Busing through history at travelling dinner theatre in Miramichi
On Feb. 18, you can take a ride through the history of Miramichi.
Miramichi History Night Character Bus Tours will take passengers from site to site around the city, and offer performances, songs, and stories from poignant historical characters.
Event organizer Tiffany Gallivan calls it "a travelling dinner theatre through time."
She said that she's been noticing a shift to a demand for more local events.
"We have plenty of old beautiful historic sites within the area – many of us have driven past them 1,000 times," Gallivan said. "And so we thought, what a great opportunity for the community if we organize something that would highlight all of those historic sites in the community."
The tour will take groups to three different sites. Each group starts at a different site and moves around. Food will be provided at each location.
Gallivan said this is an immersive way to move people through the tour.
She said that participants will be joined by Lord Beaverbrook, Alexander Rankin, Louise Manny, Betty Crocker and Maisie Mitchell. She said these are "all really pivotal people within our community."
For locations, they've got Beaverbrook House, Newcastle Kin Centre and Seamen's Hospital.
Discover your city
How did the idea come to be? From other events, like pub crawls, Gallivan said they realized that moving people on buses created a great movement through the community.
She said that type of travelling got people interacting with each other.
A project like this also requires some arts and acting skills. The group had to write scripts and perform in costume.
"So, it's been quite heavy, but because we're such a great group of people working together, it has been … quite a pleasure to do," she said. "And so even though it has been some work, it really has been really enjoyable to kind of get in and get underway."
Community connection
Gallivan said the goal of the project is community connection.
"First is really giving people different new opportunities to connect and meet people and build community within our little town, our little city."
"And also, really, some of these historic places are just incredible. The stories that come through there … I don't know if we always take the time to recognize what a rich history we have here, especially here in Miramichi."
Gallivan said that the reaction so far has been great. They've had passengers from Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton inquiring about the event.
Overall, the trip will take passengers about four and a half hours to complete.
