Brett Thoms
Shawville April 22, 2022
The first Hooley since the start of the pandemic was held at the Shawville Anglican Hall on Friday evening. The event was organized by Chris Judd and his wife Jeannie Judd.
Hooley is an Irish word for kitchen party and is a chance for musicians to gather and play together in front of a live audience.
The Hooley was attended by about . . .
10 musicians ranging from 12 to 85 years old.
“Normally there’s about 40 or 50 people here watching 10 or 15 people play,” said Judd. He said the attendance was a little low that evening because it was the first time back, and he let everyone know on short notice.
Judd expects a bigger crowd to start showing up more going into the summer.
“We did it for a while on Facebook, but only one person can sing at time,” said Judd “It goes better when they can all play together. It sounds a lot better and it is more fun.”
Judd said his father used to hold Hooleys and originally started it as a way to bring the community together.
“We started eight years ago and since then we’ve had over 140 different musicians from all over North America play here,” said Judd. “It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever started in my life. It’s just a fun evening.”
Each musician took turns singing a song of their choice. Once they had sung their song, they would typically go over to the person on their left. This cycle repeated about four times until everyone had done about four songs.
Most musicians at the Hooley had a guitar, all of them sang, one fiddled and one had a whistle. There was also the occasional duet.
The group sang songs from genres ranging from country, folk and gospel.
All of the musicians were grateful to be back from their long hiatus of performing at the Hooleys.
“It’s really good,” said Katelyn Zimmerling, who is in grade eight. “I’ve missed it. It’s most of the things I look forward to on a Friday so it’s really nice to be back.”
“You wouldn’t believe how much we miss this stuff eh,” said Tony Mckenzie. “You practice for it all week at home and you come here but you couldn’t do it. I look forward to this every week. I’m 85 years old and still doing it.”
“The last three years have been tough,” said Catherine Scullion, a school bus driver from Campbell’s Bay. “I lost my mom, covid, like everything, happened at once, but we’re looking up. I’m glad to be back, we just love this.”
“You should hear it with the house sound and the speakers out there,” said Brian Kilgour who was a little disappointed they didn’t use the inbuilt speaker system in the Anglican Hall. However, he was still happy to be back and encouraged everyone who is able to come and play.
Hooleys will be held every Friday night at the Shawville Anglican Hall. Everyone is welcome to either be a spectator or a player.
