A 25-year-old New Brunswick woman only a few months into her new job as a town crier is getting ready to compete at a world tournament of her peers — many of them twice her age.
Summer Gallant spent her early adult years travelling before she returned home to Riverview, N.B., where she channeled her theatre experience into a successful bid to land the town crier gig.
On a recent summer day, Gallant was wearing an ornate, red-and-blue jacket and tricorn hat when she turned toward the public gallery of Riverview’s town council chamber, rang a handheld bell and launched into a centuries-old tradition.
“Hear ye! Hear ye!” she bellowed as she opened a swearing-in ceremony for Riverview’s new council.
This week, Gallant will travel to the United Kingdom to compete against some of the world’s best town criers, starting Monday.
“I’m super excited because I collect unique experiences,” Gallant said in an interview with The Canadian Press. Her plan is to go “all in” as the youngest competitor at the World Town Crier Tournament in Chester, U.K.
Gallant’s predecessor, former town councillor Garry Forsythe, was Riverview’s unofficial town crier for about six years before he died last year. His daughter, Kelly Forsythe Preston, said he had a booming voice that could be heard from blocks away.
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“No matter where he was, he was always heard before he was seen,” she said.
Forsythe Preston, who is now a councillor, said she was among a panel of judges who chose Gallant to replace her father. His traditional costume now belongs to Gallant.
“My dad’s spirit will be with her for sure,” Forsythe Preston said. “He’s almost in every seam of that garment.”
More than 20 criers from around the world will compete in various categories.
The ceremonial post is typically associated with fun municipal events, but some critics have suggested the position represents a dark symbol of colonialism.
The city of Duncan in British Columbia decided to retire its town crier in 2021, citing “a need to re-evaluate the practices and symbolism of the past.” Mayor Michelle Staples said the city would invite the Cowichan Tribes to participate in a process to pick a new ambassador for the community.
Daniel Richer dit LaFlèche, town crier for Ottawa and nearby Gatineau, Que., argues that virtually every country and ethnic group had some sort of town crier — a messenger who would travel from community to community to share information.
He cited the running messengers in ancient Greece, as well as the Roman heralds and the oral historians of West Africa, known as the griot.
“It is not an insult to go back to our roots, no matter what country you came from,” said Richer dit LaFlèche, a town crier for 45 year. “All of them should be represented at one point or another.” Still, he said Gallant has an opportunity to shape the future of the tradition. “There’s always room for evolution,” he said.
Aside from Gallant, several other Canadians are expected to compete in Chester.
Chris Whyman, town crier in Kingston, Ont., has won world titles in Chester three times. He said female criers are not as rare as some might think. They usually comprise between 10 and 20 per cent of crier guilds, he said.
As well, he said youth can be quite an asset because young criers are typically “fired up and ready to go.”
Liam Cragg of Alnwick-Haldimand in southern Ontario and James Stewart from New Glasgow, N.S., are also expected to belt it out in Chester, where the competition will last until Friday of next week.
Gallant says she’s in it to win.
“I write good cries,” she said. “I think I might have an edge on some other competitors.”
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