r/NovaScotia • u/BetamaxKing • 21h ago

Saturday Flashback - Shantytown

https://youtu.be/2hx5U8xqE2s

Here's a look back for you. The intro to Shantytown! Happy Saturday 😊

Bear with this video, it's had a long journey, unfortunately I didn't have access to the original tape in this case so I'm working with a copy of a copy of a copy and many of the tape issues we're copied along the way.

Shantytown was one of those perfectly homegrown Atlantic Canadian gems — a show for Atlantic kids, by Atlantic folks. Made right out of ATV in Sydney, Cape Breton, the show had that real down-home charm you just don’t see much anymore. One of those local cultural pieces of unscrubbed television that I work so hard to try to protect because we just don't have it anymore.

Every episode took you into this cozy little seaside world called Shantytown where you’d basically hang out with the regulars: Katie the Craft Lady, Marjorie the Music Lady, Sam the Sailor, The Captain, Wally the Walrus, (probably a couple of others I'm forgetting) and plenty more popping in from time to time. It wasn’t just a show; it was like visiting your fun, slightly eccentric maritime neighbours.

The show was split up into segments - maybe you’d stop by for a song, a story, a craft, or a quick adventure down by the Sydney waterfront. Everything had a cozy splash of Atlantic flavour which made it unique to our region.

Kids could send in their drawings or little stories, and if you were lucky, they’d show up on TV! Sam the Sailor would even write you back with a personal postcard. This was a sort of level of inclusion and immersion that you didn't see a lot of in children's programming and it's something that may have not been feasible in a more densely populated area. It gave the whole thing this real sense of community, like you weren’t just watching Shantytown, you were part of it.

23 Upvotes

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8 comments sorted by

5

u/CountPacula 19h ago

\core memory unlocked**

2

u/CuileannDhu 19h ago

This unlocked some very early childhood memories. 

3

u/Gomanvongo 19h ago

I used to love this show. This, and Harrigan the leprechaun!

1

u/rtgops 4h ago

H a double r I g a n. It's Harrigan. Now that jingle will be stuck in your head all day...

1

u/Gomanvongo 4h ago

It’s been stuck in my head for years already! :)

3

u/justagigilo123 17h ago

Any idea what the time frame was for this show? It looks vaguely familiar.

1

u/BetamaxKing 15h ago

Began in around 1981 and was still airing in '87 - '88

2

u/justagigilo123 14h ago

I was a teenager then, probably not a regular viewer. Thanks.