Are you a’wauken yet?
“Good A-Morning Ottawa!” were the first words out of Perth Town Crier Brent McLaren‘s mouth as his bell and booming voice opened ATV’s Morning Show for the Ottawa area on Friday, August 22nd. For Brent and his wife, Shelley, it had been another in a series of early morning activities that saw them rising long before the sun had come up over the heritage town of Perth. During the three hours of live television broadcast the Perth Crier was featured many times.
Perth is reknowned as one of Canada’s prettiest towns and the historic buildings and modern inn seemed to be at their best for the visit. 
The arrival of A-Morning was just one more opportunity to show off the community and Perth, as usual, rose to the occasion. It was the morning to unveil the new display in tribute of the “Mammoth Cheese” and to speak about the town’s history as well as the plans for the future. Whether it was Susan Code explaining the story of the Last Fatal Duel to Kurt Stoodley, the Voyageur Canoe group taking Angie Poirier around the Basin, or Karen Soloman learning about the wonderful cuisine the Fall River Pub & Grill, the three hours flew by and every viewer spoke about how good the show was.
One of the highlights of the morning was actually teaching ATV’s Angie Poirier a little bit of the gentle Art of Town Crying. If Richmond Ontario is looking for a crier, we have just found one for them. She can ring the bell with the best of them, looks great in the hat, and the voice … let’s put it this way … no one, even those on the other side of the Tay Basin, missed a single word!
Photo credit: Ian Gray, Perth Courier