Month: April 2012

The South Dundas Chamber of Commerce will be holding their annual Spring Home and Trade Show at the Morrisburg Arena this month.

The weekend event begins at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 20th with an official opening ceremony at 6 p.m. and will finish at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 21st.

Of the approximately 80 spaces for exhibitors, to date over 95 per cent have been filled with businesses from all around the area, including a few from Cornwall.

According to Chamber manager, Geraldine Fitzsimmons, “we’re really excited. We’ve got some new local companies coming in and some of the traditional ones too.”

Businesses range from landscaping and home decor exhibitors to restaurant owners. There are businesses of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds, all hoping to meet new customers and contacts.

In addition to free admission, visitors to the event have a chance to win one of ten $100 give-aways sponsored by the Chamber. 

The only stipulation, Fitzsimmons pointed out, is that the winner must spend the money at one or more of the businesses who participated in the show.

Along with traditional exhibitor set-ups inside and outside the arena, there will also be ongoing demonstrations on the stage. The demonstrations will be done by those exhibitors interested in taking part. So far, among those ready to participate are an Elvis impersonator, a Denmark inspired open sandwich maker, and a Hartford Retirement demonstration.

Three radio stations have signed up and will be  taking turns broadcasting live from the Morrisburg Arena location. Q Country 102.9 FM; Yes-FM 96.7 FM; and, Oldies PAC 98.7 FM are the three participating stations.

The arena will be decorated with royal blue curtains, which according to Fitzsimmons “makes a nice backdrop for our exhibitors to display. It transforms the arena into a real trade show look for the exhibitors.”

“The Chamber of Commerce really appreciates working with Donnie Lewis,” said Fitzsimmons, “he’s always accommodating and always goes overboard to help us.” Lewis is recreation manager for South Dundas.

The Morrisburg and District Lions Club is once again in charge of the very popular Friday night chicken barbecue. 

In addition, this year they’ve added a Saturday morning pancake breakfast from 9 to 11 a.m., complete with maple syrup donated by the Basket Case Café and Gallery.

The Lions Club canteen in the arena’s lobby will be open as well and offering their usual fare.

“We’re hoping people come out to see what South Dundas has to offer,” said Fitzsimmons.

The event takes place Friday, April 20th from 4 to 9 p.m. and Saturday, April 21st from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Why it’s positively criminal how funny the upcoming Iroquois-Matilda Lions pro-duction of Monday Always Leads to Murder is!

Some of the characters die laughing.

Following in a tradition that dates back nearly 30 years, the Iroquois Lions (and friends) are taking to the stage at Upper Canada Playhouse this month with their latest theatrical offering, Pat Cook’s Monday Always Leads to Murder. 

These highly anticipated plays, which are presented every two years, are one of the major fund raisers for the Iroquois-Matilda Lions. 

Lions clubs have long been noted for their support of charitable organizations and works in South Dundas. The community often turns to area Lions for financial and volunteer support. 

Funds raised  by the productions at the Playhouse are invested right back into the South Dundas community. 

Ticket holders for the 2012 production can look forward to an evening of laugh-out-loud comedy and to ensuring that the Iroquois-Matilda Lions can continue to be a strong presence in the South Dundas community. 

The show’s volunteer cast has been in rehearsals since early February. As opening night gets closer, the production is transferring April 4 to the Playhouse.  Rehearsals  have been held at St. John’s Anglican Church, Iroquois, and the Iroquois United Church. 

The cast is having a lot of fun with the play, which is set in the seedy New York office of one Harry Monday, private eye. The year is 1939: Prohibition has lately been repealed, Humphrey Bogart is big at the box office, Al Capone is big in Chicago and women (at least where Harry is concerned) are still “stacked.”

Harry will certainly have his hands full coping with dames, would-be actors, cops, burglars, mysterious Egyptian professors and bodies that just keep popping up at the most inconvenient times when he takes on the sinister Barnstable case. 

The fantastic set for the show has been designed by John Thompson of the Playhouse and constructed by a crew under the leadership of Lion Jim Locke.  Sean Free, technical director of the Playhouse, is operating sound and lights for the show. Wendy Gibb is directing.

Tickets are $20 each for the evening shows, April 26-28, and for the Saturday matinee: they are going very quickly. Contact any Iroquois Matilda Lion, Mustard’s Variety or Upper Canada Playhouse for tickets to Monday Always Leads to Murder.  

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Families and friends were delighted to meet an old friend on Sunday, April 1, when the Easter Bunny stopped in for breakfast at the Iroquois Legion. A large number of people came out and enjoyed a delicious breakfast prepared by the Legion, received a special greeting and treat from E.B. and took part in face painting and colouring. Live, gentle bunnies supplied by Lee Carruthers of Dundela were a big hit with young and old. Breakfast with the Bunny was sponsored by the Iroquois and District Festival Committee, which is using the funds to support their September 15 Festival in Iroquois, "Dundas Militia – A Call to Arms – War of 1812."

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The Ministry of Finance has released the education rates for 2012. With this, the three numbers needed to decipher this year’s municipal taxes are complete and property owners can expect to pay a slight increase.

“By my speculation,” said South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds on Tuesday, “it will be just over three per cent, but I can’t be 100 per cent positive without all the numbers.”

“There’s a small decrease from the South Dundas end.”

The Township of South Dundas completed their 2012 budget deliberations on March 12th while the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry completed their budget on March 19th. 

Byvelds pointed out that “the Counties had a 3.1 per cent increase and ours is 3.5 per cent.”

To determine the amount to be paid out by a residence for the education portion of the tax bill, South Dundas treasurer Shannon Geraghty provided a comparison example:

• A 2011 assessment at $149,090 equates to taxes of $344.40.

• A 2012 assessment with phase-in at $157,260 equates to taxes of $347.54.

The education rate, determined by the Ministry of Finance, is standard on all assessments regardless of school board, whether it be public, Catholic or French Catholic. 

As explained in the March 14th edition of The Leader, each home’s taxes are affected by the Municipal Property Assessments.

There has been a 5.48 per cent average increase on assessments due to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation’s four-year phase in.

What all of this boils down to is an approximate overall increase of just over three percent in municipal taxes for South Dundas. 

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