By Mark Squibb | Oct. 8, 2020
Like many other organizations and businesses, it was a hard summer for the Southern Shore Folk Arts Council.
“It’s been quiet, relative to other summers, said executive director Jamie Clowe. “We didn’t have the Dinner Theatre three nights a week. We didn’t run our Shamrock Folk Festival, which would have been our 35th, so, with just the Tea Room open it was relatively quiet.”
Clowe was hired on in March, although, due to pandemic, he didn’t get started until June.
With a background in the hotel and hospitality industry, Clowe was hired to replace Keith Mooney, following his retirement.
Originally from Ferryland, Clowe had lived away for some 40 years, and returned to the province just a couple of years ago.
It goes without saying that no one anticipates their first days on a new job to be in the middle of a pandemic, and it certainly hasn’t been a typical season for the organization.
“Financially, it’s been difficult, but our Tea Room did well enough, that from an operational standpoint, it’ll get us through a few more months. And then hopefully come the spring, a few more restrictions will be lifted, and we’ll get back to a little more normalcy,” said Clowe, who added that there was still a business this summer from local tourism ‘staycationers’.
The Atlantic Bubble didn’t open until September, and the Tea Room closed on Sept. 15, so there was little opportunity for out of province guests to stop by.
The organization has been able to host some events with the recent lifting of restrictions on public gatherings.
They held a two-night tribute to Ron Hynes featuring local musician Katie Barbour in late August, and “An Evening on the Deck” with Jackie Sullivan and Katie Pilgrim in early September, both of which were well received and reached maximum capacity.
Later this fall, Ferryland actor Randy Crane will be also be doing a fundraiser for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and the organization have already sold a number of tickets.
With the possibility of new restrictions, or an increase in COVID-19 cases pushing the province back into another lockdown, planning for future events has been difficult given the uncertainty of the times, Clowe noted.
But still, you have to plan ahead anyway, she added.
“You can’t stop planning and just wait, because you don’t know fi it’s going to get better, or if get worse. But if your planning, at least you got the ball rolling,” said Clowe.
