People come in from other areas and want to come to Bobcaygeon because it has been encapsulated by The Tragically Hip as the Canadian cottage town."Īdded Taylor Poole: "It showed a town that really rallied behind their support of this band and this man who is a great Canadian. "It's always been quite a strong community but when that song is being played, you can feel a sense of pride and hear a sense of pride.
"I think it brought the town together," Seymour-Fagan said. Kawartha Lakes city councillor Kathleen Seymour-Fagan says she was shocked at the amount of people that showed up for the viewing. Over 6,000 people brought out their cameras or cell phones to sing along with Downie as the band started to play "Bobcaygeon." Bobcaygeon shut down its main street and residents set up lawn chairs and sat on rooftops to watch the Kingston, Ont., show on three jumbo screens set up throughout the community's main stretch.
The community, which has a population of just over 3,500, hosted a viewing party in August 2016 for the Hip's final stop of the "Man Machine Poem" tour. "There's not a whole lot of towns in Canada of this size that you can ask anybody in Canada, 'Have you heard of Bobcaygeon?' And everyone will have heard of it. "We feel a great connection to him, always have. "He's mythologised our town in a way that is incomparable," local business owner Sacha Douglas said. Residents of Bobcaygeon remembered Downie for putting them on the map by writing the hit song about their town. They're a big influence musically and how you should treat people and how you should relate to other people and get along." "I've met everybody in the band a bunch of times. "I've been a fan of the band since '89, when I really started getting into them," Kyle said. Kyle planned on playing a few Hip songs in dedication to Downie regardless of whether anyone would show up.
The song "Bobcaygeon" is from the Hip's 1998 album "Phantom Power" and earned a Juno Award for best single in 2000.īailey was one of around 50 people who gathered near the water Wednesday night in the town in eastern Ontario's cottage country to commemorate Downie.Ĭandles were placed on the ground and illuminated local musician Richard Kyle, who strummed along to famous Hip songs "Wheat Kings," "Ahead by a Century," and of course, "Bobcaygeon," on his black acoustic guitar. "I could donate to cancer society, and I have, but I got to do something to memorialize him so I figured drive to Bobcaygeon and watch the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time."ĭownie, the Hip's lead singer, died Tuesday at age 53. "I thought, 'What can I do?"' Bailey said. The Pickering, Ont., native wasn't sure if anyone would be gathered, but he figured he would head straight to the source of one of band's hit singles. When Dave Bailey first heard last year that Gord Downie had terminal brain cancer, he knew he needed to head to Bobcaygeon, Ont., after the Tragically Hip frontman died.
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