readers already know my feelings on General Cornwallis), and while the government of Nova Scotia officially apologized for the bounties back in 2000, the law is still on the books, and Johnson and many others have been trying for quite some time to have it removed.

In preparation for her protest piece, Johnson had been growing out her hair - in Mi'kmaq culture the longer a person's hair is, the stronger his/her spiritual connection to the world around him/her is considered to be - and also weaving a long headpiece that would cover her head/eyes, and double as her hair/scalp during the performance.

During the presentation, Ursula Johnson asked a brave member of the roughly 100-strong audience to step forward and volunteer to scalp her on stage. Believe it or not, no one jumped forward to take the place of the bounty collectors.

I suspected something like this might happen, and since the performer had voluntarily blinded herself for the past three to four hours, I really didn't want her to half to ask twice for a volunteer. I stepped forward and took my place beside her.

When I had first stepped forward I thought perhaps a short speech would be given by Ursula, and then I would simply pull the headpiece off. However, a top Native singer, Nathan Sack, came forward and started singing a traditional song while Ursula told me to place my hands on the side of her head. She told me that at the end of the song I was to rip her headpiece off violently, and that I should act very proud since I had done a noble act in killing a Mi'kmaq savage.

The video clip below shows the culmination of the scalping ("the last scalping ever.") Note: the first two or three minutes is cut out, because it's mostly the singer singing, and Ursula struggling to break free, while I struggle to comprehend what's going on but then catch on and try to act like I'm struggling to keep her from breaking free.

I accidentally deleted the video file, but after I tore Ursula's scalp off, I stepped up to the microphone and gave a short speech about how I may have look proud to have taken the scalp in the performance, but how I was not proud that the law/bounty still existed. Then I asked the audience to help lend their support to the performer's cause.

After the show, a number of Ursula's friends came up and shook my hand or hugged me. One woman actually said she started crying, because she pictured me as the embodiment of those rulers who tried to take away her people's way of life (is that a compliment?) Even non-Mi'kmaq members of the audience thought I was fairly convincing, and I had a tough time trying to convince everyone that I was not in fact "planted" in the audience, but was actually a real volunteer who didn't know what was going to happen before hand.

When asked by my brother why I wanted to go to the performance, I told him that since attending the Membertou 400 Festival I have developed a tremendous amount of respect for those Mi'kmaq people who are trying to regain a sense of pride in their history, and/or who are trying to regain a sense of identity for themselves and their people. I will continue to support the Mi'kmaq people, and indeed all First Nations people of Canada, whenever and however I can as I continue to migrate around the country.

Note: I apologize if I've used Mi'kmaq incorrectly at all in this blog. One day I will figure out when to use Mi'kmaq/Mi'kmaw correctly.

Hopscotch Urban Arts Festival: September 11, 2010

According to what I've read, Halifax once had a great hip-hop scene. Unfortunately, when many of its past up and coming artists "made it big", the rest of the hip-hop scene was left to pick up the pieces. This year "the scene" tried to do just that with the Hopscotch Urban Arts Festival.

(An unknown - to me - dancer gives a free "popping" lesson to some eager young students.)

All day long, for 9 hours from 1 to 10 PM on September 11th, there were free hip-hop workshops, free dance lessons, a 100 foot "art wall" graffiti competition, the first ever national break dancing competition in Atlantic Canada, and a free concert featuring Halifax hip-hop legends like the Juno Award winning Classified.

As expected, the Grand Parade where it was located featured what must have been the largest concentration of teenagers who look like they would steal your car in all of Halifax. (Seriously guys, your art is neat, but all joking aside Grandpa Ea-pea is here to say that you really need to pull up your pants, wear a belt, and put your caps on the right way round because you look ridiculous tripping over the crotch of your own trousers.)

Even more impressive was the announcement that the fantastic French urban art artists of Cellograff would be making their North American debut at this festival. Unlike most "graffiti" artists (I'm sure they don't like it being called graffiti, but there's only so many times I can type "urban art" in one post without hating myself), Cellograff do not paint on the side of some business owner's establishment or on one of CN's grain cars, but rather they use large sheets of cellophane plastic stretched out between two trees or street posts to create their unique masterpieces.

Quite frankly the whole thing was not really my bag, but it was impressive, and this rather well intentioned event would have been completely unknown to me had someone not thought to drop a flier in the basket of my EP Cruiser (my new bike), while I was busy volunteering for the Fringe Festival the night before. That's right, this great coming together of me and the Hopscotch festival was only possible because of this unknown canvasser. Score one for canvassing, score one for bike baskets, and more importantly score one for cycling.

HRM Point of Interest #15: Harbour Hopper Tour

When I was in Toronto this summer I had planned to go an amphibious vehicle tour but I ran out of time; naturally then, it was a pleasant surprise when I found out Halifax also had a similar tour. Unfortunately though, while I now had the time, I did not have the money. Thankfully a friend of mine from my church, and a fellow EPDTN reader, offered to treat me to a ride on the Harbour Hopper this last Sunday, and I'm delighted to say that I had a blast.

The Harbour Hopper's website claims that it is the most popular tour in Halifax. I'm not surprised, as it is the only tour which allows you to go on land and water. That said, you'll never hear me say that the Harbour Hopper is the most comfortable tour in Halifax....

The Harbour Hopper Tour "bus" is a actually a refitted Vietnam War-era Lark V. The Lark V was an amphibious transport vehicle designed to carry up to five-tons worth of troops from the supply ships anchored off land into the military bases in the jungles of Vietnam, often over 1.5 miles away. Each Lark V/Harbour Hopper weighs 19 000 lbs, has no suspension, and sounds like two dump trucks trying to win a "make the most noise" competition. None of that matters though, when you get to splash into the Harbour.

The tour goes past all of the standard Halifax points of interest, many of which I've mentioned before on this blog, like Spring Garden Road, the Citadel, and the Grand Parade, but it's the lively and informative commentary by the guides that really makes the trip fun.

I sat at the back of the Hopper, near the engine (engines?) and so could barely hear, but despite all the racket I can say it was easily one of the most exciting things I've done in Halifax since attending the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo.

HRM Monument #17: Grand Parade Cenotaph War Memorial

Located on the Grand Parade, and unveiled on July 1 1929, this giant monument commemorated all those Haligonians who fought and died in The Great War. Later, special mentions of WWII and the Korean War were added.

On either side of the monument are the names of the battles in WWI in which Haligonians fought and died: Amiens, Arras, Canal du Nord, Cambrai, Somme, Vimy Ridge, Ypres, Hill 7O, and of course Passchendaele. On the back of the monument are inscriptions giving special mention to those battles in which Canadians fought and died in WWII: the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic, the Sicily Landings, the Battle of Ortona, the Gothic Line, the Normandy Landings, the Battle of the Falaise Gap (Pocket), the Battle of the Sheldt, the Battle of the Rhinland, and the Crossing of the Rhine. There is also a message stating that the names of all 1 360 men and women of Halifax who sacrificed their lives in these battles is kept on record in the City Archives.

Nova Scotia National Historic Site #2: Halifax City Hall and Grand Parade

The Grand Parade has historically been the central gathering place for Haligonians (or "Halipeeps" in more hip circles) since the city's founding in 1749. It is home to the oldest Protestant church in Canada, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Cenotaph War Monument, and the Halifax City Hall.

The place where Halifax City Hall now stands used to be home to the old Dalhousie College building. After a long and bitter battle between the college and the city's governors over the city owned Grand Parade land in front of Dalhousie, former Nova Scotia Premier, Sir. William Young, provided five acres of city land to the college where Dalhousie University is now located. When Dalhouse College moved, the city demolished its building and used some of the stone and timbers in the new City Hall built in its place.

The Halifax City Hall, erected between 1887 and 1890 and officially opened on 22 May 1890, is the largest and one of the oldest municipal buildings in Nova Scotia. Victorian in nature, the City Hall was created by local architect Edward Elliot, and is representative of city halls found during the 19th century in progressive, moderately sized Canadian cities with highly developed municipal services. Today it houses the city council chamber, the offices of the mayor, aldermen and city clerks, and some civic administration departments.

(A view from the Grand Parade, looking up through Carmichael Street towards the Citadel Clock Tower.)