The Lindsay Advocate - June 2022

Portraits Community Making Kawartha Lakes of a

an even better place to live The Advocate at 50

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Kawartha Lakes Premier News Magazine June 2022

MIKE GALLAGHER Business Manager

JOE REDSHAW President

A LONG AND PROUD HISTORY OF ENSURING THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF ITS MEMBERS, PROVIDING SKILLS TRAINING, AND NEGOTIATING INDUSTRY-LEADING WAGES, PENSIONS AND BENEFITS International Union of Operating Engineers Local 793 2245 Speers Road, Oakville, Ontario, Canada L6L 6X8 Phone: 1-877-793-4863 | Website: www.iuoelocal793.org

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our vision The Advocate is published monthly and distributed through diverse businesses and locations throughout Kawartha Lakes, North Durham and southern Haliburton County. We are a proud member of the Lindsay & District, Fenelon Falls and Bobcaygeon Chambers of Commerce.

June 2022 * Vol. 7 * Issue 50

The Advocate cares about the social wellness of our community and our country.

Our vision includes strong public enterprises mixed with healthy small businesses to serve our communities’ needs. We put human values ahead of economic values and many of our stories reflect the society we work to build each day.

Publisher: Roderick Benns Associate Editor: Nancy Payne Contributing Editor: Trevor Hutchinson Contributing Writers: Geoff Coleman Denis Grignon Ginny Colling Ian McKechnie Creative Director: Amy Occhipinti Photographers: Sienna Frost Mike Palmer Web Developer: Kimberley Durrant Published by Fireside Publishing

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PAT R I C K H E A L E Y owner The Kinmount House Bed and Breakfast

Printed by Cofax Printing Cover Image: Portrait of Simone Wicks

by Mike Palmer Please send advertising and editorial inquiries to Roderick Benns at: The Lindsay Advocate 1 Russell Street E. Lindsay ON, K9V 1Z7 kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com (705) 341-1496 PRIVACY POLICY: The Lindsay Advocate is independently owned and operated. The opinions expressed herein are the views of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of this magazine. Photos, text, and art work contained in the Lindsay Advocate are copyrighted and may not be published, broadcast, or rewritten without the express permission of the Publisher. Liability for incorrectly displayed advertising is limited to publishing corrections or advertising credit for subsequent issues. The Publisher reserves the right to reject, revise, cancel, omit, discontinue or even decline to print advertising without reason or liability, and without notice. The Publisher has made every effort to ensure information contained herein was accurate at press time. The Publisher does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any party for damage, loss, or disruption caused by errors or omissions.

10 editorial

19 cover

15 feature

Welcome back seasonal residents. It’s not the same without you.

We’re 50 issues old, celebrating your ideas to make our community even better.

VCCS is using virtual reality to help job seekers find the right path.

every issue Letters to the Editor 4 * UpFront 6 * Benns’ Belief 9 Lunch With 29 * Cool Tips for a Hot Planet 39 * The Local Kitchen 44 Just in Time 41 * Trevor’s Take 46

To advertise in the Advocate please contact us by telephone at (705) 341-1496 or by email at kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com lindsayadvocate.ca

Letters

TO T H E E D I TO R

“Letters have a magic all their own. I never know what angels or demons will be released as I open each envelope, but I know the plot will move on.” – Charlotte Gray Extra electricity matters too.

Your climate writer’s May article promoting electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps totally ignores, as usual, the substantial additional electricity required to operate all of these electrically operated devices. I’ve calculated the total electricity generated by two Darlington-sized nuclear generating stations would be required to power the future legislated electric vehicles.

Substantial additional electricity would also be required to power heat pumps used for winter heating.

The 25 per cent claim of future natural gas electricity production must be further increased to provide for the extra heat pumps and EVs. The existing nuclear generating stations are aging with no nuclear stations planned, presumably because our relatively safe nuclear stations are considered politically incorrect.

Solar is undependable, especially in winter. Your columnist’s constant demonization of fossil fuels never includes any physical or mathematical description as to how the CO2 produced by fossil fuel combustion actually increases the global temperature. ~ James Lindsay, Lindsay

Neighbourhood connection to subdivision not wanted.

We have heard that the small neighbourhood consisting of three small streets off Angeline Steet North — David Drive, Richard Avenue and Linwood Drive — will be connected to the huge new subdivision on Angeline Street that extends over to Colborne Street West and Highway 35. They are apparently considering extending two of our small roads, David Drive and Richard Avenue, into their massive subdivision.

the advocate welcomes your letters We reserve the right to edit letters.. We do not publish anonymous letters unless it’s a matter of public importance and/or someone risks harm by writing us. We publish under strict guidelines and only if we can verify the person’s identity. Simply email kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com Keep your letters to 200 words or less.

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These small, quiet streets have existed since the 1980s and the neighbourhood consists of a mix of seniors and families with small children. These streets are just a light paving topcoat with no curbs or sidewalks.

The impact of turning our quiet little streets into a throughfare for years of heavy equipment, trucks and a high volume of traffic will be devastating for us. We have already had to put up with three years of constant noise, dirt and increased traffic from the construction of houses nearby.

Most of the residents here plan to raise our objections to this new proposal which was not in the original development plan. ~ Donna Campbell and Paul Hill, Lindsay

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* just in time * * upfront * Cenotaph Stories Hooks and Needles project needs your memories needs your help for* HERE’S 100thMY anniversary project CARD * * upfront business *

The Cenotaph Stories project aims to unlock and preserve new memories & now * * then from the families and friends of soldiers whose names are on the Lindsay war monument.

“We want to attach a family story to each of the names that have been * lunch with * inscribed on the memorial, so that their memory continues to live on,” says Claus Reuter, a volunteer with the project. reads * * great “When the cenotaph was erected 100

years ago, the memories of those lost

were still fresh in the minds of those who stood before it,” he says. As time has passed,* that is no longer the case. opinion * The stories the group gleans from community members about the soldiers will go onto the website of spotlight * the Royal*Canadian Legion. A printed version might also be created, which would go to archives and libraries in the wider Kawartha Region. * editorial *

The project’s goal is to document each person by the 100th anniversary of the cenotaph on November 11, 2022.

Claus Reuter, left, with Sean Musson, right. Musson is with the Stouffville Legion and discovered he has multiple relatives listed on the Lindsay cenotaph. Photo: Sienna Frost. benns’ belief crossword

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Ann Louise Smith, left, Lynda Chessman, centre, and France Barrett, right with some of their work in support of Hooks and Needles. Photo: Sienna Frost.

A dedicated group of knitters and crocheters needs yarn so members can keep on giving.

“All our helpers depend on donated yarns, new balls of yarn or leftovers,” says Ann Smith, a volunteer with Hooks and Needles.

Lynda Chessman, coordinator of the Lindsay-based group, adds that although they have not been able to get together, volunteers have carried on in their homes producing items that have gone out to northern Indigenous communities, children at King Albert school, the Kawartha Lakes Pregnancy Centre and the Salvation Army.

* trevor’s take *

“If people knew what we do and that we only work with donations we might be able to collect enough to keep us going,” Smith adds.

“Our volunteers enjoy donating their time and keeping their minds and hands busy for a good cause.”

To make a donation, please contact Chessman by telephone at (705) 328-4431 or email lyndachess70@gmail.com

To share information about anyone named on the Lindsay cenotaph, please email the Legion at cenotaphstories@gmail.com 6

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* just in time *

* HERE’S MY CARD *

* upfront *

* upfront business *

Richwood Contracting now *association with * then has&long * opinion * Kawartha Lakes area * lunch with *

Omemee-based woman a published author after successful Twitter pitch

* spotlight *

* editorial * * great reads *

* benns’ belief *

* crossword *

Richwood Contracting’s Sue Ferguson at the Country Living Show.

Lori Jean Rowsell, Omemee author.

Richwood Contracting’s Sue Ferguson says she and her

A 40-year-old local author from Omemee, Lori Jean Rowsell, is now a published author thanks to Twitter.

take husband, Rick Ferguson, * trevor’s * “have vacationed with our

kids in the Kawarthas for 20 years.”

She adds, “We had a trailer near Bobcaygeon for 17 years.

Even after we sold the trailer, we kept our boat in the Kawarthas.”

The company’s main business is retractable screens, both motorized and manual. They’re custom-fitted on-site for customers. As an authorized dealer for Mirage Retractable Screens for 12 years, she says the company has gained a lot of experience and specialization.

Richwood also does doors and windows, although that’s less of a focus. “Rick has been in the construction trades for over 35 years, so when people started asking if we could do windows and doors, it was just a natural. We don’t want to compete with the big window companies. We just do them if someone asks.”

Installations of the screens or other products are always done by Rick and he travels all over Ontario to meet customers’ needs.

To learn more, visit richwoodcontracting.com

Of course, it’s also thanks to Rowsell’s hard work but her debut young adult novel got noticed after she participated in a Twitter pitch — an online event where authors can pitch their work to prospective agents or publishers on the social media platform.

American publisher Champagne Book Group requested a full manuscript.

“They loved it, offered me a contract and now I’m published,” she tells the Advocate.

No Other Love “follows Peppermint ‘Pep’ Taylor, a junior in high school whose world is turned upside down when she and her boyfriend Justin are in a car accident,” says Rowsell.

Champagne publishes primarily in electronic formats, so will offer the ebook version for six months before releasing it in paperback. Copies should be available in the early fall.

To learn more, visit lorijeanrowsell.com

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* benns’ belief *

* crossw

Roderick Benns Publisher

trevor’s take *

* Welcome to Advocate 2.0

Fifty consecutive editions of the Advocate ! I use exclamation marks sparingly, but we are especially proud of this milestone.

Our readers, advertisers and distributors have stood by us from the beginning, helping to ensure a unique idea like the Advocate was not only given root, but allowed to flourish.

There are many ways we’re celebrating.

First — and perhaps most obviously — there’s our incredible all-new design. The magazine has been rebuilt from the ground up, from our logo to the way we do our covers, to our interior pages. All the same great kind of content you’re used to, but freshly packaged by our new creative director Amy Occhipinti.

Our biggest celebration, though, is not about us; it’s about the people who live here. We asked gifted photographer Mike Palmer to work with us as we solicited 50 ways to make our community even better.

You’ll see Palmer’s work, starting on page 19. You’ll also learn where you can see his work up close at art galleries in our community.

Taking a glance at our covers shows the many causes we’ve taken on. We have come out swinging for basic income, and against extreme capitalism that leaves people behind. We spoke out swiftly and strongly against the idea of Ross Memorial Hospital ever merging with Peterborough Regional Health Centre. We’ve fought for more people in the trades, the health of our waterways, and pushed for cleaning up

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brownfields in the city. We’ve written about drugs in public housing, cuts to education, poor working conditions at the Central East Correctional Centre. We covered teen pregnancy, women’s issues, the need for postal banking, rural internet and the value of unions. We shone a light on the experience of being Black in Kawartha Lakes, LifeLabs’ often outrageous wait times, and we revisited the Indigenous history we have erased. We fought for more funding and attention for arts and culture, rural transportation and a national pharmacare plan.

We’ve also hosted political debates, held rallies and convened panel discussions on topics like diversity in politics. In short, we are trying to demonstrate what an involved and caring media company might look like.

Thank you for letting us know when you love us or disagree with us. That’s what keeps us going because we know you’re reading. Fifty issues ago, I wrote in my very first column that “so much media is passive and merely records history. We pledge to be active, conscious advocates for the change we all wish to see.”

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* spotlight *

with *

* editorial *

reads *

Welcome, Seasonal Residents

belief *

s take *

We live in a world that seems to thrive on crossword controversy and *negativity. The last* few years have been increasingly toxic and polarizing and U.S.-influenced political and cultural discourse continues to rear its head here.

B

y the time you read* just this, the inprovincial time * election campaign will be over or almost over and our thoughts will move on to the promise of summer. Sometimes the arrival of the good weather months sets up false struggles between those of us whoHERE’S live here MY year-round and our CARD * * seasonal residents and tourists.

* upfront *

* upfront business *

Locally some of us speak condescendingly of “cidiots” and paint out-of-towners as brash speed demons, out of touch & now * then with the pace of life here.

Of course, the *home-grown variety who exhibit the same sort of behaviour is often forgotten.

* opinion *

In truth, seasonal residents bring much to the area.

If you’re among them, consider this a welcome back.

* spotlight *

lunch with The money you spend * here is good for our* economy,

but it’s more personal than that. It literally helps our friends and neighbours, many of whom are small business owners, survive what is often a quiet winter. You are helping to ensure these places exist for all of us year-round. great reads

Rotary an amazing experience

* benns’ Many of you have urban roots and sobelief you bring*a different way of looking at the world sometimes. Diversity of ideas is always a good thing.

I am so grateful to the* local * crossword Rotary Club for choosing me as one of their Rotary exchange students.

It broadened my heart and mind and was an incredible experience that shaped how I live as an adult. The kind people of Rotary in Lindsay and in Verviers, Belgium, where I lived, took me under their wing. It was so amazing.

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Your boats easing up to our locks and through our waterways bring ambience and give locals a sense of pride of place. We know we live in a special area but it’s nice to be reminded when we see others enjoying it.

You often form friendships here with local residents, enriching both of your experiences. These friendships take * over the * trevor’s have been strained because of the pandemic past two years. It’s time to get back to renewing our connections, which are good for our health.

A heartfelt thank-you for what you add to our communities

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* editorial *

Re: “The Lindsay Rotary Club: 100 Years of Service,”in the May edition of the Advocate.

~ Krissy Collins, Kawartha Lakes

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*

* then & now *

*

* opinion *

Medical Assistance in Dying is only humane with a livable income * spotlight * * lunch with *

Medical assistance in dying (MAID) is widely accepted as a humane, safe way for terminally ill or suffering patients to end their lives with the help of medical professionals. But that can only editorial * be true if someone has a livable income. * * great reads *

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Now, as predicted, people are choosing MAID rather ithout the addition of monetary and housing than continuing to live in poverty on inadequate supports for those in our lowest income brackets, the policy has a disproportionate and negative effect on provincial supports like the Ontario Disability Support the poor and disabled, many of whom feel their only Program (ODSP), which pays up to $1,169 per month. * benns’ belief * * crossword * choice is between poverty or death.

As CTV reported, a 31-year-old Toronto woman who The practice was legalized by the federal government in uses a wheelchair and has chemical sensitivities chose 2016 and, due to a Quebec Superior Court ruling that MAID over continuing to live. But was it a choice if her first choice, as she said, was to live? She wants a some of its restrictions were unconstitutional, access to wheelchair-accessible home that is free from smoke MAIDtrevor’s was expandedtake in 2020 as part of Bill C-7. * * and chemicals, but her only income is from ODSP. She Recently, Carla Qualtrough, minister of employment, receives the maximum monthly payment plus $50 for a workforce development and disability inclusion, special diet, making it impossible to afford housing. She also touted a so-called “Canada Disability Benefit for applied for MAID “because of abject poverty.” low-income, working-age persons with disabilities.”

Another Toronto woman with chemical sensitivities, The Liberal Party even ran on it in the last federal election. But it never came, either. Even during the peak aged 51, recently chose MAID after a failed two-year search for affordable housing. Every level of government of COVID-19, when workers and businesses received aid, the poor and disabled were ignored or forgotten. denied her the housing assistance she so desperately needed, so she wasn’t given any choice, she felt, except her own death. As reported by CTV News, she left People are choosing MAID rather than behind letters detailing her search, in which she pleads with local, provincial and federal officials for help in continuing to live in poverty on inadequate finding a home safe from the smoke and chemicals provincial supports like the Ontario Dispolluting her apartment.

ability Support Program (ODSP), which pays up to $1,169 per month.

Locally, Conservative MP Jamie Schmale had constituents weigh in on how he should vote on Bill C-7 in a referendum, where 65 per cent voted in the affirmative for the policy. As a result, Schmale voted for expanding MAID, breaking from the majority of his party. Despite his vote, Schmale has not pushed further for increased financial aid for the disabled and does not, for instance, support a basic income.

Federal MAID policy, combined with insufficient provincial disability supports, has created a grim choice for many disabled Canadians. But this problem should have been obvious to everyone. It was certainly obvious to those of us who receive tiny ODSP payments each month.

MAID isn’t a viable or humane policy if it’s not accompanied by proper social assistance supports as well.

By William Paterson William Paterson is a Lindsay resident trying to live on what he is allotted under the Ontario Disability Support Program.

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Personal care. A personal touch.

Our front-line people make all the difference.

Kalie Joyce I have worked for Caressant Care Retirement Home for about two years, starting as a Guest Attendant and now as the Administrative Assistant. Both positions have allowed me to work with an exceptional team who are dedicated to our residents. I treat my residents like family and enjoy being able to provide comfort and conversation. It is important to me to provide support and comfort, and to promote their independence and well-being.

Kalie Joyce, Administrative Assistant

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* editorial *

Portraits Community

* great reads *

of a

Small Summer Gardens by Emma Hardy The perfect book for all your belief * benns’ *

garden inspiration. Don’t have a ton of garden space? Think small! This book shows you how hanging baskets, window boxes and containers will take * * trevor’s be beautiful. It’s also about creating functional options for your flowers, vegetables or fruit.

* crossword *

with photographer Mike Palmer

This book was selected from the Kawartha Lakes Public Library’s NextReads Newsletters. Register to receive monthly or bimonthly e-newsletters with enticing book suggestions.

Get started at kawarthalakeslibrary.ca/nextbook

Sometimes good ideas come through a surge of inspiration.

Sometimes they surface through creative conversations over a couple of pints. The idea for The Advocate at 50: Portraits of a Community came from the latter, with most of the credit deservedly going to the talented photographer Mike Palmer and his partner and producer Caroline Palmer.

“I view an environmental portrait as an image that provides insights into who the subject is and the type of life they live. My goal is to create a compelling narrative within the image. And to achieve that the subject has to allow me into their life, even if only for a short time,” Mike says.

“Sometimes it’s their place of work or their home, but regardless ... it’s the openness and trust given to me from the subject that I find both humbling and rewarding. I’m continually finding myself in unique situations with amazing people.”

Palmer said the project was a welcome opportunity after two long years of not a lot of community contact. “I was feeling a little disconnected from my fellow humans and it was amazing to be able to meet new people and connect with them through photography.” The professional photographer said he was “blown away” by how amazing everyone was in the photo shoots. “I just hope they like the photos. That will be the real test.” ~ Roderick Benns

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Geoff Coleman

Geoff Coleman has been a freelance writer since the days of the Commodore 64.

Virtual reality system helps job-seekers explore new careers.

How to get hands-on experience without hands on.

There I was, living my life as a heavy equipment operator. Six levers controlled every aspect of operation from moving the entire machine to swivelling the cab and controlling the bucket. Sounds of a construction site filled my ears from all sides.

As rain fell on the windshield and dump trucks back eup for loading, my boss yelled at me for taking so long (I deserved it), and I learned that the friends I have who are machine operators have tremendous hand-eye coordination, are very aware of their surroundings, and are skilled at managing an ever-changing workspace. I also learned that it was too late for me to enter this field.

So what was I doing running the equipment?

Well, I never left an office chair to experience any of the above. And yet for all intents and purposes, I was behind the controls of an excavator. That’s how far virtual reality has come — we can now use it right here in Kawartha Lakes to discover our next job or where we should be looking for our first real job.

It’s VCCS in Lindsay that has the technology, and career counsellor Sandy Colville was my guide.

Before they put people behind the wheel of an excavator, there’s a bit of a process first. Colville seemed as invested in the results of the surveys sitting on her desk as I was when I filled them in. She had given me

a handful of questionnaires relating to skills, interests and personal qualities that she uses with clients at the employment centre who are looking for a new career after a layoff or injury, or who simply want a change.

It was just one step used by the non-profit, organization that provides employment services and programs to meet the needs of employers and job seekers within Kawartha Lakes. VCCS uses a multi-layered approach to help people identify a new direction, and Colville was excited by my prospects.

“You are an Inquiring Green. That’s great.”

Always encouraging, (I suspect being an Organized Gold or Authentic Blue would also have been great), Colville now circled back to what I had told her during a conversation in our first meeting where she questioned me about my skills, interests and work background.

Armed with all that information we looked at a lengthy list of potential occupations that usually appeal to my personality type and identified some that I found interesting.

For each of the four identified personality types (Resourceful Orange was the other) more than 100 occupations were listed. In my Inquiring Green category, 26 particularly appealed to me, while only a handful interested me in the Organized Gold list. Some professions were repeated in all lists and the four that kept appearing were: editor, media professional, publicity writer and teacher. Interestingly, before retiring in 2018, I was a high school teacher for 29 years, and have been a freelance writer for even longer.

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VCCS uses the technology to place the client in one of a dozen workplace environments to steer a person into — or out of — a new career path.

From there we researched the careers with help from websites like the Government of Canada Job Bank, and Career Cruising, which some will recognize from their high school Careers classes. The idea was to further winnow out occupations that look good on the surface but lack the specific things I had identified as priorities in the earlier discussions with Colville.

“It’s not a cookie cutter approach,” she said when I asked her how the provincially funded VCCS aligns clients with a new career. Some come in with a clear goal in mind and enrol in a D-Z driver training program on the first visit, others take a more circuitous path lasting weeks — and neither is wrong.

The final step after narrowing down a few potential occupations was to see if anyone was hiring. I knew “advertising” was going to be a tall order, but I didn’t want to drive more than 45 minutes from Fenelon Falls and I liked the idea of very flexible hours.

I won’t be the next Don Draper, but there were other opportunities (journalism for example), that were real possibilities, and Colville was able to draw on a wide variety of online job boards and personal connections in the community to find those options.

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To get a real feel for the occupation, Colville also recommends talking directly to someone in that job or visiting a workplace and observing exactly what happens during a shift. Knowing that isn’t always possible, VCCS has the next best thing — the virtual reality system.

In 2014, the public started to hear that VR systems (consisting of a headset with speakers capable of immersing you in a 3D environment ranging from the Grand Canyon to the middle plane of a Snowbirds formation) were going to change gaming, sports, TV, music, design, art, travel and, well, everything. Career counselling included.

VCCS uses the technology to place the client in one of a dozen workplace environments to steer a person into — or out of — a new career path. According to assistant executive director Dawn McColl, VR can be used as part of a career exploration process for someone wanting to learn about various occupations and their fit with these potential career options.

“When a person engages with VCCS, they receive an individualized Employment Action Plan that is unique to them based on the work an employment counsellor does with them, involving conversations, self-exploration exercises and various self-assessments which include skills, interests and values,” says McColl.

Before my entertaining experiment on the backhoe, I got some practice in first, complete with headset and hand-operated controllers, in a 15-minute exercise at VCCS’s Whitney Town Centre offices. I needed to become familiar with how the various buttons operate.

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It is a badge of honour for me to say that this training was 10 minutes longer than the amount of time I have spent playing video games in my entire life, but even I was reasonably adept with how it all worked at the end of the session.

From there, I was immersed in two different simulations that let the user experience what is involved in a day in the life of a certain occupation.

As I went through the simulation, resource and information employment counsellors Paulus Lacombe and Carolyn Leeson observed my actions. They were watching to see how I did with the physical challenges, but also at following written and verbal instructions, and dealing with frustration or with sudden changes in circumstances.

These soft skills, as they called them, are also important for creating an accurate assessment of what careers might suit an individual.

With a range of simulations covering stick welding carpentry, sheet metal worker, pipe fitter, and 10 others (with more on the way), there has never been a better time to explore virtually your next possible career.

If during the process you find your virtual boss yelling at you in the simulation, just know there’s many more options to explore, not only in the VR system, but IRL*. *in real life

For more information on booking your Virtual Reality appointment please contact VCCS by telephone “Each VR practitioner is trained to observe how someone at 705-328-0180 or email is reacting and responding to the virtual reality experience,” dawn@vcss.work says McColl. “When we immerse someone into a virtual reality experience, they will be asked to carry out tasks by their supervisor and follow directions, just like in a real job. We know that technical skills are important but we also know that soft skills are highly valued by employers.”

At the end of the session, VCCS will debrief the client on some of their observations relating to following directions, problem solving, reacting to new situations, and dealing with stress.

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Nothing brings a community together like local art and music. I’d be happy to see more live music, park concerts, art crawls, murals, and more.

There’s plenty of talent to be shown off.

Heck, bring in some food vendors and we’ve got ourselves a party!

M A L LO R I E M I TC H E L L

baker at Mickael’s Café Librarie

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T H E A D V O C AT E AT F I F T Y

Portraits Community of a

Making Kawartha Lakes an even better place to live.

There is no doubt we live in an amazing community, one that is made up of many smaller, amazing communities.

To celebrate the Advocate’s 50th issue, we sought out 50 ideas that would make our community even better.

First, 12 people from our community were chosen to be photographed by accomplished photographer Mike Palmer, who has worked with national and international clients.

Those portraits appear here and will hang in the Kawartha Art Gallery for the month of June, and then at the Colborne Street Art Gallery in Fenelon Falls in July.

We then used social media to ask for 38 other ideas from people from our community — what would make Kawartha Lakes even better? There were many great answers to choose from (some of you offered more than one) and these were our favourites, in no particular order. We hope community leaders and local politicians at all levels of government will consider these carefully.

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T H E A D V O C AT E AT F I F T Y

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “Wise men put their trust in ideas, not in If Kawartha Lakescircumstances is going to attract and retain circumstances.” If applied to our communities, this shows our people from the GTA and beyond to settle here, are not carved in stone. Instead, we have an opportunity towork improve and buildour roads. we have to harder on improving upon what we have with new ideas and new thinking.

Paul Riley, divorce lawyer

It tells us we should not find ourselves beholden to what already is, but rather emboldened by what could be.

We asked for ideas from our readers on how to make the places where we live even better. We weren’t disappointed. Readers envisioned festivals and food gardens and more arts and culture.

They wished for more doctors and walk-in clinics.

They shared their desperate need for housing.

We heard about the environment, senior citizens, and how youth needed more healthy diversions.

What follows is our best attempt to distill our favourites.

In the end, for any of these ideas to see light, it will be up to policy makers, engaged volunteers, and committed organizations to act together in away that benefits us all.

If Kawartha Lakes is going to attract and retain people from the GTA and beyond to settle here, we have to work harder on improving our roads.

PA U L R I L E Y

divorce lawyer

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Kawartha Lakes should consider implementing a green cart organics collection system to increase waste diversion.

KANISHK AMIN

Fleming College student

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T H E A D V O C AT E AT F I F T Y

With our aging population more emphasis should be placed by all levels of government to assist seniors to remain in their homes with property and utilities reductions.

PAT R I C K H E A L E Y owner The Kinmount House Bed and Breakfast

We need to encourage more involvement of our youth in community activities and sports. Getting kids involved can help improve confidence, team work, and overall good mental health.

JESSICA MILNE

teacher

Not everyone has the same opportunities in life.We should offer free business programs for underprivileged women and help them become leaders in our small business community.

SUSETH ALLEN

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owner of The Lindsay Lounge

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T H E A D V O C AT E AT F I F T Y

I’d love to have more places to go in Kawartha Lakes where we could see killer live music. Having a recording studio nearby would be amazing for artists of all kinds.

J U L I A N TAY L O R

folk singer

One way we could improve the area is by providing more resources and programs that are accessible to everyone. Let’s make extracurricular programs, mental health resources, and family support programs equitably affordable and accessible so that every person living here has the same opportunity to thrive – no matter their socioeconomic circumstance.

SIMONE WICKS

orderly, Ross Memorial Hospital

The city of Kawartha Lakes should continue to work together to empower our community and enhance residents’ quality of life.

C O N S TA B L E TAY L O R S T E WA R T

City of Kawartha Lakes Police Service

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T H E A D V O C AT E AT F I F T Y

Lindsay is the biggest centre in Kawartha Lakes but our beautiful Lock 33 is not nearly as busy as it should be.

We’ve got a great dock system for boaters and our downtown has incredible shops, restaurants and beautiful walking trails.

Let’s work to make this an even better tourist destination.

DANIELLE LEBLANC

server, Olympia Restaurant

Our community could be improved if everyone took a few minutes to see what local organizations and businesses offer.

There is a lot to do in Kawartha Lakes — including at your local library.

LY N D S AY H E F F E R N A N library specialist, outreach and community engagement, Kawartha Lakes Library.

Gratitude is an idea worth considering. This community would be even better than it is already if we took some time to appreciate how lucky we are to be able to live in Kawartha Lakes, and Canada.

ANDY LETHAM

mayor of Kawartha Lakes

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T H E A D V O C AT E AT F I F T Y

Create an annual festival unique to rd’s carrot Kawartha Lakes. Similar to Bradfo l, given festival we could have a corn festiva udly some of our signs on the highways pro y! state we are in corn countr

Guided historical walks focusing on points and events from local history.

– Susan Armstrong Wynne

– Jessica Golzlin

A new, modern seniors’ facility to accommodate seniors living in and moving to Lindsay area. They need a space of their own for socializing, crafts, woodworking and other activities.

More outdoor basketball courts and skateboarding for youth – Rhonda Gossen

– Debbie Peck

Bike lanes on major street to encourage more people to ride instead of drive and make it safer for them when they ride

Let people sever their land.

Our kids have nowhere to live due to the housing shortage.

–– Shawna Albert

– Sharon Robbins

A skateboard park in Fenelon Falls. There is a splash pad for the little children and a seniors’ playground, but nothing for the preteens and teenagers. – Melanie Fletcher-Haryott 26

More community events, like Riverfest, Homecoming, winter events in parks and cultural celebrations. – Diana Williams

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T H E A D V O C AT E AT F I F T Y

Have a place where a person could go to get out of the freezing cold or hot temperatures. We have many large spaces that could be utilized so people don’t freeze in tents or suffer heat exhaustion. Sadly, not everyone has a place to stay. ~ Lisa Marie A cultural fair to learn about different people with arts, activities and to try foods from other cultures. ~ Robin Steffler Our hospital will need to expand in order to cope with the ever-growing population. The Ross Memorial Hospital is one of the finest, and I hope it continues to stay that way. ~ Karen Ford

Another walk-in clinic. ~ Jennifer Bazley Local stories in our cemeteries to tell the past, performed by drama students. ~ Lisa Tracey Arts, crafts and local talents in the park for all ages in both the spring and summer. ~ Lisa Tracey Winterfest for all ages, with a snowman contest, snowfort contests, sledding races, winter dances outside, with crafters, bakers and other vendors. `~ Lisa Tracey Bring in more industry. Rent is too high and there’s not enough jobs. ~ Mike Shepherd An indoor pool in Fenelon Falls. ~ Brenda Makela Musicfest, have big names and locals to perform every summer or fall. ~ Lisa Tracey Have a free community food garden, with apple, pear and cherry trees, as well as strawberry plants, blueberry plants, corn, carrots, peas, potatoes, lettuce and tomatoes. ~ Beverly Smith Develop a program for attracting family doctors to the area. ~ Alana Bell Raft and canoe races. ~ Lisa Tracey Outside roller rink and an outdoor community pool ~ Lisa Tracey A food truck alley. ~ Robin Steffler

Improved health and wellness facilities. There are lots of ice arenas, tennis courts and ball diamonds, but where can we play for those six months out of the year during winter? There’s nowhere for our young and young adults to play basketball, volleyball and similar activities. ~ Ken Haggert Access for all the children and youth to have recreation. It should not be a lottery system.

If they want to play, they should have the ability to do so. Especially rural families. ~ Lyss Brooke Beautify King Street in Lindsay at the locks. ~ Danielle Flynn More art in public spaces and art in the park – have local artists set up displays in parks for people to visit. ~ Robin Steffler Tax building owners who let homes and businesses sit empty, which will encourage people to live in town and be contributing members of the community. If locals didn’t need to struggle for food, jobs and essentials there would be so many more people who could volunteer for community projects. ~ Ashleigh Leonard

Host board games in the park for all ages. ~ Lisa Tracey Fair wages for our ambulance dispatchers who are always understaffed because fire dispatch pays a lot more for less work. ~ Amanda Gates Rowing club on Lindsay Scugog River. ~ Catherine Widjedal Tours in local provincial parks for newcomers to learn camping and how to use a canoe.

Also have free swimming lessons for all children for one year, maybe at age eight. ~ Catherine Widjedal Better public transportation between Peterborough and Lindsay. ~ Catriona Sinclair High speed rail. ~ Joan Ruth Abernethy Free unlimited downtown parking for vehicles with out-of-province licence plates. ~ Marcus Ferguson More music programming and concerts and lessons, since our communities are filled with unbelievable talent. Improve the arts. ~ Janet O’Reilly A better police presence by having beat cops in the neighbourhoods. ~ Laurie MacNeill Fox More focus on marketing tourism. We just aren’t hitting the mark in tourism yet that many cottage country areas are. For example – my Haliburton Highlands #comewander.

Does Kawartha Lakes have a tourism hashtag or repeated talking point? I love a well-planned out road trip route like you find in Grey County. ~ Tammy Mitchell

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* spotlight *

* lunch with *

Conversations with interesting people in* Kawartha Lakes great reads * David Rapaport on the importance of language, Schmale and the trucker belief * benns’ * convoy, and the need for a GO bus

* editorial *

* crossword *

Roderick Benns I love hearing a Brooklyn accent while sitting inside a Greek restaurant in downtown Lindsay, talking national and provincial politics with a Jewish professor. It just * trevor’s take * seems very Canadian somehow.

David Rapaport, 74, an assistant professor in Trent University’s sociology department has lived in Lindsay for the past two years. But he’s hardly feeling at home here yet – the isolation of COVID has made sure of that.

Rapaport and I meet at the Olympia Restaurant where we quickly fall into an animated discussion about a broad range of topics, but especially politics.

He has an easy manner about him, somehow both warm and cerebral at the same time.

The Olympia culinary maestro in the back kitchen (likely co-owner Costas Dedes) has concocted a delicious chicken rice soup, which is my order. Rapaport goes with the same and adds a Greek salad on the side.

Despite the Brooklyn accent, the relatively new Lindsay resident says he has been in Canada for a long time — about 54 years. He arrived in 1968 as “one of those draft dodgers.”

He grins. “You may have heard of us.”

He first went to Montreal, which seems like a glamourous choice for a young man from a large American city. He stayed for a few years and finished school at Sir George Williams University (Concordia University today.)

“I came to Toronto in ’71 and lived there right up until about two years ago.”

Like many people from the big city during the pandemic, “I wanted to get out of Toronto.”

David Rapaport outside his home in Lindsay. Photo: Sienna Frost.

Rapaport’s wife, who is Australian, is back home visiting family there when we meet, something she had not been able to do for a long time because of COVID. They found their home in Lindsay’s east end not far from the Rotary Trail, just three days before the COVID curtain came down.

As an unabashed big city guy who has been active in the labour movement for years, Rapaport calls the neighbourhood “a bit suburban for my taste.”

“I grew up in Brooklyn. Still looking for the tree,” he says, a nod to to Betty Smith’s 1943 classic book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It uses the Tree of Heaven as a metaphor to signify the plight of the poor immigrant class during the early years of the 20th century.

“I’m very urban. I never owned a car until I moved here to Lindsay. You know, to own a car in the city is just not thinking things through.”

Rapaport pointed out people can rent a car when needed in the big city “and you’re still miles ahead” financially compared to owning a car.

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29

“But then I found out he supported the trucker convoy and I just didn’t want to talk to him. I couldn’t believe it — that my Member of Parliament would support that.

It’s like supporting Jan. 6 in the United States.”

And speaking of transportation.

Schmale told the Advocate that his party supports the message the truckers took to Ottawa, and that he supports “the end of federal mandates too, as do the majority of Canadians. We believe that Trudeau put gasoline on a fire by calling the truckers names. Truckers felt that this was their chance to be heard by Ottawa.”

“Why is there no GO stop out of Lindsay? That’s insane.

We should talk to the mayor. Laurie (MPP Laurie Scott) doesn’t seem to be able to move it forward.”

Rapaport did tell Schmale’s staff that he has been receiving the MP’s pamphlets and that he never sees the words climate change ever mentioned. “And that worries me.”

Rapaport is shocked that if he wants to go somewhere he has to drive almost to Highway 115 to get a GO bus. “We should do a campaign around that. I don’t get it. I’m sure there are a lot more cities smaller than Lindsay that have GO stops.”

Digging into his food, he savours it for a few seconds.

“This is good. So good.”

Although he retired in 2009, he couldn’t make it stick. The itch to do more presented itself and so he began the doctoral program at the Canadian Studies department at Trent, completing it in 2015. Since then, he has taught in the departments of computer studies and political studies and is now in the sociology department. His main academic interests are labour, unions and technology.

However, his contract is done in August and he has a feeling it won’t be renewed because of funding restrictions.

“I’m getting too old,” anyway, he says. “The students are getting very demanding and their lives are really falling apart because of COVID. So many of them are working, too,” he says, which he acknowledges must create a lot of extra stress in their lives.

As lunch arrives, he goes back to the subject of local services and politics.

“Why is there only one blood lab in Lindsay? And it’s private! That’s not right.”

The professor says soon after he arrived, he tried talking to MP Jamie Schmale but they were never able to connect.

30

One of the professor’s greatest pet peeves are the words some people are throwing around with more alacrity these days.

“Language should be respected. Calling Trudeau a dictator?

It’s out of control. They used to insult policy — now it’s just a visceral anger.”

Rapaport says when words aren’t respected it makes the future use of concepts impossible. “The words lose all meaning. Language matters. You should do an article on that.”

Then he turns his attention to Premier Doug Ford’s government. “Why is the province building highways?

Buying up roads with our money? Giving back the licence tax? None of it makes sense.”

Rapaport jumps to personal leisure pursuits, speaking highly of the recreation centre in town. “It’s well-resourced and the staff is friendly and capable.”

He also mentions he just bought a kayak, given how close he lives to the Scugog River.

“It’s a nice river and I can go fishing. It doesn’t even cost me anything anymore.”

I immediately assume Ford has given the fishing licence tax back, too.“No, it’s because I’m a senior,” he says with a laugh. “But that wouldn’t have surprised me.”

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Denis Grignon

Contributing Writer

The sky’s the limit with this unique Canada Day standup comedy show The first time I performed on Canada Day was on Parliament Hill almost 30 years ago, on a massive stage, steps away from the Peace Tower. The audience was about 100,000 exuberant people, many of whom were draped in Canadian flags, long before that image would be co-opted in the same space decades later by outraged protesters with hot tubs, bouncy castles and suspect spelling. My short, bilingual set mostly served as a buffer before an official countdown to the start of a live national TV special.

I walked off immediately after hearing “ONE!,” grateful that my 10 minutes had gone over relatively well, and relieved, since I’d just broken the cardinal rule bred into the bones of most standups: never — ever — take a gig that doesn’t come with four walls, a ceiling and a seated audience. That this outdoor performance didn’t devolve into something resembling an auctioneer rattling off bids from inside a giant, sound-proof aquarium, had less to do with comic skill and more to do with a generous audience basking in a celebratory day — and a short workweek. I was lucky, and I knew it. And I’d never again stray from the comic’s four-walls-and-a-ceiling edict.

Until, that is, my Toronto-based agent called in early 2022, asking if I were available for a July 1 show on, yup, an outdoor stage: The Grove Theatre’s Comedy Night on Canada Day. Now, here is where I could expound on my reasons for accepting this gig, by waxing philosophic about my artistic growth since that July 1 in the mid-90s.

I’d matured into an accomplished standup capable of adapting to any environment, both in and outdoors. But really, my initial enthusiasm was fuelled not by the figurative miles I’d accumulated as a touring standup comedian, but by the literal few miles I’d need to travel to a venue in my city on Canada Day. (Since moving to Kawartha Lakes almost 25 years ago, I’ve learned that many local residents say ‘miles’ instead of kilometres. More on that genuine appreciation on all things local later). “Edict, sccchhhmedict!”

I told my agent as I accepted the offer and he, possibly, wondered if I were properly pronouncing “schmedict.”

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The Grove Theatre is located in Fenelon Falls.Tickets to Comedy Night on Canada Day are $35 and $65, available by visiting grovetheatre.ca But my decision to play The Grove wasn’t all driven by impulse and soaring gas prices. I’d seen one professional standup show at this brand new theatre in Fenelon Falls last summer.

At the time, I remember distinctly thinking, “Live standup comedy shouldn’t work, here.” But, as I watched the show from the back of the room . . . er . . . space, I discovered it does. And very, very well.

Nicole Mitchell, the theatre’s affable general manager, openly admits she, too, was initially “nervous” about mounting standup shows at The Grove. “When you go into a comedy club,” she explains, “it’s often a basement.”

Mitchell is an astute observer of an oft-misunderstood art form; standup is, indeed, synonymous with “basement” — too many of which, I’ve witnessed first-hand, exude an aura that leave you wondering if the cops are going to storm in to bust up an illegal gaming room.

Which is why The Grove, as a standup venue, is such a breath of fresh air — literally. “As open as the space is, it still is rather enclosed,” Mitchell says about the enchanting venue, which looks like it was lifted from the pages of Narnia, but is really nestled in the woods adjacent to the Fenelon arena. “The trees are filled in and you can’t really see through them . . . so you feel like you’re in a private, intimate space.” Here, she pauses, then adds, “Even though you’re outdoors!”

So, the trees are, really, those all-essential walls comedians crave. And the ceiling? Well, when the sun went down, the moon and stars served to close in this theatre in a warm, inviting manner no basement ever could. It meant the standups, all of whom I’ve seen perform dozens of times, seemed to embrace the unique communal feel of the venue. They no longer struggled to transform it into the aforementioned comedy club atmosphere, with a more

confrontational comedian vs. audience vibe.

Part of this community-inspired quality could be attributed to the physical nature of The Grove, specifically, the stage’s placement in relation to the audience. Typically, comedy club stages — and, by default, the standups performing on them — are a few feet above the audience, contributing to a more hierarchal relationship between comic and crowd. The Grove, conversely, with its raked seating, has the performer literally at eye level with most of the audience. Says Mitchell about this configuration that I’m especially looking forward to on July 1, “The artists are really sucked into the first few rows.”

There was a time when I shunned standup gigs in my backyard, wary of possibly bumping into an audience member at the farmers’ market or Lindsay-Ops landfill the morning after a, uh, less than stellar show.

But that angst eased after I learned to structure my act on these local shows with material born of a genuine familiarity with Kawartha Lakes and its quirks — something Mitchell also suggested I take advantage of on July 1 for her show.

“Definitely helpful to know the area,” she points out.

“Our audiences always love a personalized set.”

And then there’s the pent-up need for audiences to laugh again.

“Because of COVID,” says Mitchell, “everyone has often been cooped up and miserable. And this kind of show is just such a wonderful release, where you can feel more safe — outdoors.”

Grignon is a professional standup comedian who lives near Dunsford, and is the producer of The Advocate Podcast: Stories from Kawartha Lakes. He performs July 1 at the Grove Theatre along with Rick Currie and Jim McNally, two comedians he started out with in Ottawa many July firsts ago.

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Why should we care? Insects pollinate most of our flowering plants and more than one-third of our food crops. Losing them means destroying the food web and all the creatures it supports — including us. As a solution, Tallamy suggests we let at least half our lawns go back to a natural state.

There’s a movement underfoot to get our yards off grass.

In North America we’ve lost 45 per cent of our insects over four decades.

The estimated six million lawns in Canada are points of pride for some. For others, they’re a source of time sucking chores, with all the mowing, fertilizing, weeding and watering. So having less lawn could be a blessing.

There’s a serious reason for the push behind grass-free yards. University of Delaware bug scientist Douglas Tallamy calls lawns “ecological dead zones.” Basically, they do almost nothing for the environment. And maintaining them is actually harmful.

A 3.5 hp mower can pollute as much in one hour as a car driving 560 km. A gas-powered leaf blower is much worse, which is why municipalities like Ottawa and Toronto are looking to phase them out. In summer, grass watering can strain municipal water supplies and dry out our wells, leading to water restrictions.

We’re not as bad as the American southwest, yet. Some drought-prone areas there have been paying people for every square foot of turf they turf. Then there’s fertilizer use.

The stuff gets washed into our rivers, lakes and streams, increasing the growth of aquatic plants and algae.

Lawns also do nothing for our insects and the birds that eat them. In North America we’ve lost 45 per cent of our insects over four decades. And about three billion birds have disappeared since 1970. Since half of Canada is farmed, and much of the rest is urbanized, these creatures struggle to find a natural, pesticide-free place to call home.

So how do you turf the turf ?

Plant more native trees and shrubs, then grow native ground covers under them. The operative word here is “native.” A northern red oak can support hundreds more varieties of insects than a Norway maple.

Replace areas of lawn with gardens, at least half of which contain native plants like purple coneflower and bee balm.

Note that many hybrid varieties of natives do not provide the same nutrition to our insects.

Last summer no bees or butterflies were attracted to that orange coneflower in my yard.

And don’t be afraid that a big garden will be more work. Native plant experts tell me once established, a native garden should require less water and no fertilizer stronger than compost. And the insects it attracts should keep each other in check.

Still can’t imagine going grassless? Conservation authorities, among others, recommend trying fescue mixes because they grow slower and require less water, less fertilizer and less frequent mowing than the usual mix of lawn grass seed.

Other options are Dutch white clover or native ground covers.

To see examples of grassless yards, stay tuned for the local Pollinator Action Commitee’s garden tour at the end of July.

In the meantime, if you want to learn more, Tallamy’s book, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation in Your Yard, is a great place to start. Or look for Lorraine Johnson’s new release, Creating a Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee, all about designing habitat for native pollinators.

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* just in time *

* upfront *

Ian McKechnie

Contributing Writer

* HERE’S MY CARD *

* upfront business *

50 fascinating historical facts about Kawartha Lakes then & now * Former British Labour politician, David*Miliband, once remarked there was noopinion Hebrew * * word for history, saying “the closest word for it is memory.” Memory seems appropriate when we think of our local history. What follows, to celebrate the Advocate’s milestone, are 50 of our memories as a community, which we have chosen to honour below. * spotlight *

* lunch with *

1 The frame building at the corner of Cambridge and Peel Streets was built in 1877 by W.A. Goodwin — Lindsay’s famously countercultural artist.

3 H.G. Duerr, an American born architect specializing in theatres, oversaw renovations at the Academy Theatre twice, in 1931 and again in 1963.

2 Alma Finnie, a First World War nursing sister who was among the first Canadian great reads * women to vote in *a federal election, taught school for a year in Yelverton.

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* editorial *

* benns’ belief *

* crossword *

Over the winter of 1931–32, the Lindsay Citizens’ Relief Association prepared up to 40 meals a day for those living * trevor’s take * in poverty.

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‘Kawartha’ is the anglicized spelling of an Anishinaabeg word meaning “land of reflections.”

Lindsay-born Albert E. Matthews was Ontario’s longest-serving Lieutenant Governor, in office from 1937 through 1946.

Lindsay Daily Post writer Stanley Dayton lived for more than 80 years at the first crossroads north of Little Britain, a neighbourhood known as ‘Gabtown.’

The August Civic Holiday weekend of 1931 saw almost 500 people travel from Lindsay to Haliburton on an excursion organized by the local Rotary Club.

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The Dominion Arsenal employed more than 260 women from Lindsay and by the end of 1917.

The Light, Heat & Power Company of Lindsay, could transmit up to 1,100 volts of electricity thanks to dual Samson turbines and a 400-kilowatt generator.

Irish-born Lindsay author William McDonnell had a three-act opera, several novels and two long narrative poems to his credit.

In 1943, Ada Greaves became the first woman elected to Lindsay’s town council.

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In 1959, CN Railways No. 91, became the last steam locomotive to operate regularly out of Lindsay, now hauls tourists on a short-line railway in southeastern Pennsylvania.

The Rev. Dr. J.W. MacMillan, lived and worked in Lindsay from 1895-1903 and served as chairman for the Minimum Wage Board of Manitoba during WWI

15 Cognizant of labour unrest in other parts of Canada, the Horn Bros.Woolen Mill in 1919 announced that it would be reducing hours for its staff while maintaining their wages.

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Cherry Tree Lodge, located at 19 3rd Street in Sturgeon Point, was designed to evoke the appearance of tents used by campers in the 19th century.

In 1948, families could pay between $22 and $30 in rent for “wartime houses” built in Lindsay between 1946 and 1947 under the auspices of Wartime Housing Ltd.

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19 Northern Casket was formed in 1925 by a group of local businessmen, including James Mackey, Charles Ferguson, Jimmy Arnold, and William Varcoe, and produced its first casket in 1927.

As a young lawyer in Lindsay, former Ontario premier Leslie Frost defended Fred McGaughey, the last person hanged at the Victoria County Gaol in 1924.

20 The 1,300-pound (590 kg) bell once housed in the tower of Lindsay’s fire hall was originally cast in 1872 for the Lindsay Town Hall.

21 The apple trees south of the Lindsay Adult and Alternate Education Centre trace their origins to an orchard occupying the grounds of the House of Refuge, which opened on that site in 1905.

22 In 1945, patrons could buy a sundae for 20 cents at Lindsay’s Olympia Tea Room, when Eudoxia “Ma” Tozios assumed the role of manager.

23 Following a fatal bicycle accident in 1970, the heart of Lindsay’s Marlene James was successfully transplanted into the body of the Rev. Edward Madigan — one of the first such surgeries in Canada.

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As a result of the 1918 Spanish Flu, the Women’s Institute funded and furnished an isolation hospital at the corner of Colborne and Angeline Streets in Lindsay.

In 1901, Lindsay baker William McWatters’ oven was capable of baking 400 loaves of bread at a time.

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Anti-Asian racism reared its head on Feb. 1, 1919, when a mob vandalized several Chinese-owned businesses in downtown Lindsay.

Kirkfield’s Grace MacKenzie (1888-1946) married Jacques de Lesseps, a French aviator whose father, Ferdinand de Lesseps, developed the Suez Canal in the 19th century.

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26 Fairy Tale Park, which operated north of Lindsay through the 1960s, brought nursery rhymes to life with farm animals and a concession stand designed to resemble a giant pumpkin.

27 The first telephone service in the hamlet of Fleetwood ran from a nearby intersection known as Brick Corner via the neighbouring hamlet of Franklin to Dr. T.G. Brereton’s office in Bethany.

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The concrete pillars east of Springdale Gardens in Lindsay, which were built

by Italian labourers in 1911, once supported a 4000-foot long railway trestle bridge.

Frederick Geoghegan, once said to be “Canada’s finest organist,” performed before an audience of 700 people at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Lindsay, on May 1, 1967.

Art Truax, who served as the first mayor of Kawartha Lakes, worked as a playground supervisor in Lindsay for a summer job during the mid-1950s.

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So respected was Florence O’Neill’s corner store on Albert Street South in Lindsay that when it closed in 1984, loyal customers stayed until the door locked for good.

Argyle-born Eleanor McQuarrie was one of the first 50 women to graduate from the Ontario Veterinary College.

When I.E. Weldon Secondary School opened in 1971, it had 740 students.

The 40-metre-high Lindsay water tower was completed in 1955 and holds more than 2,000,000 litres of water.

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John’s Cartage, of Lindsay, was instrumental in launching Lindsay’s first blue box recycling program in 1989.

The headstone on County Road 46 just north of Argyle marks the final resting place of three-year-old James Williamson, killed by a falling tree in 1831.

Pearl Jordan, of Grass Hill, studied voice at the Toronto College of Music and graduated with first class honours in 1909.

Lindsay’s YMCA building once featured a 10-pin bowling alley and swimming pool in its basement.

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King Albert Public School in Lindsay takes its name from Albert I, who reigned over Belgium from 1909 through 1934.

Among the first game wardens to patrol the woods and waters of Victoria County was Edgerton R. Henderson.

Lindsay’s Paul Skipworth played the part of Santa Claus in the annual Lindsay Santa Claus Parade for more than 25 years.

The first purpose-built arena in Lindsay opened in January of 1890.

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Trains were brought to a standstill in Victoria County for more than a month in 1910, when Grand Trunk Railway workers went on strike in a dispute over wage increases.

More than 500 people gathered in Kawartha Park beside LCVI on June 2, 1953, to plant a tree in honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.

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In 1957, Catherine ‘Kay’ Hawkins became one of the first women to enter Lindsay’s male-dominated legal field when she took a job as a court clerk.

Kawartha Dairy traces its history to 1937, when Bobcaygeon’s Jack and Ila Crowe purchased a dairy from Charles Johnson.

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The Lindsay Rotary Club held its formative meeting on March 10, 1922, and had its charter granted on May 17 of the same year.

The Lindsay Advocate shares its name with the town’s first newspaper, published in 1855 by E.D. Hand.

lindsayadvocate.ca

kawartha lakes fifty fascinating facts

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The many uses for Pickle Brine “I have some very nice pickles that I love the brine of, and hate to throw it out .Is there some good use in cooking for it ?” - Suzanne White Dear Suzanne – Thank you for your interesting question.

Brine one of my favourite secret ingredients. It’s easy to find and adds sparkle to whatever you use it in. It is basically flavoured vinegar. Dill pickle brine adds a subtle dill flavour to stews, soups or white sauce. Add sweet pickle brine to salad dressings, coleslaw or potato salad.

Olive brine enhances spaghetti sauce. Most flavours can be used in marinades. Alternately, reheat and pour over thinly sliced vegetables for sandwich garnishes.

Easy Pickled Eggs Jar of leftover pickle brine, any flavour you prefer Hard boiled eggs to fill jar, peeled Thinly sliced onion, optional

* Pour pickle brine into a saucepan

Warm, but do not boil.

* Rinse jar out with boiling water. * Layer eggs and onions

alternately in the clean jar.

* Pour warm brine over all. * Cover and refrigerate for

about three days.

For more of Dianes Local Kitchen content visit thelindsayadvocate.ca/thelocalkitchen

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Rae Fleming remembered as an engaging storyteller Writer and historian Rae Fleming passed away recently, aged 77.

His death leaves an enormous void in not only the local heritage community, but also in the world of public history both in Ontario and across Canada.

Fleming had a long career as a professional storyteller, both in academia and writing. He earned a B.A. from the University of Toronto, and in 1975 published his first major work, Eldon Connections, which documented the pioneering families of Eldon Township.

He went on to author numerous other books, including The Railway King of Canada, a biography of Sir William MacKenzie, the Kirkfield-born contractor who made his money in transcontinental railway construction.

Interviewed in 2019, Fleming said that he was discouraged by how instant communications had made the art of quiet meditation much more difficult. – Ian McKechnie Read the full story about Fleming at lindsayadvocate.ca Rae Fleming reading the Advocate in August 2021 Photo: Angie Jeon

The future of our waste The municipality is currently exploring ways to sustainably manage our waste to meet the future needs of all those who live, work and play in Kawartha Lakes.

We are diverting almost 40% of our waste from landfill now and are working to divert 70% of waste from landfill through reduction, reuse and recycling programs. Even when this goal is met, the municipality will still need to manage the garbage that remains. Kawartha Lakes retained Dillon Consulting to complete a Future Waste Options Study that looked at nine different ways to manage garbage once the landfills are full.

We want to hear from you!

Please complete our online survey and join us for an In Person Open House on June 14 from 4pm to 8pm at the Lindsay Recreation Complex. Learn about the options the Study explored, ask questions, and provide your feedback.

Visit the website before June 30 to take the survey and learn more: jumpinkawarthalakes.ca/waste

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* trevor’s take *

Trevor Hutchinson Contributing Writer

Here’s to 50 more It seems like a lifetime ago, but sometime around August 2017 I cold-called the publisher of a new local news site I had come across.

I remember feeling pleasantly surprised that there was something that was very local, had an opinion and was well written. Even though I was working in construction at the time, I had worked and written for magazines back in the day, so I reached out and pitched a story. I bartered some time on the family computer (at the time shared by seven people), started exercising my so-called writing chops and penned what was for me a very personal story of how I worked full-time and yet still qualified for welfare.

My first Advocate story was the very definition of unsolicited. But with a lot of editing help, my first published story in more than a decade was released (and even eventually retweeted by a prominent American basic income advocate). My next few pitches were (very politely) declined, but I didn’t give up.

Seven months later, the print edition launched. I loved being a small part of what seemed like the craziest idea: a local, advertising-supported, progressive magazine in an area where a blue recycling box could get elected for provincial or federal office.

But I like crazy. Especially the type of crazy that wants to give voice to the voiceless, that wants to make good

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trouble, that wants to rattle the cages.

I think I have been in every print edition although I might have missed one. And what a ride it’s been. I have written on everything from punk rock to hospital mergers, from the city’s development plans to Lindsay’s famous rodeo from 1958.

Eventually, as the magazine drew an increasing number of talented writers, and as I re-entered not-for-profit finance, I began to concentrate on this opinion column, which started in March 2019. And it has been a blast.

It has led to new friendships, hundreds of spirited conversations and of course a lot of hate mail.

But that’s okay. I take a certain pride that in any given month a handful of people take time out of their busy day to write an email explaining how I am an idiot.

To all those who have taken the time to comment, I truly thank you. It is a privilege to participate in local discussion and debate, in my very small way.

Here’s hoping we get to discuss and debate for another 50!

P.S. COVID isn’t over, there will be a fall wave and masks work.

(Take that, haters!)

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All Your Favourites

All Day Long.

Make this the year that you Pay it Forward and make someone’s day with a small gesture of kindness.

Yours in Good Health, - The Smitty’s Gang

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