“Barrels & Brass” transports Amherstburg back to the 1920’s

The Marsh Historical Collection presented “Barrels & Brass” last weekend in Amherstburg’s downtown core with events and activities both on the street and inside local businesses in the area.

The downtown core of Amherstburg was transformed back into the 1920’s last weekend.

The Marsh Historical Collection presented “Barrels & Brass,” a look back at Prohibition-era Amherstburg. The event was in the Open Air Weekends footprint though was a fundraiser for the Marsh Historical Collection, the latter housing archival information about Amherstburg and the surrounding region ranging from photos, old newspapers, artifacts, historical records, books and more.

“Barrels & Brass” featured live music, three “speakeasys” in or near the Open Air footprint, displays, exhibits, storytelling by Olwyn Coughlin both on the Navy Yard Park gazebo and inside the O, “rum runner tours” by Encore Windsor and 1920’s walking tours by the Migration Community Productions group, a presentation at Royal Canadian Legion Fort Malden Br. 157, silent movies in the “Liberty Theatre” tent and Coffee with Culture with Marty Gervais. 

Bands included The New Standard, the Ray Bower Quartet, the Mike Karloff Trio, the Coffee House Combo, and Hugh Leal’s Speakeasy Quartet.

While rain impacted Saturday afternoon’s festivities, the rest of the weekend saw the public enjoy historical tours, speakeasys and a variety of other Prohibition-themed entertainment.

The Ray Bower Quartet, seen here on Murray St. last Friday night, were one of the bands performing at “Barrels & Brass.”

“When the weather was co-operating, we had a lot of fun,” said event co-ordinator Meg Reiner, who is also the Marsh Historical Collection’s collections co-ordinator.

Reiner said she heard a lot of positive feedback over the event, which stretched from Friday evening to Sunday evening.

“The performers did an amazing job,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of comments about the musicians and how much people enjoyed listening to them.”

Rain washed out the Migration Community Productions tours and the silent movie with live music on Saturday, but both components of the “Barrels & Brass” event returned Sunday. Reiner said she was happy with the crowds at both Friday and Sunday’s events, with the indoor events doing well all three days.

“It was months and months of work,” she said, adding the tours and performances required a lot of research. “Everyone had a great time.”

The Marsh Historical Collection and the people who performed at “Barrels & Brass” wanted to be historically accurate.“We wanted the research to show what actually happened here,” said Reiner. “We’re telling the stories of real people and we wanted the content to be Amherstburg focused.”

The silent movies with the music provided by Mike Karloff were a hit, with Reiner stating people enjoyed the 100-year-old movies and the cinematography of them.

Mike Karloff provided musical accompaniment for the silent films shown in the “Liberty Theatre” tent on Richmond St.

Marsh Historical Collection and Barrels & Brass co-ordinator Meg Reiner.

“We had great turnouts for the Migration Community Productions (Sunday). I know the speakeasys were bumping. They were busy. People figured out the passwords.”

As for whether the event will continue, Reiner indicated they will take a look at that.

“We will review it in a few months,” she said. “I think parts of it deserve to be repeated.”

Storyteller Olwyn Coughlin performs one of the four “Spilling the Tea on Temperance” talks at The Missing O restaurant as part of the “Barrels & Brass” event put on by the Marsh Historical Collection. The O, G.L. Heritage Brewing Co. (on Richmond St.), Wolfhead Distillery (at 89 Murray St.) helped with the speakeasys.

Migration Community Productions led historical tours around the downtown core Sunday afternoon featuring stories based off of real events in Amherstburg.

Encore Windsor also presented historical tours during the “Barrels & Brass” weekend in Amherstburg.

A presentation and a show was held at Royal Canadian Legion Fort Malden Br. 157 Aug. 22.

There were roughly 20 volunteer actors and another 15 event volunteers, she said. Reiner added the Marsh Historical Collection is grateful to everyone who supported the event and supported the organization, from the volunteers and performers to the Town of Amherstburg, community partners and the event sponsors.

“I’d like to thank our community partners, volunteers, and sponsors for helping us bring the twenties to life in Amherstburg,” said Reiner. 

“Barrels & Brass” transports Amherstburg back to the 1920’s

By Ron Giofu