Only a couple of generations ago, an integral part of tobacco harvest was the fine art of tying tobacco
Tying leaves of tobacco on a stick was a skill that evolved in an era when farm mechanization was just beginning. Gerard Demaiter, 91, one of the competitors in the tobacco tying contest at the Langton Fair, understands that prior to individual leaves being tied to sticks, entire stalks of tobacco were tied on. Although there are no firm dates when the evolution took place, it’s a sure bet that tying individual leaves to sticks started in the days when tobacco was primed in a boat drawn behind a horse and when firewood was used to cure the leaves.
Tying tobacco involved using string to tie bunches of three leaves on a stick, with 26 bunches on a stick. The sticks with leaves attached were then hung in traditional kilns for curing. The tying process had two leaf handlers preparing the leaves and one person tying the leaves onto the sticks. A typical farm had two crews tying.
A traditional stick kiln had two tiers that held 1,250 sticks. One kiln was filled in a day so that involved a lot of tying.
Co-organizer Mary DeCloet is one of the competitors as well. She said when the stick with cured tobacco were taken out of the kilns, the string was broken once and then the tobacco was stripped off the sticks.
“That’s why it was called stripping because you stripped it all,” she said.
It’s a little ironic DeCloet is helping to keep tying alive as her husband’s family company was one of the manufacturers of tying machines. Tying machines involved less labour and became commonplace on the tobacco farms of Norfolk County. Tobacco tying gradually faded away on farms but was kept alive in the tobacco tying contests at Delhi’s Tobaccofest, the Langton Fair and Houghton Fair.
Today, the tobacco tying contest at the Langton Fair pits groups against each other seeing which one can two sticks of 26 bunches of tobacco in the fastest time. Since it’s been at least 50 years since a farm used tobacco tying, the ranks of those who can tie tobacco are dwindling.
North Walsingham Agricultural and School Fall Fair (Langton Fair) president Carol Overbaugh, who organizes the competition with DeCloet, said, “We thought that we would keep it going on because it’s been going on for years. We still have four or five teams that go in it.”
Councillor Linda Vandendriessche commentates and gets the crowd doing.
“That adds a lot of fun to it as well,” Overbaugh said.
She didn’t have a date when the competition started, but guesses it was shortly after tobacco came in to the area. There used to be a teacher competition at the fair with Langton Public going up against Sacred Heart. She said one fond memory was former Langton Public School principal Carolyn Nethercott entering the competition. She initially declined and didn’t indicate she knew how to tie. Then Nethercott stepped up and helped the team win.
The competitors are now in their 70s, 80s or 90s.
“These are all people who grew up doing it,” Overbaugh said.
Overbaugh’s father owned a tobacco farm and although she knows how to tie, she has never entered the competition.
“I think I was only 10 when I handed to my aunt,” Overbaugh recounted. “She’s the one who taught me how to tie. I just did the occasional stick. There’s a way to loop it when you start and a way to finish it so it doesn’t come apart.”
“We should encourage the older people to teach the younger people to do it. I’m not sure how,” she said.
But competitor Jeanet Barrett said the first issue is a lot of younger people don’t even know what tobacco tying is.
“When my granddaughter was down, I told her I tied a kiln of tobacco when I was her age,” Barrett said. “She looked at me like I was from Mars. She didn’t know what I was talking about. It’s a dying art.”
Seeing the crowds gather at Langton Fair to watch the tobacco tying contest, Overbaugh said with resolve, “As long as we have people who want to be involved, we’ll keep going with it.