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The Little Rink That Could
As Lawrencetown,
Annapolis County waits for word that it’s made it into CBC Kraft
Hockeyville’s Final 5, an amazing story of support for the underdog has
emerged, not just from the surrounding area but from Nova Scotia and
literally from around the world.
It all started with
CBC Kraft Hockeyville’s March 15 broadcast in which the Lawrencetown
Exhibition Youth Arena was announced late in the program as one of four
wildcards, putting it up against 11 other contenders of much larger
proportions from across Canada.
The segment on
Lawrencetown focused on the rink’s newest find – a Zamboni hauled out of
the woods, fixed up by local volunteers, and driven down Highway 1 in the
pouring rain to be the centerpiece of the community’s Christmas in the
Village celebrations in December.
Almost immediately
the Lawrencetown for Hockeyville Facebook page took off with literally
hundreds of members signing up. By mid-afternoon March 22 there were 2,127
followers and most of them had been voting non-stop until Sunday night’s
voting cutoff. They’ll find out Saturday evening if Lawrencetown will be
in the top five.
“IF we are in the
Top 5,” asked Lynn Roscoe on Facebook. “Of course we will be!”
Roscoe was one of
the rink committee’s members spearheading the Hockeyville bid and kept the
Facebook enthusiasm up all last week and into the final hours of voting
Sunday evening.
Bridgetown Regional
High School student and Lawrencetown resident Brittany Veniott started the
Facebook page.
Facebook member
Karen Foley-Townsend was amazed at Lawrencetown’s support: “I think the
whole thing is just awesome,” she wrote. “A whole province coming together
for one common goal! I believe we will make the Top 5!”
Simon Goodfellow,
another Facebook fan, wrote a song about Lawrencetown and Hockeyville
which he posted as an audio file and took to jam sessions across the
Valley last week. Andre Bouchard posted a video on YouTube showing kids
playing shinny hockey in Lawrencetown, and several other videos were
posted either on the Facebook site or on YouTube. And it seemed everybody
had pictures to upload as dozens of Youth Arena experiences were posted to
the photo album.
FANTASTIC STORY
“We have a fantastic
story to tell,” Goodfellow wrote on Facebook. “You've all done a brilliant
job finding and presenting the story. Someone needs to tell the Facebook
story to the national and international press so they have it ready as
soon as the Top 5 are selected. Miniscule town gets noticed on Facebook
and makes the last five of the competition with its old seasonal ice rink
that isn't anywhere near big enough or equipped enough to hold the prize
game. “
He described it a
triumph of the community -- David over the commercial Goliaths. “It’s what
social networking is all about. It's in the mold of United Breaks Guitars,
another NS phenomena. Then we need to mobilize people to vote across the
world.”
FACEBOOK COMMENTS
Facebook comments
regarding Lawrencetown have been many and varied – many talking about
community spirit:
“What a good feeling
of pride for our little village,” wrote Paulette Chase Whitman.
“Lawrencetown ... a little village with a wonderful heritage. This is one
more page in its history.”
Hilary Campbell
stuck to her computer for hours and hours passing the word and voting,
voting, voting. When the voting deadline came she took a rest:
“And we're done!,”
she wrote.
But she was in for
some bad news because just minutes before that, rink committee chair Keith
Veniott posted the news that that very night the rink had been broken
into.
“I just returned
from our rink. We were broke into tonight,” he said “Luckily very little
damage.”
“Very sorry to hear
about the break-in,” wrote Campbell, “hope the guy(s) get caught. Now it's
off to bed. Good luck, Lawrencetown! No matter what happens, you should be
proud of what you've accomplished here!”
Roscoe thanked all
the Facebook members.
“We cannot
sufficiently express our gratitude to you all for the support you have
thrown behind us through this long week,” she said. “Without you, we are
small. With you, we are tremendous :-)”
Diana Ackroyd, a
Facebook member and avid Lawrencetown backer was one of those Roscoe was
talking about. Ackroyd reported support for Lawrencetown from as far away
as Ontario; El Paso, Texas; Saskatchewan; Tacoma, Washington; Gulf Breeze,
Florida; all across Canada; San Jose, California. There was also
Lawrencetown support from the United Kingdom and even Romania.
“We cannot
sufficiently express our gratitude to you all for the support you have
thrown behind us through this long week. Without you, we are small. With
you, we are tremendous :-)” - Lynn Roscoe on Facebook
Radio stations
across Nova Scotia were promoting the Lawrencetown bid and urging
listeners to vote. Nova Scotia Liberal Leader and Annapolis MLA Stephen
McNeil challenged other political parties to back Lawrencetown, and a
little while later Progressive Conservative leader Karen Casey took up the
challenge. Liberal MLA Leo Glavine is from Bishops Fall, Nfld., also in
the Final 12, but he said Friday evening that he’s supporting
Lawrencetown.
A Herald story
Sunday also showcased Lawrencetown and gave voting information and signs
from Berwick to Annapolis Royal backed the tiny village.
SMALL COMMUNITY
Lawrencetown has a
population of under 700, and its Youth Arena, built by community
volunteers, was opened 40 years ago with a second-hand ice plant.
Todd Roberts,
another member of the Lawrencetown Exhibition Youth Arena committee, said
late Monday that his tiny group has been overwhelmed by the support the
Lawrencetown bid has received, and urged The Spectator to thank on their
behalf everybody, locally and around the world.
Making the Top 5
would mean a prize of $25,000 to put towards upgrades. Winning CBC Kraft
Hockeyville 2010 would mean $100,000.
In the Top 12 are:
Cranbrook, BC; Yellowknife, NWT; Alexandria, ON; Dundas, ON; Stanstead,
PQ; Chateauguay, PQ; Sishops’ Falls, Nfld.; Tri-County, NB; Lawrencetown,
NS; Blackfalds, AB; Drumondville, PQ; and Timmins, ON.
Voting for the top
five -- for the winner -- runs between March 27 and March 31.
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