Family Activity Centre - Upper Canada Village
Candy Pollard

Dozens of hands-on, child-friendly diversions await both young and “youthful” visitors to Upper Canada Village at the Family Activity Centre, opening for the summer season on June 28. Visitors of all ages will enjoy the many games, crafts, pastimes, and puzzles for different ages. Activity Centre staff animate the activities or let families discover them on their own, and are happy to answer any questions.

Punch tin, card wool, do woodworking or sewing like our Village artisans. Practice schoolhouse skills, such as writing on a slate or with a straight pen and inkwell. Play strategy games, like chess, checkers, Nine Men’s Morris, crokinole, asalto, and solitaire. Fierce competitions of skittles often break out with the kids usually outperforming their parents. Try on 1860s costumes in the wardrobe corner, put on a puppet play, or join in one of the crafts. As well, village musicians often drop in for a session. For the very youngest visitors there are blocks, colouring, and a Noah’s ark to play with. And visitors of all ages will want to admire the display of toys from the collection, including a magic lantern, a tea set, a horse-drawn carriage, a toy train, and a sock doll with her own cradle and quilt.

As a grand finale to the season on Labour Day weekend, August 30 to September 1, the Family Activity Centre is also the host of the annual Family Music and Arts Festival. This year’s musical guests include the Scots-Quebec group Écosse, Haines and Leighton on fiddle and accordion, guitarist Neil Emberg, and Glengarry’s own fiddle champ, Ashley MacLeod. For some theatrical entertainment, the Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre performs “The Flying Canoe” (based on the French-Canadian tale “La Chasse Galerie”) and the David Smith Marionettes performs “Jack and the Beanstalk.” All performances are indoors at the Family Activity Centre and will take place rain or shine.

Admission to the Family Activity Centre and to the Family Music and Arts Festival is included with general admission to Upper Canada Village. A “Passport to the Past” season pass covers unlimited admission to the Village throughout the season. http://www.uppercanadavillage.com

For information on other news and upcoming events in Cornwall and Seaway Valley, click on the following links:

• Other Candy Reports
• Calendar of Events