>Park/Bartlett extension to be Region’s preferred truck access/ Pg 8 >GBF looks to enhance quality of life Pg. 3 > Beamsville Lions tree lot open Pg. 5 > Handling Specialty: Business of the Year Pg. 7 Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015 Vol. 4 Issue 26
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Up Front
Smithville parade was a hum-Dinga
Bring your bag to Santa parade
Grimsby Firefighters will be walking the Grimsby Santa Claus parade route Saturday to pick up grocery bags for their annual Food Drive in support of the GBF’s Christmas Hamper program. The parade starts at 5:15 p.m. Parents can also note Canada Post will precede the big man’s entrance collecting letters for the jolly one.
Smithville Santa Claus Parade honourary marshall Mary Dinga waves to the crowd during the procession along Hwy. 20 into the town’s core. Dinga, who rode along with her grandkids Alayna and Jasmin, has been a long-time supporter of the fair and countless other community activities and groups over the years. For full details on the parade and more photos, please turn to Pages 10-11. Williscraft - Photo
Sounds of Season at BT
Blessed Trinity’s music department is tuning up for it Sounds of The Season Christmas concert next week. Friday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. all are welcome to attend. Cost is $7 for adults, children 12 and under by donation. Food and toy donations for GBF gladly accepted.
Go turkey roll hopping
Two turkey rolls are being held Friday night in Lincoln. Beamsville Royal Canadian Legion Branch 612 host its event starting at 7 p.m. Special draws will be conducted. You must be in attendance to win. Jordan firefighters host their annual event at Station 4 in Jordan. Their event also starts at 7 p.m. You must be 19 years old to attend.
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Farmers Market layout overhauled Vendors to be centred, trucks gone, merchants concerns dissolve By Mike Williscraft NewsNow Christmas came early for downtown Grimsby merchants who had serious concerns with the footprint made by Grimsby Farmers Market. The gift-giving Santa came in the form of Melanie Grills, spokesperson for GFM. She addressed Grimsby’s Downtown Improvement Area members at the group’s annual general meeting Tuesday morning. “We’ve made a lot of changes taking into account the concerns we heard about negative impact
on businesses,” said Grills. “We have come up with a plan to centre all the vendors on Main Street to allow foot traffic on both sides of the booths, and trucks will be gone from the street.” The two major issues many merchants had with the popular Thursday market were the impediment of pedestrians to access their stores and for anyone on the street to even see their facades due to trucks blocking any view. “We see this as a win-win,” said Bryan Macaulay, who had voiced
opposition to the previous layout on several occasions. “This will be good for the merchants and the broader agricultural community. We are also happy we finally got to a place where the market was prepared to work with downtown merchants and make this the positive for all that it should be.” Grills noted that the change in layout will mean about a halfdozen fewer vendors in 2016, but added that there is change-over all See MARKET, Page 2