BURLINGTON - David Vollick has been shouting, yelling, hollering, and crying around Burlington for nearly 13 years, and he’s seen it all.
From new Canadians being sworn in as citizens, to a dedication of a columbarium, as Burlington’s official town crier, Vollick has kept himself busy through his retirement years.
“When I talk to little kids, I tell them I was the internet before there was the internet,” Vollick said. “Town criers are the forerunner of the post office and the newspaper. In the olden days when people didn’t know how to read and write, if you wanted to write to a family member in the next town over, you’d need a crier.”
Criers connected with travelling merchants and bards to send messages across vast swaths of land. Vollick, however, usually stays pretty close to home.
For a decade, Vollick has cried at MP Karina Gould’s annual New Years Levee. On Sunday, Jan, 12, he was hounoured in front of a crowd of approximately 300, with a King Charles III Coronation Medal, for having made a significant contribution to Canada, or a particular province, territory, region or community.
“I was not counting on this in any way, shape, or form,” Vollick said. “When we came in, we saw the books and medals were there. An assistant said they’re giving some medals to people who couldn't attend the original ceremony.”
Vollick cried at the other ceremony in November as well, where Gould awarded 35 medals to Burlington residents.
Gould spoke about Vollick’s work, and the impact that he has made on the city of Burlington.
“David is a familiar face, and voice, in the community,” Gould said. “A past president of the Ontario Guild of Town Criers, David has earned several awards at the International Town Criers Competition."
Vollick says he can’t quite place where the two first met, but they continue to meet up at city events.
With Gould’s career changes in the last decade, Vollick understands and appreciates the sentiment behind her still holding the levee, and remaining engaged with the community.
“With the Prime Minister having resigned, and the upsets going on south of the border, for her to be able to take time and celebrate within the jurisdiction like this was quite welcome,” he said. “And hopefully a bit of a relief from the day-to-day tussle of politics.”
Also honoured at the levee were genealogist Michelle Lewis, who has worked for 20 years to help prove individual’s descent from ancestors who remained loyal to the crown during the American Revolution; John Pellar of Pellar Estates; Gloria Turney who has worked for years as a PSW, and advocated for PSW rights and supports, and Bill Reid, known around town as the singing veteran.
Vollick, now 74, did add that it was quite funny for the profession that was once the newspaper to be featured in the news.
“The news is being written about the news bearer,” he said. “It has a very cute twist to it, I must say.”
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