Music

Stompin' Tom Connors museum to open in PEI next summer

by Tyler Munro

I grew up knowing a few things to be true: Ketchup loves potatoes, the man on the moon is a Newfie and sometimes, the only way to get to it and at it is to tune your attitude in.

In short: The Gospel of Stompin’ Tom Connors was the first bit of religion I was raised with, and so I’m happy to hear that the Stompin’ Tom Centre and Schoolhouse in PEI is set to open in tribute to the Canadian icon in time for Canada Day 2017.

As tributes go, this is pretty much perfect. The National Music Centre reports that it will be equal parts museum and concert house located in Skinners Pond, and that its name is more than a slick bit of wording: It’s opening at the very Prince Edward Island schoolhouse Connors attended as a tot.

Stompin’ Tom was a pureblooded Canadian in the truest of sense, and its in this schoolhouse that he reportedly fell in love with the Canadian way.

When Stompin’ Tom died, we mourned. And when we learned that his endearing, hardheadedness maintained in his will, asking that he not be honoured posthumously by the Juno Awards, which Connors openly battled against, we cheered. But this just feels right. A tribute in the heart of east coast Canada, this is the kind of initiative Stompin’ Tom would have loved.

Now who’s up for a road trip next summer?