July 19, 2018 Vol. 18, No. 28
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Community rallies to Lakes and Trails Festival in Sydenham J
by Catherine Reynolds
ohn Neven knows movement is medicine. Standing with his bike at the second annual Lakes and Trails Festival in Sydenham last week, the 70-year-
Sharbot Lake's Philip Bender enjoying the fe4stivities after a 21 km trail ride. old smiles after cycling 21kms. “The ride was excellent,” says the Sharbot Lake man after eating his third ice cream cone post-race. “The scenery was fantastic. I didn’t realize the lake was so big.”
Neven, along with dozens of other cyclists, biked around Sydenham Lake as part of a grassroots event to highlight the area’s remarkable lakes, trails and history. The bike tour (four distances in total) was held in conjunction with a paddle, walking tour, concert and lunch; all free at Point Park in the morning and Mill Street in the afternoon. Lead organizer Ross Sutherland, Sydenham District Councillor with South Frontenac Township, smiles when he announces registration has topped 375 people; a number he had hoped to reach. “I’m really happy,” he said while looking around at the successful summer event. “It has such a wonderful feel.” According to Sutherland, the bike rodeo was a big hit with families.. “We encouraged people to come-out, have lunch and visit. It’s very much a community event,” explains the 66year-old. New this year to the festival was a children’s performer. “At the beginning, I was afraid it wouldn’t work, but by the end, there was 40 to 50 kids (watching the performance),” says Sutherland. “It was fun.” Asked about the purpose of the festival, Sutherland notes, “It’s a bundle of things. Sydenham is a wonderful community, but it doesn’t do much as a community.” Faced with this challenge, Sutherland and a group of volunteers decided to showcase the area’s attractions. “We have three of the best trails in the province crossing Sydenham,” says Sutherland. “We also have beautiful lakes. It’s sort of a natural fit.” The organizers plan to keep the event as a grassroots community event as evident by the music playing in the background. “This is all my favourite music,” says Sutherland, gesturing to the upbeat soundtrack he made for the festival. Sitting with other members of the SteeleBender Cycle Club of Sharbot Lake, Phillip Bender smiles when asked about the festival.
Christine Kennedy in full costume talking about Sydenham's days of yore “It was good,” says the 65-year-old about completing the 21km bike ride. “I did it last year as well. That’s what brought me back. It’s a fun time. You get to meet people.” The festival also included a historical walk around the village, featuring storytellers Spencer Storms, Joanne Ankers, Ginny Trousdale, Christine Kennedy, Gary Hay, Peter Hamilton, Cam and Wilma Kenny, all at different locations throughout Sydenham. They talked about some of the colourful personal and commercial history of the village, which had two large hotels (the American and the Union) and a number of smaller ones in its heyday between 1860 and WWI. Questioned if a third annual festival is in the works, Sutherland said, “We’d love to do it again, but it sort of depends on community support. We need to raise enough money and have enough volunteers. “The people who are organizing it (this year) did an amazing job,” he said. “This wouldn’t work if it wasn’t a community festival.”
Local green energy co-op faces new Ford reality
U
ntil late last week, The Wintergreen Energy Co-op (WGC) had thirteen 250 kilowatt solar energy projects ready to proceed in South and Central Frontenac and rural Kingston under the Feed-in-Tariff (5)
program. Not anymore. The WGC projects are among the 758 green energy projects that were cancelled this week by the new Ontario government. WGC President David Hahn said on Tuesday that the solar projects had been waiting for the final go ahead from Ontario’s Independent Electricity Service Operator (IESO), which was to come in the form a Notice to Proceed (NTP). “My understanding is that all of the projects waiting for the NTP have been cancelled,” he said when contacted at his farm on Canoe
Lake Road, “which would include our projects”. Hahn said that Wintergreen itself was not facing a large financial loss as the result of the cancellations. “We invested time and effort in it, and some money, but the way these projects work, we don’t take ownership until the project is up and running. Our partner, SolarShare, and the contractor we work with, Soventix, as well as the landowners who will not be getting any benefit from the land leases, are all out of pocket for all the work and costs associated with getting approvals and arranging for the tie-in to the grid. They are all worse off than the co-op itself from these cancel-
lations.” Hahn said that projects would have created jobs locally and regionally, but “that is all gone by the wayside now." For the WGC, the future is unclear as until now they had been promoting community based renewable projects under the soon to be scrapped Green Energy Act, but Hahn thinks it will continue to have a role to play. “We will discuss this at our Annual General Meeting in the Fall, but I am hopeful that net metering projects will still be viable, and maybe we can do some of those on a community basis. Net metering refers to small scale projects that feed energy back into the electricity grid,
by Jeff Green
lowering or eliminating hydro charges to the customer who produces the power. “If we can pool groups of homeowners to feed energy back into the system, hopefully that will still be something that will be acceptable to the new government,” he said. The Wintergreen Energy Co-op was set up in 2012 to promote community based green energy projects in Kingston Frontenac and Lennox and Addington. “We envision a region where our energy needs are met through renewable and clean energy technologies. Community ownership and participation provide the foundation for all Wintergreen Energy Co-op projects” is how its mission is described on its website.
Dry weather leads to large wild fire in CF C
entral Frontenac Fire & Rescue (CFFR) called in Ministry of Natural Resources to assist with a large wildfire July 12, 2018. On July 12, 2018, at 1723hrs, CFFR received a call from a resident reporting smoke coming from a forest area in the southern area of Arden Road. At the same time, CFFR received a call from the Minis-
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try of Natural Resources that an airplane reported a wildfire in the area of Arden Road and Pitt Road. CFFR located a large wildfire in a remote area east of Arden Road near the Stone Mills boundary. Due to the size of the fire, very dry and hot conditions, and remote location, CFFR requested assistance from Ministry of Natural Resources. The fire was approximately 2.5 hectares with large hills
and heavy brush and trees. CFFR was on scene fighting the fire for 3 days, it was declared stopped on Saturday July 14 at 1130hrs. The cause of the fire was from lightning striking a tree. CFFR would like to remind residents that the wild fire hazard rating is extreme and there is a level 2 burning ban.
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