Month: August 2013

 

It’s fair time!

The 121st edition of the South Mountain Fair runs August 15-18, and this year features a new, enhanced children’s program as one of the most exciting additions to the festivities.

“The Kids Mountain of Fun”, made possible through a Celebrate Ontario grant, will take place on the fair grounds in a brand new entertainment tent.

Lil John and  Stretch the Clown, with car and scooter will have two shows Saturday and Sunday and Cindy Cook from Polka Dot Door will have two stage shows on Sunday.

Little Ray’s Reptiles, Vanderlaand’s Barnyard Zoo and Tribek Inflatables will provide fun activities for kids of all ages.

Sunday will feature a parade of International/Farmall tractors and equipment at noon.

Sam Simm’s was the first IH dealer in this area and the South Mountain Fair is dedicating this parade to the Simm’s Family.

Top notch entertainment featured this year includes Georgette Jones, the only daughter of the late George Jones and Tammy Wynette, performing with Fred Ducharme and Ninth Line on Friday night. 

Saturday’s entertainment includes Country Roots in the afternoon and High Valley taking the stage at 8 p.m. Landmark will keep the music going until closing at 1 a.m. 

Fred Ducharme and Ninth Line will return Sunday along with some special guests to entertain until Texas native Mark Chesnutt takes the stage at 4 p.m.

The Western Horse Show is back with their NBHA show on Saturday and Western Games fair show on Sunday.

Other events such as the poultry, heavy horse, miniature horse and saddle, plus Farmers Olympics, Jr. Farmers Olympics, Greasy Pig, Wife Carrying Competition, as well as Simmental and Angus cattle show will be sure the entertain spectators of all ages.

Don’t miss the renowned demolition derby Friday evening, as well as all the other agricultural exhibits that continue to make South Mountain Fair “The Best Fair Deal Around.”

Tickets are $20 each day with Thursday half price day.

The $20 admission is an all-inclusive price including midway rides and entertainment in the big tent.

New this year, is a $10 admission ticket which does not give you access to the rides or the entertainment tent. Weekend passes are available for $50.

Free rough camping is available.

Check out the website at www.southmountainfair.ca

[…]

 

 It was a fight right to the very finish, but in the end, experience seemed to be the deciding factor as Team Magee captured the Tubie title, King of the River, for the second year in a row, Sunday, August 4.

With a winning time of 5:15, the veteran Magee Team defeated the Katherine Lee team by mere seconds. Lee’s young team came ashore at the Morrisburg beach in a time of 5:35

The other contenders vying for the trophy, title and bragging rights in the final race appeared, like the Lee team, to be largely made up of a new generation of young participants. Consequently, the future of the Tubie Races is looking good. 

Team Barclay/Veinotte pulled ashore in 5:51, the Morrell Sisters team made it in 6:00 and the South Nation Conservation Authority team hit the beach in 6:29.

“I had a great crew,” said captain Gary Magee,  now twice crowned King of the River. Members of his strong, championship team were Philip Pietersma, Sheri Halpenny, Jaime Notman, Susie Wye and Austin Wilcox. “We built the best craft, low in the water, and I had six incredibly fit people paddling.”

Asked the secret of his racing success, Magee claims a lot has to do with  the design of his unique rudder. “‘Black Beauty’ rides low in the water, so the paddlers can dig in. Everyone is able to paddle and steer with the special rudder on our tubie.”

Will Team Magee be back to race next year?

“Absolutely,” said Gary Magee. “We plan to make it three in a row!”

This year’s race, like last year’s, had two qualifying heats, which left the Morrisburg dock at noon and 12:45 respectively. The top two teams from each heat, and the next best time, all took part in the final race at about 1:30 p.m. While they did not make the finals, the Jon Domanko team, the Greg Millard team and the Canadian Tire team helped make the qualifying heats fast and exciting. 

The winning team took home a prize of $400 presented by the Morrisburg & District Lions club, who organized the Tubie weekend under the leadership of Mike Domanko, Matt McCooeye and their team of volunteers. Second place winners received $250, 3rd got $150, with 4th and 5th place finishers taking home $50 per team.

With the weather holding, virtually all weekend (one or two sudden swift downpours on Sunday did not discourage any fans), the Tubie weekend was a bit hit. 

Events kicked off on Saturday, August 3, with the great Tubie parade. The theme of this year’s Tubie weekend was ‘Keep calm and paddle on’. Float designers interpreted that in a number of very entertaining ways.

First prize winner ($400) was  Keep calm and drive on, or Tubie Hot Wheels, the Morrell Sisters’ float. Rednecks everywhere would have been proud of the Barclay/Veinotte Duck Dynasty float which came in second, and was awarded $250. In third spot, with the theme Keep calm – no run! Zombies everywhere! was the float designed by Katherine Lee’s family and friends.

Canadian Tire entered a Gilligan’s Island float where the riders really did have an uncanny resemblance to the old television sitcom castaways.

The Lions Club sponsored float, Keep calm, get your Super on, featured a lot of mini Marvel super heroes, and won $50 which was donated back to the Tubies. 

The Keep calm and Waldo on float carried a collection of identical Waldos of all ages, who somehow found their way through the wide world to Morrisburg. And the Millard team (also $50 winners), brought back fond memories of past great tubie themes with their Tubies Then and Now ‘picture frames.’

Estimates suggest close to 1,000 people came out to watch the 2013 parade, while the shoreline along the pier and the Morrisburg beach were crowded with Tubie fans and supporters on race day. The Sunday morning Lions Great Duck Race also brought lots of hopefuls to the beach to see dog volunteers retrieve winning ducks.

Morrisburg & District Lions Club organizers, who did an outstanding job, thanked sponsors and the community for their support of the 2013 Tubies.

[…]

 

 Sometimes, as I watched the hilarious high-jinks on the stage of Upper Canada Playhouse during the debut of its new production, No Sex Please, We’re British, I kept having visions of director Richard Bauer, in rehearsals. 

He was invariably dressed as a ringmaster. 

This is not a play where one or two events, even three or four, take place simultaneously. No, it is a regular three-ring circus of a play with outrageous lines and actions, and a cast that springs into action in Act I and never slows for breath. 

Judging by the explosions of laughter from the audience, that is just fine with them.

No Sex Please, We’re British, continues a Playhouse tradition of presenting outstanding farces as part of the summer season. This classic play by writers Anthony Marriott and Alistair Foot, has been performed in over 52 countries to date. 

With a cast of 10, most of whom may actually be dashing about the stage at any one time, Bauer is working with very talented, not to say, agile and energetic actors. 

The plot of No Sex Please is a clever mishmash of the morals and complications of life in the 1960s. London might have been swinging in that decade, but the household of newly weds, Peter and Frances Hunter, is definitely not supposed to be. Unfortunately, Frances’ (Katie Lawson) innocent attempts to start a home business by replying to a newspaper ad, go sadly awry. Instead of family glassware, in short order, Swedish post cards (not of the Alps!), plain brown wrapper covered books and 8 mm films (with titles like Dick Turpin Rides Again…and Again and Again) arrive at the Hunter flat non-stop.

Peter (Derek Moran) a junior in his conservative bank, simply cannot afford a pornography scandal. Laws being what they were in London in the 1960s, he simply must get the stuff out of his home and far, far away. 

Or, as plodding Superintendent Paul, (Zack Counsil) investigating a pornography ring  rumoured to be in the neighbourhood, puts it, “Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. That’s why we do such a thorough investigation.”

Frances: So you can prove they’re innocent?

Superintendant Paul: No. So we can prove them guilty.

With Eleanor, Paul’s pretentious mother (Linda Goranson) arriving for an extended stay, her new beau, the snobbish banker, Leslie Bromhead (Walter Learning) constantly underfoot, and stuffy bank examiner, Mr. Needham (Shaun Clarke)  unexpectedly bunking in the spare room, the Hunters can barely keep track of the crises they face.

Enter Mr. Runnicles, Peter’s friend from the bank.

Brian Young is splendidly funny as Runnicles.

 Never has a man triggered more wrong in his muddled, desperately sincere efforts to do right, than Mr. Runnicles. All he came to the Hunter flat to do was deliver a belated wedding gift, a (rather garish) painting of Vegetables of Provence (“The French have very big cucumbers…”).  

Immediately, unintentionally, Runnicles finds himself the notorious Phantom Pornographer, sought by the police. Charged with getting rid of the erotica by a frantic Peter, Runnicles hilariously discovers that it appears to be stubbornly indestructible. Neither toilets, garbage disposals, St. Mark’s Rummage sale, nor the mighty Thames itself, appear capable of eliminating these Swedish imports.

Then  Susan and Barbara, two very ‘avant garde’ ladies (Katie Leamen and Jackie English), who may just possibly be Swedish (Oh, dear!) arrive, determined to help “smooth things over.” 

Full of extraordinary sight gags, triple entendres, lovable if mad characters, and a laugh about every 60 seconds, No Sex Please, We’re British is delightful summer fair.

As Mr. Runnicles hopefully puts it, “You have to keep cool in a crisis. Think it through.”

No one does.

Isn’t that half the fun of farce?

For tickets to No Sex Please, We’re British, contact Upper Canada Playhouse at 613-543-3713 or go on line at uppercanadaplayhouse.com. The play runs until August 25.

[…]

 

The Morrisburg & District Lions Duck Race was once again a big hit on Sunday, August 4, down at the Morrisburg Beach: but when it comes to star power, the five dogs who pulled prize winning ducks from the water were the true champs of the day. All 1,200 duck tickets were sold, and the Lions will use the funds raised for community activities and to support the five, $500 bursaries given to Seaway DH School grads. With the Leos keeping the ducks corralled on the water, the five dogs leaped in, and each brought out a duck. Winners were Ted Harriman, 5th, $100 Rileys Valu-mart gift certificate, Kim Morrow, 4th, $100 Canadian Tire gift certificate, Brenda King, 3rd, $100 Giant Tiger gift certificate,  Sharon Goddard, 2nd ($200) and 1st prize winner ($500), Bonnie Garlough and duck, Rocket. From the left are Robin Locke and Finnegan, Leanne Casselman and Katie, Juli Strader and Cocoa, Jim Martin and Addison and Wendy Graham with Floyd. Holding the Lions banner are (l-r) organizers,  Lions Judy Charette and Tracey Veinotte, who thanked the community for its support. As MC Janeen Wagemans said, “Not one duck was injured in this event.” And a good time was had by all.

[…]

 

Food Lovers’ Field Days at Upper Canada Village is Eastern Ontario’s newest culinary event.

Set for August 17 and 18 at Upper Canada Village, the new event is reminiscent of food lovers weekend events from the past, but it is much expanded.

In the past Upper Canada Village has offered a Food Lovers Weekend that mostly consisted of garden tours, with some sampling of period foods. 

“This year, food lovers will have a field day,” said Jancis Sommerville, a key organizer of the revamped and much-expanded event.

The fair ground, inside Upper Canada Village, will be set with over 30 food vendors offering their products for sample and for sale. Sweets, health foods, fresh produce, comfort foods, wine, beer, and even international cuisine will have a place, set against the backdrop of Upper Canada Village.

Foodie fun will be found throughout the fairgrounds and run over into Village establishments like Cooks Tavern, which will be offering up heritage drinks. 

A 19th century beehive oven will be used by a present day chef to cook up pizzas made specially for the occasion. Heritage Wheel Pizzas will make use of Village flour, cheese and heirloom vegetables. 

Smoking technique demonstrations, of present and past can be seen, along with the regular heritage cheese-making and bakery demonstrations. 

Special cooking demonstrations will take place on the fair grounds some featuring South Dundas resident and Raw Gourmet Food Chef Dwight Saunders.

Some of the latest trends in food are very reminiscent of the 19th century, such as the 100 mile diet, clean eating of whole, unrefined foods, and the return to the concept of the family meal. 

“So many trends are looking back to tradition, so that makes this event really relevant,” said Susan Le Clair of the St. Lawrence Parks Commission.   

Sommerville explained that, through organizing the event she did a tremendous amount of research and learned so much not only about the food, but about what is offered throughout the whole Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec region.

“A lot of people will be surprised to see what there is to offer and all that is available locally and throughout the region,” said Sommerville. “I’ve lived in this area my whole life and I couldn’t believe that we had so much, right in our own backyard.”

Access to the farmer’s market in the fairgrounds, souvenir Bellamy’s Grist Mill bags (one per party), presentations and activities are all included with admission to Upper Canada Village.

[…]

 

Ontario East British Home Child Family, in partnership with Upper Canada Village, is pleased to announce that the Aultsville Train Station will house a British Home Child exhibit on weekends from August 31st 2013 until September 28, 2013.

Between the 1860’s and the 1930’s, over 100,000 impoverished children from the British Isles were sent to Canada to work as indentured servants in the homes and farms of this country.  These children, ranging in age from infancy to 16 years, were removed from their homes by philanthropic organizations and sent to Canada in hopes of securing a better future for them.  

After travelling to Canada by ship and spending time at one of the many receiving homes located in this country, the British Home Child would often travel to their new “home” via train.  There is little doubt that many of these littlest of immigrants would have been found waiting in or near a building such as the Aultsville Train Station for pick up by their new “family”.  

It is for this reason that the Ontario East British Home Child Family, which seeks to preserve and promote the story of the British Home Child, approached Upper Canada Village to seek permission to house a collection of memorabilia and information on British Home Children in Canada at the Aultsville Station.  

The Aultsville Station will be open from 12  to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from August 31st until September 28, 2013.  

The exhibit will be composed of various artifacts and information that have been collected by British Home Child Descendants and interested members of the public. 

On site there will be a member of the OEBHCF available to provide information and answer questions as required.

[…]

 

Back to school time is quickly approaching and last week a local trucking company handed out four cheques that will help make heading back a little easier for four area post-secondary students.

Pam and Bruce Mullin of KBD Transportation in Iroquois awarded the KBD Education Bursary of $2,000 each to Justin Duval, Kendra Ward, Megan Van Allen and Megan Gunter, at their company headquarters, July 31.

“The KBD Transportation Education Bursary is awarded every year and provides grants of up to $2,000 to employees and children of employees who are enrolled in, or have received acceptance to full-time post-secondary studies,” says Cindy Ault of KBD, who administers the program. “The employee must have been an active employee of KBD for a minimum of one year to qualify,” she adds.

The 2013 recipients are all getting ready to head back to school and appreciate the help this bursary provides.

Justin Duval is the son of KBD driver David Duval. He is working towards his Bachelor’s in Engineering. He is in his second year of a four year program at University of Guelph.

Kendra Ward has been a summer student at KBD for four years. She is in her second year of a three year program in Dental Hygiene. She is studying at Algonquin College.

Megan Van Allen is the daughter of KBD driver Mike Van Allen. She is in her first year of a three year program in Community Services – Behavioural Science. She will attend St. Lawrence College in Kingston.

Megan Gunter is the daughter of KBD driver Rodney Gunter. Megan is in her first year of a two year program at St. Lawrence College in Kingston where she is studying Early Childhood Education.

KBD started this bursary program in 2006, and since then they have awarded $26,000.

“Before that, we had been giving to an education bursary with the Ontario Trucking Association,” said Pam Mullin. “But, that could go to anyone across the province, so instead we decided that if we were going to support an education program, we would like to give the money to people that matter to us here at KBD.”

With that shift, they started a program in house and award funds annually. 

[…]