By Mark Squibb/September 30, 2021
A band of marauding pirates seized Trepassey in the early morning hours of September 25.
But unlike pirates of old, these pirates where welcome. In fact, they had even been invited.
Virginia McNeil, who works with the Edge of the Avalon Inn, saw an article back in July about Mount Pearl artist Rod Hand, who cosplays as a pirate in his spare time.
“When I saw the picture of him dressed up as a pirate, I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I have to get this person in Trepassey,’” said McNeil
It turned out Hand is just one of many Raiders of the Avalon, a collection of cosplaying pirates.
She reached out to Hand to see if he and his fellow buccaneers would want to come to Trepassey next summer for a festival.
The pirates not only agreed to come visit in June, but actually suggested stopping by in September. McNeil agreed that it might be helpful for the pirates to visit the town and get the lay of the land to better plan events for next summer. But the pirates had grander ideas.
“The pirates, being pirates, said ‘Why don’t we do something while we’re there?’” said McNeil.
With that, Darren Hann of the Raiders began to organise the pirate activities, while McNeil and others in Trepasssey got things ready for their arrival.
“We only had about five or six weeks to really get the planning in place, we had no budget and no sponsors,” said McNeil. “We just kind of went with it.”
And so, the pirates, including three members of Nova Scotia’s Crimson Knot who flew in just for the event, touched down on the Trepassey wharf Saturday morning, and officially took control of the town.
Fortunately, the pirates were more interesting in providing free of charge workshops on sword fighting and how to dress, talk, and act like a pirate, rather then raiding and plundering like pirates in times past.
Everyone got in on the fun.
“We had a treasure hunt for the kids, and that was epic,” said McNeil. “We only have 29 kids in the K-12 school right now, and we had 22 kids at the treasure hunt. It was spectacular. It felt like the community was just really hopping and we loved it.”
The pirates, of which there were 22 in total, crashed house parties and held a bonfire on the beach, and the three Nova Scotia pirates, along with two tourists who had come to the province after seeing the Broadway play Come From Away, were screeched in in proper fashion Saturday night.
The pirates also helped raise over $300 for the local Lions Club — at the expense of putting a few prominent members of the community in the stocks.
The pirates of course will return next summer.
“This all came together in five or six weeks, and there were already pirates sitting around Sunday making plans for how things could be done bigger and better next year,” said McNeil. “So, we’re really, really looking forward to it.”
Trepassey has a rich pirate history of its own. In June of 1720, the pirate Bartholomew Roberts landed at Trepassey and seized the harbour. He burned 22 vessels before commandeering a ship and sailing off.
