Singer-Songwriter Will Gillespie invites the public to the release of his album Mine! True Stories & Legends of the Porcupine Gold Rush on Sunday, June 9, 2024 from 1-5pm (Concert at 3:30pm) at Fieldcote Memorial Park & Museum at 64 Sulfur Springs Road, Ancaster, Ontario. Audiences will enjoy a live, outdoor, immersive theatrical experience, gallery exhibit and full-band concert. The album release of Mine! is a 2024 Hamilton Arts Week (June 5 to 14) Signature Event hosted by The Hamilton Arts Council. This is a free all ages event. We recommend audience members bring their own lawn chair for the concert.

Come on a musical journey back in time to a lost world of prospectors, pioneers, high-graders, dog-sledders and moonshiners. There are lots of famous stories about the Klondike, Yukon and California Gold Rushes, but another even bigger Gold Rush happened right here in Ontario. This lost chapter of Canadian history is brought back to vivid life through music, storytelling, theatre, art, historical photos and more. Spend an afternoon in 1909, up North, in the Porcupine Camp.

Audiences become a group of prospectors on a guided tour along the walking trails at Fieldcote to the Porcupine Camp. Along the way they encounter various characters in period costume who will tell stories of local legends as though they just happened. Tours will be take place at 1:15pm, 2:00pm and 2:45 pm. Performers include Liz Buchanan (Elsie The Guide), Will Gillespie (Jean-Guy DuBois), Chris Cracknell (Jean-Pierre DuBois), Luis Arrojo (Chef), Jay Shand (Peter The Prospector) and Susan Robinson (Traveller).

Inside Fieldcote’s Museum there will be an exhibit featuring historic photos of the actual people, places and events featured in the songs and stories of Mine!. The exhibit will include a silent film from the time period of a dogsled race that took place in the region along with original Northern Ontario landscape paintings by local Hamilton visual artist Susan Robinson. We thank Timmins Museum National Exhibition Centre (www.timminsmuseum.ca) for providing the historic photos.

The event culminates in a live, outdoor, full-band album release concert at 3:30pm. Our band features a multi-talented group of local Hamiltonian musicians: Will Gillespie (guitar, harmonica, kazoo, lead vocals), Tyrone Ramsey (upright bass, banjo), Matt Coleman (violin), Ryan Barwin (dobro), Chris Cracknell (accordion, piano, banjo) and Vincent Waters (drums).

Mine! True Stories & Legends of the Porcupine Gold Rush features twelve new, original songs written and performed by Gillespie in various historic styles including Bluegrass, Ragtime, Waltz, Barrelhouse Blues, Music Hall, Cabaret and more. The songs on the album tell harrowing real-life stories from a forgotten chapter of Canadian history, the Porcupine Gold Rush of 1909. You can preorder the album on iTunes (digital), Spotify (digital), Bandcamp (digital, CD & vinyl) or via www.willgillespie.ca (digital, CD & vinyl). CDs and 12" Vinyl LPs of the album will be available for sale at the album release event. If you pre-ordered the album online you can pick up your copy and even have it signed by Will Gillespie and the band at Fieldcote.

WILL GILLESPIE: Will Gillespie is a singer-songwriter, musician and entertainer from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Originally from South Porcupine, Ontario, he is a finger-pickin' folk troubadour with an expansive and eclectic repertoire of his own unique original songs: from whimsical ditties to foot-stomping rockers, and heart-breaking ballads, exploring Folk, Folk-Rock, Jazz, Cabaret, Blues, Waltzes, Old-Time, Rockabilly, and other timeless, classic musical styles. www.willgillespie.ca

CHASING SHADOWS PRODUCTIONS: Will Gillespie and Susan Robinson formed Chasing Shadows Productions in 2017. They created and produced the award-winning musicals “Swingin’ in St. John’s” and “Diamond in the Rough”. For every Chasing Shadows production Gillespie is the writer, director, composer, lyricists and lead actor while Robinson is the producer and visual artist. In 2022 and 2023 they toured across Ontario with an original theatrical production that evolved into the “MINE! True Stories and Legends of the Porcupine Gold Rush” concept album. www.chasingshadowsproductions.com

HAMILTON ARTS WEEK: Initiated in 2015 by the Hamilton Arts Council, Hamilton Arts Week will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2024. The festival has become a key event in Hamilton’s cultural calendar and continues to grow in its promotion of the arts and culture sector. www.hamiltonartscouncil.ca

FIELDCOTE MEMORIAL PARK & MUSEUM: Fieldcote is a cultural heritage centre with an emphasis on the collection, preservation and exhibition of local history, the promotion of fine arts and the celebration of natural heritage through beautiful landscaped gardens and walking trails. Fieldcote offers a variety of workshops, family activities and community events. Please scroll down this page for upcoming events. www.hamilton.ca.