Olds town crier Denis Patry returned from the 2013 World Invitational Town Crier Competition last month with the hope that Western Canada will start producing more town criers who could one day compete with their counterparts in the east.
Having joined 33 other criers from Canada and countries such as Australia, the U.S., Belgium, the United Kingdom and Holland at the competition in Kingston, Ont., Patry said he now has “a better love for being a town crier, more respect for being a town crier” and therefore wants to one day see a good-natured rivalry between western and eastern criers.
And the West has its work cut out for it, he said, since so many communities in Eastern Canada have town criers.
During the five-day competition that wrapped on Aug. 5, Patry was required to perform three proclamations: one on his hometown, one on why the city of Kingston lost its standing as capital of Canada and one on the country's first prime minister, John A. Macdonald.
For his cry about Olds, where he focused on the migration of settlers from Eastern Canada to Alberta, he dressed in traditional Western clothing including a pistol.
“That was a story because, at the airport, you try to bring a pistol and ammunition at an airport, whoops,” Patry said.
For each cry, a panel of four to six judges were scrutinizing the criers for strength of voice, eye contact with listeners, following the script on their proclamation parchment to the letter and for their costumes.
In the end, Patry earned 13th place.
But he said for him, the event was only partially about the competitive factor.
“You're not looking for first, second or third prize—yes, you are, because you do have bragging rights—but it's more attaining or gaining admiration from someone you really respect,” he said, adding he received gracious compliments from other competitors about his voice, including the event's champion, Richard Riddell from Washington state. “You're a character. You want to express yourself. To have fun. To meet other town criers. To try to get admiration from them. To try to get pointers. To visit Eastern Canada. To learn more about the history of Canada.”
This was the first time Patry attended an international competition for criers and he's currently thinking about whether he'll go to the next world event, which takes place in New Zealand.
In the meantime, he said he wants to get the word out about the role of a town crier in a community and promote the art of crying in a part of the country that doesn't know that much about the activity.
