“Heartfelt” Curling at Morrisburg Bonspiel

 The third annual Galop-Canal Bluegrass Festival is breaking out the guitars, banjos, mandolins, fiddles and voices starting this Friday, 5 p.m., up at the Iroquois Point. Whether you’re a long time fan, new to the rich sound of bluegrass, or a front porch performer yourself, Iroquois is the place to be June 14-16.

Visitors are welcome to rough camp right on site as well. 

“Folks don’t need to book a camping spot in advance,” said Gerri Fitzsimmons, representing the Galop Canal Revitalization Project, which is sponsoring the Festival. “People love camping at the Point. And this year, with the tall ships heading for Brockville the same weekend, there might be some incredible sailing ships through the Locks too. I have it on the highest authority (fingers crossed) that the weather this weekend is going to be perfect.

 The performers will be playing and singing on our fantastic stage until 11 p.m every night. Come enjoy one day, two days, or book the full weekend package.”

The Foggy Hogtown Boys, an enormously popular Toronto bluegrass band, will be headlining at the celebration. Joining the Boys over the weekend will be the Ducharme Family, the Dusty Drifters, Hard Ryde, Jan Purcell and Pine Road, the Unseen Strangers, Randy Morrison and the Flatt River Band, HoneyGrass and Darwin Thom and Gilles Leclerc. 

Popular Upper Canada Playhouse artistic director, Donnie Bowes, will act as honorary MC for the Festival opening ceremonies, which take place Friday evening at 5:45 p.m. at the Lions band shell. 

“Mike Anderson, a well known local musician is assuming MC duties for the rest of the weekend,” said Fitzsimmons. “He’ll be terrific.” There will be plenty of other things to see and do at the Point during the celebration.

In collaboration with the Love South Dundas campaign, there will be a delicious free breakfast served up from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. with Sunday admission. 

There’s also going to be a grand old gospel service Sunday morning as well, with Rev. Geoff Howard and his family leading the hymns. “I am very happy about this partnership developing with Love South Dundas,” Fitzsimmons said.

There will be vendors on site, food pavilions, Barkley’s Berries, a psychic and displays of the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Lost Villages with Lyle Van Allen and Jim Brownell. Free workshops on Saturday, led by experts, will be offered in guitar, banjo and mandolin.

On Sunday, the Golden Gears will be rolling onto the site around 11 a.m. with a parade of classic autos. Ontario Power Generation has provided back packs stuffed with information about South Dundas attractions for all visitors. 

“Our sponsors have been fantastic. They made this Festival possible through their fund raisers and donations and by allowing us to use this beautiful park.”

The committee bringing the 2013 Bluegrass Festival to South Dundas includes Mike and Loretta Anderson, Barb and Gerry Gurnhill, Sharon and Dick Piché, Paul and Ruth Robertson and Nathalie Sirois.

For information, contact 613-652-1753 or go on line at www.galopcanalbluegrassfestival.com. 

Bring a lawn chair, a toe to tap and a love of good music, and don’t miss the Galop-Canal Bluegrass Festival, June 14-16.

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A Comprehensive Settlement Area Boundary Study, which envelops all of the urban and rural areas within the county, was prepared by the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Planning Department.

The study is now available for public consumption and examination on the County website: www.sdgcounties.ca. The public is encouraged to give feedback on the study.

After reading the report, it appears that there are no changes proposed for Morrisburg’s urban settlement area.

The study does recommend minor changes for both Iroquois and Williamsburg.

According to the study summary, “no change to the boundaries is proposed for the Rural Settlement Areas of Ault Island, Dixon Corners, Glen Becker, Hainesville or Riverside Heights.”

“The area east of Elma is proposed to be added to the Rural Settlement Area.”

“Mariatown is recommended to be recognized as a Rural Settlement Area.”

Minor changes are suggested for Dunbar, Dundela, Irena, Winchester Springs, Glen Stewart, and Stampville.

[…]

The Morrisburg Waterfront Implementation Committee decided to think big when planning the future of the Morrisburg waterfront, the sum of implementing their plan, in full, could cost $7.4 million.

The Morrisburg Waterfront Phase 1 Concept Plan was presented to South Dundas council at their final meeting of 2013, by lead consultants Mark Thompson Brandt Architect and Associates Inc. “We realize it’s a large vision, but it needs to be that,” said Randy Veinotte, who spoke on behalf to the committee.

“I think the public has a real appetite to do something down there at the waterfront and this plan should help you by providing a good blue print to help you as council members to move things forward.”

“The committee truly feels what is here in this plan is appropriate for the community,” said Veinotte.Veinotte told council of the input and feedback that the committee had in the planning process and that this plan truly reflects the committees vision for the waterfront.

The focus of the first phase of the plan is the dock area. Pathways and key elements including a welcome centre, café with a roof top terrace, and waterfront look-out tower, are all part of the design which provides a strong and visible arrival identity to the area.

The plan not only works to define and address how people arrive, move through and experience the place, it also takes into account problem solving measures for areas of concern, namely parking. “With this plan, we’ve added about 160 parking spaces, which is a fairly dramatic increase,” said Mark Brandt, who made the presentation. That includes 40 double-long spaces for boats and trailers. “We’re putting the parking in the right places,” he added.

With a visual presentation which included a virtual tour of the proposal, Brandt said, “This design is uniquely of Morrisburg.”“This is a large vision, but we set out very deliberately to do that,” said Brandt. “It was important for the committee to set out a big vision that speaks to pride this community has in its waterfront.”“This is great work,” commented South Dundas councillor Archie Mellan, adding that he hopes the public input about this plan is positive. “It is very impressive. Funding it will be the only issue.”

“It is a park of dreams,” added councillor Evonne Delegarde. “There has been a lot of great input by the committee. Funding will be the tell tale sign of getting things done.”

“This is an ambitious concept. It would be wonderful to see it in place,” said councillor Jim Graham. He added that the $7.4 million price tag isn’t out of line when you compare it to the cost of something like building a new arena.“

The plan is ambitious, but not unattainable,” said South Dundas deputy mayor Jim Locke. “This community has a great ability to pull together when it decides to and to get things done.”

“I really hope we don’t hear a negative reaction from the public first,” said South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds. “If this plan is what the community wants, it can happen.”

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