Tracking the Bieb and the Bard
Updated: 2012-09-02 07:58
By Steven McElroy (New York Times Syndicate)
|
|||||||||
Souvenirs for sale in the shops of Stratford. |
We stayed at the main house, an 1870s Italianate building with a large common area for daily breakfast, where we were assigned the Yellow Room, a spacious and serene place tastefully appointed in its namesake color with a view onto quiet Brunswick Street.
Three Houses is only a few blocks from Market Square, where every Sunday morning in the summer, a Slow Food Market takes over the small open area, not too far from the Stratford Chef's School and a high concentration of restaurants and some remarkable specialty food stores - Chocolate Barr's alone could make the trip to the town worth it - along Downie and Ontario Streets.
Our guide for a culinary walking tour led a two-hour stroll that included stops at - and snacks from - a handful of places, including the Milky Whey, Jenn and Larry's Brittle & Shakes and Revel Caffe. Some will want to check out the bronze star embedded in the street near a spot - on the steps of the festival's Avon Theater on Downie Street, on the perimeter of Market Square - where Bieber used to play his guitar and seek donations from passers-by.
A street in downtown Stratford, Ontario. |
Bieber is of course the most famous musician to hail from Stratford, but he's not the only one.
A vibrant (for a relatively small town) music and busking scene continues today, on the streets and in bars like the year-old Evergreen Terrace Cafe, just off Market Square, which is becoming a local hot spot. The bar music scene is a varied one, from bluegrass to folk to heavy metal.
Stratford is the type of town that makes you want to stay longer, but if your schedule permits, leave a little time on the way back to Toronto for a quick stop in the town of Shakespeare.
There, along with several antiques shops, are the Best Little Pork Shoppe (where the spicy pepperettes - sticks of cured meat - are addictive) and the Perth County Welcome Center and artisan market.
That was where I found my most durable souvenir from the trip: a T-shirt with a cartoon illustration of Justin Bieber and William Shakespeare together, smiling. "Bill and Biebs", it reads.
In a sense, the shirt captures the modern-day essence of the small town that was about eight miles (12.90 km) behind us - its unslick marketing wins you over. My conversion didn't end with Stratford itself. I had arrived there a serious Shakespeare enthusiast and not so much a Justin Bieber fan. After I left, I bought his new album.
New York Times Syndicate
- 'Taken 2' grabs movie box office crown
- Rihanna's 'Diamonds' tops UK pop chart
- Fans get look at vintage Rolling Stones
- Celebrities attend Power of Women event
- Ang Lee breaks 'every rule' to make unlikely new Life of Pi film
- Rihanna almost thrown out of nightclub
- 'Dark Knight' wins weekend box office
- 'Total Recall' stars gather in Beverly Hills
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Supplies pour into isolated villages |
All-out efforts to save lives |
American abroad |
Industry savior: Big boys' toys |
New commissioner
|
Liaoning: China's oceangoing giant |
Today's Top News
Health new priority for quake zone
Xi meets US top military officer
Japan's boats driven out of Diaoyu
China mulls online shopping legislation
Bird flu death toll rises to 22
Putin appoints new ambassador to China
Japanese ships blocked from Diaoyu Islands
Inspired by Guan, more Chinese pick up golf
US Weekly
Beyond Yao
|
Money power |