Thousands Visit the Cathedral for Supercrawl

Each September, on the third weekend, the street in front of Christ’s Church Cathedral is closed for Supercrawl from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon.  Supercrawl is primarily a musical event that grew from the monthly art crawls that promoted the local art studios and galleries.  The cathedral congregation has opened our doors and welcomed visitors to these events since 2008.  This has provided what Dean Tim Dobbin called an “easy on-ramp” for those who are searching and wish to find out more about religion.  Those who enter are Christians, people of other religions, of no faith and people who are just exploring, but we do not seek to proselytize.   This year, 6,783 visitors came through the doors. 

Welcoming such numbers involved an army of over 40 volunteers from the congregation who greeted people and answered questions, which varied greatly from “When was the church built?” to much more searching questions.  The volunteers are supported by having at least two clergy present during opening hours. Our two permanent clerical staff (the Very Reverend Tim Dobbin and the Reverend Monica Romig Green) were supported by our associates, the Reverend Dr Canon Sharyn Hall, the Reverend Dr Eric Griffin, and the Reverend Canon J. Lefebvre. The Reverend Dena Thomas, the Reverend Rob Miller, and the Very Reverend Peter Wall provided additional support. 

Many visitors were simply awed by the high, decorated ceiling, the sparkling stained-glass windows, and the intricate wooden and stone carvings. We encourage our visitors to wander freely to look at carvings closely, which gives rise to questions.  We have found that many of our visitors return, and some have joined our congregation. 

Given the roots of art crawls and Supercrawl, and the traditional role of cathedrals as centres of art and music, the cathedral presented both visual arts and music.  This year visual arts were displayed by Debra Carson and Mary Pat Forani.  The Director of Music Ministries, Bruce Burbidge, organized organ and piano recitals, instrumental music and singing – many participants were members of our congregation.  One group of strings, the James North Chamber Ensemble, comprises McMaster graduates who have played together for many years and love the opportunity to play in a building with good acoustics.  Many visitors delight in hearing the 4,000-pipe Casavant organ in such a large space and watching organists playing on three keyboards and their feet playing the pedals. 

Although we do not proselytize, we seek to educate using signs to explain objects such as the font, the altar, the reredos, etc. and the role that they play in Christian worship.   For children, we offered a laminated sheet with eight photos for a popular treasure hunt – many parents thanked us!  We collected 558 prayers and requests for prayers, written on small slips of paper, and we prayed for these people after Supercrawl.  Another big hit was a table filled with 340 rocks, each of which had an encouraging word or image handwritten on it, taken entirely from Scripture.  All rocks were taken up by midafternoon on Saturday.  Some visitors take time to pray, contemplate or sit to take time out from a busy world.   

This all involved a lot of work, but our visitors welcomed the chance to visit, have their questions answered and, in some cases, the opportunity to discuss a variety of topics.  The cathedral is blessed by its location on James Street North during these festival events, and the opportunity to provide ministry. 

Sandy Darling is a member of Christ’s Church Cathedral’s congregation and author of A Visual Tour of Christ’s Church Cathedral, Hamilton, Ontario. CCC, second, revised edition, September 2025, ($10.00/ $17.00 by mail).