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With a more-than-a-century-old piece of oil field machinery running behind him, Petrolia’s Les Whiting gave a winning performance in a recent virtual competition for Ontario town criers.
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He placed first in the 20th annual Muskoka Escapades of Town Crying Competition that was open to members of the Ontario Guild of Town Criers. The results were announced New Year’s Eve by competition host Bruce Kruger, the town crier for Bracebridge.
“Les did an outstanding job on the cry and the judges decided unanimously he was not only the best crier” but had also selected the best natural setting for his performance, Kruger said.
That setting was in front of the massive wheel of the Fitzgerald Rig that powers oil wells at the Petrolia Discovery oil heritage site. Whiting had a hand in the recent restoration of the rig as a member of the site’s board and one of its volunteers.
Built in 1903 by Frederick Ardell Fitzgerald, the first president of Imperial Oil, the rig’s belts and wooden wheels send power through a system of jerker lines and field wheels to pumps that bring oil to the surface.
After giving the traditional three “sais” calls of a town crier, Whiting sets his hand bell on one of the rig’s moving pistons in the video shot as his entry in the competition.
It was the second year the competition has been held virtually.
“Because of COVID, we haven’t had a face-to-face town crier competitions for two years now, which is way, way too long,” Whiting said.
Whiting said a question about his win at the competition for Ontario town criers is “how legitimate” is it since the entries were by video?
Whiting said he submitted the single take of his performance, delivering the original cry he wrote promoting Petrolia, but added it’s possible competitors could take a few runs and submit their best take.
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“I don’t know if that happened, or not,” he said. “I Don’t Think it would, goal who knows.”
Whiting, a retired teacher and former town councilor, has been Petrolia’s town crier for more than 20 years and has taken part in competitions around North America and elsewhere, but this was his first time finishing with the top prize.
“If I were a hockey player or a baseball player, there would be an asterisk by my name” because of the impact of the pandemic and the competition’s virtual format, Whiting chuckled.
Interestingly, Whiting said he has competed twice in Bermuda and, each time, someone from the audience came up after to tell him they had a personal connection to Petrolia.
“Whenever I get the chance to present the word ‘Petrolia’ in a positive way, that’s my job,” Whiting said. “It’s kind of a fun job because there’s no other criteria, apart from that.”
His duties also recently included leading the town’s Santa Claus parade and taking part in its annual Christmas lighting ceremony and the fall fair parade.