- [Jolene] Tonight on WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories, we bring you to Parliament Hill in Ottawa for the latest with the Hill Times, and we're not fiddling around with this one.

Visit the Fiddlers Hall of Fame in Oswego County, and learn more about the music.

Also, he was a contestant on season 13 of The Voice.

Meet Oswego County native Gary Carpentier.

Your stories, your region coming up right now on WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories is brought to you by the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation, the Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, Carthage Savings, CSX, the Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation, the Richard S. Sheinman Foundation, and The Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

- Good Tuesday evening, everyone, and welcome to this edition of WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories.

I'm Joleene DesRosiers.

We kick off tonight with an update from the Hill Times on Parliament Hill including the summertime barbecue circuit for members of parliament and the Conservative Party leadership race.

Here are our journalists, Peter Mazereeuw and Chelsea Nash with the latest.

(musical sting) - Hello everyone, I'm Peter Mazereeuw.

- And I'm Chelsea Nash.

Today, we're gonna be talking to you a little bit about what's happening with Canada's public service in government and with our federal politicians.

Public servants are stuck here in Ottawa like we are for the summer, while our politicians head back to their ridings.

But Peter, why don't we start with a little bit about what government is doing this summer?

- Yeah, great idea.

Well, it's gonna be busy.

The federal government is going to be implementing legislation, finalizing regulations, and conducting public consultations this summer on everything from diamond mining to immigration targets.

It's also gonna be working to implement parts of the government's annual budget.

Now, that was released back in April, but it was only this June that parliament approved parts of it that make legal changes, for example, a new tax on luxury cars and boats, a tax credit for traveling tradespeople, and a change to allow the government to send out its carbon tax rebate to Canadians four times a year instead of just once.

Now, the Natural Resources Department, I think, is going to be especially busy this summer drawing up the government's Just Transition Act legislation.

You might remember back in 2019, the liberals promised this package of retraining and financial supports for fossil fuel workers who might lose their jobs as a result of government programs to cut Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, but it's been three years, and we still haven't seen it.

In April, Canada's environment commissioner warned that it seemed the government was unprepared to deliver on that promise.

But we know that the department has been conducting public consultations on this, and if they want to get it ready for parliament's return in the fall, they're gonna have some work to do.

- Absolutely, and Natural Resources is not the only department that's staying busy this summer.

The Department of Defense, as well as Procurement Canada are both in multiple contract negotiations to re-arm certain aspects of Canada's military.

That includes contract talks happening right now with Lockheed Martin to acquire some of their F-35 jets.

The F-35s have been chosen over the Swedish-made Saab Gripens because they are stealthy.

They're stealthy aircraft, and they also are great for interoperability with our American neighbors.

That's important for bilateral military operations as well as the future of organizations like NORAD, so looking to see where those contract talks go.

The government is also in talks with Schat Davit to build some new icebreakers for Canada's Coast Guard.

The icebreakers and the fighter jets are both in states of a little bit of disrepair, actually, and Canada is overdue in getting some new equipment there, so those talks will be expected to wrap up hopefully this summer.

- Yeah, and now MPs, of course, they're not gonna be put in their feet up until the fall.

The summertime is a really important chance for them to reconnect with their constituents, the people who are gonna be voting in their riding in the next election.

And that's important because MPs typically, well, they spend a lot of their time, of course, in Ottawa, especially in the spring, the fall, and the winter.

And they may have rivals looking to steal that seat for another party who don't have those obligations.

So typically, MPs try and check back in during what we call the summer barbecue circuit.

This is pretty much what it sounds like, a series of events held throughout the summer, usually involving a grill, or flipping some pancakes.

These might be put on by the MP's riding association, by a local party supporter.

They might sort of piggyback onto an event held by church or a mosque, or set up a booth at a country fair.

This is really important to build that name recognition that gives MPs that incumbent's edge, and they do that by shaking hands and kissing babies.

But of course, they haven't been able to do very much of that the past couple summers, and that's why I think this time is gonna be really important for newer MPs who've had that hampered by the public health restrictions brought in because of the pandemic.

Those have mostly been loosened.

- Yeah, and that's very welcome news for the folks who are running for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.

That race is scheduled to finalize on September 10th, so we're very much anticipating those results.

Basically, it's a decision that the party is making about which direction it's going.

Was it gonna go in a more progressive, conservative, moderate with a candidate like Jean Charest, or will the party's base persevere and elect a populist in Pierre Poilievre?

So lots to see there.

Basically, the party memberships have already wrapped up.

They've already wrapped up signing up new members, and the party has now a total of 600,000 new members, so that's a lot of people that the candidates now are trying to convince to put their name on top of the ranked ballots.

The ballots are starting to be sent out to party membership at the end of this month or early next month, but there could be a bit of a complicating factor, because the candidates might not actually get the ballots until later this month, which means they won't have a lot of time to actually review those lists, know who they're trying to reach out to, and convince them that, okay, now that we've done the work of convincing you that I'm the best candidate, now it's time to get out the vote.

So lots to watch there, and we're gonna be eagerly awaiting that result on September 10th.

- Yeah, it'll certainly keep us busy, Chelsea.

That's been your update from the Hill Times in Ottawa.

I'm Peter Mazereeuw.

- And I'm Chelsea Nash.

Have a great evening.

- The National Fiddler Hall of Fame is tucked quietly on a back road in Oswego County, but its inductees are far from the quiet type.

Join us as we take you inside this little-known gem that deserves big, big props.

WPBS producer, Ryan Proven isn't fiddling around with this story.

(musical sting) (horn honks) (lively fiddle music) - This is the original farmhouse, and then we built an addition on the front of it in the '90s.

Most of the ones that have been inducted have won awards, and contests, and they've been very popular in fiddling.

My name is Leona Chereshnoski.

I'm on the board of directors with the New York State Old Time Fiddler's Association, and we're the operating group of the North American Fiddlers Hall of Fame and Museum.

(lively fiddle music) - [Ryan] The New York Old Time Fiddler's Association was founded in 1974 by Austin Perry, Ray Cronk, and Alice Clemens.

In 1981, a building to house the North American Fiddlers Hall of Fame and Museum Institute was purchased.

In addition to the many pictures and illustrations of the North American and New York State Fiddler's Hall of Fame inductees, the museum also has many exhibits and historical artifacts pertaining to the history of the Fiddler's Association.

- This is a displays case that was donated by the widow of one of our fiddlers.

His name was Jack Daniels, and he was from Clayton.

He was very active with the Black River Valley Fiddlers, and after he passed, she donated this cabinet with his things in it.

(lively fiddle music) At one time in the '70s and early '80s, we would have 1,000 people at our events.

Some of these old musical instruments are very interesting to them, and it's nice because they walk around, and they say, "Oh, I remember him," and that kind of thing I think they find amazing.

Fiddle is all made of burned match sticks.

We have a wall for each one of our chapters, usually.

This is Black River Group from up in Watertown.

They have an active bunch of fiddlers up there and musicians.

They play a lot of Sunday afternoons for different organizations, and help them raise money, and their fans all follow and dance, and most of them are older people, you know?

So it's a great opportunity for them to get out and socialize, and enjoy the music, and you know, it's older folks that like this kind of music, so.

(lively fiddle music) - [Ryan] Starting June 12th, and continuing until the end of September, the New York Old Time Fiddler's Association will be hosting a free concert every Sunday that features talented local fiddlers at the pavilion located next to the Fiddler's Hall of Fame, a wonderful place to get up and dance.

- Getting harder and harder to find a place to go to square dance.

It's difficult, but most of our entertainers that come here know how to call a square dance, know how to play a square dance, and a lot of the people that come enjoy that, but there's waltzing.

A lot of the crowd liked line dancing, you know?

If the music is right, they like to line dance, so it's, you know, it's a variety.

- [Ryan] In addition to the weekly concert series, the organization holds an annual Fiddler's Picnic the last weekend in July.

Taking place on July 29th, 30th and 31st, you can dance and enjoy s'mores next to a campfire, and wrap up the weekend with a concert performance featuring inductees from the Fiddler's Hall of Fame.

- My name is Chad Miller, and I was inducted into the New York State Fiddler's Hall of Fame in 2016.

Well, my grandparents when I was a young boy would bring me up here.

They were interested in fiddling, and we'd camp here, and listen to the music, and it was infectious, and I loved it.

- I took lessons in my late '40s, but I don't read music now.

I play by ear.

I listen to the fiddler, because fiddlers, everyone plays a song a little bit differently, and it that's how the song becomes his or hers.

They get that little lick in there.

- This one's called the Saint Lawrence Jig, and this one is in the key of D. (lively fiddle and piano music) - [Ryan] For WPBS weekly, I'm Ryan Proven.

- So what's new at the zoo?

It's a favorite spot for families and children alike.

Here's what you can expect this summer as we move further into July.

(musical sting) (indistinct chatter) - [Eric] In 1920, the Northern New York Trust Company donated two white-tailed deer to Thompson Park in the city of Watertown, and with that, the zoo at Thompson Park was born.

After 100 years, expansion of the acreage, exhibits, and several name changes later, it is now known as Zoo New York.

Tim Greening, zoo Director of Marketing and Development says there is a lot in store for this year.

- Well, we've added loads and loads of events.

We've hired more education staff, so we're able to do a lot more in terms of education events here.

People have noticed we did the first ever Lunar New Year this year, possibly in Watertown.

We've done the world migratory birds days, pollinator days, world otter day, loads and loads of stuff, so there's so much more to do really every weekend here at the zoo now.

We focus on native New York species here at Zoo New York, and we do have some changes happening this year.

We'll be having two new wolves coming to join us.

Luna's actual brothers, her original littermates are coming back here.

So something a lot of folks don't know is since Luna's father Kenai passed away, there hasn't actually been any howling at the wolf habitat since, so now with her brothers coming back, we're all really excited.

- [Eric] In addition to the new staff, events, and wolves, Greening says the zoo has plans to make upcoming yearly events even more exciting, as well as future plans for expanding the zoo and the exhibits.

- This year, we're really excited to announce that we're doing Brew at the Zoo a little differently.

One of our sponsors for our Conservation Center, which is Froggy 97, decided to make us part of the summer music concert series.

So Brew at the Zoo and Froggy 97 have teamed up, so we have a recording artists coming in from Nashville.

It's gonna be a whole concert with the actual beer festival.

It's gonna be absolutely amazing.

We wanna do it just bigger and better.

And then of course, after that, we'll have Boo at the Zoo, the big trick or treating event, which is two weekends long in October.

And then we have Winter Wonderlights will be starting up in winter, so it's the same as every year, and that's gonna be a little different as well.

We're effectively gonna be finishing off Winter Wonderlights while Snowtown USA is starting at Thompson Park on the same weekend, so it's gonna be really cool.

It's part of that just building the city and the zoo kind of together to make it all one big happy family.

Coming up in the future, and part of the great master plan that our executive director Larry Sorel has come up with is use the entirety of the acreage here, 'cause I mean, we're using about half.

So we have a lot of room to grow and include bison, moose, caribou, and harbor seals, which would be really a game changer for here.

And we have all this in the plans and in the works, and the city has started coming on board with the zoo to work on helping us to to fund this entire endeavor, 'cause the zoo hasn't actually updated in a really, really long time.

So this is a great time to look at the future and see like, what does Watertown have to offer the rest of the area of New York state, maybe even out of state, and out of country?

And the larger this zoo gets, the more we move into building adventure parks, and farm to market concession stands that we're gonna be doing that isn't actually in the zoo.

It's in the zoo and out in Thompson Park, so you don't even have to come into the zoo to eat.

It's a lot of this stuff that we probably should have done a long time ago if we had the funding, but now with the foresight that we have with our current executive director, we can actually look at the future, and how do we make this work for the next 100 years?

- [Eric] Currently, the zoo is open seven days a week from 10:00 AM till 5:00 PM each day.

For more information about the zoo and upcoming events, visit them online at zoonewyork.org.

For WPBS weekly, I'm Eric Cleary.

- He was a contestant on season 13 of The Voice, and was given the green light by Adam Levine of Maroon Five.

He didn't make it to the next round, but this Oswego County native is still pushing to make his name known.

Gary Carpentier visited the WPBS studios recently to share his musical talents with us.

Here he is tonight with Nine to Five.

(drum beat) - What inspired me to become a musician was something that I had really kind of been taking for granted for most of my life.

I went to college to play sports, and just kind of did music as a hobby, and then after college ended, I was trying to find what I wanted to do in life, what my purpose was.

I went to an open mic, and kind of every head in the place kind of turned, and I was like, "Oh, this is kind of exciting," and you know, just kind of went with it from there, started writing my own stuff, traveling, playing shows, and almost 10 years later, and now I'm here, and traveling the country getting to write and play music.

One of the biggest reasons that I auditioned for The Voice was that my talent was really developing quickly, and I really wanted to see where I could take it.

And when it was about 4:00 in the morning, I sent in a video submission just on the whim of let's see what happens, and less than 12 hours later, I got a call from a producer out in LA saying, "Hey, we're gonna count this as your audition."

You're gonna go to New York City for a callback.

And at that point, I was like, "Wow, okay, this is something different."

You know, fast forward to the end of 2017, or beginning of 2017, and I was one of the 90 people left out of 180,000 in the country to get to audition in front of these people.

And coming from a small town, Oswego, you know, it's not very big, and sometimes people's dreams or visions can get stuck in the little box, you don't see the bigger picture.

Being considered one of the best singers in the country, undiscovered singers in the country was, I still sometimes forget that it's not normal.

I just carry on.

I'm just a normal guy, but it's cool to have something like that where I know now that I'm so unique, and it's different than what anybody else can really say or do.

So it was a great experience.

It gave me the confidence I really needed, and I'm just, I'm so thankful for it.

So the song I'm gonna perform is Nine to Five.

I wrote it a couple years ago after coming back from a concert that I was seeing, and watching people watch their favorite musicians, and just scream the lyrics of their songs, and really let go of like, the mundane stuff that happened during the day, or the months before, and just have that release and being able to experience, you know, a night away from everything.

So that's really what inspired me to do it.

It was just, people can get so caught up in the normal Monday through Friday type of thing, and just have those two days to relax.

But it's a song just to remind yourself that you can make the best of this life however you want, and at any point in time, you can wake up and decide to chase after your dreams.

So it was kind of just one of just watching people let their guard down in front of the public, and just go for it, and that's where it came from, pretty basic.

Hi, my name is Gary Carpentier, and this song is called Nine to five.

♪ Lights go out, and your favorite band stands tall ♪ ♪ Take the stage in this old bingo hall ♪ ♪ Play all their songs, and everyone screams along ♪ ♪ With every line hits a little closer home ♪ ♪ We dance and shine like we're all under stars ♪ ♪ Ain't no nine to five stress keeping us behind bars ♪ ♪ Ain't no nine to five stress keeping us behind bars ♪ ♪ Shed the skin of what you know is true ♪ ♪ Oh, singing like these songs were written just for you ♪ ♪ Realizing life's too short, too short to lose ♪ ♪ We'll mix it up and drink, but baby, here's to you ♪ ♪ We dance and shine like we're all under stars ♪ ♪ Ain't no nine to five stress keeping us behind bars ♪ ♪ Ain't no nine to five stress keeping us behind bars ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Shed the skin of what you know is true ♪ ♪ Oh, singing like these songs were written just for you ♪ ♪ Realizing life's too short, too short to lose ♪ ♪ We'll mix it up and drink, but baby, here's to you ♪ ♪ We dance and shine like we're all under stars ♪ ♪ Ain't no nine to five stress keeping us behind bars ♪ ♪ Ain't no nine to five stress keeping us behind bars ♪ ♪ Lights go out, and your favorite band stands tall ♪ ♪ Take the stage in this old bingo hall ♪ - And that does it for us this Tuesday evening.

Join us next week for a fresh look Inside the Stories.

An Oswego County band teacher is retiring after three decades of teaching, and it's a big deal for the little community of Pulaska.

We'll share his prominent and award-winning career with you, and forested wetlands up and down the Atlantic coast are transforming into dead or dying trees.

They're called ghost forests, and it's causing alarm among ecologists.

Also local poet, Jim Farfaglia visits the WPBS studios.

Join us for a small town inspired poem.

Meantime, we want to tell your story.

If you or someone in your community has something meaningful, historic, inspirational, or even heroic to share, please email us right here at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org, and let's share it with the region.

That's it for now, my friends.

Goodnight, and we'll see you next week.

- [Announcer] WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories is brought to you by the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation, dedicated to improving the wellbeing of communities by helping disadvantaged children and families, online at dmjf.org, the Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, a free resource offering confidential business advice for those interested in starting or expanding their small business, serving Jefferson, Lewis, and Oswego Counties since 1986, online at watertown.nysbdc.org.

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Additional funding provided by CSX, the Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation, The Richard A. Shineman Foundation, and The Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

♪ We dance and shine like we're all under stars ♪ ♪ Ain't no nine to five stress keeping us behind bars ♪ ♪ Ain't no nine to five stress keeping us behind bars ♪ (musical sting)