Tantramar Flashback -
"Today a sometime wind/ spelling small lessons along the line/ a day of warmth over Midgic/ a gift for all residents all afternoon. . . "
- Douglas Lochhead, Midgic, 1997
Upon occasion, this column has focused on rural communities in southeastern New Brunswick. Today, the spotlight falls on Midgic.
It's located approximately eight kilometres east of the town of Sackville, where it defines the eastern boundary of the Tantramar Marshes.
The place name is of undoubted Amerindian origin; however, the precise meaning has been lost.
Historian William Francis Ganong (1863-1950) suggested that it may be a Mi'kmaq descriptive word for "a point of upland overlooking a marsh." A second explanation comes from Rev. Hal Lowther. As a result of discussions with some Mi'kmaq, he was informed that the word means 'turtle' in English.
It has been established that Mi'kmaq chiefs. accompanied by many of their followers, used to meet annually on the Isthmus of Chignecto. Wherever possible, they travelled by canoe from the adjacent sections of today's New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. These meetings took place in mid-summer and frequently included competitive games and other athletic pursuits. Their favoured location was today's Midgic.
Not so well-known is the presence of a second Midgic in New Brunswick's Charlotte County. It is known as Midgic Bluff and is located at the mouth of the Magaguadavic River. From 1892 until 1961, Westmorland County's Midgic was known as Midgic Station, since it was situated on the now-abandoned CNR rail line from Sackville to Cape Tormentine.
During the course of a discussion with a current Tantramar resident (with family roots in Midgic), yet another possible meaning for the community name was suggested. His comment was straightforward. "You just tell them that Midgic means "magic" and you won't be far wrong!"
There might well be some truth in this assertion . . . certainly a host of Mi'kmaq, past and present, would agree. They knew Midgic to be "a magical place" to hold their annual meetings.
During the early 20th century, Midgic captured headlines in the field of athletics through a well-deserved reputation in tug-of-war competitions. The rivalry in the sport was such that from the late 1920s onward, competitions became a highlight at the annual Maritime Winter Fair, then held in Amherst. They were also featured at numerous other local exhibitions and fall fairs.
The location of the first official tug-of-war competition is lost in the mists of history. The fact that the sport requires a minimum of equipment combined with a team of strong and physically fit individuals, meant that it could have taken place "almost anywhere . . . and at any time."
There is no doubt that its inclusion as a recognized sport at the 1904 Olympic Games gave tug-of-war competitions an enhanced profile. At these games, six teams from three nations competed in the competitions with a total of 30 athletes involved. Canada did not then have a team, however, the United States swept all three medals. Unfortunately in 1920, Olympic tug-of-war competitions ceased.
About the same time, tug-of-war competitions were becoming well known in many parts of Atlantic Canada. Aside from the lure of the encounter itself, matches soon became a much-anticipated event as each autumn rolled around. This was particularly true in the border area between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick - and especially in the community of Midgic.
We are indebted to Shirley Anderson, whose publication History of Tug-of-War in the Maritimes 1928-1990, provides a comprehensive look at the sport during this period. One amusing incident cannot be overlooked. Upon reviewing the sports pages of the Amherst Daily News, a reporter was ill informed about local geography. Once, in his confusion, he wrongly attributed a win to Sackville, instead of the rightful winners - a Midgic team!
To convey the excitment of such events, I will quote some extracts from Ms. Anderson's history covering the late 1920s through to the '90s. These highlight the keen interest surrounding the battle for the Maritime tug-of-war championship.
From the late 1920s onward, tug-of-war teams become a fixture in Midgic. On Nov. 7, 1947, the community won its first major tug-of-war competition, defeating a team from Gaspereau in the Annapolis Valley. Since then a team from Midgic has won the Maritime Winter Fair tug-of-war championships on numerous occasions
Midgic has also become grounded in more recent Tantramar folklore with the reputed "establishment of the Midgic airport . . ." Designed as a bad weather backup for Moncton's airport, it has seen little use because of the "perpetual slippery condition" of its runway. Further information may be obtained from any of the employees. They can be easily identified by their distinctive ball caps which bear the inscription "Midgic Airport."
In 2007, the Christmas production of Live Bait Theatre featured the Midgic Airport. What follows is a brief summary of the plot: "It was Christmas Eve and a blizzard was raging. Stranded passengers were desperate to get home in time for Christmas, especially hotel heiress London Wandlyn. Couples were bickering, babies crying and an inept airport employee, Jazz Jetson, was doing all he could to keep everyone in the holiday spirit." Did everyone make it home in time? It will be sufficient to note that it took a Christmas miracle to save the day. There really "must" be magic in Midgic!
Special thanks to Neil Horsman and Karen Valanne for providing background information for this Flashback.
Ideas for Tantramar Flashbacks may be addressed to Bill Hamilton in c/o Sackville Tribune Post, 80 Main St., Sackville, NB, E4L 4A7 or sdoherty@sackvilletribunepost.com.
