Who remembers the tall queens who used to grace the festival parade and were always a crowd favourite? This week we had a puppeteer reach out to ask us the history and status of the queens, and it was really fun to reminisce about these regal creations.
Jane started off by saying, “I know that they were created by Noreen Young, and that they were damaged beyond saving when she loaned them to a theatre group in Ottawa. We had hoped to host a workshop in 2025 to make new giant puppets for Puppets Up! 2026, but that was before the unexpected death of Noreen.”
Kris added, “I believe Noreen created them for the Winterlude Festival in Ottawa in 2008. Fraser Scantlebury and I puppeteered them as part of the opening act each day of the festival, so they got to open for the likes of Joel Plaskett, April Wine, and K-OS. They shared the stage (as part of the opening act) with Mudmen and a Quebecois band called Swing. The late Dick Veenstra built their undercarriages, as it were, and attended the Winterlude shows so he could fix them up on the spot – one night he had to sneak on stage and under one of their skirts to help out when one of the ladies got stuck bent over at the waist (there was a handle to pull that allowed them to bend over, but they were supposed to come back up on their own). They also had two arms that were maneuvered using sticks that stuck out of their skirts. To animate them, the puppeteer crouched under their skirt, put on a modified backpack rig, then slowly stood up and got them to balance. The puppeteer’s head came up to just under the waist, and we could see out through a mesh panel at the top of the skirt. Fraser and I choreographed the “dance” they did at Winterlude.
For several years after that, they walked in the Puppets Up parade and were big, tall hits! I can’t recall their names, if they had names…”
Fraser confirmed Kris’ recollections and added a few of his own reflections:
“I was the Queen whose bending system broke. They had put a peg in the stage for one of the performers without telling us and my skirt caught on it as I was going across the stage – when it snagged, my tilting mechanism snapped which wrenched my back, and I was stuck in place! And so yes, Dick had to crawl in from behind and under my skirt to fix the mechanism – all while I was still performing! Dick got me back together and as they say, the show must go on!
Kris and I had a wonderful time – and we got paid as temporary ACTRA performers as we were on the stage with professionals and NCC said we had to be, which made it very nice.
It was also really cold as only the main stage was heated with big air blowers from underneath – the wings and front where Kris and I mostly performed were completely open to the weather, though by the end of the performance we were sweating!
A very special moment was when the Queens held “hands” in an arc over two Inuit throat singers at centre stage.
As far as I know, the Queens did not have names.
Somewhere I still have a VHS tape of the show that Rogers did as they broadcast it.
Good memories of a great time with Kris and Noreen!!”
Jenny closed off the discussion with, “I don’t have anything to add to Kris’ and Fraser’ excellent information. All I know about the Queens is that they were damaged and they were put in the garbage.”
Every week we learn something new and add to the magic of the people and puppets associated with our festival. This was a great memory to add to our story and to share with a new friend!
