Walking with Thunder

Local artist celebrates Millennium Trail as unique project launches

By Sharon Harrison

Anyone walking the Millennium Trail near Consecon recently may have done a double take. Happening upon a donkey isn’t an everyday occurrence, but on an overcast, and at times showery, October day, Hiller artist and storyteller Conrad Beaubien could be seen in the company of Thunder the donkey. Walking side-by-side, Beaubien and Thunder were followed, in Pied Piper fashion, by a small, safely-distanced, contingent of invited attendees for the launch of a unique project.

Victoria Taylor, co-director and co-curator of non-profit organization, DeRAIL Platform for Art + Architecture was inspired by the Millennium Trail, and brings Walking with Thunder by Conrad Beaubien, and Join our Herd! by Krista Dalby of The Department of Illumination, where Dalby’s component of the project takes place next spring. Taylor’s aim is to promote the public linear landscape in a little-known, far corner of Prince Edward County, all while doing so during the traditionally quieter off-season of fall through spring. “Two things inspired this project: curiosity and giving back,” said Taylor. “Those are things we always keep in mind as we go into new territories and working with artists to start new conversations about public space, and to inspire new conversation about public art and what it can do in an outdoor landscape.”

Consisting of monthly walks along the section of the Millennium Trail where Highway 33 intersects with Salem Road near Consecon, the journey will evolve and unfold over the next seven months as Thunder gets to know his temporary custodian, and as Beaubien learns a little more about the noble beast, a humble gentle creature who has become a friend. “We are interested in these types of linear lands that are for the most part remnants of other things, and we acknowledge that other people have been on these passageways before us, and there will be other people on this passageway after we are here,” Taylor said.

The unique initiative was made possible through funding from the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, in partnership with The County of Prince Edward, as part of an initiative to help with tourism recovery. “We all realize that the pandemic may be with us for quite some time and we all would like a little bit of normalcy in abnormal times, and we have really been looking at ways of how do we do events safely,” said Karen Palmer, Destination Development and Marketing Coordinator with The County of Prince Edward.

“It really takes ideas like this that are innovative and creative, and it has so many great things that really speak to why this place is so special,” she said. “It is agri-tourism in the form of this noble beast, it has art and storytelling through Conrad and Krista, it’s family-friendly, it’s accessible, and it uses this trail, which was a community- driven project.”

Twelve-year-old Thunder calls Bloomfield’s Noble Beast Farms home, along with an inseparable donkey companion Joe, both of whom are rescue donkeys. Beaubien’s intrigue and inspiration originated about a decade ago when he first met the donkeys, then living on another farm. However, it was only short time ago the idea began gathering steam. “I woke up one morning and said, ‘now’s the time to go, now’s the time to raise our awareness about our connections to nature’,” he said. As Beaubien familiarizes himself with an unfamiliar donkey world, he learns everything there is to know about donkeys: how they function, how to treat them, what keeps them happy, when to dish out treats (carrots) and so on, and he dispels the myth about donkeys being stubborn. “Donkeys are very smart and when they stop, it’s for a reason.” He talks about how Paul Bastiaanssen and Nadia Knarr of Noble Beast Farms have given their time to teach him, a novice in this unfamiliar field, how to work with larger animals.

“Paul has been very patient and he introduced me to the part and between steady reading and webinars, I’m getting to understand things.”

“The critical thing, the important message is we want to see the world through our own eyes and our own perception,” explains Beaubien. “We do that and we separate cultures, we separate language and separate religions, but when you understand what it means for an animal like this and understanding their physical anatomy, how they see, how they hear, how they perceive things, we realize we impose so much of our own views on them.” Laying upon Thunder’s back was a small offering from the garden, something Beaubien describes as the start of the interaction with artists on this unique journey. “This contribution is put together by Picton artist Hedy Campbell,” he explains. “Her passion is writing, drawing and the garden, and when she heard about this, she wanted to contribute what she refers to as a ‘wellness bouquet’: dogwood to wild grapes to lavender, that is the symbolism here we are going for.”

Beaubien talks about reinventing ways of celebrating moments in different ways during the uncertain times of COVID-19 as traditional forms of gathering opportunities cannot happen at this time. “This is an experience: it opens doors to see what happens when we go inside that castle and see what we can find and discover. This is what is symbolic, the trail has always been important.” Upcoming Walking with Thunder opportunities will be posted on Instagram @derailart. More information can also be found at derailart.com.