- [Announcer] Tonight on WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories Ontario's Kingston Coal Dock is ready for the 2022 Great Lakes Cruise Season with safe waterfront approaches and new Dockside tourism activities.

And meet the four founding members of the North Country Quilting Guild.

They share their work as they prepare for the 18th Biennial Quilt Show in Clayton.

Also take the cultural lyrics and spiritual voice of Akwasasne base vocalists Bear Fox.

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

(upbeat music) 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. Shineman 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 Stephfond Brunson.

Tonight, we kick off our show with good news for cruisers.

Ontario's Kingston Coal Dock is ready for the 2022 Great Lakes Cruise Season.

With safe waterfront approaches and new Dockside tourism activities.

Producer, Gale Paquette has the details.

- [Gail] Tourism Kingston and Doornekamp Construction are in the midst of transforming a former Coal Dock as a port for Great Lakes cruise ships.

And with the help of the Great Lakes Cruise Association they will soon be able to accept passengers to Kingston shores.

Adding to port stops on the Great Lakes for international cruise ship companies.

- It's one of the last (indistinct) regions in the world and cruise operators are astonished when we start to tell them just how much we have in the Great Lakes.

Not only the culture, the difference between the lakes the US Canadian context, the provinces, the states, first nations extremely important.

So we have a sort of a cornucopia of activities we can throw at the cruise industry and they just love it when they hear about it.

- [Gail] Kingston's location on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Montreal in the Thousand Islands makes the city an ideal stop for a Great Lakes cruise.

- First of all, geographically speaking, it is along the St. Lawrence River.

It's where the Thousand Islands spills out into the beautiful Lake Ontario.

So every cruise ship that cruises into the upper Great Lakes through Niagara the Welland Canal has to come past Kingston's door.

And then at the end of the season every cruise ship that leaves the Great Lakes pass the cruise past Kingston's door again.

- [Gail] While Kingston does receive some cruise ship traffic the region up until recently did not have a deep water dock.

Meaning cruise ships had to anchor in the harbour and passengers had to be transported to shore.

With a temporary location known as the Cold Dock in the district of Portsmouth.

The city will finally be able to accept passengers directly to the shore.

Purchased by Doornekamp construction from the federal government, Tourism Kingston has teamed up with the company to market a viable option for Great Lakes Cruises.

- When we had the opportunity to buy this, this property it was just more ready.

There was a connection with Tourism Kingston, and then came here and that sort of connection just softly came here.

And then when everybody came to see it and sort of said, "oh crapes this is ready to go."

You know, we can, we can move faster on it.

So the connection was made probably two or three years ago when it came to cruise ships.

- [Gail] Certified by federal agencies to use it as a shipping dock, Doornekamp will be using it as such some of the time but it just made sense to make this asset available to also benefit the community.

- We want to use it to delink in with some of our our port shipping stuff, whether it's bringing steel in here or sand, or but bulk cargo like that, that that was our original plan.

We do see that it can be linked with cruise ships quite comfortably.

You know, when cruise ships are here, they're here for very short periods of time.

They don't take up a lot of space on the dock per se.

So, and, and we've seen a lots of other places where there's cruise ships and big ports married together.

So we, we thought it'd be pretty cool that both could win.

- [Gail] With the dock now available.

And the Great Lakes Cruise Association involved, Tourism Kingston is well positioned to profit from the cruise ship industry.

- Being able to enhance our cruising portfolio is incredibly important for Kingston.

Obviously we want a connection with the water whether it's domestic or international travelers.

Certainly we want the ability to have folks to be able to experience what they can see and do in Kingston and then to come back.

Kingston's a unique community that offers a lot of historical background.

The architecture is beautiful when you jump off whatever kind of peer you're coming off of.

And your first impression of the city is pretty I think profound in terms of just the look and the vibe and the feel.

- [Gail] Evolving into the market and learning as they go, Tourism Kingston has been looking to other port destinations' success stories to be on par.

- I guess we wanna make sure we work with operators in a really significant way because operators and planners of cruise ships are looking for specific things.

They're looking for specific numbers of people that they can sit and do dining experiences.

They're looking for the ability to do itineraries whether it's one hour, three hours, five hours or an overnight, making sure that we hit all of the components that they're looking to plan.

And if we don't have a component creating that component for the operator.

- [Gail] While the plans are in order, Kingston does not expect any ships to be docking before next year.

However, now with a safe and welcoming dock capable of hosting these larger ships Kingston will be prepared to attract new cruises and visitors and become a desirable addition to cruise ship itineraries proving to Great Lakes cruise companies that Kingston is a viable stop on their route.

- And at the end of the day, what this is all about is economic development.

It, it looks like cruising and it sounds like cruising and it is cruising.

But in essence, my job is economic development to try and bring an economic footprint to the communities where these cruise ships call.

So there is quite a bit at stake and I think Kingston can profit well in a long term basis from the presence of cruise ships - [Gail] For WPBS weekly, I'm Gail Paquette.

- Nearly four decades ago four ambitious creative women opened a space for quilting artisans to gather.

There, they share techniques, classes and forged friendships.

Today they are still teaching and still learning.

These women are iconic and WPBS is proud to share their legacy with you.

- And the ones on the end you would say is like this was the beginning of your quilting career.

- These are current.

- This is current, yes.

- [Joleene] Harriet McMillan is one of four founding members of the North Country Quilting Guild.

Started in 1984, these four women took an age old art and turned it into an educational experience for others.

- Hundreds of years ago, it was a, it was a reasonable way for women to experience art and still have something useful.

And I think that's come a long way from that.

Now we're just, I know that I like them to be useful but I also like them to be interesting.

Well, our pur, our main purpose of the Guild was to educate about quilting and to teach people how to quilt.

So we've had many, many classes and workshops over the years.

And of course (indistinct).

- What is so interesting about quilts to me is the variety you get.

You can do, you can quilt anything.

It doesn't have to be for a bed.

It can be for up, we can quilt place mats.

We can quilt table runners.

We can.

The nice thing is that you can give them away as gifts.

- First quilt class I ever took was at Watertown High when they called it adult Ed (indistinct) was the teacher and that was pre-rotary cutter.

So we did the scissors and the cereal boxes and cut around them and hand sewed them, tied them.

- I think I was born with a needle in my hand.

I have always, always sewn.

And when my first child was due, I made her a quilt out of scraps.

Was the ugliest thing I've ever made.

And I gave it away by the away.

- [Joleene] At first blushing without fully understanding the art, one might think quilting is a dying art form slowly being swallowed by fast paced manufacturing but ask anyone on the inside and they'll tell you it's still very much alive and well.

As a matter of fact it's evolving daily and the learning never ends.

- I personally think it is a very constantly evolving craft.

When you see some of the shows like on PBS Fons and Porter used to be, it has evolved until now a couple of very young to us, very young people.

And they're showing techniques using modern tools and not using templates, like we learned to use cardboard templates in the beginning but I think they're doing things that hopefully will appeal to a younger audience.

- The biggest thing that's changed in, in quilting probably are the tools that we use the rule, we have special rulers and also the fabric.

- I've seen the evolution of the tools and that that's been very interesting.

I brought a quilt today that that I made the traditional ways probably the first thing that I really made and kept.

And I would, I cut everything out by shears.

And now I use a rotary cutter and life is faster.

- [Woman] The templates that you used to make, even doing a square you would take piece of the cereal box or some other piece of light cardboard, place it on your fabric.

And you literally drew around it.

- Show me how this works.

- Well, let's say, I want to cut.

Say, I wanna cut the square.

I'm gonna put it down.

I'm gonna keep my thumb away from where I'm cutting and you just cut it and cut it.

And when I'm at home, I use another one.

(ruler thudding) Cut it, And then I will put this back on and I'll cut the bottom line.

- And again, to reiterate this is what used to be the cereal box.

- This is the old cereal - That fascinates me, so.

Three layers make up the cozy covers place mats and pot holders that cover this table.

And while choosing colors and patterns is a massive piece of this puzzle.

It doesn't become quilting until a pattern is stitched pulling the top, the batting and the back of the arc piece together.

- Quilting is a general term.

There are, when you quilt is actually the end process when you're attaching the three layers of the fabric, the batting and the backing together you have to put stitches to attach them.

And we used to do it all by hand, or we would, we would use we would tie them together every so many inches, but now in in the interest of time, people wanna get them finished.

And so they use a machine to put the three layers together and they make their design with the machine.

- So you go down straight down and come up.

That stitch is gonna be a little bit big but for this purpose, we get it - In like the food industry.

There's different regional foods.

There are regional quilt techniques too.

And a lot of that goes with their ancestors.

What used to, their family members used to do that's what they will pick up on.

- [Joleene] The finished products are donated, given as gifts or saved for the Guild single greatest event.

The Biennial Quilt Show in Clayton, New York.

Hundreds of quilts will be on display.

Raffles, a silent auction to benefit the governor or breast cancer fund.

And demonstrations will be part of the event at the Cerow Recreational Park Arena in early June.

For anyone looking to learn about this ever evolving craft Clayton is the place to experience it.

And the show just may be the beginning of a new hobby for some.

- So there's more inspiration now and more information available on YouTube, Pinterest, all those other resources that we didn't have 40 years ago.

- [Joleene] If you're curious about quilting seasoned with your craft or are just looking for the perfect gift for this summer's wedding visit the North Country Quilting Guild 18th Biennial Quilt Show, slated for June 3rd, fourth, and fifth.

The event takes place at the Cerow Recreational Park Arena at 615 East Line Road in Clayton.

Admission is $10 and covers the entire weekend.

Doors open at 10:00 am and close at 5:00 pm on Friday and Saturday.

On Sunday doors close at 4:00 pm.

And for anyone interested in joining the Guild they should visit www.ncqg.org for more information.

In Watertown for WPBS Weekly, I'm Joleene DesRosiers.

- Thanks to the Dorothea Susan Badenhausen Legacy Fund WPBS has been bringing you a series of musicians and artists to marvel at.

Tonight is no different.

As we share the music of Bear Fox a vocalist of the Mohawk Nation, her music has been taken in nationwide and her songs are sure to be forever sung.

Join us as we take you to the Akwasasne reservation for the powerful music of Bear Fox - (speaking in foreign language) my Mohawk name is Kenkiohikoktha.

It means I'm at the back of a crowd of people.

And my English name is Theresa.

My nickname is Bear.

And so Theresa Bear Fox is my name.

Oh, I always lived here in Akwasasne.

Akwasasne means Land Where the Partridge Drums.

It's a Mohawk Nation in upstate New York and it has New York, Quebec and Ontario all in our territory here, Kanien'keha:ka, the Mohawk Nation.

I always loved to sing like ever since I was little, I was always around music.

Like my mother played harmonica and piano.

She loved music.

My brother, couple brothers played guitar and my sister played guitar.

I just always was.

I loved listening to music.

And I always saying, I got I got yelled at for singing too much, cause it was bedtime.

And my father would say on you now it's, you know, bedtime, you go to sleep.

But it's always like, I always had sounds in my mind.

So I always loved to sing.

And I remember I was at the Traveling College on the island the Native North American Traveling College.

They had a fundraiser there and they asked me to sing.

So that's the very first time that I sang in front of people.

Got up on the stage and I stood there and it was scary.

Cause I grew up, I was always very shy.

And when I got up on stage all by myself I had to close my eyes and I started singing Rich Girl.

And so I, I like I have to close my eyes when I sing.

Cause I just go into the song.

I mostly perform at indigenous events.

I go to California World Fest and they have a indigenous stage there set up.

So I get to perform there.

And then at the POW!WOW!

in Hawaii I was also invited to sing there.

Other POW!WOW!s also I was invited to sing at.

It's really like the nations out west.

They have POW!WOW!s where they have gathering with big drum and there's men that sing around, men and women that sing around it and they sing.

And it's a sharing of sounds in our dances.

They're called Pow Wow dances.

So like there's different dances that they do to help uplift the people.

Growing up here in Akwasasne I was very shy and I feel like if anybody can like wants to sing and get out there their music out there, if not to let being shy hold them back because they have a gift of sound that they should share with everyone to help lift their spirits.

And then when anybody came to our house I would hide behind my mother.

I was very shy like that.

So I think, and then when I went to school and I see my classmates, like now how old I am and how old they are, they can't believe that I can sing because in school they say that I was very shy.

I couldn't even like, I was so quiet in school that they can't believe that I'm singing now in front of people.

If I can do it, I think anybody can do it.

So I just wanted to encourage people to try, you know try and get over that shyness.

I have like about seven now CDs and it's been helping with bringing in an income, but I know it also helps the people that's what's so important to me is to put out good messages to people.

I have five kids and every time they turned 18 I wrote them a song.

So the one that has the most for my kids like the sounds that I wrote them are on my Diamond CD and like each one is a different era in my, in my lifetime.

It's mostly like honoring, like who I wrote about or a messages for the people.

I have them for sale at Bear Stand Wolf Pack here in Akwasasne It's mostly here in Akwasasne, but I'd like to get out into the other like craft stores and gift shops but I just haven't had time yet but I saw them in six nations (speaking in foreign language) and I sing in English.

And in Mohawk.

The one that I usually sing is Kaieri Niionkwetake which is the four messengers.

It represents like our ancestors from the four directions that watch over our people.

And I always like starting out with this song because it came to me when I was on my vision quest and I was really worried about my kids when I went, was up on the mountain and this melody came to me and it helped like calm my mind, not to worry so much.

And so when I got down my fast and it came off the mountain and that beautiful melody that helped calm my worry in mind I put words into it.

My friend said no Mohawk.

They helped me translate what I wanted to say into the language.

And so I wrote it, put it into the song.

So what I'm saying is I'm asking the foreign messengers to watch over my family.

So no harm comes to them.

And I think it's a, a good sound for people to help ease their mind about what's going on right now with the COVID and you know, worrying about their families.

You know, like put, I ask them to like put a white light of protection around their families.

(singing in foreign language) - That does it for us this Tuesday evening.

We're skipping next week's show because of our June Membership Drive.

We hope you tune in for a chance to become a member of WPBS and help support public television.

When we return meet Paula, the first Oswego County K-9 on the force in two decades.

we'll tell you what the Sheriff's department is planning with this dog and others and discover Jefferson County and the Canadian French connection that makes this region so rich in history.

Also as part of the Dorothea Susan Badenhausen Legacy Fund we'll take you to SUNY Potsdam where this African drummer is bringing culture to his classes in a powerful way.

Meantime, if you have a story idea you'd like to see us explore, or you are a poet or a musician and would like to be featured, email us at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org until then goodnight, all of you.

And we'll see you in two weeks - [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.

Carthage Savings has been here for generations, donating time and resources to this community.

They're proud to support WPBS TV.

online at carthagesavings.com Carthage Savings, mortgage solutions since 1888.

Additional funding provided by CSX, The Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation.

The Richard.

S. Shineman Foundation And the Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

(signing in foreign language) (soft music)