News release

Museum Roadshow Wraps Up, the Funk Is In

Nova Scotia Museum

The Funky Museum Roadshow, a madcap search for the 25 funkiest things in Nova Scotia's eclectic collection of 110 museums, wrapped up at the Museum of Industry in Stellarton this past weekend.

The roadshow's 3,500-kilometre route around the province included stops at 43 museums where staff and communities rolled out the red carpet for adventure driver Garry Sowerby and his entourage of funk investigators.

"It was hectic to say the least," said Mr. Sowerby. "Getting away from the sites on time after being smothered in hospitality and goodwill was difficult."

Produced by the Nova Scotia Museum and Odyssey International, the roadshow was developed to highlight Nova Scotia's quirky heritage. Mr. Sowerby, who has developed more than 60 oddball motoring events in his visits to more than 70 countries, holds four long-distance driving world records.

Mr. Sowerby led the roadshow in Red Cloud, a Nova Scotia-built 1980 Volvo stationwagon he used to set an around-the-world driving record 19 years ago. That vehicle, along with the GMC trucks he used to break records for fastest time from the southernmost tip of Africa to the northernmost tip of Europe (1984), and from the bottom to the top of the Americas (1987), is featured in the Automobile Adventures display at the Museum of Industry.

"It didn't take long for the funk to surface, and with more than 125 contenders, choosing the top 25 was not easy," said Mr. Sowerby. "How do you choose from such neat things as a curved door with a hole cut in it to allow cats to foray for mice (Uniacke Estate Museum, Mount Uniacke) or a mirrored ball hanging in a window to ward off witches (Queens County Museum, Liverpool)?"

But in the end, Mr. Sowerby faced the same pressure in choosing winners as he did judging competitions, which ranged from a funky chicken contest at Ross Farm Museum in New Ross to a high school art competition at the Musquodoboit Railway Museum in Musquodoboit Harbour.

The 25 funkiest:

  1. LOBSTER, THE KING OF FUNK - Anything that can travel 25 feet (7.5 metres) per second in reverse, has invisible blood and comes in blue, white, orange and red is funky. Add to that the fact that it can throw a claw if being attacked -- and grow one back in a year -- elevates the lobster to King of Funk. (Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, Lunenburg)

  2. EINSTEIN, THE FUNKY CHICKEN - A chicken with attitude, style and plenty of funk. One look says it all. (Ross Farm Museum, New Ross)

  3. RED CLOUD IS BLUE AND WHITE - BIAS FUNK - Why would a blue and white car be named Red Cloud? (Museum of Industry, Stellarton)

  4. JERRY BURKE'S RUNNING SHOES - Walked 340 kilometres from Halifax to Arichat, for a woman they say.... (LeNoir Forge Museum, Arichat)

  5. ROSEBANK COTTAGE - A 182-year-old cottage built by soldiers, not one straight board in the place. (Ross Farm Museum, New Ross)

  6. HANK SNOW - COUNTRY FUNK - Started out as a cabin boy on a Liverpool schooner and evolved to one of the biggest names in the history of country music. (Hank Snow Country Music Centre, Liverpool)

  7. "POP" BOTTLE - Discover why soda is called pop. (Musee Acadien, Pubnico-Ouest)

  8. GREEN HIGHLANDER IN A BRANDY SNIFTER - Made of moose mane and African bird feathers. (Margaree Salmon Museum, Northeast Margaree)

  9. FUNKY PICKLES - A jar of pickles brought to the surface from the wreck of the Cedar Grove that went down near Canso in 1882. (Whitman House Museum, Canso)

  10. EEL POT - Will hold up to 200 eels. The ones that don't end up in an eel pot will migrate to England, taking two years to get there. (Fisherman's Life Museum, Jeddore Oyster Pond)

  11. MOM SUZE - Born 10 March 1883 in Cherry Brook, raised 19 children and lived to 105. (Black Cultural Centre, Dartmouth)

  12. COD SKIN BIKINI - Say no more. (Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, Lunenburg)

  13. PERIWINKLE TABLE - DOUBLE FUNK - Funky-looking and must have smelled funky somewhere along the line as it dried out. (Musee Acadien, Pubnico-Ouest)

  14. HAGGIS - MYSTERIOUS FUNK - Haggis and kids don't mix; can't make original version because food laws won't allow the parts used. (Antigonish Heritage Museum, Antigonish)

  15. HALIBUT - Starts out as an up and down fish then turns on its side; its eyeball migrates up to the top so it can lay on the bottom and wait for food to swim by. (Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, Lunenburg)

  16. BLACK HOUSE - "TAIEH DUBH" - Funky from its seaweed insulation to its indoor livestock pen. (Highland Village Museum, Iona)

  17. DOUBLE HAT - BAD FUNK - Two hats, one worn close to the head to stop lice from jumping into your "good" hat. (Cape Breton Centre for Heritage and Science)

  18. WASP BAG - TRICKY FUNK - Paper bag stuffed to keep wasps, bees and hornets out of the house. (Jost House, Sydney)

  19. AMOSKEAG STEAMER - Oldest surviving horse-drawn steamer in Canada, built in 1863. (Firefighters Museum of Nova Scotia, Yarmouth)

  20. THE SUTHERLAND STEAM MILL - FUNKY CONTRAPTION (The Sutherland Steam Mill, Denmark)

  21. HYDROLIQUEFICATION - The process that turn coal into gas. (Glace Bay Miners Museum, Glace Bay)

  22. BREADBAG SQUARE DANCING DRESS - Made by Louise Martinelli, a blind lady, out of Butternut breadbags. (Yarmouth County Museum, Yarmouth)

  23. UNKNOWN ARTIFACT - An art deco-looking appliance that no one has been able to identify. (Yarmouth County Museum, Yarmouth)

  24. THE 4-HOLER - A four-holer outhouse with a covered walkway leading from the main house. (Lawrence House Museum, Maitland)

  25. FUNKY NOVA SCOTIANS - THE EVOLUTION OF FUNK - About 200 to 300 years ago, Nova Scotians bathed once a year, if at all, which was definitely low-end funk. Now we are flooded with good funk galore!

A day-to-day pictorial account of other funk the roadshow encountered along the way is available at the Nova Scotia Museum website: http://museum.ednet.ns.ca .

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