Created Here publishes fab feature on Abigail

Created Here Article, beautifully laid out

The Abigail Massey stories, the McAdam Railway Station and author Mark Walma were all featured in the latest edition of Created Here, a wonderful new publication launched by Marie-Hélène Morell.

Walma wrote the story that accompanied the beautiful layout of photos and drawings in the print magazine.

"It was an interesting experience," Walma said, "being asked to write an article about your own work."

Walma said he tried to find a way to write the article in a way that wouldn't end up sounding vain or falsely modest. "I decided to tell a story," he said. "I think the story of how Lynn and I decided to embark on the Abigail journey in the first place is an interesting and fun one so I focused the Created Here article on that."

He said that Morell was an excellent editor, very easy to work with, very clear in her requirements. "I enjoyed working with Marie-Hélène," Walma said. "She was kind and supportive but always direct in what she needed from me."

Walma said he received the print copy of the magazine the Friday before Christmas, which made it something of a delightful Christmas gift.

"I was unfortunately unable to attend the launch party for the magazine in Saint John so I wasn't sure when I would get the chance to see it," he said. "I was pretty happy to find it in my mail box when I came home from my last day of work before the holidays!"

The best part about the published article, Walma said, was the prominence the magazine gave to the fabulous illustrations that his sister Lynn contributed to the Abigail books. "I think sometimes Lynn's artistic contribution to the Abigail project gets forgotten in the press -- I was delighted to see two of her best from the first volume of stories get such a prominent place in the article!"

"Still Standing" McAdam is a hit in New Brunswick

Tuesday night was a big night for the Village of McAdam, its people, its historic railway station and its fictional favourite daughter.


CBC TV's hit television series, Still Standing, broadcast its latest episode on Tuesday, this one focusing its affectionate attentions on the New Brunswick village. It was a laugh-filled half-hour featuring Canada's favourite comedian and actor, Jonny Harris.


Alongside interviews with various local personalities, Harris chatted with Mark Walma, author of the Abigail Massey at McAdam Station stories, about the Abigail project and about Walma's relationship with the struggling town.


"It was a huge event, for the Village, the Station and for me personally," Walma said after the show. "I think we all had a really positive feeling about how Jonny and the crew from CBC and Frantic Films would present McAdam and its stories but the final episode surpassed even those high expectations."


Still Standing characterizes itself as offering love letters to Canada's struggling small communities, offering an entertaining mix of interviews with local personalities, information about the community and its history and original stand up comedy, written by Harris and a team of writers, that focuses uniquely on the community and its people.


"I felt they really delivered on their promises," Walma said with a smile. "The episode told McAdam's story very well and managed to produce a surprising number of laughs for a half-hour show."


For example, Harris drew big laughs when he described McAdam as "the first town in Canada to have a same-sex marriage before it has a Tim Hortons" as he profiled a lovely young couple who are planning their wedding for this fall, with the reception to be held at the Station.


He also profiled the local hair dresser, the proprietors of a nearby hunting and fishing lodge and the former mayor and his sister who are at the heart of the Station's restoration effort.


"In a show filled with highlights, the best moment for me was the interview with Frank Campbell," Walma commented. "Frank is one of the most knowledgeable people in McAdam when it comes to the history of the Station and he proved an entertaining and colourful speaker. I've been associated with the Station for about five years now and I still learned a lot from Frank's appearance on the show."


Walma himself figured prominently in the episode. He appeared regularly in the scenes from the stand-up comedy show (usually shown laughing uproariously) and he was presented chatting with Harris in the Station's lunch counter about the Abigail books as well.


Several of Lynn Walma's wonderful illustrations were also featured on-screen during the course of the episode.


After telling the story of the Abigail project and noting that it has raised more than $20,000 for the Station's restoration fund, Harris rounded out the segment by telling Walma that, while everyone appreciated the fact that he had taken the time to attend the show in McAdam, they all would much rather he go home and write more stories in support of the Station.


"No worries there," Walma said. "[Co-author] Mary [E. O'Keefe] and I are just putting the final touches on the stories for Abigail, Volume 5, which will be launched this winter in time for Christmas."


Walma said he was impressed with the fact that the Still Standing episode focused on the positive when it comes to the future of McAdam. In fact, Harris made it clear that, based on his experience in visiting struggling communities across Canada, he felt McAdam has a real chance to survive if it makes the restored Station a focal point of the Village's future.


"The show itself is already helping," Walma added. "I've received emails and tweets from across Canada, asking for more information about the Abigail books and how to buy them. Plus, website traffic is up significantly!"


The McAdam episode of CBC's Still Standing is now available online at the CBC TV website.

McAdam is certainly Still Standing in hit CBC show

Still Standing host Jonny Harris with Author Mark Walma

The Village of McAdam, home of the historic McAdam Railway Station and Hotel, will be featured in an episode of the CBC hit series, Still Standing, later this summer.

Hosted by Newfoundland actor/comedian Jonny Harris (of Murdoch Mysteries fame) and produced by Frantic Films of Toronto, Still Standing calls itself a "love letter" to small-town Canada. The show launched its second season with a fun and informative visit to Haida Gwaii in British Columbia, a beautiful island and home of Skidegate, a Haida community of approximately 800. You can watch the entire episode online here.

Frantic Films first visited McAdam in early February to do some advance work for the episode that would feature the New Brunswick village. Amelia Wasserman of Frantic Films spent a week in the village, talking to the local people, visiting the sites, taking photos and video and gathering information in preparation for the visit of the entire cast and crew.

McAdam mayor Frank Carroll included Abigail author Mark Walma on the list of potential participants in the show and, after enjoying a mock interview with Wasserman about the Abigail project and his relationship with the village, Walma was fortunate enough to be chosen to meet Jonny Harris and appear on the show.

The second appearance: Author Mark with Abigail books

"I really didn't think I would be chosen," Walma admitted with a laugh. "But I guess the show's producers wanted to include someone who was interested in the village, participated in some village events but wasn't quite considered a local. It's an interesting perspective, I guess."

Several weeks later, a full crew from Frantic Films and CBC spent a week in McAdam to do the filming required for the episode. With Harris and the technical and creative folk came two other talented comedians and writers, Fraser Young and Graham Chittenden, whose responsibility it was to turn all the material the group gathered into a one-hour stand-up comedy act that Harris would deliver at the McAdam High School gym on the Saturday night.


"The interview with Jonny Harris was a lot of fun," Walma said. "We sat in the Station's Lunch Counter and chatted for 45 minutes or so. I expected there to be a lot of stopping and starting but it was just a smoothly flowing conversation. He really is the nice guy who comes across so clearly on TV."


Walma explained that the interview focused mainly on the Abigail project and how he and his sister Lynn came to take such an interest in the village and its Station. "But he was also interested in whether or not I had been adopted by the village yet," Walma added. "You know, was I still that guy from away who writes the books or was I one of them?"


The author appears to have enjoyed the entire process thoroughly, with one possible exception: "It is kind of terrifying," he said, "to sit in that gymnasium knowing that Jonny Harris is about to talk about you in his stand-up set but with no idea whatsoever of what he's going to say."


And how did it turn out?


"For me personally, it was an awesome experience. They handled me with comic kid gloves," Walma said. "For the village, it was just as great. Jonny, Fraser and Graham did an amazing job of writing an original, detailed and really funny set about the Village of McAdam and its people. I was really impressed with how well written it was and how perfectly Jonny delivered it."


Although the actual date of broadcast of the McAdam episode of Still Standing has yet to be made public, the release yesterday of a 90-second trailer for Season Two of the show on Facebook has already generated a great deal of buzz in New Brunswick.


The trailer includes flashes from all of the episodes planned for Season Two but McAdam and its beautiful station feature prominently, including one shot of Jonny Harris marching along on the platform in front of the station and several brief shots of various McAdam citizens who will appear in the episode.


"I'm even in there a couple of times," Walma said, a twinkle in his eye. "I watched the video for the first time on my smart phone as I was walking down the street and I stopped dead, my jaw on the ground, when I realized that the smiling face that had just flashed across that tiny screen was my own!"


Screen shots of Walma's appearances in the video appear at the top of this entry. Watch this space for more information about the Still Standing episode on the Village of McAdam as it becomes available.

Abigail web series comes to life in new teaser trailer

Abigail creator and principal author Mark Walma is "beyond excited" by the debut, this past November, of the teaser trailer in support of the proposed new Abigail Massey at McAdam Station web series, tentatively titled The Station.


"I am quite honestly beside myself," Walma said recently. "This teaser trailer is, in and of its self, a beautiful piece of film making and I am very optimistic that it will 'seal the deal' when we begin to approach the various arts bodies for funding for The Station."


Directed, filmed and edited by Tom Belding of the Vancouver Film School, the teaser trailer features an amazing blending of historic footage with new shots Belding filmed on a cold Saturday morning in October at the McAdam Station.


Walma attended the filming session. "It was so great to see professionals like Tom Belding and Nancy Lynch in action," he said. "Many of the shots in the trailer were taken using a high-def camera attached to a drone that Tom flew around and above the Station building and I think the resulting trailer is absolutely amazing."


Since the 90-second film debuted at the launch of Abigail Massey at McAdam Station, Volume 4, in early November, it has been viewed more than 1200 times on Youtube.


"It's had a galvanizing effect on our work to bring the proposed web series to life," Walma said. "I don't think you can watch that teaser without being impressed and excited."


Meanwhile, the fourth volume of Abigail stories experienced a very successful selling season since its launch in October with author's Walma and Mary E. O'Keefe making numerous public appearances in support of the new collection of children's stories.


To view the trailer for yourself, follow the link above or copy the following URL into your browser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=affsvan_YEA.