Battle Of Hoople’s Creek staged at the Village

 Iroquois has a jaunty new nautical look these days. On Tuesday, November 15, the community welcomed two completely refurbished Canadian Coast Guard Channel Markers to their new home just in front of the shopping plaza. 

“These markers recognize Iroquois’ long connection to the Seaway with the locks here, the Galop Canal, the Marina and our extensive boating areas,” said local businessman, Jeff Beaupre. 

“These brightly painted buoys will draw attention to tourism and also to boating safety.”

Several community organ-izations and businesses assisted in the project including the township of South Dundas, the Iroquois-Matilda Lions, Frank Ault Excavating, Swank Construction, the Iroquois District Business Group and the Coast Guard through Bill Mullin.

The twin buoys should soon become landmarks in the South Dundas region.

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South Dundas voters will have three opportunities to hear from their 14 municipal election candidates, when the South Dundas Chamber of Commerce hosts all candidates nights.

The South Dundas Chamber of Commerce is organizing the all candidates nights for the upcoming Municipal Election, in keeping with its tradition of making these important forums available to the entire community so candidates have an opportunity to express their views and voters have the information they need to make informed choices on October 27th. 

The All Candidates Nights will begin at 6 p.m. and be held at the following locations and dates: Upper Canada Playhouse on Tuesday, September 30, Matilda Hall on Tuesday, October 14 and Iroquois Civic Centre on Monday October 20.  

All three meetings will feature all candidates seeking election to South Dundas council.

The format for these All Candidates Nights will be as follows: 

• All candidates will be given two minutes for opening statements. This will allow them to introduce themselves, give some background information and outline their views on specific issues and why they have offered their services to South Dundas residents. 

• The floor will then be open to a question and answer period, providing an opportunity to ask candidates specific questions that concern you and your community.

• Candidates will be given two minutes for closing statements.  

It should be noted that this is not a debate.  

There will be no rebuttals or further questions following the candidate’s answer.  

Everyone is invited to participate in these important events. 

They provide a valuable forum for voters to present their concerns to the very individuals who are vying for the position to address these concerns for the next four years. 

It also provides the unique opportunity to hear and compare all of the candidates’ views and intentions in their bid for elected office. 

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Twenty community members joined in the conversation about tourism that took place at the McIntosh Country Inn, November 29.

Our Passport to the Future: A Tourism Stakeholder Discussion Forum provided the opportunity for interested community members to speak one on one with the community members who helped identify initiatives to strengthen South Dundas’ tourism sector.

As part of the session, those who attended were asked to rank five sectors on their potential to increase the number of visits, length of stay, repeat business and overall economic benefit in South Dundas. The sectors included; arts and culture, cycling, fishing and boating, history and motorcycling.

Although the question was very definitive, the answer provided by the participants was not.

“In terms of ranking, there is almost an even spread between the sectors,” said South Dundas Economic Development Officer Nicole Sullivan.

“Attendees generally agreed with the sectors and initiatives identified. Much of the feedback spoke to different ideas on applying the initiatives or ways to enhance them which can easily be applied to the implementation plan,” she said.

A common theme noted by the discussion facilitators was the desire to focus activity to the waterfront.

“The need for Lakeshore Drive to be paved was mentioned by several participants,” said Linda Wilson, who was facilitating discussions about cycling and motorcycling.

“The waterfront being a hub of activity is being talked about by a lot of people,” said Donnie Bowes who was facilitating discussions about arts and culture. “People see the waterfront as the place for farmers markets and markets where artisans can showcase their produce and crafts, the place for festivals, the place for people and artists to congregate.”

Susan Le Clair was facilitating discussions about history and noted that people, in the context of history, also believe the focus should be the waterfront. 

“What people are talking about is a critical mass of different activities along the waterfront. These are things that we can probably accomplish,” she said pointing to examples of historical plaques and walking tours. “Things we can accomplish are as important as anything, because anything you can accomplish fuels the community’s enthusiasm.” 

“The next step, and one of our most challenging given how many assets our community has to build on, is narrowing down to two or three areas of focus,” said Sullivan. 

Information from this meeting will contribute to the final tourism development strategy. It will be presented to council in the new year.

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