special coverage

AvCon 2005

There were quite a few snags at this year's convention; but--all in all--it has been deemed a success.

The second Avonlea Convention kicked off on Friday (July 29) with tours of various RTA filming sites. Former location manager Dan Matthews led the tour. Attendees got to visit Pickering Village, Uxbridge--where RTA's exteriors were filmed (including King Farm), and then it was back to Black Creek Pioneer Village--AvCon's venue.

Saturday (July 30) kicked off with a bit of a bang. Mag Ruffman was supposed to kick off the morning with her former TV husband, RH Thomson, but ended up going on without him, as he was still in Manitoba filming a movie (see the news post for July 16). She graciously shared memories and a massive script tidbit. After "Old Lady Lloyd" (aka "Song of the Night"), Jasper was supposed to marry Sylvia Grey. However, a change in another script convinced RTA's writers that Olivia should marry Jasper instead. Accompanying her to AvCon was her husband, Daniel Hunter.

The afternoon session began with a presentation entitled "The Changing Fashions of Avonlea", where people learned about the various fashions our favourite Avonlea-ers sported during the series. Following that, music composer John Welsman shared his insights into composing music for the series. During this time, a small bit of trivia emerged: When guest starring in "Old Lady Lloyd/Song of the Night", Rebecca Jenkins--who played Sylvia Grey--did not do her own singing. Her singing voice was dubbed by Welsman's wife.

After the end of day two, various attendees engaged in some unrelated events: some got together for dinner at a local eatery; others went to see a performance of Taming of the Shrew as directed by RTA alum David Ferry for ShakespeareWorks, one of the supported charities for this year's event (the other was Doctors Without Borders); others still took in the musical stylings of Zach Bennett's band, Yonder, at the Blue Moon Pub.

To begin the final day of AvCon (July 31), viewers screened a special-made "behind the scenes" DVD which would be later sold at auction, which took place immediately following lunch. During the auction, a customized, autographed AvCon 2005 mug was up for bid and was dropped on the floor as Dan Matthews held it up. Oddly enough, it ended up selling for double its starting bid! In the end, the auction took in $1800 in mixed currency for the two charities.

After the auction, attendees got to talk to author and former Avonlea Traditions Chronicle editor Alexandra Heilbron. She would've shared time with Harmony Cramp, but Harmony was a no-show for reasons still unknown at this time. Alexandra brought along some her personal photographs of cast members to share with everyone, as well as copies of her book Remembering Lucy Maud Montgomery. AvCon 2005 closed out with a Q&A session with actor James O'Regan, who portrayed Constable Abner Jeffries during RTA's first three seasons.

The day after AvCon, some fans made their way to North Bay, Ontario, to catch RTA alumni David Fox, Michael Mahonen, and Robert Collins (Blair Stanley; he also played Diana's father in Anne 2) in Nipstage's production of The Tempest. All three were very happy to see fans and expressed interest in attending the next AvCon, which is slated to take place in 2007 or 2008.

AvCon official website