Dear Readers;

Wow! What a summer we’ve had, since arriving back from our 5^th southern U.S. tour at the beginning of April (battling through high winds and whiteout conditions on the Monida Pass!) We headed straight into a busy April with 2 Easter events, plus an event for the beautiful Arden Theatre in St. Albert, Alberta, and school and T.V. happenings for Earth Day. May saw our third annual meeting with Thomas the Tank Engine for 4 days in Calgary, also opening events for Fort Edmonton together with the T.V. season launch. Plus the Northern Alberta Children’s Festival – a great event – and its still only May!

June saw a special day at the Edmonton Valley Zoo for children with disabilities from all over the area, plus there were three “Goodbye” events for our much loved United Church minister and his wife, who were heading to the coast and retirement. Many one day events, including 2 at the Ukrainian Village for 1500 children daily – then we took a few days break to show some U.K. friends around the Canadian Rockies.

July saw us in the community of Rosemary, Alberta for Canada Day, then on to Portage La Prairie (by Winnipeg) for our 4^th visit to their Industrial Exhibition, with all the fun of the fair. Back in time to fly Mary to Kentucky for the World Ventriloquist convention – at which we have previously performed.

August saw the Vegreville Exhibition, plus the ‘Under the Big Top’ festival in Sherwood Park (where children learn physical theatre, puppetry, magic and other skills), and of course the Fort Edmonton Harvest, which is a blast!

September we appeared at the Interior Provincial Exhibition in Armstrong B.C.; a great event and we met many new performer friends. We look forward to our return in 2010 – preferably without the hailstorm that came straight at the stage, (the +38c we can take)!

That brings us to the present, and the annual bus tour where Mary hosts 54 people from Western Canada around the Atlantic Provinces. Because we were in the U.K., we missed the tour last year, so it will be very special to visit those places – and possibly people – where we lived when first in Canada.

We will update you, our friends, again very soon!  

Peter and Mary 

It is the beginning of 2009 and time for an update of what is happening this end since the last communication. Amazingly, all tours and our trip to the U.K. went exactly as planned, and we just finished another Christmas season, with many events for young and not so young, mostly in the greater Edmonton area, which is good, because we have been in the longest cold snap anyone can remember.

We are just heading south again for our annual tour to Arizona/California and look forward to meeting many old friends, and making some new ones in the approximately 25 venues where we are performing, as well as having a break on the California coast for a few days.

Spring and summer events are falling into place, as are events for next Christmas season, so it looks like a busy and productive year ahead, as we hope yours will be.

Another successful tour in Arizona/California and we drove home in good time to make an appearance at Edmonton’s Earth Day Festival, which this year had a big snow dump after the tents were put up. However there was one huge tent in the middle and the entire festival moved in there so that stalwarts who showed up still had a festival - albeit on a somewhat smaller scale.

The spring season got going gradually with shows at the Nature Centre and Valley Zoo (Mothers’ Day), plus the annual ‘Day out with Thomas’ (the Tank Engine) at Heritage Park in Calgary, to which we look forward again in 2009. T.V. shows to launch the Fort Edmonton season on Victoria Day weekend, plus the Family Day at Northlands and the Northern Alberta Children’s Festival right in our home town, which we love, interacting with the children and so many friends. A great Festival!

Many special events at Fort Edmonton Park this summer including several private corporate evenings, also events at the Citadel Theatre, Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, and the family festival at High River. We appeared again for Canada Day at Fort Calgary, except that this year we did 2 full shows, plus Mary m.c.’d the entire day from 9am-4pm, and we took our own sound plus a couple of extra speakers and Peter did the audio for everyone, starting at 8am. The folks there kindly said it was their best Canada Day ever!

We managed to schedule a break in July this year, and the 2 of us, plus Meggie the dog, headed off to the West coast to see some special friends and catch up on a bit of r + r, including 5 nights camping on Vancouver Island. We were really lucky with the weather and apart from our last night in the Banff area, no mosquitos!! A great holiday and Meggie loved lots of dips in the ocean.

Because we were busy with so many other events we just did the one fair this year, at Vegreville, where it was very hot - up to 35c degrees many days. That brings us to mid- August, where we have a corporate summer carnival and the Fort Edmonton Harvest this week, then a major festival ‘Under the Big Top’ at Festival Place in Sherwood Park next week, followed by the Storytelling Festival at the Fort on the long weekend into September.

Various events coming up, including a visit to Britain, to see family. Then back in time for Free Access Day for the City of Edmonton, plus Mary is hosting a tour to Minot Norsk Hostfest at the end of September. The Halloween festival (Spooktacular) is coming up, plus several marketing conventions in October and early November, plus a fundraising concert for the St. Albert United Church on November 2nd.

The Christmas season is of course largely organized with corporate events. So far the only public ones are the Morinville Christmas Festival on November 29th and the Santa Claus Parade in Edmonton on December 7th.

Once again we plan to tour in the southern U.S. from January - March. Venues are all set up and there is just a little final ‘tweaking’ of the paperwork.

Next summer is starting to fall into place; we’ll keep you posted and hope all is well with you, wherever you’re reading this .

Sent in by Mary on March 24th, 2008

As I write it is 34c degrees here in Palm Springs, California. Not bad for the end of March!

We have had a great tour, with approximately 30 shows, across Arizona and California, and next years tour of the same area is almost fully booked. The first show was on January 12th and we have been running since then, so we are looking forward to a leisurely drive up the coast and then across to Alberta.

It is amazing how much the Sonoran desert has come into our hearts with its wealth of vegitation and wildlife, (some of the latter has to be treated with great respect, i.e. rattle snakes and gila monsters!).

We are looking forward as always, to appearing at the Edmonton Earth Day Festival on April 20th having been at the helm for so many years.

May is going to be a busy month with appearances for children with Thomas the Tank Engine; the Edmonton Valley Zoo; and the Northern Alberta International Childrens Festival. Also the season opening of our beloved Fort Edmonton Park, where we appear many times in period costume throughout the summer.

If you have the chance, visit our Calendar on our website  www.peterandmary.net, it will give you an update on  forthcoming appearances.

Talk with you again soon.

Dear Readers;

Please find below the previous updates you found on our website under the “What’s New” link. Mary will be adding more updates here in the near future, so please be sure to check back often.

August 2007

A busy Summer season for us, with lots of hot weather and exciting venues to play. The season started, as it traditionally does in Canada, with the Victoria Day long weekend and the opening of Fort Edmonton Park, for which we also did the T.V. promotional slots. We launched our brand new CD ‘Flying High for kids’ (with the aid of St. Albert United Church Junior Choir), just in time to have it ready for the International Children’s Festival, in St.Albert, Alberta. Our 5th year, and it gets better all the time!

Several different things for June, including 2 engagements for the Ukrainian Heritage Village, for school groups, and various community events. Canada Day, July 1st, was a great event in Fort Calgary, having come straight from a concert in Acme the night before with 4 hours sleep in our trailer! We also performed at several corporate events through the summer at Fort Edmonton Park and a special ‘Arts in the Park’ for children and families in the town of Banff.

We were very fortunate in that Mary’s Ventriloquist puppets (with us in attendance), were invited to be the closing act of the International show at the World Ventriloquist Convention at Vent Haven, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky; appearing with ventriloquists from Germany, Japan and Israel. This is a very special event, and time to catch up with old friends in the business, (and make new ones).

July closed off with a hot week at Medicine Hat Stamped and Exhibition, our 5th visit to this very successful event.

Now, we’re in August, and performing a new show for the children’s Summer reading programme this week in Drayton Valley; plus fairs in Bon Accord and Slave Lake, 3 special events for Fort Edmonton Park, (including the huge Harvest Fair), and events for small children and seniors throughout the area.

September is the Storytelling Festival, also Grandparents Day at the Provincial Legislature and a couple of Community concerts. We then head out on the annual Atlantic Canada bus tour, hosted by us, with Mary as Tour Director. This is always a great event and sells out early – plus it gives us a chance to get back into the Maritime way of thinking for 15 days. October there’s another 6 day tour to Minot, North Dakota, for the Scandinavian Festival, then we’re into the season of Showcases and Spooky Stuff once again. A special Remembrance show in November, then we’re into the busy Christmas season, with many of the prime dates already booked.

January it’s back South to California and Arizona for around 30 concerts, with a 12 day holiday break in the middle. Following our special St. Patrick’s shows we head North once again early in April 2008.

May 2007

As usual, we hit the New Year at a run, following our medieval New Year’s Eve, (2nd year), we loaded up and headed South for our annual Arizona/California tour of Gated communities, R.V. resorts, theatres, and events for children kept us hopping from Tucson to San Diego and all points in between. We made some new friends in venues that were new to us, and saw familiar faces in places we had been for three years in a row. We included a couple of ‘Pub nights’, that we do so often in Canada, and also four St. Patrick’s shows, which are so much fun to do. Headed back North with most of the 2008 tour confirmed in late March, in time for some Easter events; (how many times can you sing ‘Easter Parade’ and ‘Peter Cottontail’?).

With the Earth Day Festival coming up, we did several schools with our environmental programmes ‘Planet Kindness’, and ‘Nature Sings’, plus of course the Festival itself, which had several thousand in attendance, despite a somewhat gloomy day. In between shows we put the finnishing touches to our new CD for kids ‘Flying High’- all new songs, and featuring 8 members of the St. Albert United Church Junior Choir, with whom we had great fun!

The first weekend of June we were down at Heritage Park in Calgary to welcome ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’; a full-sized version of which did many runs for thousands of delighted kids, while we did shows for the crowds in an adjacent (permanent) marquee.

Now we’re in mid-May, with the opening of Fort Edmonton Park this weekend, and the Northern Alberta Children’s Festival in just over a week.

We look forward to a busy summer, with the Vent Haven ventriloquists’ conVENTion in Kentucky, various fairs and exhibitions including Medicine Hat, Alberta (always a favourite!), and of course the annual Maritime/Newfoundland bus tour starting Sept. 19th - hosted by Mary, with those amazing fall colours to see; if you’re interested in joining us on this one, there are just a few seats left. Phone (780) 452 6666 for details.

Halloween sees us back at Fort Edmonton, also the prime dates for the Christmas season are all accounted for. Then it is back to New Year’s and time to head South again.

Thanks for checking up on our news!

Peter & Mary

Watch this space for more news in the future!!!!

January 2007
What’s New with Peter & Mary
Sent in by Mary

This is being written on a beautiful sunny and crispy New Year’s Day 2007, mainly so that we can wish our many friends and new visitors to our site a very Happy New Year!
Since our last update we’ve had a busy summer and fall, with an excellant Canada Day Festival in Medicine Hat, Alberta,(after a huge wind storm)and appearances at fairs and exhibitions in Portage La Prairie (by Winnipeg - third time), Vermilion, Alberta (third time) and first time visits to Melfort, Saskatchewan and Strathmore, Alberta, all of which were great events.
Several special events for Fort Edmonton Park, which we always enjoy, ranging from ‘period’ locations to a family stage show for ‘Spooktacular’. While on the spooky things we also appeared again for ‘Halloweenarama’ at the Alberta Legislature.
In mid-September we took our annual bus tour through the Maritimes and Newfoundland, hosted by Mary. A great group of people and a sell-out as always, plus the fall colours were magnificent! We’ll be doing the same tour leaving on September 19th 2007, so if you’re interested in this amazing 15 day trip call TOLL FREE 1-800-562-9999 or if in the Edmonton area phone 780-452-6666 and tell them you want to be part of the Peter & Mary Jansen tour! We fly into Halifax and out of St. John’s and the rest is touring in a luxury motor coach. We’d love to see you there.
The Christmas season kicked off in earnest on a very cold November 25th, when we made a return appearance at the Morinville Christmas Festival (Ab), followed the next day by the Edmonton Ab Santa Claus Parade - all indoors through the City pedway system and a great event! Over 25 Christmas shows, from Corporate parties for children - some huge, some smaller, to events in hospitals and seniors lodges, and interacting with the general public in the major shopping centres, both as “walk-about” with music and Mary’s ventriloquist puppets; also with our special Christmas stage show.
In case you think we weren’t busy enough, we’ve also been laying down tracks for a new Children’s CD of original songs, (about which we are very excited) and managed to include 18 social events since mid-November!
New Year’s Eve was great! For the second time we played for the Medieval family event at Edmonton’s Muttart Conservatory. A sell-out and many things in the four pyramids - puppets, magic, crafts of all kinds and activities, knights in armour and, of course loads of music and fun; leading up to the big count-down (at 9.45pm)!!
2007 starts off with our third winter tour through California and Arizona, with 31 shows ranging from the huge shows at the big RV parks, to children’s museums, libraries and our third appearance with an environmental show at the Phoenix Zoo. We return to Alberta at the beginning of April in time for the Earth Day Festival, (which we organised for 15 years and built to be the largest in Canada), the International Children’s Festival (5th year in a row), the Medicine Hat Ab Stampede (4th year), special events for Fort Edmonton Park nd the Edmonton Valley Zoo, as well as Calgary Zoo, plus several schools and other venues which are being finalised on a daily basis, including next Christmas!
The new CD will be out in the spring; this is our first for children, after three previous recordings for the general market over our career together - and don’t forget you can check under ‘Appearances’ to see where we are!
Watch this space for more news in the future!!!!

Sent in by Mary

October 2006
What’s New with Peter & Mary
Sent in by Paul

Wow! What a whirlwind summer we’ve had, with appearances from Portage to the Rockies and all points in between. We got back from our second successful California/Arizona tour in time to do a children’s performance at the Edmonton Earth Day Festival. This is the largest festival of its type in Canada, which we co-coordinated for 15 years, but passed on the torch in 2005, (although we still co-coordinated the Earth Day information tent, while selling African crafts for the projects with which we are involved in Kenya (where we toured in 2003).
Many local events to start the summer season. A repeat engagement at the Valley Zoo for Mother’s Day gave us the opportunity to present our ‘Nature Sings’ environmental show, which has been seen as far afield as Phoenix Arizona! One of our favourite places is Fort Edmonton, where we appeared for Victoria Day long weekend and several other major events through the summer, ending the season with ‘Spooktacular’at the end of this month. Regular visitors to this site may remember that in 2005 this event was shelved, owing to the fact that Brad Pitt and co. had borrowed the Fort to make’” the Assassination of Jessie James”, due out shortly.
The 25th anniversary of the Northern Alberta International Children’s Festival was a great success, and our fourth consecutive year at this prestigious event.
Fairs and Exhibitions, as always, are an integral part of our summer. This year we visited Portage La Prairie (3rd time); Melfort (who did an amazing job pulling things together with an outbreak of Anthrax in the area); Vermilion (3rd time and their 100th anniversary); and Strathmore, for the 1st time, where we made many new friends.

Once again Meggie (the dog) was an integral part of several fair parades, sitting very importantly on the floats where we performed. We have just returned from Atlantic Canada where Mary (with Peter as shotgun!) hosted a sold out bus tour through the area where we lived when first in Canada, this is the 2nd time we have taken this trip.
The Christmas season is filling up fast, with major dates already confirmed. New Year’s Eve we look forward to our return to the Muttart conservatory, where we had a great Mediaeval night last year. Then we head south for a total of 32 performances in California and Arizona, both for children and adults.
We hope that you had a great summer, and enjoyed reading our “What’s New”. Watch the Appearances section, we’d love to see you, north or south of the border!

Welcome to Peter and Mary’s blog, where you will find updates and news about Peter and Mary and their busy career.  Visit often for new updates!