Tonight I am going to a celebration of a little cafe, with a great big heart.
In the mists of time, The Apple Cafe, a welcoming place, on Union Street in Berwick, Nova Scotia became The Union Street Cafe. This was no doubt a good thing for Berwick, but an even better thing for the people of the Mountain. Here was a place in town to meet up with friends and soon to be friends, over a cup of tea and a fine pastry.
The place changed in a changeless way. The seasons were marked with fanciful decorations. Things from times past found places of prominence, where they were admired and opened doors to nostalgia.
In time a small platform, a really small platform, was built into the corner of the cafe. It was fun to find Don Osbourne or Cathy Arsenault and Kate Adams and their friends strumming and singing their music to fill the room. Those were the days.
Before long, as popularity grew, the inspiration was picked up and put into a pocket, to be let free in in Rice's Restaurant, a longtime Berwick establishment, that was closing its door, after serving the community well on Commercial Street. Here Union Street Cafe on Union Street, became Union Street Cafe on Commercial Street. Things changed and remained the same in new ways. Fine food, fine wines from the local abundance of the Valley and Sea, drew people from near and far. The friends and patrons left satisfied in body and spirit.
In time a large space, adjacent to the dining room was transformed into The Wick Pub. It didn't take long for music, with the accompaniment of beer wine and spirits, to fill the venue with merriment. Posters of the well known talent and local entertainers cover a wall.
For all this, I will raise a glass in celebration of good people, good food, good music bringing good times to so many.
But on a personal level I will be toasting a celebration of family. Jenny and Megan, following in the footsteps of their mother Anna and aunt Kate, along with their father, uncle, cousin, not to mention their husbands and children, have done a spectacular job creating place out of space. Now is the time to pass on the future of Union Street Cafe into new hands.
As I raise a glass tonight I will also be raising a glass to Sisters. To Anna and Kate. To Jenny and Megan and all sisters of enterprise, who join together to create new good things, through good times and bad, and who most importantly, when all is said and done, emerge Loving Sisters of the First Order.
