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Capturing the journey

Port Williams historian’s latest calendar focuses on pickin’, packin’ and shippin’ apples

KIRK STARRATT VALLEY JOURNAL-ADVERTISER Kirk.starratt@saltwire.com

Using vintage photographs from his collection, a Port Williams historian has compiled another calendar focusing on the apple industry.

Ken Bezanson said that although Apples…Pickin’ em, Packin’ em, Shippin’ em stands alone, he considers the 2022 calendar somewhat of a sequel to Roll Out the Barrels, a 2020 calendar that focused on apple barrel cooperage.

“The cooperage calendar is about the making of the barrel, but the barrel just can’t sit there once it’s made,” he said. “This is about the use of the barrel.”

Bezanson said he wanted to use lingo in the title that would give it a country flavour, evoking a “twangy” or “banjo-y” feeling for the reader.

The calendar is a fundraiser for the Port Williams United Baptist Church. Bezanson said volunteers from the church do a great job promoting the calendar and are certainly on board with the project.

Every month features a historic photo relating to the picking, packing or shipping of apples and takes the reader through the journey. Bezanson said the process favoured the use of wooden barrels, which became the standardized container of choice.

The photos were taken by well-known Kings County photographers A.L. Harding, Edson Graham and Richard McCully. Most of the images are at least a century old, with several dating from 1921. Bezanson has assigned a title to each photo that relates well to the subject matter.

OVERCOMING FRUSTRATION

He said producing the calendar was time-consuming, but he knew it would be when he started the project last winter. He sometimes had to leave it alone for a while to allow time for ideas to incubate, and he admits the process became frustrating at times.

“It just seemed to keep fighting me,” Bezanson said. “It’s like a child that didn’t want to get born.”

He said it was challenging to pare down the introduction so that it wasn’t too lengthy yet still takes the reader through the history of apple production in the Port Williams area up to the heyday of the wooden shipping barrel.

However, Bezanson said once he had the introduction as he wanted it and found the right balance of historical photos to distribute throughout, other elements of the calendar seemed to fall into place.

Each page features historical facts and is sponsored by a Port Williams-area business. Bezanson said he had no difficulty getting sponsors, and he recognizes that without them, there would be no calendar.

Bezanson said he works well with Skip Hambling, who did an “outstanding” job as the graphic designer for the calendar. He said Shelley Bezanson-Corkum did a great job taking the photos of the barrel head stencils. Lucky Dollar Printing of Port Williams printed the calendars, and Bezanson said he’s very pleased with their work.

CONNECTING WITH THE PAST

In addition to the historical photos, every month features images of various apple barrel head stencils. The stencils were used to brand apple barrels with the name and location of the producer before shipping.

Most apple barrel head stencils in the Port Williams area were made by O.G. Cogswell. Bezanson has been collecting the stencils for years and wanted to include them in the calendar.

He said apples remind him of his childhood, and this served as a source of inspiration for the calendar. Bezanson grew up on a farm that produced apples, remembers climbing the ladders to pick them and recalls watching as they were packed for shipping.

Bezanson said he wants sons and daughters of Port Williams, and hopefully, their children, to connect to this part of the community’s history “and remember these things nostalgically.”

He hopes people will find personal connections within the history presented and also hopes to help instil an appreciation for the work that went into producing a barrel of apples.

Bezanson said the Annapolis Valley is considered one of Canada’s largest apple orchards, and the shipping of apples really helped put Port Williams on the map. However, “that’s another calendar.”

He envisions a certain sequence to his series of historical calendars that he plans to continue producing in subsequent years.

APPLES PLAY ‘CRITICAL’ ROLE

The Kings County Museum in Kentville is one location where the calendars can be purchased. Curator Ellen Lewis said if people look at the Annapolis Valley in general, the apple industry has played a critical role historically and today.

She said the calendars Bezanson produces, including Apples…Pickin’ em, Packin’ em, Shippin’ em are lovely. She is a fan of any piece of history that someone can incorporate into their home in a format they enjoy.

“I know that he spends a lot of time researching them and he takes a lot of care producing them,” Lewis said. “I think they’re great.”

She said people are always eager to get their hands on the calendars, and they’ve already had a couple of visitors in to look at them.

FUNDRAISER

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2021-11-30T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-30T08:00:00.0000000Z

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