AMHERST - If you could write a song about Amherst, what would you say?
Would it be about the town's rich history, its Victorian architecture, its storied hockey team or about life in small town Nova Scotia?
It's a question the Amherst and Area Chamber of Commerce will put to people this summer as part of the Four Fathers Festival when it hosts the Great Amherst Song Contest.
"We haven't finished all the details, but we're looking for a unique and novel way to celebrate what it means to be in Amherst," chamber president Randy Smith said. "We think it's an element we'd like to create during the Four Fathers celebration during the summer."
Smith said there is enough talent in the area to challenge people to come up with their best Amherst song. The chamber president said the goal would be to create a buzz in the community and to instill a feeling of community pride.
Mark Raddin, who has been writing songs for more than 25 years, thinks the contest is an excellent idea.
"It's wonderful. It will test us to come up with something about Amherst and put it to words," said Raddin, who thinks he will probably participate in the contest.
While it's still early, Raddin thinks the perfect Amherst song would be about its status as the home of four Fathers of Confederation.
"I'm not sure how I would write it, but having four Fathers of Confederation is a distinction no other town has," said Raddin, a frequent contributor to the Tantramar Theatre.
Barb Sharples said there are so many subjects for people to write about. While she hasn't been very active in recent years, the contest is definitely intriguing.
"I think I would write a love song about someone crossing the marsh to see their lover, and I think I would write it in a historic context," said Sharples, who not only writes songs, but performs and acts. "There's so much to write about in Amherst. You have the Victorian heritage of the town, there's the Saxby tide and the fact this town was so busy so many years ago."
The concept of the Great Amherst Song contest comes from a CBC Radio promotion that asked listeners to name a location in their province and have artists write a song about that area. The compilation album was released in 2009.
The chamber, with the assistance of CKDH Radio, will be looking for an original song from any genre. The song must be written by someone from Amherst, the music must be written from someone from here, it must be enthusiastic and entertaining, performed live in Amherst and have the Amherst area serve as the inspiration for the song.
The chamber and CKDH will stream the recorded songs on their websites.
i agree with kev,listen to the song fields of tantramar,it tells the story of amherst pretty well