P.E.I. newsmakers of 2020 include a giant beet and a crop circle penis
'I think we need them this year more than ever,' says Dave Atkinson of his quirky and mundane list
Dave Atkinson wasn't going to put out his annual list of P.E.I. newsmakers this year.
Every year, the former CBC journalist and his colleagues Neal Gillis and Ty Stapleton compile their favourite local headlines, focusing on the mundane, the quirky, and the so-boring-it's-good.
"I don't know about you … but I kind of found this year a bit of a bummer," Atkinson told As It Happens host Carol Off. "In the middle of summer, I just kind of I wasn't feeling it."
But then, he said, people demanded it.
"Come September, I had more than one person say, 'Boy, I can't wait for the newsmakers this year.' And I thought that was so funny. And the someone said, 'I think we need them this year more than ever,'" he said.
"And I realized, "Oh, my goodness, we do need them this year more than ever."
So the P.E.I. pals rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Here's their selection of the top P.E.I. newsmakers for 2020.
1. Man grows huge beet
This one comes from our colleagues at CBC P.E.I., and also aired on As It Happens.
Last month, Sumner Matheson of Bonshaw, P.E.I., grew a big beet. Not a record-setting beet, but a very big beet nonetheless. The biggest beet he's ever seen in his 30 years of farming.
"And you know what? It's a huge beet. Let's celebrate," Atkinson said.
While we don't have any confirmed stats on the beet in question, Matheson told CBC he estimates it weighs about four pounds and could feed 10 people.
"So that is a large beet, and it is in the news," Akinson said.
2. Lost and found headstone
Earlier this year, the chair of the board that runs the Cavendish Community Cemetery in P.E.I. noticed a gravestone was missing. When it remained missing for a month, he called the police and spoke to reporters.
But it turns out, it wasn't missing at all.
The stone was simply removed for cleaning and repair. The man who takes care of the headstones even gave the board a head's up about it.
"We talked about it last fall and forgot about it," chair Elwin Wyand told CBC P.E.I. in May.
3. Bottled beef botulism
If you're an east coast carnivore, you've probably had bottled meat. But the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned the public last month not to buy it from a specific P.E.I. man via classified ads, due to a risk of botulism. The story was published in most of Canada's major dailies.
I can’t make head or tail of these constant updates to the Food Guide. <a href="https://t.co/nn1wY4OP5R">https://t.co/nn1wY4OP5R</a>
—@mjblair
4. Dog on roof
"I love a story where you can get the entire thing in three words, and the entire story is about a dog who was on the roof," Atkinson said.
This story from the Guardian newspaper opens with a Summerside, P.E.I., man getting phone call from a police officer asking if he owned a husky.
When the man replied with some trepidation that yes, he did own a husky, and yes, he did live on Myrtle Avenue, the officer said: "Well, your dog's on the roof."
"And the entire story is about how the dog managed to squeeze his way through an upper window and sat on the roof and had a great time. There's wonderful photos," Atkinson said. "Yeah, dog on the roof."
5. Pesky beaver 'no longer a problem'
For three gruelling months over the fall, a single beaver wreaked havoc at the Heather Moyse Heritage Park in Summerside. According to the Journal Pioneer, it downed several valuable trees and built a dam that flooded the pond.
The city hired a professional to catch the critter, but the wily beaver evaded every trap.
So how did they solve the problem? They didn't. The beaver simply moved on.
"Our trapper advised after a two-week period that all signs point to the beaver vacating the park and [moving] elsewhere," J.P. Desrosiers, director of community services for Summerside, told the newspaper.
6. Stratford man mows penis in field
"Yeah, he sure did," Atkinson said.
Jamie Rix told CBC P.E.I. last month that his phallic project started as a crop circle.
"Then I made a longer cut so I could drive down toward the end of the thing and then it started to take shape and someone said, 'Why don't you make it into a giant Johnson?' and I said, 'Why not. Challenge accepted,' and away I went," he said.
But Rix didn't mean to generate so much buzz with his big wiener.
"It's one of those things where you can't really see it from the road because, I mean, it's just mowed in the grass. But wouldn't you know that Google Earth can see it pretty well," Atkinson said.
Atkinson added that there's almost always a Stratford man on the newsmakers list.
"He's sort of the 'Florida man' of Prince Edward Island," he said.
7. Grass trimmings on sidewalk
Another entry where the CBC headline speaks for itself: "Grass clippings on sidewalks a nuisance to some residents, says councillor."
That councillor, Justin Doiron, said when grass clippings end up on the sidewalk, they can pose a safety hazard for pedestrians, especially if the clippings get wet and slippery.
8. Matthew MacKay dyes his hair
In March, P.E.I Minister of Tourism Matthew MacKay made a shocking confession on Facebook as part of his daily coronavirus update: He dyes his hair.
"I figured I might as well tell everyone now because in two weeks you will find out anyway now that hair salons are closed," he wrote, before moving onto news about financial assistance for people out of work during lockdown.
"That one made national headlines," Atkinson said. The minister did indeed talk to the HuffPost Canada about the incident, which he said was meant to provide "humour and some relief to people — to get a laugh, at the expense of me, I guess."
"There was some debate over whether this was going to make the list because, I mean, people dye their hair. It's a thing," Atkinson said.
"But we kind of thought that it captured sort of a zeitgeist that, you know, some of the pretences of the Before Times were sort of cast aside in 2020 and we all sort of had to show our true selves. And so Matthew MacKay dying his hair made the list."
Written by Sheena Goodyear with (many) files from CBC P.E.I. Interview with Dave Atkinson produced by Chris Harbord.
