COUNTRY ROADS, Celebrating Life in Hastings County

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ANNOUNCING SECOND ANNUAL

PHOTO CONTEST

CYCLING ENTHUSIAST DISCOVERS HASTINGS COUNTY PAINTING NIGHTS FUND RAISE FOR GOOD CAUSES

COVERING THE ARTS, OUTDOORS, HISTORY, PEOPLE AND PLACES

SPRING 2020


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Vintage Antiques Collectables Custom Furniture Painting

HOME & LIFESTYLE EXPO

Friday, April 24 6:00 – 8 pm Saturday, April 25 9am – 4pm Stirling Arena, 435 West Front Street

FLEA MARKET

May 2 and 3 – 9am – 5pm Stirling Fair Grounds

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Country Roads • Spring 2020

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Roads

celebrating life in hastings county

Country Roads

celebrating life in hastings county

CELEBRATING LOCAL

A showcase of unique products lovingly and ­artfully created by Hastings County entrepreneurs.

CR Country CO-PUBLISHER & EDITOR Nancy Hopkins 613 968-0499 CO-PUBLISHER & EDITOR John Hopkins 613 968-0499 ASSISTANT EDITOR Heather-Anne Wakeling 613 968-0499

Roads

SALES celebrating lifeDEPARTMENT in hastings county CENTRAL & NORTH HASTINGS & AREA Lorraine Gibson-Alcock lorraine@countryroadshastings.ca 613.902.0462 ART DIRECTOR Jozef VanVeenen CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Lorraine Gibson-Alcock Angela Hawn Barry Penhale Lindi Pierce Victor Schukov Andy Sparling Sarah Vance Heather-Anne Wakeling Shelley Wildgen

POSSIBILITIES

FURNITURE & HOME DÉCOR Transforming vintage furniture into ­something beautiful is an art form at ­Possibilities. Custom orders and workshops for those DIYer’s FB @possibilitiesmarmora

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Heather Cowley Lindi Pierce Sandy Randle Sarah Vance Jozef VanVeenen COUNTRY ROADS, Celebrating Life in Hastings County is published four times a year by PenWord Communications Inc. Copies are distributed throughout all of Hastings County, from Bancroft and Maynooth in the North to Belleville/Quinte West in the South with all points in between, as well as Brighton, Campbellford, Havelock and the Land O’Lakes communities along Hwy 41 north of Hwy 7. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 1 year: $25.00 2 years: $45.00 3 years: $67.50 All prices include H.S.T.

THE OLD TIN SHED

RAWDON CREEK SOAP

Bath & Body Products for the whole family! What do customers have to say? “Best dang soap ever!” Experience it for yourself. www.rawdoncreeksoap.com

The contents of this publication are ­protected by copyright. Reproduction of this p­ ublication in whole or in part without prior written permission of PenWord C ­ ommunications Inc. is prohibited. The advertising deadline for the Summer 2020 issue is May 1, 2020. COVER PHOTO: SANDRA RANDLE

HIDDEN GOLDMINE

The Hidden Goldmine Bakery is all about ­capturing that ‘just like grandma’s’ taste and feel. The Butter Tart, our signature sweet, is a result of the best elements of our matriarch’s recipes passed down through the generations. FB @hiddengoldminebakery

NIFFERS CLOTHING

Sustainable and eco-friendly products can be found at The Old Tin Shed. Locally designed and produced items like these beautiful ­charcuterie boards. FB @TheOldTinShed

QUINN’S OF TWEED FINE ART GALLERY

HOW TO CONTACT US Telephone: 613-968-0499 E-mail: info@countryroadshastings.ca Website: www.countryroadshastings.ca For written enquiries you can reach us at: PenWord Communications Inc. P.O. Box 124, Tweed, ON K0K 3J0

An original line of handmade baby and girls’ clothing designed by Jennifer ­Martin ­featuring summer dresses, ­reversible short sets, hats and more. Located in the ­cutest little store on Main Street, Bancroft. FB Niffers Clothing

Have you met Levi, Harris, or Miss Pearl yet? These handmade fabric creations by Tweed artist Shirley Ivison can be found hanging out at Quinn’s of Tweed Fine Art Gallery. While they love being surrounded by art they’re looking for their forever homes. FB @Quinns.of.Tweed.Art.Gallery

Spring 2020 • Country Roads

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CONTRIBUTORS

EDITORIAL

Andy Sparling taught journalism at Loyalist College after a career as a reporter that took him across Canada and around the world. A sometimesirrational obsession with the trombone has led to three decades as a member of the Commodores Orchestra, and authorship of Dance of the Decades - a loving account of the band’s 92-year history. He’s working on another book about the R.C.A.F. Streamliners - the untold story of a dance band that played for troops near the front lines in World War Two. Vic Schukov was born and raised in Montreal, but finally found paradise in Brighton. He writes weekly columns for the Brighton Independent, the Belleville Intelligencer and the Montreal Gazette. Vic is a published novelist, a stage playwright, and a former stand-up comic in Montreal. He holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from McGill University. A tea reader once said he was Leonardo da Vinci in another life, but Vic is doubtful. Heather-Anne Wakeling has enjoyed a multi-faceted media career that began as a teen working for Barry Penhale at his independent publishing company Consolidated Amethyst. There Barr y introduced her to a manual typewriter instructing her “to learn how to type … and quickly.” Over the years she has typed her way through all aspects of print and television production while earning a B.A. from York University. Old enough to have actually set “hot metal type,” she is an early adapter becoming one of the first video compositors at Maclean’s Magazine. Life turned full circle and brought her “home” to write and edit for Country Roads Magazine. Now a full-time carer to her mother, she adores her life partner Andrew, their dog Anubis and his cohort in crime, Bailey the cat. Shelley Wildgen has a background in broadcasting that extends from Belleville to Winnipeg to Bermuda and back again. She is an advertising copywriter and commercial voice over talent by trade but has also written features for many magazines across Canada, as well as taken a turn at teaching in the School of Media Arts and Design at Loyalist College. Shelley divides her time between Belleville and Prince Edward Island.

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Hello Reader Thank you for your interest in Hastings County and for choosing Country Roads to learn more about this special place. We take great pleasure in providing stories and visuals that celebrate our area’s unique arts, outdoors, history, people and places. It’s always wonderful when readers share with us their thoughts regarding articles we publish. Feedback is sometimes received in person, other times it’s through email, phone calls or via our FB or website, and we would truly like to hear more from you — the reader. For instance: What have been your favourite stories? Did you have a connection to the content of a particular piece? Were you motivated to visit a community because of the great businesses, amenities and events advertised on our pages? Do you have story suggestions we should consider? We love receiving fresh ideas. Our writers are great at gauging the exciting things happening in the region and bring interesting story ideas to the table, but it’s a LARGE county and we know that there’s undoubtedly many story worthy topics we may not be aware of. So, consider this our call out to you – the reader. Let us know what you like about our magazine, and what you would like to see more of. … You can email us at nancy@countryroadshastings.ca , comment on FB @ countryroadshastings or call or write. Speaking of our FB page – we follow a lot of local pages and share forward posts that really stand out, so we invite you to give us the ‘thumbs up’ to learn more and more about Hastings County. And you’ll be the first to know when a new issue is about to arrive – with sneak previews of covers and more. With this issue we’re officially launching our 2nd annual photo contest. Our 1 st photo contest resulted in a visual explosion on our computer screens. It was fantastic. And we know it’s going to happen again with this year’s contest. The photo memories of Hastings County are endless. If time allowed, I think we would all be motivated to spend a lot of time capturing these beautiful images for posterity. They fill the soul for sure. We’ll end with a thank you to everyone reading our publication, and for being an important member of the Country Roads team. After all, what is a magazine without its readers and supporters? Read, visit, support the great advertisers that choose Country Roads to spread their message. And we look forward to hearing from you.


VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1, SPRING 2020

CONTENTS 8

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Bancroft’s Retro Candy Store

Bancroft General Mercantile 16 foot candy counter Fudge, Black Licorice, Pop Shoppe, & Vintage Novelties

75 Hastings St. N

Downtown Bancroft on the Strip

613.332.2332

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Also visit Stirling General Mercantile 26 West Front St., Stirling 613.243.8462

“Caring for your family’s dental health”

Stirling Dental Centre Dr. Lauren Allen A N D A S S O C I AT E

Dr. Ross Erwin

FEATURES 8 CYCLING THROUGH AND ­BEYOND HASTINGS COUNTY

18 HOME SCENT HOME

By Andy Sparling

By Heather-Anne Wakeling

Family & Cosmetic Dentistry New Patients & Emergencies Welcome Friendly people and gentle dentistry for your whole family.

9B Tuftsville Road, Stirling, ON 613-395-2800

12 PURPOSEFUL PAINTING

By Victor Schukov

DEPARTMENTS 6 EDITORIAL

17 SOCIAL SCENE

6 CONTRIBUTORS

20 COUNTRY CALENDAR

11 JUST SAYING

21 MARKETPLACE

Morning Has Broken

22 BACKROADS

14 REMEMBERING

Canadian History Recorded in Letters

16 THE VILLAGE IDIOT

In a bad mood

23 ADVERTISERS INDEX

ARE YOU NEW TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD? Visits are free. No obligation. Compliments of local businesses. Sharon: (613) 475-5994 sharon.welcome2014@gmail.com

1-844-299-2466 www.welcomewagon.ca

Spring 2020 • Country Roads

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Cycling through and beyond Hastings County

Lister’s rig. An Axiom rack and way too big Axiom bags worked famously and a $10 on-sale tent was his shelter. Photo credit: Andrew Lister.

Slow travel offers cyclists an eco-friendly and unique vacation experience By Heather-Anne Wakeling

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ourists travelling through Hastings County always mention the magnificent views. However, with interest in reducing carbon footprints and participating in eco-friendly excursions, vacationers are opting to trade their vehicles for bicycles. As they pedal along Heritage Trails and the TransCanada Highway, otherwise known as Highway 7, people create wonderful memories as they re-discover just how slow travel can unveil our area’s natural beauty in intimate, physical detail. Long time cycling enthusiast and Hastings County tourist, Andrew Lister is an advocate of the slow travel approach to an Ontario warm weather vacation. As a seasoned rider and competitive veteran of tours throughout Ontario, Lister realized about seven years ago that he had never actually ‘toured’ through an area. He explains, “What I mean is, that to me, touring means to stop, smell the roses, so to speak.”

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“One day when I was searching a map, I said to my partner of many years that I always wanted to ride to a certain National Park on Lake Erie. She said, ‘So do it.’ Astonished with the realisation that I really did have the time to do this, I booked some holiday time. As it turned out she was planning to attend a PowWow in Peterborough around the same time I was thinking about setting off. So, I reviewed the map and the Hastings County area seemed perfect. I gathered my inventory of gear. I mounted a rack to my bike and loaded panniers for what was to be the first of many personal cycling adventures. I was dropped outside of Peterborough and she watched me set off east on Highway 7.” Since that first journey, Lister has made two excursions through Hasting County, three if you count his trip to Ottawa, and has cycled over 2,500km pushing pedal through the county which has become a particular favourite route. These trips begin

in P ­ eterborough, cycling through the towns of Norwood, Havelock, Marmora, Madoc, Kaladar, even going a little bit (25km) off route to North Brook to purchase food and water at the local Foodland. This stretch of his journey ends by camping at the Woodland Park in Arden. For cyclists, “the TransCanada Highway offers a wide, safe shouldered route, and there are plenty of rest areas and scenery along the way. Also, unlike cycling in congested city traffic, rural truckers and passenger vehicle drivers tend to be very considerate and give riders lots of room. In fact, a particular thank you should go to all those Giant Tiger truck drivers who always provide me with ample space, and I’ve noticed that when it’s safe to do so, they actually go into the opposite lane to offer me a full one.” Slow travel also offers glimpses of wildlife not previously noticed. “When travelling at 100km/h car speed one barely notices how many animals we share our world with.” Cycling in a relaxed manner allows the realization that “the forest is alive. The birds, they sing and greet you as you cycle closer. I’ve seen deer, a moose, even a bear with two cubs, which I made sure to cycle quickly in the opposite direction from. Over the years I now have a strategy to out-cycle the farm dogs.” He notes that cycling through Hastings County is enjoyable as the trails are well-groomed and that


the trail infrastructure is increasing with the Hastings Trail having been added to the Trans Canada Trail Network. Average cyclists can achieve rides of 500km and 300km by slow rolling through dual track and gravel. Best of all, the slow traveller can savour the scenery, and have encounters with fellow cyclists both foreign and domestic. In fact, Lister met and chatted with experienced Austrian cyclists with exceptional gear who were cycling around Lake Ontario. He said that they “were complimentary about our country, the nature and the warm welcome they received by everyone they encountered on the way.” He remembers that his first trip was uncommonly hot that Victoria Day Saturday, but “I was travelling with a slight wind and soon was in Norwood and then Havelock stopping to admire the old train station. I continued on and soon the landscape changed, wonderous towering rock formations appeared.” In awe of the “fragmented cathedral like iron valleys, as I was approaching the town of Marmora. It was lovely. My smell the roses moment was taking a side trip to an old iron mine, an open pit mine now flooded and I presume fed by an underground spring. One couldn’t help but marvel at the size and majesty. A reflective moment happened at the Marmora war memorial — so many lives, so

Top Left: Cyclist Andrew Lister is an advocate for the eco-friendly travel. Photo credit: Andrew Lister. Top Right: One of the sites along the way, a flooded iron mine. Photo credit: Andrew Lister. Bottom Right: The slow travel of cycling offers spectacular views of the areas woodlands that are alive with wildlife. Photo credit: Andrew Lister. Bottom Left: The owner of Woodland Park was gracious enough to leave Lister some firewood for a welcome evening campfire. Photo credit: Andrew Lister.

many names, this town gave a lot of its sons and daughters in the name of freedom.” After a rest in Marmora, it was back on the road where “Lovely tree-lined fields and sloping hills were my treat for the next 30 - 40km as I approached Madoc.” “In both Marmora and Madoc, I found the communities to be greatly hospitable and that these towns offer lovely older churches. Just as it was in Marmora, the Madoc memorial brought home to me just how much smaller towns honour their dead, the effect that WWI and WWII had on these communities. It is a sobering read when you see up-close the amount of name dedications on the monuments, easily a huge percentage of the men at the time. I realized that no home or town was without its losses.”

He adds that “Madoc had a surprise in store for me as my father, Cyril was a veteran and always held regard for those who gave their lives and that imprinted on me the sacrifice. A Victoria Cross was awarded to John Foote, a Presbyterian minister who tended to the wounded while being under fire at Dieppe. It gives pause.” Cycling also allows for a physical appreciation of Hastings County’s Indigenous and settler history. “It wasn’t always passable with a well-served highway or Heritage Rail Trail. Just think of the amount of effort it took for construction crews to blast through the rock. There was a time when cars did not exist, and people had to make their way either by canoe, on foot with a mule carrying their supplies, or even by horseback. And in reality, we forget this, but it wasn’t that long ago, really.” For Lister it is being Spring 2020 • Country Roads

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exposed to these bites of time that are precious and he savours them by taking the time to appreciate his surroundings. After a brief rest in Madoc, Lister continues on to his camping destination at Arden and Woodland Park. During his first night he became well aware of animal life in the woods, and during the day had a great forest bathing experience. In addition, the owner was gracious and offered wood

for a fire so that Lister could relax after a long day on the road. One of his 10-day excursions ended in Brighton, where laughing he said that he cycled onto the main street only to see it lined with people and a town crier in the middle of the road. “I must say that it buoyed my spirits, but I soon was amused to find out that I was ahead of a parade and so, I was not the local celebrity they had came to cheer on.”

MADOC the town with a heart of gold! F R E E

WEDDING

CONSULTATIONS

Cycling along the TransCanada Highway offers a comfortable, wide shouldered road. Photo credit: Andrew Lister.

KELLY’S FLOWERS • 613-473- 1891 • 1-800-267-3277

Slow travel offers Lister an awareness of many things: freedom, a recognition of self sufficiency, submission to the weather, the necessity of sufficient bug spray and water. In fact, “Bring money as water is an expensive necessity,” with an added caution that free water does not mean good water. He laughs recounting that while stopping in Plaisance National Park on the Quebec border one of the rangers seriously said “I fear for you,” because he had run out of bug spray. Additional advice. “Don’t overpack. I overpacked for my first ride. But the Axiom rack and way too big Axiom bags worked famously and my $10 onsale tent was my shelter. Don’t wear ear-buds, it is important that you hear and be alert to the conditions, especially wildlife and vehicles.” Light-weight weather gear, bike repair toolkit, water, bug repellent, tent, matches, small hatchet to cut dead, dry trees for firewood. Pack easy foods such as granola, power bars and bananas; a good helmet, sunscreen and sunglasses. Other tips: “weigh your gear before you head out, and then reduce it to a comfortable weight. Keep your map, ID, credit/debit cards or cash and your cell phone and back up battery in waterproof bags. Shop local for anything you may need. Purchasing the CAA cyclist coverage is handy, because in the event of an irreparable incident, a cyclist can call for a pick up and drive into town.” But perhaps the best reason for a slow-down cycling vacation was shared by an elder Lister met while resting in Kaladar. Striking up a cycling conversation with this man perhaps in his 80’s, what the gentleman most impressed upon Lister was this: How much he wished he had done a cycling tour when he had his youth’s strength to do so. But he just never got around to it. Lister thinks that a cycling tour through Hastings County is one sure way to ensure that the inner adventurer will never have to say, “Too bad I missed the opportunity, when the route was wide open, just waiting for a cyclist, or two or three, to experience slow travel and really experience in an immediate physical way the beautiful country that is Hastings County.”

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EXCEPTIONAL SHOPS, SERVICES & ATTRACTIONS Come Visit This Spring 10 I

Country Roads • Spring 2020


JUST SAYING

Tweed

BY SHELLEY WILDGEN

EXPLORE OUR BACKYARD

Morning Has Broken The other side of midnight as a life-altering encounter morning and even genuinely smiling as I unlocked the fitness centre door at 5:50 sharp. Here’s where things went off the rowing machine. I started to become one of them. Something altered with my alertness and I found myself ordering supplies while balancing inventory, filling water jugs and cheerfully answering the phone all before 7 a.m. Then I wondered if there was a way I could fit in my own workout because these shiny, happy people had something … and I wanted it. Turns out that I could if I came into work an hour earlier … so I did. Rise time was 4 a.m., personal workout commenced at 4:50 a.m., shower and dressed at 5:30 and then I opened the door for the members at 5:50. After just a couple of days of gym members seeing the gym lights turned on mega-early, it was decided the members could join me if they paid a premium ‘early bird’ fee … and there we all were, peddling and puffing every morning at 5:00 a.m. My energy levels went through the roof and I became scary productive with membership paperwork, tallying up maintenance costs and even outlining ad campaigns for about three straight hours after my Wanda the Wonder-dog workout followed by a noon long distance bike ride at quitting time. If I wasn’t there in living, sweaty colour, I never would have believed it. The rapture of early morning rising had swallowed me whole. This I know for sure: It is definitely possible to become a morning person when your hand (or pay-cheque) is forced. As a morning convert, I totally understood what made morning people tick. It is an energy gift like no other and an entire day to enjoy following that early start is the cherry on top. Now before we get too carried away with the many merits of morning cheer, let me assure you that now, years later I am safely ensconced at my writing desk wearing last night’s pajamas aaaattttt … 3:37 p.m. Yeah, turns out all that sunshine and spontaneous combustion is an easy habit to break, which I did as soon as I moved on to my next job. But those other people? The real morning people? I am sure they are still as they were. You know them. Some of you are married to them … those saucy little sleepy-heads that toddle off to bed around 8 p.m. because they’ve got to be ready for their cute little heads to pop off their pillows at five bells. Adorable! So, maybe your own reclining, relaxing love of a lie-in resolve will never be challenged, but 30 if ever it is, I guarantee you’ll be amazed by your barely recognizable, morning self.

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Discover ...The Land O’ Lakes Region

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leepy, slothy, comfy, cozy… everything that keeps us under the blankets all winter long. Just try to beat that cold-outside-no problem-inside, roll-over-after-the-snoozealarm charm? Impossible. It’s the bliss enjoyed by all hibernating humans … unless, of course, you’re a morning person, all hopped up because your spring-time fresh season has just arrived! Now when you bound out of bed and pogo over to the shower, the rest of us, we kind of get it. What with all those bob bob bobbin’ing robins on the recently ‘riz’zed grass, who can blame you? Your newfound daybreak is the perfect time to celebrate. Your light has been turned on! We sleepy-heads can almost actually celebrate with you for a short time. If you stuff a mug of coffee in our face, we can squint our way through a few minutes of spring morning splendour. There’s the incomparable whiff of fresh mud mixed with the air of all things possible but, truth is, not everyone can sustain that positivity for a whole day. The crack of dawn is reserved for a certain segment of the population: farmers, hockey players, and radio announcers — unless by some weird slap of fate we regular folk get foisted into a parallel universe. It can happen … and it did to me … about twenty years ago. No, it wasn’t new motherhood with its own brand of fresh hello; it was a job at a fitness centre. Honestly. No. Really. I found myself employed at a pretty nifty position manning the front desk of a local fitness club with just one hitch. Start time was 6 a.m. Turns out there are a lot of folks who want exactly that. They want their pool warmed and their weights all set up because early, early morning workouts are their favourite way to start the day. OK. Cool. Yes, let’s do this … and do it I did. For the first week, I squealed into the parking lot at 6 a.m. sharp. My head-lights danced off the disappointed, albeit fit, faces of a waiting line of club members. It wasn’t quite early enough, see? They wanted to start their workouts at 6, so if I would be so kind as to arrive at 5:45, that’d be good. 5:45 it was and I learned very fast how serious morning people start their days. For the first month, I watched them warily as I checked their pool temps, washed and dried their towels, and prepped their coffee. Being friendly was part of the gig, so I was always sure to wish them a great day as they sauntered their freshly laundered selves past the desk at 7 a.m. sharp. Un-be-lievable. By the second month I was fully engaged, rising at a quarter to stupid every

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Purposeful

g n i t n i Pa

Putting the fun back into fundraising Story and photos by Victor Schukov

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atural born artists stand out at a very young age and usually, if not eventually, will display their multiple talents. Lorraine Shalitis was born in Kingston, and raised in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Her Mom often said that Shalitis was painting, drawing and singing before she could even talk. At age seven she had already won an art contest and by age 11, Shalitis was considered a bass violin prodigy, giving shows in schools and theatres. Shalitis came to Belleville in 1996 and over the years worked at Nortel while raising three children. In 2005 she took the Business Sales & Marketing program at Loyalist College and worked as a sales manager for close to ten years, but the painting and the singing didn’t loose a beat. She laughs recounting when, “I was in a car with my little girl and Patsy Cline was on the radio and my daughter said, ‘Mom, that girl sounds just like you.’ Out of the mouth of babes, I took the hint and started a Patsy Cline tribute act.” Since that fateful conversation she has played in practically every major jamboree such as those in Marmora and Havelock. Six years ago, she took second place in the “Spitting Image” tribute contest in Montreal. “It’s always Frank Sinatra that takes first when I compete. Who can compete with My Way?” Shalitis has also sung back-up with some cool country acts, and as a duo with her bandmate and best friend Stompin’ Jon, tribute to the late Tom Connors. In 2015, complications from an old injury resurfaced themselves. The former sale manager said “I was looking for something I could do at my own pace because of my limited mobility. I thought if I was going to have to deal with chronic pain I might

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Country Roads • Spring 2020

as well be doing something where I help others, and that’s where my charity/business came from.” Combining her business and creative skills with a strong desire to make a difference in the community, Purposeful Painting was born in January 2019; it runs paint-night fundraisers at local pubs and restaurants with each event benefiting a selected charitable organization — $15.00 from every ticket sold is donated to the featured organization for that evening. “We are a fundraiser’s dream come true,” said Quinte West’s Shalitis. “So many organizations simply don’t have the extra resources to fundraise, so we run the event from top to bottom by providing all the supplies, marketing, ticket sales, setting up and cleaning after. At the end of the event, we give the funds raised to the organization. Part of our mission is to give fundraising coordinators a muchdeserved break. We do this because we know that the people at the charity already work really hard. I have volunteered in some of those charities like Gleaners Food Bank and sang at benefits for raising money for families who have lost someone. I know what they go through. Purposeful Painting is a ‘too good to be true’ that is actually true. In their first year, recipients included Fixed Fur Life, Sandy Pines Animal Rescue, Gleaner’s and Trenton Food Banks, Quinte Humane Society, Habitat for Humanity, Big Brothers Big Sisters as well as sport leagues, schools and churches. Donations exceeded $10,000. “The best part is bringing people together to create, showing them what they can do, and helping our community at the same time. It’s a win/win for everyone. Art classes are very hard to find without paying oodles of money. We give an art lesson during the event, and everyone paints the same thing. Some

Top Left: While everyone paints the same theme, there is not one painting that will ever look exactly like anyone else’s. Top Right: Lorraine Shalitis, owner of Purposeful Painting says that paint night fundraisers are all about having fun and helping the community. Above: From left: Judy Marshall of Trenton and Tammy Hartford, Picton agree that these evenings are a great night out with friends.

people who have never painted before come up with these incredible pieces. They thought they couldn’t but discover their talent. Everyone can paint, you just have to be taught, like learning to ride a bike, step by step. You come out and trust that the instructor can teach you. It gives you a new passion. Some people will go home and get an art set and you never know, may become a painter that makes a huge contribution to art in the future. Many times, the folks who attend need an extra push to come out, and knowing it’s for a great cause does exactly that. Plus, it’s a night of entertainment, and they often have dinner, then bring their drink to the painting table.” Shalitis begins each event with rule number one: Have fun! She said, “Once, when we were painting an owl, these two friends made fun of each other’s rendition. The laughter was incredible. One said, ‘Yours looks like Shrek,’ and the other said, ‘Yours looks like Bigfoot.’ It’s a great time. You can forget about life for a few hours if you need a break from everything.” In January 2020, Purposeful Painting donated over $1,200, for Quinte West Relay for Life, on behalf of the Canadian Cancer Society. The paint-night held at Boston Pizza in Trenton, was enjoyed by all. Participant Teresa Burton of Trenton came with her three best friends from grade nine. Burton said that “I am very happy with my painting despite not having painted much before. Correction. I can paint anything I want as long as it’s on a finger nail. Lorraine has seen my nail art. I paint pictures like we are doing today, but on a pinky finger nail. My favourite was a sparkly blue ocean, golden red sunset and a palm tree and a seagull and a sand dune. I had a very bad month, and this is making me very happy.”


Jennifer Brunix, Amanada Lorbetski, Megan BurnsidePoitras, and Lauren Dashnay from Relay for Life are one of the organizations that benefit from these events.

A full class of post dinner participants painting for a good cause.

Judy Marshall of Trenton said that “I have done a few of these events. I love these things, a night out with my friends. It’s for a good cause. I love to paint at home also. The more I come out, the more techniques I learn. I would like to do something special one day. It’s just been a year, but this got me going. It’s just fun. You go out for dinner, then paint.” Tammy Hartford of Picton added that “I have done this for a year now, about 20 times.” Laughing she added that these events are a “definite therapy, keeps my sanity, gets me away from my son and my husband.” For Shalitis, the business has also been an epiphany because “when your health is not so great, you

start to think about the big picture. So, every hour I give out has to be meaningful. Purposeful Painting has a legacy. I made something better while I was here. Life is good, you know? It is what you make it, right? My Mom died of cancer around the time I started this business, and I realized in the short time you are on this planet you can try and stay afloat, then rise above. As a mom, nothing matters

more to me than to be a positive role model for my kids. Even more, they see one person can make a difference. You have to ask yourself, what is the most important thing to me? I want to help others. It’s a team effort, but it takes one person to start the current, then everything else flows. You have to ask, to get things out of life. I was not afraid to ask, and I didn’t get any No’s.”

For more information: Purposeful Painting is 100% Canadian owned and operated, committed to ensuring that their paint night fundraisers are all about having fun and helping the community. To book a fundraiser or other paint event contact (613) 922-2200 or email info@purposefulpainting.ca, www.purposefulpainting.ca

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Spring 2020 • Country Roads

I 13


R E M E M B E R I N G

Remembering

Canadian History Recorded in Letters BY BARRY PENHALE

Between Friends: A Year in Letters. Helen Levine & Oonagh Berry. Second Story Press, 2005.

A

t a neighbourly gathering at our farmhouse, a guest now into her 80s brought up the topic of pen pals — a term that today seems quaint and out-of-fashion. As it turned out our neighbour has kept up a cherished correspondence with two childhood friends for over seventy years. Just imagine the history these three faithful friends have witnessed and documented as they recorded, page by page, their daily experiences, in letters that have regularly made their way across the country. Today, in a greatly changed era, memories alone remain to remind us of a once familiar sight of one’s mother seated usually at a kitchen table, her quiet place where she could be found lovingly writing newsy letters to family and friends — each letter written in perfectly formed handwriting. How times have changed! Now, instead of pen to paper, email messages are dashed off in record time or we text via a hand-held cell phone. Even this senior journalist now sits at his Mac — the days of tapping away on an old Underwood typewriter (remember those things) is now part of my own past. Sad to say and personally speaking, what is left of my own handwriting (never as impeccable as my mother’s), is now regrettably reduced to a

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Country Roads • Spring 2020

My Dearest Wife. Maud J. McLean & Robert M. Stamp. Natural Heritage Books, 1998.

rather poor signature. A sad statement to be sure and unfortunately true! The acclaimed biographer and popular historian, Charlotte Gray, does, in my opinion, know more about the importance of letters written by known and little-known Canadians than any other author with whom I am personally acquainted. Her marvelous book, Canada: A Portrait in Letters, 1800–2000, (Doubleday Canada, 2003) occupies a place of honour on my home-office bookshelf alongside valued copies of other significant books by this talented non-fiction writer, winner of the 2003 Pierre Berton Award and undoubtedly one of Canada’s best biographers. On the inside of the dust jacket, there appears the following quote from the author herself: “Letters have a magic all their own,” writes Charlotte Gray. “Like locks of hair, they encapsulate some essential element of the personality of whoever holds the pen. I can almost hear the writer speak to me, across time and distance.” Readers with Canadian history interests will find much to discover within her book. A selected few of the many hundreds of Canadians whose letters have been chosen include Robertson Davies, Glenn Gould, Grey Owl, Emily Carr, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Letters involving notable figures associated with

Canada: A Portrait In Letters, 1800–2000. Charlotte Gray. Doubleday Canada, 2003.

Hastings County include Susanna Moodie, Flora MacDonald Denison, and Farley Mowat. Written from the heart, the countless letters found in this insightful volume represent a highly personal way of exploring the history of our country. In 1998, the first edition of a delightful book titled My Dearest Wife appeared in bookstores and libraries. Co-written by Maud J. McLean and the Canadian historian Robert M. Stamp, the book is a dual biography of James David Edgar and his wife, Matilda Ridout Edgar. Their loving relationship is captured through their devoted correspondence, written at the time of an emerging Canada. James David Edgar (1841-99), though the son of impoverished Scottish immigrants to Canada, was to become a well-known politician and ultimately speaker of the House of Commons in Ottawa following the victory of Laurier in 1896. He wrote a letter to his wife every day when required to be in Ottawa, hence the title of the book. Matilda Edgar (1845–1910), a most accomplished woman, become one of Canada’s most respected early female historians, president of the Women’s Historical Society of Toronto and until her passing, served as president of the National Council of Women of Canada. Together the couple made a substantial contribution to 19th-century Canada. The authors’ decision to use the “voices” of James and


R E M E M B E R I N G February 5, 1981:

Through his letters and folk art the well-liked Bancroft artisan, Henry Taylor, left behind delightful reminders of past years within the North Hastings/Madawaska Valley region he so proudly called home. Photo by Marc Solomon

Tillie through their letters, writings, and speeches revealed much of both their private and public worlds. Interestingly, the printed acknowledgements within My Dearest Wife, includes a thank you to a youngerat-the-time, Heather Wakeling, now Country Roads’ assistant editor. Bancroft’s “Man of the Century” Henry Taylor, though living a whole lot longer than most letter writers, never made it into a Charlotte Gray book nor did he move in the elite circles known to James and Matilda Edgar. But as a natural storyteller, he brought to life some very rich rural Hastings County history through his letters and oral tapes. Fortunately, I have in my possession a packet of letters received from him long ago, each one of which I treasure. Henry’s letters could always be counted on to provide authentic snapshots of the past. It somehow seems fitting in examining our heritage through correspondence, to close with one or more delightful letters from one who in his own lengthy lifetime became living history.

“My Mother, Mrs. Alex Taylor had a spinning wheel and she spun wool right off the back of our sheep and John Allison wove a pair of all-wool blankets, which she put on display at the Renfrew Fair and took first prize.” In his letters, Henry often mentioned his ancestors with pride, including his grandmother Mrs. Joe Stringer, whose maiden name was Isabella McAllister. “This same Grandmother of mine told me she only went to school one day of her life after a little log schoolhouse had been built in McNab Township. A British Army officer had been installed as a schoolmaster — he must have been one of those brutish Drill Sargeant (sic) types — for the very first day Grandmother was there he got a small boy who had no slate up on a bench to teach him how to make his letters and figures on the blackboard. The lad had done something to displease the schoolmaster for he just savagely caught the boy by the lobe of one of his ears and yanked him down the bench tearing the lobe of the lad’s ear right off the side of his head. When Isabella McAllister my Grandmother went home and told William McAllister that, he said ‘Well that’s no place for my daughter.’ So she never went back to school anymore. It wasn’t until us — her grandchildren brought our books home from school — we taught Grandmother how to read and write!” An excerpt from another of Henry’s letters, also written in February 1981 reads: “This fall the Herman1 School out on Hwy #500 East got my wife, Dorothy and I to lecture. Dorothy [was] to tell them what a country school was like 50 years ago, when she came into North Hastings to teach.” For his part, Henry, with some of his woodcarvings on display, shared memories of logging with horses half a century earlier. He also took delight in telling me that one of the teachers jokingly asked if he was there to enroll. When Henry enquired if any record might exist of his own limited schooling in the area, the teacher located an old register and there legibly recorded were the four days he had attended in the month of February 1912. Henry then went on to explain that as a seven-year-old his legs were too short to deal with massive snowdrifts, and further noted that back then a lot of school time was lost because

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of the severe winters. Henry’s particular brand of humour emerged when he ended as follows: “Well I guess I will close this Bancroft Times for now.” Perhaps this is an OUR appropriate time to suggest a EXPLORE BACKYARD new way of looking at handwritten letters — the time to think half full rather than half empty when opening that next envelope — should you be fortunate enough to receive such a rarity in today’s world. Surely there exists every possibility that future correspondence could easily contain some historical tidbits — the smallest of which could be meaningful to our understanding of family and its place in today’s Canada.

Ed. Note: 1. In the book titled Where the Heck is Balaheck? by Michael Dawber (General Store Publishing, 1995) the author shares his special interest in unusual Eastern Ontario place names. One particular entry reminds readers of two communities in Mayo Township, first known as Hermon & Upper Hermon and originally located where the old Snow Road crossed a short connecting route to the Peterson Colonization Road. Early growth encouraged the opening of a post office in 1878 and sometime afterward the now longvanished hamlet came to be known solely as “Upper Hermon.” Later still this moniker was replaced by the male Christian name Herman. Whoever Herman was remains a mystery!

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Spring 2020 • Country Roads

I 15


THE VILLAGE IDIOT BY JOHN HOPKINS

In a bad mood

W

e generally live in a world of trade offs in this part of the country. The price we pay for beautiful summer weather is the aggravation of a wide assortment of pesky bugs. On the other hand, while we deal with the cold, ice and snow of winter, traditionally we have the advantage of an absence of insects. This delicate balance is one of the most maddening, but also strangely beautiful aspects of nature. It is the great give-and-take, ying-andyang, or ebb and flow of the natural world. When this balance is upset, however, it can lead to all sorts of problems, and this summer we may come face to face with the downside of this imbalance. It has been, I think we can agree, a relatively mild winter. While we have had some cold days, we have also had periods of unusually mild weather. And I certainly feel that we have not had the days of sustained cold that really make you appreciate a summer’s day sitting on the deck. I have also seen evidence of this in the natural world. The Canada Geese, for example, will

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usually stick around here for a while as autumn rolls along. But even they reach the point where enough is enough and they bail out and fly off to (presumably) warmer climes. Not so this year, however. Through January and into February there were days when I would see a flock of them poking around our shoreline, looking for a bite to eat or a quiet place to nap. To add to this, joy of joys, I have also found one or two mosquitoes floating around the house in the warmer stretches of the winter. When we have insects bugging us in the winter it is a violation of our agreement with the earth, and it is not fair to us. I’m afraid I don’t know who to complain to about this, but then again, I doubt I would get a very sympathetic hearing based upon the treatment my species has inflicted upon the planet. However, I can pretty much assure you that the mosquito I squashed one February morning was none too pleased with the imbalance in the trade off as well. I also understand that a mild winter can also cause bears to come out of hibernation early. I have not seen evidence of that yet, and I certainly hope I don’t. These examples of the Canada Geese, insects and bears have impacts that are very soundly grounded in science. But to really appreciate the gravity of the problem, I think we need to study the psychological aspects as well. I cannot help with the science, but I think I can provide some insight into the psychology. Take the insects, for example. According to livescience.com, because the winter temperatures haven’t been consistently cold enough to kill off many insects, we will have to deal with even more of the pesky things this summer. Think about it, you may not like shivering through -30 degree temperatures on a dark January day, but the payoff

is sitting on your dock six months later without buzzing filling your ears and welts developing on any exposed flesh. However, let’s go beyond the science. Have you ever tried to get a table at your favourite restaurant only to find that it’s overbooked? Or have you stood in line for over an hour waiting for that ice cream cone? How about ordering take-out only to find it won’t be delivered in over an hour because of a high volume of orders? Did it make you mad? Now pretend you’re a mosquito, one of an overpopulation of mosquitoes that are trying to dine out on the same number of humans that were around last summer. Think you’ll be in a good mood? I don’t. So, we won’t simply be dealing with hungry mosquitoes this summer. We’ll be dealing with hungry mosquitoes that can’t get a table. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. The same website also points out that a mild winter can lead to conflicts with the bear population as well, but I don’t need a scientist to tell me that. I know what sort of mood I’m in after I’ve had a rough night’s sleep, so I can just imagine the foul temper of a black bear that was repeatedly woken up during the winter because his den was getting uncomfortably warm. My watchword to hikers – stay away from any bears, but especially those that haven’t had their third cup of coffee. As for the geese, the website geesepeace.com explains that Canada Geese will hang around an area as long as there is open water, and the water along our stretch of the river has remained pretty much open all winter. This is not always the case. Usually we have been able to count on a stretch of four or five days of sustained cold that freezes up the water, making it unappealing to the geese, so they head south. No need to this winter. I don’t know about any scientific ramifications of the geese not migrating, but I do know of people that are very disagreeable if they do not get at least a week of winter vacation in Florida. Great. So enjoy your summer everyone. All you have to worry about are insects that have to wait for their food order, grumpy bears that didn’t sleep well, and Canada Geese that are miffed they didn’t get their vacation down south. That’s the ebb and flow of the natural world for you. We always pay for it in the end – or wherever that mosquito lands.


R

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ON THE COVER

PHOTO BY SANDRA RANDLE

C

COUNTRY ROADS SOCIAL SCENE

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PHOTO CONTEST SHOW US YOUR BEST SHOTS!

Our Spring 2020 issue’s cover is credited to Sandy Randle, whose artistic eye has graced several issues of our magazine including the magnificent photo that was featured on our Fall 2018 issue. For this spring photograph Randle explains “Since moving to Stirling from Markham in 2016, we’ve seen so many different types of birds. We usually hang hummingbird feeders and one year we had an Oriole stop by to use it. Then our neighbour from a few doors down, said he always puts out Oriole feeders. So last spring we decided to put out nectar and oranges for them and sure enough, we had attracted a whole family. There were four adults and two young ones. In this picture, the young one was waiting for a spot on the feeder. They came every day until summer. Apparently, these birds need the sweet nectar and oranges to give them energy after migrating and by summer they were ready to move on to find other sources of food. I’m looking forward to seeing them again this spring!” Readers interested in seeing more of Randle’s remarkable photographs can contact her through her photo and gallery studio, Sandy Lee Randle Photography, located in Stirling. Her studio offers custom picture framing as well as personalized tutoring in photography, lightroom and camera.

3 CATEGORIES TO ENTER Fun in the outdoors Wildlife Landscapes Winning 1st, 2nd & 3rd place photographs will appear in our Winter 2020/21 issue. And there are prizes too!

Contest runs March 31 to October 20, 2020. Photographs must have been taken within Hastings County, Ontario.

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Spring 2020 • Country Roads

I 17


Home Scent Home

The magnificent Lucy standing in her full glory. Photo credit: Andy Sparling

Lost Lucy’s four-day 80-kilometre round trip an amazing tale of canine capability BY ANDY SPARLING

M

issing two-year-old dogs don’t tend to survive outside for four days and nights in Belleville’s early November weather. But Lucy did. And it looks like Lucy may have made it on foot across a good chunk of southern Hastings County — and back again — before crawling into bed and waking her beloved owner Kristy Sinclair in an almost magical return home. Lucy is a big dog. A canine behemoth, which is a cross between a Great Dane and a Bull Mastiff. She’s a lovable, good-natured girl who brings daily happiness to Sinclair and her family. “She is a most loving and caring animal, and she’s bigger than I am. And she really has no idea how big she is, especially when she’s trying to sit on your lap or get on the bed.” Lucy disappeared on Hallowe’en night. It was pouring rain, and the wind was “awful,” according to Sinclair. Somehow, Lucy got out of the fenced backyard not far from Highway 2 and Montrose Road while the family was out trickor-treating and visiting friends between 6 and 9 p.m. Maybe someone let her out, or perhaps she was spooked by something and jumped the fence. She was able.

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Country Roads • Spring 2020

The search began shortly after the family got home. It would involve hundreds of people; helpful neighbours, Facebook shares, the participation of about a dozen incredible volunteers from the lost-pet organization “Lost Paws,” and half-adozen folks halfway across Hastings County who phoned the family about sightings of an animal that looked a lot like Lucy. For Sinclair and husband Tim, it was the beginning of four sleepless days and nights; the couple and their three children never stopped looking. Canvassing nearby neighbours that evening, several reported they had seen Lucy running by, but couldn’t catch her. Sinclair called the OPP (the Animal Control office was closed) and continued driving around. At 1 a.m., someone called to say that a dog had been hit on Highway 2 not far from where they live. Rushing to the site of the accident and almost sick with worry, Sinclair says it turned out it wasn’t Lucy. “We started posting on Facebook and on every missing animals’ website I could think of. The next day we got a call from Lost Paws (the federally-registered community organization whose aim is to link lost pets with their families, free of charge). To Sinclair, they were “amazing.”

“They created flyers, put up posters, dropped supplies off at our house so we could make our own. The next day, we got a call from someone who saw a dog fitting Lucy’s description emerging from a field in the Stockdale Road area (about a two to three hour ‘human’ walk from the family home).” In other words, a long way. To get there, Lucy would have had to cross one of North America’s busiest highways, the 401. “There’s an underpass in the area, so being a large dog, it was possible for her to get out there, and it wouldn’t have taken her too long. So, we made like the mail deliverers, and driving slowly from mailbox to mailbox, we put flyers in all of them. We did field searches on Friday night and Saturday. Volunteers from Lost Paws were watching the rail line and using trail cams. We covered the whole area. There was no sign of her.” Sunday morning, Sinclair got a call from someone about 40 kilometres away in Tyendinaga that a dog fitting Lucy’s description had been spotted on York Road near Shannonville. That day, another three calls came in from the Shannonville area about possible sightings. For all of the search, which continued round the clock, the couple left the back gate and patio door open at home just in case Lucy found


Owner Kristy Sinclair with Lucy.

her way back. They put pieces of clothing and the dog’s bed outside the house in the hope she might pick up familiar scents. They also drove around the neighbourhood and shook articles of Sinclair’s clothing out the window of the moving car, again for the possibility that Lucy might get back on the right trail … a tactic that has worked in similar situations. Back to work on Monday for the couple. There was another call from someone who saw a dog that looked like Lucy going through a fence, and that it may have injured its back leg doing so. Finally, Monday evening, the exhausted Sinclair’s, who hadn’t slept in days, had to go to bed. “Lucy has been very helpful with some health issues I’ve been having recently, and I just don’t sleep well without her.” “Before I went to bed Monday night, I shut the patio door because it was getting really cold in the house with it open all the time. But then I got up later and opened it again … I mean, what if she came home, and it was closed?” Back to bed. A little later, a mini-miracle takes shape. “About two o’clock I felt this pounce on the bed, but my seven year-old daughter Brooklin was with me that night, and I just figured it was her rolling over. Didn’t think much of it. But then I could hear this really rough sniffing noise in my ear. I was in a panic. I wasn’t really expecting it to be Lucy, so I’m thinking maybe a coyote or something else had come in.” “And then the sniffing stopped, and I heard this cry. I thought, there’s no way. So, I put my hand out, and I could feel her, but I’m like, it can’t be. So, I turn on the light, and there she is! Laying on top of me in bed! She’s just sitting there looking at me with those eyes.” “I cried. I said, ‘where have you been?’— expecting she’s going to answer me. And I saw that she had actually grabbed her toy bunny before she jumped on the bed, and brought it to me to announce ‘I’m home’!” The whole family had a good cry. Recently, the family’s other pet dog, Tank the bulldog, had died.

Lucy was in pretty good shape, all things considered. She’d suffered an injury to her back leg, and was noticeably lighter for a lack of food, and she was exhausted. She did nothing but sleep for the

first day or so back. Otherwise — same old Lucy. Sinclair says knowledgeable searchers figure she was on the go the whole time. It’s likely that she followed the rail line west from the Stockdale Road area, and then south through field after field to the Shannonville area. And then back again? Hard to believe. According to the Mother Nature Network, 30 kilometres isn’t really that far when the wind is right and the dog has a good sniffer. Dogs probably have 40 times the scent capability of humans. They really know the neighbourhood … fire hydrants, bushes, sidewalks and fences. They’re also leaving distinct scents behind every time they put a paw down. But beyond the direct smells, dogs also use overlapping circles of scent to figure out where it is that they want to go. Maybe the smell of a familiar person or animal is in the air, or a trash can or stop sign that’s on its walking route. Any of these scents may have pointed Lucy in the right direction toward the smell she was really after — home. And the urge to get there had to have been allconsuming. “She is so sensitive to peoples’ needs and moods,” says her awestruck owner. “Especially to Brooklin and me. She’s our protector.”

OUR SHOPS & SERVICES WELCOME YOU

See what’s new for the 2020 Season! An expanded Selection of Art Supplies, Furniture & Home Decor.

Be Creative. Get inspired. Have Fun.

brushwiththenorth.com

613.338.2984

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C O U N T R Y

C A L E N D A R

Things to see and do in and around Hastings County.

To submit your event listing email info@countryroadshastings.ca or call us at 613 968-0499.

ART GALLERIES/EXHIBITIONS ART GALLERY OF BANCROFT, 10 Flint Ave., Bancroft, 613-332-1542 agb@nexicom.net www.artgallerybancroft.ca. Art openings the first Friday of the month 7:30 p.m. March 4 – 28 - Michael Nathaniel Green – The Invisible Offering: sculpture. April 1 – 25 - Shannon Taylor – Remembered, Imagined: mixed media. Opening reception Friday, April 3, 7:30 p.m. April 29 – May 30, -Underneath: Juried Theme Show. Opening reception Friday, May 1, 7:30 p.m. June 3 – 27 - Melinda Shank-Miles - Fragile: paintings. Opening reception Friday, June 5, 7:30 p.m. BELLEVILLE ART ASSOCIATION STUDIO AND GALLERY, 208 Front St., Belleville. 613 968-8632 www.bellevilleart.ca. T-S: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Paintings change every month with different themes. Contact Gallery for information regarding Acrylic or Water-colour Workshops. April 13 - Welcome Spring May 11 - Artist’s Choice JOHN M. PARROTT ART GALLERY, 254 Pinnacle St., Belleville. 613 9686731 ext. 2040 www.bellevillelibrary.ca April. 2 – 29 - The 32nd Annual Secondary School Art Exhibition featuring the work of students from the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board. Opening Reception, April. 2, 6-7:30 p.m. May 7 – June 4 - Parrott Gallery Juried Show. Various mediums. Opening Reception, May 7, 6-7:30 p.m. STIRLING LIBRARY ART GALLERY, 43 Front St., Stirling. 613 395-2837 stirlinglibraryartgallery@gmail.com Public Viewings: TWT: 10-7; F&S: 10-3. Feb. 4 – March 29 - Family Traditions: A Multi-Media Exhibition & Sale featuring the artistic Gibson family showcasing original paintings, pencil drawings and photography. Please join Carol, her daughters, her son and grand-daughters at the Opening Reception: Feb. 8, 1 - 3 p.m. All welcome! March 31 – May 30 - Captured Moments - An Exhibition & Sale featuring photographers Megan Bush of Stirling and Daphne Creasy of Picton together in one gallery. Opening Reception: April. 4, 1 - 3 p.m. All welcome!

THEATRE/LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

TWEED & COMPANY THEATRE, The Tweed Pavillion (Memorial Park). 416 476-1092 Tim Porter, Artistic Director tim@tweedandcompany.com www.eventbrite.ca/e/hot-mess-a-way-toointimate-evening-of-story-song-with-kelly-holiff-tickets-84481826417 April 25 & 26 - HOT MESS: A WAY Too Intimate Evening of Song & Story with Kelly Holiff. One of Canada’s most sought after Concert and Cabaret Singers, Kelly Holiff is coming to Tweed to create her brand new solo show. Kelly is a powerhouse vocalist whose talent is only matched by her incredible charm and outgoing character. Unlike any performance you’ve seen before, Kelly is ready to GO THERE with the people of Tweed, telling the outrageous stories of her career in the performing arts (many of them for the first time), and serenading us with song in the beautiful and intimate Marble Arts Centre. Two performances only The Marble Arts Centre, Actinolite. Tickets general admission $20.

May 28 thru May 31 - THE 5TH ANNUAL FRONT PORCH SHENANIGANS, Stirling, ON– www.facebook.com/Front-PorchShenanigans- Stirling-490995744413063/ May 30 – STIRLING PORCHFEST - Noon to 4p.m. Live music on 30 front porches within the village. www.facebook.com/Front-Porch-ShenanigansStirling-490995744413063/

EVENTS March 21 - CABIN FEVER - The Arlington, The West End Riverboat Band from Toronto, Maynooth Tuxedos and chili contests. New Orleans style jazz. www.maynooth.ca April 11 - EASTER EGG HUNT - Bring the kids and grandkids to search for the treats the Easter Bunny has left at the Queensborough Community Centre, 1853 Queensborough Rd. Info: call or text Stephanie Flieler, 613 438-0934. April 18 – 19 - MACKFest. Kayakers from across Ontario and Quebec invade Queensborough for the annual Marmora Area Canoe and Kayak Festival. Come watch the colourful spectacle as the kayakers’ paddle down the Black River and try their skills going over the dam in Queensborough. Hot dogs, hamburgers and homemade pie for sale. Info: Lud and Elaine Kapusta 613 473-1458. Note dates subject to change depending on water conditions. April 24 & 25 - HOME & LIFESTYLE EXPO Thinking of updating your home or just want to see what’s available in and around the community? Hours: April 24 6–8p.m. & April 25 9a.m. – 5p.m., Stirling Arena, 435 W Front St, Stirling. www.stirling-rawdon.com April 25 - TRASH BASH - Grab a friend or family member, claim a section of roadway and help give Queensborough a good spring cleaning. Info: Katherine Sedgwick 613 473-2110, or call or text Stephanie Flieler, 613 438-0934.

BELLEVILLE THEATRE GUILD, Pinnacle Playhouse, 256 Pinnacle St., Belleville. 613-967-1442 www.bellevilletheatreguild.ca. April 9 – 26 – MAMMA MIA - The story of a young girl living on a Greek island, who longs for her father to be at her wedding. Unknown to her mother, a single parent, she sends wedding invitations to the three men she believes could be her father. All three turn up and then the fun begins. June 4 – 20 - Vanya & Sonya & Masha & Spike - Vanya and Sonia have never left their childhood home in Bucks County, PA, while their sister, Masha, has been travelling the world as a successful actress. A surprise visit from Masha and her boy-toy, Spike, throws the normally quiet household into utter chaos and an intoxicating mixture of lust, rivalry and regret.

May 2 - THE MOTHER OF ALL CRAFT SHOWS - This is a fun and lively day of arts, crafts and music while engaging with talented makers. Over 100+ of the regions finest artisans, designers, and makers. Ramada by Wyndham Hotel, Belleville. www.motherofallcraftshows.com

May 1-3 – BELLEVILLE’S 8TH ANNUAL JANE’S WALK - This global event held the first weekend of May honours urban activist Jane Jacobs. Lace up your walking shoes and bring your bike. Organized tours. Each walk (or ride) approx 1-1.5 hours. www.janeswalk.org/Canada/Belleville janeswalkbelleville@gmail.com

May 2 & 3 - STIRLING AUTOMOTIVE & ANTIQUE FLEA MARKET - Stirling Fairgrounds Two big days loaded with antique cars, parts and automobilia. 9a.m. to 5p.m.. Admission $5. Children under 12 free. Info Roxanne 613395-1583 or 613-921-6936 sas@stirlingfair.com May 3 - PANCAKE BREAKFAST - 8 a.m. Queensborough Community Centre, 1853 Queensborough Rd. Pancakes, sausages, bacon, eggs and fresh local maple syrup. Info: Ann or Frank Brooks, 613 473-4550. May 9 - MOTHER’S DAY TEA - Admission $12.00 adults (Under 12, $8.00). Including Ice Cream Parlour and Silent Auction. Pick up a gift for your mother. Tickets available at Bush Furniture in Tweed or Madoc. Land O’Lakes Curling Club. 301 St. Joseph St., Tweed. 613 473-4040. 1:30 – 4 p.m.

Country Roads • Spring 2020

May 17– QUINTE TWEED MASTER GARDENERS PLANT SALE 8a.m. 12p.m., Parkdale Community Center, Belleville.

June 3 - KIWANIS CHICKEN BBQ - 10a.m.–6 p.m., Quinte Curling Club, 246 Bridge Street West Belleville. Tickets at kiwanisbelleville.ca or 613-9698947

BANCROFT VILLAGE PLAYHOUSE, 5 Hastings St. S., Bancroft. 613-322-4682 www.boxofficebancroft.com www.bancroftvillageplayhouse.ca www.bancroftvillageplayhouse.ca. April 4 - Diane Chase & Steve Wilkinson – Live Country Music. 7 p.m. April 14 - Parasite Film - Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan. 4:15 & 7 p.m. screenings May 2 - The RevTones – Live Music. 7 p.m.

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May 13 - ALZHEIMER AWARENESS PRESENTATION. The Queensborough Community Centre Committee and the United Church Women of St. Andrew’s in Queensborough partner to present an information and awareness evening at the Queensborough Community Centre, 1853 Queensborough Rd. Info: Elaine Kapusta, 613 473-1458

CLUBS, LECTURES, MEETINGS BANCROFT FISH & GAME CLUB. 27602 Highway 62, Bancroft. 613 332-8629. June 6 - NATURE FEST 2020 (Bancroft). 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Presented by the Bancroft Field Naturalists Club, a fun day of encouraging connections with nature, perfect for the whole family. Interactive booths, items for sale and ideas to reduce your environmental footprint by using natural materials and reusing items you already have. Admission is free. BANCROFT TURTLE FESTIVAL. Hosted by Bancroft Fish & Game Club, 27602 Highway 62, Bancroft. 647 606-9537. Presented by Think Turtle Conservation Initiative. May 30 - 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Join us as we kick off turtle season with a day of fun, awareness and cool reptile interactions. Special Guests include: Ventriloquist Tim Holland and his cast of hilarious puppets that include show-stealer ‘Julian the Turtle’ will drop jaws and tickle funny bones. www.puppettamer.com. Turtle Guardians. Leora Berman, Turtle Guardians Coordinator will give a presentation about the Turtle Guardians citizen science and recovery program. www.turtleguardians.com Value Our Lakes & Shorelines. Leora Berman, of The Land Between will share information on citizen-based conservation efforts to restore, enhance and maintain lakes and shorelines to preserve the biodiversity and habitat of the area that ensure services which are essential to live our life on earth. www.thelandbetween.ca Jess’s Animal Adventures. Animal adventures will be set-up with cute and creepy snakes and lizards for friendly reptile encounters. BBQ hosted by the Bancroft Fish & Game Club. Baked Goods for sale with all proceeds going towards Turtle Conservation. Literature, merchandise, turtle nest protectors, Watch 4 Turtle signs and bumper stickers all for sale. BANCROFT TURTLE WALK. Riverside Park (just off Station St., behind the post office), 4-26 Hastings Heritage Way, Bancroft. thinkturtle@yahoo.com June 13 - 10 a.m. – 12 noon. 2020 is the year of the Rainbow Turtle! Prizes for best costumes, signs and fundraisers. Presented by Turtle Guardians, a project of The Land Between charity and partners.


C O U N T R Y

C A L E N D A R

Things to see and do in and around Hastings County.

To submit your event listing email info@countryroadshastings.ca or call us at 613 968-0499. HASTINGS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 100 College St. W., Belleville. www.hastingshistory.ca Everyone is invited to a free public presentation on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. Bring a friend. Enjoy refreshments, conversation and displays following lectures. A.m.ple parking and level access at the rear of the building. April 21 - The Lost Village of the St. Lawrence with speaker, Jim Browning. PROBUS CLUB OF BELLEVILLE. Marchanatha Church, 100 College St. W., Belleville. Clare 613 827-0042, Peter 613 922-5144. “Probus Club of Belleville welcomes retires and semi-retirees to its meetings on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month. 10 a.m. The meetings feature a guest speaker and provides time for socializing and friendship. Coffee, tea and cookies. QUINTE FIELD NATURALISTS ASSOCIATION, Sills Auditorium, Bridge Street United Church, Belleville. 7 p.m., All welcome, by donation.

April 22 - CANOEING A CONTINENT: ON THE TRAIL OF ALEXANDER MACKENZIE QFN FUNDRAISING DINNER. Emanuel United Church, Foxboro. $28 per person. Enjoy a delicious buffet followed by a presentation by biologist and writer Max Finkelstein (named one of Canada’s top 100 living explorers by Canadian Geographic and recipient of the Nature Inspiration Award from the Canadian Museum of Nature. Come with him on a journey of discovery based on his book, Canoeing a Continent. Info /tickets call 613 962-9337. THINK TURTLE CONSERVATION INITIATIVE. 647 606-9537. thinkturtle@yahoo.com

April 11 - MAYNOOTH WINTER MARKET, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Think Turtle will be set-up to speak with people about turtles in preparation for turtle season. Hasting’s Highlands Centre, Emond Hall, 33011 Highway 62, Maynooth. May 2 - HOW WE CAN HELP TURTLES, Stirling-Rawdon Public Library, 43 West Front St., Stirling. 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. A turtle talk, by Think Turtle Conservation Initiative that will cover why the Ontario turtles need our help and ‘effective’ efforts to help them.

March 21 - COMBERMERE COMMUNITY CENTRE SPRING GATHERING, 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. In anticipation of spring a gathering of vendors and artisans, local honey, maples, art and lunch by Old School Café. Think Turtle will be setup to speak with people about turtles in preparation for turtle season. 1095 Farmer Road, Combermere.

March 23 - STORIES FROM A MIGRATION HOTSPOT! 7 p.m. A raft of birds, butterflies and dragonflies migrate through Presqu’ile every spring and fall. Naturalist David Bree will share his favourite migrant stories from 35 years of visiting and working at the park.

marketplace

Celebrating Life in Hastings County

ARTS & CULTURE

TO BOOK YOUR MARKETPLACE ADVERTISEMENT PLEASE CALL 613-968-0499

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

CONTRACTING

BRAD COMEAU Professional Corporation Law Office

Box 569, 33 Mill Street, Stirling, ON K0K 3E0 Ph: 613-395-3397 Fx: 613-395-3398 Tf: 877-565-1626

bcomeau@countrylawyer.on.ca www.countrylawyer.on.ca Member of Ontario & PEI Law Societies

Real Estate, Wills & Estates

AUTOMOTIVE

HEALTH

SEASONAL

GOLDEN BOUGH TREE FARM GOLDEN BOUGH TREE FARM

• Gas Bar • Convenience Store • Laundromat • Movie Rentals • Propane

Min & Julie Yoo Tel: 613-395-5360 Fax: 613-395-1491 208 North Street, Stirling ON K0K 3E0

CONTRACTING

OPEN HOUSE Providing bare root Trees & Shrubs to all of Canada for almost 50 years. Saturday & Sunday, April 28 & 29 9:00am to 4:00pm Come, browse and choose from our great selection of bare root trees and shrubs.

OPEN HOUSE May 2/3 END of SEASON SALE May 9/10 900 Napanee Road, Marlbank, ON K0K 2L0 www.goldenboughtrees.ca

END OF SEASON CLEARANCE Saturday & Sunday, May 5 & 6 Great buys on over-sized & leftover trees & shrubs. Cash Payment

900 Napanee Road, P.O. Box 5, Marlbank, ON K0K 2L0 www.goldenboughtrees.ca

Celebrating Family, Friendship & Love

SPECIALTY SHOPPING

613-395-2596

www.stirlingmanor.com 218 Edward Street, Stirling

LAWN & GARDEN SALES & SERVICE

GRAVELY-ARIENS TROY-BILT-BOLENS

• Lawn & Garden Tractors • Roto-Tillers With 35+ years experience, Small but knowledgeable. (613) 473-5160 • R.R. #5, Madoc, ON K0K 2K0 (1 mile N. of Ivanhoe on Hwy. 62 - #11700)

Spring 2020 • Country Roads

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Back Roads

This photograph shows Grand Trunk Railway locomotive #430 after a derailment at Shannonville on April 4th, 1910. The Daily Intelligencer reported on the incident the following day, noting that “Owing to the accident, some of the trains were delayed for hours.” The locomotive was one of ten that had been built at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Pennsylvania for use with Grand Trunk passenger trains in 1908. It was eventually scrapped in the 1930s. Photo Courtesy of Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County, reference number CABHC: HC04281.

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Country Roads • Spring 2020


ADVERTISER INDEX

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BANCROFT Bancroft General Mercantile Mack Attack Outdoors Niffers Old Tin Shed Zihua Clothing Boutique BELLEVILLE Glanmore National Historic Site Ruttle Bros. Furniture HASTINGS COUNTY SERVICES Weeds b’ Gone Welcome Wagon MADOC 762 Craft Brewers Hidden Goldmine Bakery Kellys Flowers & Gifts Mackenzie Mills Emporium Oats and Honey Bulk Foods Renshaw Power Products Stutzman’s Woodworking MARLBANK Golden Bough Tree Farm MARMORA Boutique Inspiration BMR Crowe River Live Edge Esso Marmora, Pizza Pizza, KFC Firewood Plus Powell Powersports MAYNOOTH Brush with the North Gallo-Teck Electrical Contractor Hastings Highlands, Municipality of ORMSBY Old Hastings Mercantile & Gallery SPRINGBROOK Springbrook Diner STIRLING Back 40 powersports Barrett’s Satellite Solutions/Xplornet Dealer Black Dog Family Restaurant & Lounge Brad Comeau Professional Corporation Kings Mill Cider Pro Gas Stop Rona Rollins Building Supplies Sandra Lee Randle Photography Skinkle’s Feed Depot &celebrating More’ life in hastings Stirling Dental Centre Stirling Manor Stirling-Rawdon, Municipality of The Apple Store Vintage Junction TWEED Black River Trading Co. Quinn’s of Tweed Fine Art Gallery Rob Haid Contracting Inc. celebrating life in hastings county Stoco Jewellery Studio Tweed, Municipality of

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JOE VANVEENEN MAP

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3

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Country Roads

HASTINGS COUNTY SERVICES

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county

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Country Roads

celebrating life in hastings county

CR Country

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Roads

celebrating life in hastings county

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