They could have just used wrapping paper or one of those €1 gift bags.
But a fiddle group from Williams Lake, BC, stumbled upon something much more interesting and meaningful while wrapping some gifts for their host in Whitehorse – an old violin case that once belonged to Yukon’s beloved “fiddler at large,” the late Joe Loutchan.
It happened last week when the Cariboo Chilcotin Youth Fiddle Society was in Whitehorse to compete in the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Competition. They had brought some gifts from Williams Lake – fresh honey, a hand-carved spoon and a teapot made by a local potter – to thank the event’s local organizer, fiddle teacher Keitha Clark.
But they had nothing to put their presents in.
That’s when Mary Forbes, of the Williams Lake group, stumbled upon the perfect thing as she strolled into an antique and curio shop in downtown Whitehorse.
“I told her (the store owner) what we were doing in town and she said, ‘Well, you might want to check this out,'” Forbes recalled.
The shop owner brought down some old violin cases that were stored in the back of a closet. They had no prices on them.
“They were quite old and worn, but still beautiful for their age – and for the stories they contain,” Forbes said.
The shopkeeper opened the last suitcase to reveal a gold velvet lining with a name crudely engraved on it. Forbes said she had trouble reading the text at first, comparing it to “hieroglyphs” that might have been scratched with a pocket knife.
An old violin case that once belonged to legendary Yukon fiddler, the late Joe Loutchan. (Mary Forbes)
The violin case was lined with gold velvet and had Loutchan’s name and number engraved in crude letters. (Mary Forbes)
It said “Joe Loutchan, Whse Yukon” and a phone number.
Forbes had no idea who Loutchan was, but she soon learned all about his long and legendary career as Yukon’s “fiddler at large.” In his decades-long career, Loutchan won countless fiddle competitions and became something of a musical ambassador for the territory. When he died in 2021, the Yukon MP called him a “gentlemanly legend” and a national treasure.
Forbes immediately called the leader of her violin group, Ingrid Johnston, to tell her what she had found and that the battered old suitcase would make “fantastic wrapping paper.”
“And she (Johnston) said, ‘Do it.’ And then I started haggling in earnest,” Forbes said.
She was delighted when the shop owners made her a great offer, “because they knew who it was for.”
The group presented Clark with the surprise award on Thursday evening. Johnston said it was a special moment for everyone to thank him for all the work Clark had done in bringing the fiddle championships to the north for the first time.
Ingrid Johnston and the Cariboo Chilcotin Youth Fiddle Society of Williams Lake, BC, presented their gifts, including the violin case, to Yukon fiddle teacher Keitha Clark last week. (Sue Voth)
Johnston said that like Clark, she is a violin teacher in a small town and knows how much work and effort it entails.
“You donate a lot of time and spend hours doing something like this… sometimes it almost feels thankless,” Johnston said.
“We were also the last ones to play that night, so I think it’s even more fitting to hand her the case and be the last one there and say a big thank you for the thousands of hours – two years – thousands of hours that we put into putting it together.”
