If you had been at our Roxy Theatre when it was still the Grand Opera House you might well have been there to see a Vaudeville show - a full bill of a dozen or so acts that could have included trained dogs, an opera singer, tap dancers and an Arctic explorer. A uniquely North American form of entertainment, vaudeville was created to capitalize on a growing middle class as potential audience, offering something for everyone, including women and children. In the elegant theatres in which vaudeville flourished, the rowdy behavior of patrons of earlier bawdier entertainment was discouraged by ushers with white gloves, passing out notices such as the following on silver trays “Gentlemen will kindly avoid the stamping of feet and pounding of canes on the floor, and greatly oblige the Management.” I know all of this because my assistant Kelda is fascinated by Vaudeville. Her big beautiful singing voice was made for those songs and those pre-amplification stages.
Kelda is originally from Calgary, with a stop at the University of Lethbridge to get a degree in vocal music. She came to Owen Sound a year ago after finishing an Otesha tour, cycling across the prairies with a group of like-minded young people, making community presentations about sustainability. While initially she might have answered the question “Why did you come to Owen Sound?” with “because it’s not Calgary”, I think she has made herself at home in our community.
Kelda sings in two local choirs, was part of Owen Sound’s second annual Buskerfest both as a committee member and a performer, and voted and worked as a poll clerk in our municipal election. She brought her experiences from Katimavik, Otesha, the Arusha Centre (look it up) and Community Foods to Owen Sound and has already grown basketsful of vegetables in a local community garden and is an active member of the Local Motive project. And she can pretty well run our store single-handed.
Now Kelda has a new project. It started with a door she bought from the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store that had a brass plaque - “Cozy Knook”. We may argue about the spelling or the merits of alliteration, but we agree about what will go on behind that door. Fully approved by our Public Health Unit, Kelda’s Kitchen will be a welcoming place for a community kitchen, for starters. Six or eight people - singles or couples, seniors or families – can get together to cook and share a meal, do the dishes together and take home a serving or two of leftovers for another day. Chef’s demonstrations and cooking classes can be held there – bread baking, perogie making, cake decorating, stock and soups, cooking for special diets. The kitchen will be outfitted with a pressure canner and freezers for preserving the harvest. Local farmers and growers can come in and talk about the food they grow and how best to store it, and local cooks and chefs can show us how to bring out its best taste. If people want to make food for fundraisers, or to test a little food business idea, the Kitchen will be a perfect place.
Kelda has already had interest from some folks at the Billy Bishop Museum for heritage cooking groups and Community Living for basic cooking classes. Not to mention the enthusiasm of the neighbours who keep asking when it is opening. She has been accumulating equipment from sinks and stoves to a pasta maker and dehydrator, and offers from Canadian Tire money to work bees. The folks from the Big Carrot in Toronto have such confidence in Kelda’s idea that they have given her a grant from their “Carrot Cache” – enough to pay for the permits and drawings and some of the labour.
So what does all this have to with Vaudeville? Because Saturday, November 13 some friends of Kelda’s Kitchen are putting on a Vaudeville show at St. George’s Parish Hall at 7:00 p.m. to help raise a little more money for the plumbing and wiring and drywalling that will make the Kitchen a reality. As befits the spirit of the Kitchen, the show is pay-what-you-can and the whole family can come and enjoy for a small donation. Wonderful talented members of our community are offering their time to sing, dance and play their music. Come expecting to be amazed and delighted. But remember, “Please don't talk during acts, as it annoys those about you, and prevents a perfect hearing of the entertainment. The Management.”
