One of the highlights of summer in Southampton (ON) is the three-day Marine Heritage Festival celebrating the community’s marine heritage as the oldest port on the Bruce County coast.
The Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre hosted the Marine Heritage Festival 2023 launch on Friday, July 21st with a wide variety of activities for all ages.
A Jazz musical wind-up from the annual Summer Music Camp was held in the Bruce Power Theatre where musicians and vocalists entertained a standing-room only audience.
Following the theatre entertainment, visitors enjoyed a BBQ hosted by the Rotary Club of Saugeen Shores. 
The official opening ceremony for the weekend launch featured Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON) elder, Shirley John, whose Indigenous name is ‘Strong White Buffalo Woman’. John opened with a moving ceremony that especially honoured water as a life source. “Water is life and without it we would not be here.” She also paid tribute to the earth as a source of food, plant and animal life and reminded everyone of the Indigenous ‘seven grandfather teachings’ … love, respect, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility and truth.
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Summer Music Camp performers, Angela Burns-Crowley, Erin Milley-Patey, Ann Little and Christine Edwards entertained the crowd.
