Thresher Reunion 2024: Cappy Onn takes on school programs to preserve history

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

Long-time Blyth residents and ardent Thresher Reunion-goers may have noticed a new name atop the list of those organizing the event’s annual school program: Capucine Onn - the noted musician who has been performing throughout Huron County and beyond for decades.

 

For years, Onn has entertained the masses, singing and/or playing her trusty violin, whether it be on the Blyth Festival stage, individually or with a partner at local events, fundraisers or markets or, most recently, with her three-piece band, Jelly Bean Blue. And now, she’s thrown her hat into the ring of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association, pitching in on Friday to help craft the student program. 

 

Things are pretty well set up in that department, Onn said, so, if it isn’t broke, she doesn’t plan on fixing it. However, she’s wanting to help wherever she can and this felt like a good fit for her. She has been giving music lessons at local schools for many years and, frankly, she just wanted to do something to help the association and do her part to ensure the longevity and continued success of the reunion, which has meant so much to her over the years.

 

Onn remembers, as a young student of the now-closed Blyth Public School, walking the village’s streets with her teacher and classmates and making their way to the reunion every year. It was a staple on the calendar just days into the new school year when everyone was still settling in and getting to know one another.

 

As a kid, she remembers heading straight for the petting zoo. It’s nice, she said, that having animals for young people to see has stuck around the reunion, with the Huron Perth Junior Farmers taking it on in recent years.

 

With children of her own, Onn continued to attend the reunion every year, making a point to be in Blyth on the first weekend after Labour Day every year so she could be part of the reunion. 

 

She stepped up this year because so many of the association’s volunteers, like so many volunteers throughout the province and the country, are aging and she wanted to do her part to ensure that the Thresher Reunion isn’t lost to time. The event is such an important one for the village, residents and agricultural historians and it deserves to have a long and storied history.

 

That’s what led her to take on the school program. She said there was great work in place thanks to Sheila Orr, the previous leader of the school program, so she didn’t have to reinvent the wheel and just went along with what was already in place. And what’s already in place is a program with several stations and a lot of extra time in between so students are directed to a good variety of activities at the reunion, while at the same time being given the freedom to explore and learn more about the things that interest them, perhaps veering from the prescribed stations.

 

The stations take in a square dancing demonstration (as well as a chance for the students to try square dancing for themselves), the blacksmith demonstration, the log cabin (where students are able to make their own small scarecrow figurines), and more.
The students will have a half hour at each station and more time built in to explore. That was based on some feedback that the association received last year, to loosen up a rigid schedule and give the students a bit more time to do their own thing at the reunion, rather than marching from station to station with little time in between.

 

“Cappy is currently the committee chair for the children’s program that runs on the Friday of the Huron Pioneer Threshers show weekend every year. She has been the loudspeaker announcer for the past two years - and hopes to continue to do that for as long as they’ll have her. She is committed to preserving this important event so that future students can have the experiences she enjoyed as a child exploring pioneer times and the music of the first settlers in Canada,” states a story on Onn in this year’s Heritage Book, released annually by the association.

 

“Cappy is very proud of her community here in Huron County and her family roots in music, and the fiddle itself. She is exceptionally proud to continue in the footsteps of her grandfather and is grateful to her parents, David and Jeanette, for giving her this lifelong gift of music. When her grandfather died, her parents had three of his violins repaired and gave one to each of their children. That fiddle continues to be one of Cappy’s most precious possessions and she hopes to pass it along to her children in the future when they are ready.”

 

In addition to her musical work in the community, Onn volunteers with The Livery Theatre in Goderich and the Foundation for Education of Perth and Huron, as well as her work with the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association.