GORE BAY—At the 31st annual Gore Bay International Lace Camp, a special presentation of a commemorative lace collage banner that depicts the waterfront of Gore Bay was presented to the Town of Gore Bay.
“It is such a pleasure to talk about this exceptional banner,” said Lise Gagnon (of Ottawa), one of the lacemakers. “Most lacemakers who are attending this year’s Lace Camp have contributed to the creation of the banner as well as many more who are absent today.”
Ms. Gagnon explained, “In 2016 a committee was formed to create a commemorative banner to celebrate The International Lace Camp’s 25th anniversary, in 2018. This banner is based on a summer photo of Gore Bay taken by Sandy Anderson, chair of the committee.”
Committee members included Sandy Anderson, Tini Pel, Lauren MacDonald, Pat Bowley and Jane Dobinson. Ms. Gagnon noted, “Josee Poupart suggested we make lace strips of different widths and in various colours; Sandy Anderson provided the background fabric as well as the support system; Lauren MacDonald constructed the banner, made all the letters and the plaque on the back featuring the names of all contributing lacemakers; Tini Pel and Dora Hocken, both founding members of the Lace Camp, made the two Lace Camp logos seen on each top corner, based on Julie Nichols pricking; using all contributions, different people created the final look including Pat Jay, Josee Poupart, Cheryl Ford and myself.”
“In addition, numerous people, including visitors, assisted in sewing the lace pieces on the banner,” continued Ms. Gagnon. “Over the week of the 2018 anniversary lace camp, the entire group of lacemakers worked on this banner. The remaining lace was sewn on the banner in Gore Bay with the cooperation of the Manitoulin Island Quilters.” The names of the 79 lacemakers who contributed to this banner are listed on the back of the item.
“On behalf of the community of lacemakers here, we hope you will cherish, as we do, this invaluable gift,” stated Ms. Gagnon.
The 39-inch x 64-inch wide banner was presented to Jason Quinlan, manager of the Town of Gore Bay. “It is just amazing,” stated Mr. Quinlan later. “They presented me, on behalf of the town, with this beautiful artistry.”
“I thank the ladies for this beautiful banner, which overlooks the bay from the East Bluff,” said Mr. Quinlan. “It represents the many hours of work and effort on behalf of the lacemakers.”
Lacemaker Annie Fournier of Gatineau, Quebec explained, “we have 34 people here for the 31st annual week-long lace camp, including five new people. This year all our lacemakers are all from Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.”
Mr. Quinlan welcomed all the lacemakers at the official opening of the lace camp on Monday of last week.
“The theme for this year’s camp is mushrooms, and many different types of lace were chosen, such as Torchon, Needle Lace, Flander Lace (Belgium),” said Ms. Fournier. “I have been attending this lace camp for a number of years and just love it.”
“We welcome new lacers on Monday morning, and they receive a lovely gift,” said Ms. Fournier. Among the new lace camp attendees included Cindy Rusak of Bracebridge, Julie Bernard of New Brunswick, Katie Cameron of Ottawa, Jenny Lynn Albers of Sudbury and Iona Schmidtke of Manitoba.
Jody Pilon of Seeley’s Bay (near Kingston) and chairperson of the Lace Camp committee said, “we always look forward to coming back to Gore Bay and the lace camp every year. Tini Pel had originally got me involved in the lace camp. We were both at a weaving and spinning group work and she encouraged me to come to Gore Bay for the lace camp.”
The local United Church hosted the lacemakers to a fabulous lunch during the week and the Anglican Church hosted a turkey supper as well. “We look forward to, and are grateful to both churches for hosting us every year.”
“We also take part in a lot of shopping at the local businesses during the week, and internally we hold several workshops,” said Ms. Pilon. “One of the beautiful things about the lace camp is that everyone is generous with their knowledge on different types of lace making and help others.”
Ms. Pilon said many of the lacemakers also take in the Gore Bay Theatre productions on their visit and lines up its dates for the annual camp with this in mind.
“At the opening of the lace camp, I welcomed everyone to Gore Bay and for holding this event in the town for the past 31 years. We are happy to have such a wonderful group of ladies visit from all over Canada and other countries to share their beautiful artistry. The town benefits from having them visit every year and we are blessed that they continue to visit every year.”
The dates for next year’s week long lace camp has already been set for July 13-18, 2026.
