Playhouse sizzles with classic comedy, No Sex Please, We’re British

 

Upper Canada Village will host over 30 food vendors at a new culinary event Saturday and Sunday, August 17 and 18 to showcase some of the best of the region’s local food and beverage producers.

Food lovers will have a “Field Day” sampling and shopping in an outdoor farmers’ market, all located in the fairground field found in the heart of Upper Canada Village.  

This eclectic collection of over 30 food, wine & beer artisans and producers will be serving up the flavours, aromas and medleys of nature’s bounty from across Ontario.  

Visitors to the Village will want to bring along a thirsty appetite, to not only sample and enjoy Ontario wines, local craft beer as well as other non-alcoholic beverages, but also to savour the flavours of regional foods such as artisan cheese, signature pizzas, Scottish shortbreads, brick-oven baked bread, home-style baked goods, health foods and mixes, seasonal apples and berries, market-fresh greens, herbs and vegetables, smoked meats, syrup and honey products, pickles, preserves and sauces, chocolate specialties, gourmet popcorn, peanuts and fudge, oils, garlic products, as well as a variety of ethnic foods such as Indian, Thai, Ukrainian, Greek, Mexican and more. 

Upper Canada Village invited Cornwall’s Schnitzel’s European Flavours Restaurant Chef Troy Paquette to create a signature “Upper Canada Village” pizza in a 19th century beehive oven located in the yard of Cook’s Tavern.  The individual size thin-crust “Heritage Wheel” pizzas will be made right before your eyes using Upper Canada Village flour, Village-made cheese, and heirloom ingredients as found in the Village gardens.

Two local food experts – Dwight Saunders a Raw Gourmet Chef, Teacher and Wellness Consultant for Aura Culinary Arts of Iroquois will be presenting demonstrations on ‘Pumpkins Impossible’; ‘Preserving Today for Tomorrow’; ‘Wild Edibles’ and ‘Non-Dairy Cheese Making at Home’.

Lynda Turner a Scientist with Health Canada and also the owner/founder of Zengarry Vegetarian Cuisine of Alexandria will deliver a session ‘All About Greens’ and ‘Cooking with Kids’. They are all timely topics with families starting to think about ‘back to school’ and the challenge of incorporating healthy meals into hectic daily routines.

All in all it will be a great representation of all the region has to offer – right in our own backyard.

How does this fit with historic Upper Canada Village?  

The Village with its wonderful gardens, heirloom varieties of vegetables, operating 19th century kitchens using authentic recipes and methods, cheesemaking and bakery really represents the original ‘100 Mile Diet’.  

For the Food Lovers’ weekend Upper Canada Village will have special sampling with a 19th century flavor at three of the kitchens. 

The Louck’s Farm kitchen represents a typical well-to-do pre-Confederation farm family and will serve up delectable samplings of chocolate delicacies.  Chocolate caramel, Chocolate Sweet Meats, Spiced Chocolate (like hot chocolate) and Chocolate Comfits will be served to visitors looking to taste test the sweeter side of 19th century living.

At the Tenant Farm, or the ‘hired hands’ home, sample a selection of Village-made jams, jellies and preserves – all made using special 19th century recipes. You can sample Cucumber Preserves, Carrot Jam, Citron Preserve, and Apple or Rosehip Jelly served up on your choice of homemade crackers, bread or oat cakes. Visitors will be able to take a recipe home with them or ask the ladies for some preserving tips.

At Cook’s Tavern guests can taste authentic 19th century beverages.  Lemon Syrup, Rhubarb Cordial, Rhubarb Shrub, Gingerbeer, Mead and Raspberry Shrub are a few of the drinks to be sampled at the tavern.  Cordials and Shrubs used vinegar to put some zip in the drink resulting in a very refreshing summer beverage.  Rather exotic sounding concoctions by today’s standards.

Expert Village staff will also provide garden tours led by head gardener Brian Henderson and offer samples of Upper Canada Village’s heirloom vegetables (over 50 varieties of tomatoes are grown onsite) and herbs straight from the garden.  There will also be a special feature on horseradish – how to grow it and prepare this ‘root with roots’ which has been cultivated since antiquity.

Live 19th century music throughout the day will provide the perfect ambience for a food event in this historic setting.

“Developing this event has been a real eye-opener to the depth of talented and unique food producers we have in our region,” said Geoff Waycik, manager, Upper Canada Village. “The world truly is represented right in our backyard.  As more and more people are becoming conscious about using the best quality and freshest ingredients to make healthy meal choices, the more relevant we found 19th century cuisine. We think it is a great way to promote local food and local food producers against the backdrop of Upper Canada Village.  It is a perfect match.” 

Visit www.UpperCanadaVillage.com for a complete list and description of all vendors participating.  Food Lover’s Field Days is sponsored by Smart Serve, the Township of South Dundas, Foodland Ontario and Cornwall & the Counties Tourism.

Admission to Food Lover’s Field Days is Adult (13-64 yrs) $17, Seniors (65 + yrs) $14 and Youth (6-12 yrs) $12.  Children 5 years and younger are free.  The price of admission includes a reciprocal ticket for a return visit to Upper Canada Village or Fort Henry National Historic Site of Canada day program or to a Parks of the St. Lawrence beach / day-use area.  For more information visit www.UpperCanadaVillage.com or call 800-437-2233 or locally 613-543-4328.

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Local Branches from Chesterville, Finch, Ingleside, Newington, Williamsburg, Winchester and Riverside Heights enjoyed the theme Aloha, “From Hawaii” at the Stormont-Dundas Women’s Institute’s District Annual Meeting at the Allan Hall in Morrisburg on May 23. 

Guests were present from Prescott, Prescott County and Glengarry.

Florence Hoople and Betty Wheeler were presented with Life Memberships for their dedication and work with the Women’s Institute and Elaine Hutchinson received the Women of Excellence Fair Award for the years of work at Stormont County Fair and in the community.

Elaine is the mother of seven children, 13 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She helps raise money for her church and attends all WI meetings. 

When the Forbes library in Newington, was closed, Cathy Cloutier,  Alin Dingwall and Elaine  petitioned the then Osnabruck Council to use the building for community activities. 

Later an anonymous donor gave $20,000 to have the building moved to The Lost Village site. 

Elaine is on the executive of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Retired Teachers of Ontario, District 25 and previous to her retirement she had been on the executive of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Womens’ Teachers Federation. 

She was also on the Steering Committee of the Early Childhood Learning Centres.

Back in 1981, while teaching at Newington Public School,  Elaine was approached by Reta Raymond who had drawn up the first prize list for school children to enter their work in Stormont County Fair, under the supervision of the area school teachers. 

Shirley Aitken and Elaine with this initial help from Reta started the first Educational Department at the fair. Shirley helped until she retired a few years later, but Elaine continued for several years.

Elaine has been Vice President of Stormont County Fair, member of the Photographic committee and in 1992 she created the first Donor Appreciation Display to show the prizes donated by area businesses, and the lists of sponsors to the fair.

After greetings from South Dundas Mayor Steven Byvelds, the Chesterville Branch conducted the Memorial Service in memory of seven highly esteemed  members: Margaret Casselman and Betty Forward from the Chesterville Branch: Eileen Gallinger and Muriel Kenward from the Riverside Heights Branch; Iva Eamer Wylie and Louise Tait from the Newington Branch and Joyce Patterson from the  Williamsburg Branch.  

In the afternoon Jim MCDonell brought greetings from Toronto.

The guest speaker W. Shearing of Morrisburg enlightened the group about the local plans to celebrate the War of 1812. 

New signs are coming for the roadways along the St. Lawrence River to indicate where encounters with the Americans took place. 

The area has its own local hero, John Locke, who risked his life to inform the British that an attack was coming. Locke avoided detection by climbing a tree until the troops had passed.  

Florence Hoople and Ruth (Hoople) Szini dressed in 1812 attire to show their part in the Battle of Hoople Creek video created by teacher Wes Gosling at Rothwell-Osnabruck with students Nolan Thompson, Zach Murphy and Jessica Wilson. 

The report is that in 1812 the Americans crossed the border at Hoople Creek to move on to Montreal and capture Canada. Our Canadian militia were outnumbered, but the delay meant that the British supplies were saved. 

After the battle Elinor Hoople found a serverely wounded soldier near her cabin. The children fetched Mary Hoople who tended him but he died the following day. The Americans retreated back across the border the following day. 

The meeting closed with Lynn Gilmour inviting everyone to District Annual to be held in Williamsburg next year.

Photos & story contributed

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PGA Tour Canada announced Tuesday, at the Upper Canada Golf Course, that PGA Tour professional Brad Fritsch is the Honourary Chairman of the Great Waterway Classic tournament to be played at  the Upper Canada  course this coming, August 19-25.

An Ottawa area native, Fritsch said via teleconference that, “I am pleased to throw my support behind the Great Water Classic. The launch of PGA Tour Canada is great for golf and players alike. The time I spent on the Tour was instrumental to my development as a professional. I am confident the Tour and the Great Waterway Classic will showcase the talents of the players to the many golf enthusiasts across the country and especially in the Great Waterway Region.”

“We are delighted to have Brad throw his support behind the event,” said Brad Parkins, Chief Operations Officer at Canadian Junior Golf Association and Tournament Director for the Great Waterway Classic.

“This is an exciting day for me,” said Fritsch. “It has been a long time since I have been able to be involved in a professional tournament in the Ottawa area. I am excited to support the Great Waterway Classic.”

Also excited to join the game is the Cornwall Hospital Foundation which was named Tuesday as the official Charity of the Great Waterway Project. As the official charity, the Foundation will receive proceeds from supplementary events, a portion of the gate proceeds and proceeds from additional fundraising initiatives.

“We want to thank you for coming to our community,” said Connie Vardy, Executive director of the Cornwall Hospital Foundation. Vardy explained that when she first came to the area she learned that there are two things people really care about. “The first thing people really care about is their hospital. The second thing they care about is their golf. So this is a terrific marriage. We really feel honoured. We appreciate the dollars and we will use them wisely.”

Scott Pritchard, Director, Tournament Business Affairs at PGA Tour Canada said PGA Tour Canada is excited to come back to the Waterway Classic area.

He remarked on the success of the PGA Tour Canada’s inaugural event, the Times Colonist Savings Open played June 3-June 9 in Victoria, British Columbia and won by Marysville, Ohio’s Stephen Gangluff.

The Great Waterways Classic scheduled for August 19-25 at the Upper Canada Golf Course is the seventh tournament on the 2013 PGA Tour Canada Schedule. The schedule began with the Qualifying tournament in Beaumont, California April 7-12. 

Next up from June 17-23 is the ATB Financial Classic in Calgary, Alberta.

PGA Tour Canada is a men’s professional golf tour headquartered in Oakville. It formally started in 1970, and became the Canadian Profession Golf Tour in 1986.

The U.S. PGA Tour took over the operation of the tour last November, 2012, at which time it was renamed PGA Tour Canada.

Over the years, this tour has had many players go on to PGA Tour success including 2003 Master champion Mike Weir and 2005 U.S. Open winner Michael Campbell.

Under the new system, the top five players on PGA Tour Canada Order of Merit will earn Web.com Tour cards and the next five are exempt through to the finals of Qualifying school.

“Our first event in Victoria , B.C. this past weekend was very well received,” said Pritchard. “The players were all happy and we had record crowds and record ticket sales.”

The Tour has raised millions of dollars for charities since its inception.

Pritchard said that fans can expect to see top notch professionals at the Waterway Classic at Upper Canada  and both fans and players will appreciate the all new signage and leader boards.

Under the PGA Tour Canada stamp, players and fans alike can expect a bigger field (than last year’s first Waterway Classic event played at Smuggler’s Glen at Gananoque). Roped and staked tees and greens will provide a more big league feel.

“We have invested a lot into our infrastructure and the level of competition will be unmatched this year,” said Pritchard.

Also speaking at the news conference were Christa Doyle on behalf of the Great Waterway Classic, Allen McNairn on behalf of the Upper Canada Golf Course, and Susan Leclair on behalf of the St. Lawrence Parks Commission which operates the Upper Canada Golf Course.

McNairn and Upper Canada Golf Course superintendant Randy Leclair were commended on the work being completed on the course.

“We are very much looking forward to hosting this event,” said McNairn. “There is a lot of work that has gone into this, and we are continuing with the work.”

On behalf of the St. Lawrence Parks Commission, Susan Leclair, Corporate Marketing and Development officer, said “We are thrilled that our golf course is going to be hosting the Great Waterway Classic.”

Leclair also issued a warm invite to Brad Fritsch, that if he has the opportunity, to come and play the Upper Canada Golf Course, which he admitted earlier he has not had the pleasure of playing.

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