Grand Manan twins celebrate numbers

Grand Manan celebrated its annual Rotary Festival with many festivities, including the Two of Us twins float as part of the parade. The idea for the float began when Jennifer Wilson‑Fudge and Angie Russell, both mothers of twins, discussed how many sets of twins are living on Grand Manan. They wondered if there is something special in the air or maybe something in the drinking water.
There are 28 sets of twins on Grand Manan, with eight sets being born in the past five years. This is a high number, considering the island is small, with approximately 2,300 year-round residents growing to around 2,500 during the summer months. Canada's overall population is about 33.75 million and sees over 4,000 sets of twins born each year. Grand Manan's rate of births of twins over the past five years is about seven times the national rate.
One twin, Joan Morse, said she and her sister Linda were quite a novelty back in 1946. "I think the most amazing gift you can be given is to be a twin. To have someone by your side from baby ways to adult days. Linda and I had such a wonderful childhood. Mom always dressed us the same actually until we were 14 years old. At that time we started developing our own sense of style and started becoming more individual as well."
Darlene Boynton says when she and her sister Marlene were small, "We were inseparable. We still do things that are funny. A couple of months ago we were in different provinces and purchased the same outfit, not even knowing the other was shopping. It does get frustrating sometimes when we are upset with one another. I look at Mar, and here is this person that looks like me with the same facial expression looking back. We will always have each other, no matter what."
She adds, "Sometimes I feel bad for our husbands -- they have to deal with both of us. We have been blessed with a special experience through life that not many people get to share with someone. Mar is my other half. I don't know life any different, and wouldn't want to."
During the Rotary Festival this special group joined together, filling two separate floats, with some walking along as well, to celebrate their uniqueness and to show that two really are better than one.
National twin day is celebrated in August every year.