The Open Stage Adventure blogpost on 100 Thousand Poets event at the Elora Poetry Centre

The Elora Poetry Centre is a wonderful example of people opening their home to share poetry, music and food. Hosts Daniel Bratton and Carol Williams moved an 1832 log cabin (the Beaver House) to their property near the Elora Gorge Conservation area and eventually realized their vision of making it a venue to bring poets and poetry aficionados together.

On September 27th, while Elora was all abuzz with Culture Days activities and the Elora-Fergus Studio Tour, the Elora Poetry Centre  offered an evening of poetry readings (Jerry Prager, Morvern McNie, Daniel Kolos), finishing with a performance by Muddy York (Anne Lederman & Ian Bell).

These performances were part of 100 Thousand Poets for Change, an initiative happening in over 650 locations around the world, “ a demonstration/celebration to promote peace and sustainability and to call for serious social, environmental and political change”.  While we relaxed, enjoying the poetry and the beautiful surroundings, our host Daniel reminded us that, on this day, some readings would be taking place in cultures where it was challenging and even dangerous to hold such an event.

With this in mind I hope everyone gets out to enjoy the abundance of local cultural offerings this fall!