St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage kicks off new season with The Small Glories.

Nicole Sullivan, South Dundas Economic Development Officer, recommended to council at the January 17th meeting that directional signage be purchased for both the South Dundas Dog Park and the Iroquois Locks.

After hearing Sullivan’s recommendation and reasoning, council agreed to the purchase of six signs.

The South Dundas Dog Park in Morrisburg will have three signs in the following locations:  County Road 2 directing West bound traffic; County Road 2 directing East bound traffic; and, County Road 31 directing South bound traffic.

The Iroquois Locks will also have three signs. The locations for these are: County Road 2 directing West bound traffic; County Road 2 directing East bound traffic; and, County Road 1 (Carman Road) directing South bound traffic.

Each sign comes at a cost of $335. In addition, the township will need to rent the sign space. This is done through a membership fee of $75 per year in the County Tourism Signage Program administered by Seaway Valley Tourism.

In total, the cost of the new directional signage will be $2,085 for 2012. 

Sullivan’s recommendation, she said, “comes out of discussions with the Park Pals committee and feedback from the community about directing people to the Iroquois Locks.”

In her report, she referred to the township’s 2005 Strategic Economic Development Plan and two of it’s recommendations. “Both of these recommendations,” she reported, “aim to enrich the experience of visitors to South Dundas. This will result in extended stays, repeat visits and ultimately, greater benefits to the local economy.”

“I fully support signs for the Iroquois Locks,” said Councillor Evonne Delegarde. She was concerned, however, in the many other attractions at the waterfront that could benefit from directional signage, other than the dog park.

During an interview on January 23rd, Sullivan told The Leader that “signage is imperative when people are in your community.” In addition to making the experience more pleasurable, it “also grabs people who might not have been aware” of the attractions in the first place.

“We’re always looking for ways to enrich the visitor’s trip. We’re looking for things to add on to their visit,” she explained. “The longer someone is in the community, the bigger the contribution to the local economy.”

“Recognizing that,” she continued, “one of my goals is a signage review.” The review will begin by compiling a list of all the attractions South Dundas has to offer.

“It won’t be something we can do in one year,” said Sullivan. “Once we look at the whole scope of attractions, that’s when we can start prioritizing.”

[…]

The weather was perfect. The apple pies and apple desserts were perfect. And the large crowds were perfectly happy to enjoy games, rides, music and lots of good food during the Iroquois Apple Festival held on Saturday, September 17.

Candace Menges, chair of the Iroquois & District Celebration Festival Committee, which organized the event, said that organizers were “extremely pleased with the day.”

“The only complaint we’ve heard thus far is that there was no where to park,” Menges laughed. “I think I kind of like that complaint, as you don’t hear that too often in the Iroquois Plaza.”

The theme of the 2011 festival was tied in to the 200th anniversary of the McIntosh Apple.

Descendents of the McIntosh family and other guests came from Toronto, Niagara Falls, Ottawa, Cornwall and the United States to visit the community and enjoy the festival.

“We want to offer many thanks to Smyth’s Orchards for providing tours of their orchards and for setting up the McIntosh Apple Visitors’ Centre,” Menges said. “The family was great to work with, and we are very thankful that they have sustained the McIntosh Apple within our community where it originated.”

With members of the McIntosh family assisting, South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds and members of council officially opened the Festival by cutting the red ribbon. Mayor Byvelds praised the work of the organizers. With councillor Evonne Delegarde he presented McIntosh descendents with specially created commemorative coins in honour of the 200th anniversary.

An all day farmers’ market, colourful vendors, Tribeck Inflatables, a petting zoo and lots of fun contests for kid and adults alike were popular at the Festival. Children especially enjoyed the music of H&S Express, while the beat of Landmark rocked the plaza in the afternoon.

Members of the South Dundas council were also called upon to judge desserts and pies. (Some had to sample each offering two or three times just to be sure.) The apple pie winner was Lori Link, while Anne Hartle won top apple dessert.

Cutest apple dumpling baby under age one was Addisyn Blanchette while Kacey Claxton took honours in the one to two year old category. Sarah Steward, Mateo Lacroix and Amber Bailey were judged best in the colouring contests in their age categories. Ethel Merkley won the peeling contest with an apple peel measuring 31.5 inches, while Sharron Miller was the winner of the apple trivial challenge. Lynne Jamieson was the 50/50 draw winner. 

[…]

Last year’s best new event in Ontario, is even bigger and better this year.

October 10 area media and dignitaries  were led through the 2013 Pumpkinferno display at Upper Canada Village, to see the bigger and better display.

In its sophomore year, even before the display welcomed its first visitors for the 2013 season, officials already knew that what they had to offer was an improvement  over their first year event, which was hugely successful, attracting over 35,000 visitors.

“The display is 25 to 30 per cent bigger,” said St. Lawrence Parks Commission CEO Darren Dalgleish. He explained that not only are there more carvings on display, the display is spread out over a larger area of the village.

The layout of the display had been changed, alleviating many of the congestion issues seen last year.

“This is a unique one of a kind event in Canada. And, the success of last year’s event suggests that this is something that people haven’t seen before,” said Dalgleish.

He is exceptionally proud of Pumpkinferno, which has won many awards, and broken all St. Lawrence Parks Commission attendance records. He takes a great deal of pride in the estimated $4 million economic impact this event has had on the area.

“Re-establishing Eastern Ontario as a tourist destination involves more than just the St. Lawrence Parks,” said Dalgleish. “Being connected to our community is an important priority for us.”

Geoff Waycik, Upper Canada Village General Manager, after just the opening weekend was pleased with attendance, saying that this year’s opening weekend was already larger than last year’s opening weekend.

Waycik spoke about the impact of Pumpkinferno locally last year, with Tim Hortons running out of coffee cups and the local McDonalds this year getting special permission for additional staffing. 

“Pumpkinferno’s impact has definitely been felt locally, and we’re very proud of that fact,” said Waycik.

The walking paths are wider to allow people to take more time to enjoy the 7,000 carvings. 

They have worked to improve the entry process, but with the event’s growing popularity they are strongly recommending that visitors purchase their tickets online to speed the process. 

The House of Horoscopes display (pictured right) is a great unique addition to the display that provides a unique star-gazing opportunity.

The young artist’s pumpkin patch features carvings by area school children. This year 800 young artist participated, which doubles the number involved in the program last year. 

Pumpkinferno runs select nights October 4 to November 2. 

[…]