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November 4, 1997
(Tourism, Culture and Recreation)


Cabot celebrations to peak with Corner Brook concert

Newfoundland and Labrador's Cabot 500 Anniversary Celebrations will peak with a multi-act showcase of provincial talent and special effects at Corner Brook's new Canada Games Centre on November 15, says Tourism, Culture and Recreation Minister Sandra Kelly.

Kelly made the announcement during an address to the Corner Brook Chamber of Commerce last week.

"The Cabot Celebrations have generated unprecedented national and international profile for Newfoundland and Labrador," Kelly says. "When combined with the year's favourable economic indicators for the province as a whole, there's no doubt they can be summed up as an overall success."

"In salute to the events of the past year, and to highlight future milestones, a crowning Cabot 500 Celebration concert entitled "The Fire Still Burns" will bring our Cabot celebrations to a peak," she says. "Along with the opening of the Cabot celebrations in St. John's last January, and the Matthew's arrival at Bonavista, this will be one of the memorable events of our 500th Anniversary Year."

Kelly noted the concert will be more than a retrospective of the past 11 months, but will also serve as a springboard to what lies ahead for Newfoundland and Labrador, including the 1999 Canada Winter Games in Corner Brook, the 50th anniversary of Confederation with Canada, the 1,000th anniversary of the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, and the new millennium."

"On November 15 at the Canada Games Centre, we will be putting all this in context with a three-hour concert, with intermission, featuring an exciting line-up of province-wide talent, capped off with special effects, indoor fireworks, and an in-house big-screen, all staged in the top presentation facility in our province today," Kelly said.

Entertainment for the evening includes the Irish Descendants, the Ennis Sisters, Corner Brook's Blues Brothers Band, Billy and the Bruisers, the Sharecroppers, Mishikamau, Phyllis Morrisey, the Xavier Dancers from Deer Lake, and two choirs from Presentation Junior High School and Regina High.

The evening will be hosted by the duo "Sods & Rhymes" featuring Glenn Downey and Jim Payne.

The musical grand finale, from which the event gets its title, is called "The Fire Still Burns," and was written for the event by Ged Blackmore of the Folk of the Sea.

"Mr. Blackmore wrote this song following the Matthew's arrival at Bonavista, to underline the fact that this year of celebration is just the start of what we can offer the world in terms of our culture, heritage and rich history," Kelly said. "To be performed by Phyllis Morrisey and the two school choirs, it will be a crowning touch to the evening, and the Cabot 500 year."

Tickets for the Corner Brook event are $15, with proceeds going to Corner Brook's 1999 Canada Winter Games, and will be available at the Canada Games Centre box office on November 1.

The concert will also follow the Five Hundred More Youth Congress, a major Cabot event which begins in Killdevil in Gros Morne National Park on November 9.

Kelly noted that throughout the Cabot 500 year, corporate sponsorship has been a key factor in its success, and acknowledged the significant support of PetroCanada and Newtel Communications in bringing these final Cabot events to fruition.

Contact:

Doug Burgess
Manager of Communications
Cabot 500 Anniversary Celebrations
(709) 729-4247

1997 11 04 11:40 a.m.

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