Ball’s Falls Conservation Area hosted a special War of 1812 commemorative event called Traitors, Treason and Tunes.

Local dignitaries including MP and MPP for Welland Malcolm Allen and Cindy Forster were on hand along with guest speaker and artist Rev. Canon Robert Brownlie who talked about the Ancaster Assize with a focus on the “traitors” and the “treason” of the war.

To blend out a perfectly historical afternoon, band Muddy York (“the tunes”) serenaded the crowd with music that included authentic period instruments and songs that reflected what the people of the time listened to in their everyday lives.

Another bonus for guests was the opportunity to visit the stunning pathways to Peace Art Exhibit.

The display involves 60 poster-size prints depicting Upper Canada during the war. Featuring everything from soldiers to landscapes to everyday citizens the artwork is comprised of watercolors and oil paintings from the period to the present and is intended to engage the public in the story of the war of 1812 in a way that a history book never could.

Program Assistant for Ball’s Falls Andrea Wilson says the Pathways to Peace is something that she feels should have importance to us.

“I think as Canadians today it is really one of those places we can mark back in time. It was a war that was the British, the Americans and the First Nations and then there were the people that were living here, some thought they were more American or some more British but they all had a connection to this place.”

A connection that we have as well she says because we are constantly reminded by the events of the day with landmarks like the Laura Secord Home and Queenston Heights right in our own backyard.

“We walk those places every day that we live here so I think it is in us whether we’ve just moved here or whether we’ve lived here all our lives.”