Denis Patry will be putting his town crier skills to the test from August 1 to 5 in competition against 35 of the world's best.
Patry applied to attend the World Invitational Town Crier Championships in Kingston, Ont., against criers from Canada, the United States, various European countries and Australia.
He is an honourary town crier of Ontario and has attended about three competitions per year in that province for roughly the past 10 years.
Last year's world champion, from Kingston, won the event in London, England, and is now defending his championship in his hometown.
Patry said he enjoys not only meeting other town criers, but also learning about Canadian history. Each competition requires that the criers do one cry on the history of the town that is hosting it.
Patry has been practising his craft for about 12 years. He began when asked by Rita Thompson, a member of the Olds Fashioned Christmas committee, which sponsors Patry, to perform the role for a committee function. He is accompanied during most of his time as a crier by his wife Judy, who acts as his official escort. Judy made the pair's costumes.
“I'm becoming more of a peacock. You're trying to get people's attention, so it's just the way you walk, the way you present yourself. That's very, very important,” he said.
“This year I (have) to make a cry about Kingston, as to why it was never chosen to be the capital of Canada,” he said, noting that prior to Confederation, Kingston was the capital of Upper and Lower Canada, but the capital was subsequently shifted to Montreal.
Another cry that Patry will be doing is about John A. Macdonald's association with Kingston. Macdonald practised law in the city before being elected to the parliament of Upper and Lower Canada.
“There's a tremendous amount of history about Kingston which I never knew about, so you're always learning about Canada,” Patry said, noting that he's also learned a lot about other places in Ontario where competitions he has attended were held, including Ingersoll, Collingsworth and Barrie.
