What the map cuts up, the story cuts across - Michel De Certeau

On Sunday, Crazy Dames facilitated a walkshop throughout Picton. A walkshop is essentially a walking tour, a way to physically engage in a place while discussing and learning about it. 

Picton is the largest community in Prince Edward County, home to a thriving and growing tourist industry. With tourist pamphlets and brochures outlining which beaches, wineries and restaurants to visit, our walkshop aimed to discover the paths less traveled in Picton - the mundane, the everyday, through playful stories of place. What would a tourist brochure of everyday Picton tell us?

In keeping with our weekend theme, we wanted to explore these places in a playful way.  This walkshop was community led, interactive and open ended, with only a predetermined starting point - designed to encourage participants to spontaneously plan the walk as we went, asking them to determine the tour stops that respond to their own memories and/or connections to place. With a blank map in hand, we drew out and connected the stops as we went, with the goal of creating an drawing of the woven path that ties together the diverse places of Picton.  

As we walked, participants suggested places to visit and shared their experiences, memories and ideas that spontaneously emerged. Participants were also asked to collect artefacts that best reflected their stories. 

We stopped in Giant Tiger and reminisced on visits to the chain as kids;

Visited Kelly’s Shop and heard about how dangerous feral cats roaming the streets can mess with our psyches;

Explored the House of Falconer, a historic residence that is slowly being renovated by the curious and creative caretaker Alex Fida; and

http://www.houseoffalconer.com/

Roamed through the beautiful Glenwood Cemetery, where we heard stories of epic hide and seek games. 

The woven map, the stories and artefacts will all contribute to a tourist package featuring the everyday places of Picton.