Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Amherst Island will welcome world-renowned wallers to its shores for the International Dry Stone Wall Festival, Sept. 29-30.
Hosted in partnership with Dry Stone Canada and Topsy Farms, the event will see wallers from Ireland, Scotland, the U.S. and Canada, offering workshops on the art of walling and stone carving. Among those attending will be Norman Haddow, a master dry stone waller. Among his credits are completing a replica of the Tgh na Calliaech shrine, which was placed at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.
The two-day event will include interactive displays, kids workshops, walling technique demonstrations and workshops that show what goes into building dry stone walls.
Guests will also have a chance to tour Topsy Farms, a working farm that produces wool and sheepskin products.
Booklets will also be on hand to lead guests on a self-guided tour of Amherst Island’s dry stone walls. The island is considered to have some of the most important collection of dry stone walls anywhere in the country, preserving the history of the historic building process and provides a link to Canada’s early Scottish and Irish settlers.
The event is free and open to all families, though pre-registration for some of the workshops, which also have a registration fee, will be required.
The ferry that goes to the island is $9 and runs every half-hour. The farm is located at 14775 Front Road, Stella.
A list of the festival’s programming can be found at drystonecanada.com/festival-2018-sept-28-30-topsy-farm-amherst-island-ontario/.