beach BOOSTER We’re Local.....We’re Wasaga Beach....No. 85 May 4, 2014 NEXT BREAKFAST AT THE BEACH Speaker – Wasaga Beach Fire Chief Mike McWilliam The Networking Committee for the Wasaga Beach Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that the speaker for our next 'Breakfast at the Beach' on Thursday, May 15th at 7:00am-8:30am will be Fire Chief Mike McWilliam. The breakfast will be held at the new Wasaga Beach Firehall at 966 River Road West, Wasaga Beach. The event will be catered by Pina of Taste of Paradise. The Wasaga Beach Firehall opened its doors in November 2012. It is an impressive 14,600 ft building, which houses an indoor training room, training tower, offices, kitchen facilities and a lounge area. Fire Chief McWilliam will deliver a hands on presentation on portable fire extinguishers, instruction on how to use them properly and provide information with respect to the Ontario Fire Code requirements for businesses. Attendees will have the opportunity to use an extinguisher on an actual fire. Chief McWilliam was born and raised in Wasaga Beach and has remained a resident for all of his 46 years. Michael has been married to his wife Cheryl for 19 years and has 2 children, 12 and 15 years old. In 1989 Michael began fighting fires as a volunteer and then became a full time fire fighter in 1995. In 2004 he was promoted to Deputy Fire Chief and in 2007 was promoted again and sworn in as the Fire Chief and Community Emergency Management Coordinator for the Town of Wasaga Beach. In his spare time Michael enjoys golfing, motor biking, skiing and spending time with his family. Join Fire Chief McWilliam, his team and other local business people for a tour of the Firehall and an interesting presentation and demo on fire safety and the use of a fire extinguisher. Please RSVP for this breakfast as we will only have a limited number of spots. To confirm your attendance for this breakfast and to obtain more information, contact Trudie McCrea at the Wasaga Beach Chamber of Commerce at 705-429-2247.
The History of Mother’s Day Mother's Day is a busy day for flower shops. On Sunday, May 11th, a lot of kids will give their mothers cards and flowers, take them to brunch or maybe try to make them breakfast-in-bed. Why that day in particular? Because this year, May 11th is Mother’s Day. It’s a holiday that goes back a long, long time — more than 2,000 years, according to some historians. They say it began with an ancient Greek celebration honoring Rhea — the goddess who was considered the mother of all the other Greek gods. Her festival was held every spring. More recently (around 400 years ago), a holiday called “Mothering Sunday” became common in England. It was celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent, which is the period leading up to the Christian holiday of Easter. The social activist and poet Julia Ward Howe is given credit for first suggesting the celebration of Mother’s Day back in 1872. But the woman many people consider the Mother of Mother’s Day here in North America is a woman named Anna Jarvis. In the first decade of the 20th century, she started a campaign to make Mother’s Day a national holiday, after the death of her own mother. On May 10,1907, she organized a special Mother’s Day service at her mother’s church in her hometown of Grafton, West Virginia. She chose the second Sunday of May because that was the anniversary of her mother’s passing. Jarvis then got financial backing for her campaign from wealthy Philadelphia philanthropist John Wanamaker, who founded one of the first department stores in the United States. Just seven years later, on May 14,1914, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation that made Mother’s Day a national holiday, on the second Sunday of May each year. For Jarvis, Mother’s Day was not a day to go out and buy something for your mother. In fact, she opposed what she saw as the growing commercialization of the holiday. She saw Mother’s Day as a day to honor women for the work they do as mothers, not as a day to make money. So if you don’t have money to buy your mom a gift, don’t worry. Just do something nice for her to show her you appreciate what she does for you every day. Chances are, that’ll be enough of a gift for her.
Cathy’s Flower & Gift Boutique 705-429-1112