The Citizen - June 10, 2022

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Volume 38 No. 23

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Thompson wins fourth term at Queen’s Park

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Four more years Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson will make her return to Queen’s Park for a fourth consecutive term after a decisive victory on election night. Thompson garnered more than 50 per cent of the votes cast in Huron and Bruce Counties, a far cry from her closest competition, Shelley Blackmore of the Liberal Party, who received

just under 19 per cent of the vote. Thompson, right, and her husband Dennis Schiestel, left, met with supporters, friends and family members at the Wingham Golf and Curling Club shortly after the polls closed to celebrate her victory and look forward to the future of the riding, and of the province. (Denny Scott photo)

In a decisive victory, incumbent Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson of the Ontario PC Party retained her seat during the 2022 provincial election last week, marking her fourth consecutive win.

Thompson earned 51.97 per cent of the votes cast, or 24,369 according to unofficial results from the provincial election website elections.on.ca. The runner-up for the riding was Shelley Blackmore of the Ontario Liberal Party who captured 8,775 or 18.71 per cent of the vote. Other candidates who ran included Laurie Hazzard of the Ontario New Democratic Party (7,679 votes or 16.38 per cent), Matt Kennedy of the New Blue Party (3,384, 7.22 per cent), Matthew Van Ankum of the Green Party of Ontario (1,924, 4.10 per cent), Gerrie Huenemoerder of the Ontario Party (474, 1.01 per cent), independent Ronald Stephens (212, 0.45 per cent) and Bruce Eisen of the Alliance Party (77 or 0.16) per cent.

The riding had 54.28 per cent of its 86,394 registered electors cast a vote, much higher than the provincial turnout of an estimated 43 per cent.

Thompson, a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario under re-elected Premier Doug Ford, was the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs before parliament was dismissed for the election.

Thompson said that it was humbling to win her fourth consecutive election.

“The adrenaline is percolating as Continued on page 3

HE greenlights arena project, amended tender

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Huron East Council is officially moving ahead with the renovation and expansion of the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre, accepting a modified tender for the project Tuesday night for a total project cost of $7.263 million plus HST. The contractor, Elgin Contracting and Restoration Limited, remains the same, but Chief Administrative Officer Brad McRoberts said he was able to work with the contractor to find savings within the proposal to reduce the cost to a manageable figure.

After Elgin’s original price came in approximately $1.62 million over the already-increased budget, councillors were faced with a difficult decision last month.

However, McRoberts urged patience, saying he felt that further discussion with the contractor and

some revised figures could provide good news at the June 7 council meeting.

“In subsequent discussions, Elgin Contracting and Restoration Ltd. indicated that there were opportunities to reduce costs based upon additional subcontractor pricing, costs included that were not specified as a requirement, proposed alternative approaches, substitutions and minor deletions,” McRoberts said in his June 7 report to council. “Based upon the posttender modifications, the tender would be revised to $7,236,000 plus HST, a net reduction of $1,187,000.

The fundraising campaign has, as of May 31, 2022, achieved $1,630,000 in donations and pledges, which is $230,000 over their original budgeted goal of $1.4 million. The outstanding budget shortfall, considering the reduced tender price and the additional fundraising dollars is $225,000, accounting for non-refundable HST.”

McRoberts said the shortfall would not affect any of the other partners on the project, such as Morris-Turnberry, as their portion

of the cost of the project would remain the same. The intent is that the fundraising committee will cover the remaining amount,

McRoberts said, adding that he didn’t anticipate any financial implications for the municipality Continued on page 28

On Father’s Day weekend, the Rutabaga Festival will return to Blyth after a successful revival in 2019.

While three years have passed since the last festival, the event is now on the Blyth homecoming schedule and will be held every five years.

Things get underway on Friday night with a concert featuring local acts Adam Cousins, a Brussels native, and Weekend Never Ends.

Advance tickets to the concert are $20 or $25 at the door. The concert is an event for those 19 and over and there is a cash bar.

Saturday begins with Baga Yoga at Blyth Lions Park at 9 a.m.,

followed by a vendor and artisan market from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Blyth and District Community Centre.

The community stage at the arena will feature music and entertainment from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., while the Kids’ Zone will be running from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Blyth Lions Park, featuring inflatable castles, popcorn, rutabaga-themed games and more.

The food vendors and beer gardens will also open at 11 a.m. at Blyth Lions Park.

Over the course of the day the rutabaga cooking competition and the baseball tournament will

be running on the grounds as well.

The teen ping-pong tournament will run from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the community centre and the bed races will run down Gypsy Lane at 2 p.m.

From 5-7 p.m., there is a Pineridge half-chicken barbecue dinner at the community centre, which is take-out only with advanced tickets required.

Also on Saturday, The Baga will be running on the Goderich-toGuelph Rail Trail, encouraging people to get out on the trail for short or long distances.

For more information and a full list of events and details, visit rutabagafest.ca.

Rutabaga Festival returning

PAGE 2. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

For a New Beginning, Part One Glimpses of the Past with Karen Webster It must have been so very, very hard to make the decision to leave homes and family to immigrate to “the new land”. The reasons were varied and as the result of different degrees of hardship. The “Great Migration to Canada” from the British Isles occurred between 1815 and 1850 and involved 800,000 people.

The reasons for leaving Britain were many. The Industrial Revolution had brought with it improved living conditions, population growth and consequently, a lack of jobs due to mechanization. The potato famine in Ireland led to starvation and a need to find a better place to live.

Wealthy English landowners decided that the lands they controlled in Scotland would be put to more profitable use as sheep pasture than as homes for the tenant crofters. During the “Highland Clearances” homes were burned and the people displaced. For other folk, it could have been the lure of having their own land at a relatively inexpensive cost or perhaps as a result of a sense of adventure.

People in the British Isles might have seen pamphlets, such as the one penned by William Tiger Dunlop. He wrote Statistical Sketches of Upper Canada for the benefit of Emigrants in 1832 to induce immigration to the lands controlled by the Canada Company in the Huron Tract that encompassed much of southern Huron, as well as Middlesex counties.

Dunlop advised to bring clothes, books, gardening tools, medicines and sturdy boots packed in wooden barrels. For the voyage across the Atlantic, it was advisable to bring “large amounts of oatmeal, potatoes, onions, vinegar and pickles”. One’s worldly possessions needed to be carefully thought about and packed in wooden barrels or chests.

Our son now owns a handmade wooden chest that was used by his great-great-grandfather, over 140 years ago, for his voyage from Scotland. It was ironic, when our son’s family relocated last year, that just one of the items, being transferred by a van company, was that humble wooden chest.

To cross the ocean, it was necessary to travel by ship. Earliest travelers would rely on sailing vessels from ports in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Scotland, Ireland and England and would land in Quebec City or Montreal during the months that ice did not block the passage. Alternative ports were Halifax and St. John, New Brunswick and ports in the United States.

At first, the ships were wooden ones, powered by sail. The length of the voyage was dependent on the winds and could be hampered by storms, causing a great variation in time to cross the Atlantic, from several weeks to a few months. Two types of accommodation were available: cabins for those who could afford them and steerage for those who could only afford the cheapest rate. The steerage, or between decks, section was made up of temporary partitions and bunks. Once the passengers had disembarked, these furnishings were dismantled and destroyed and the ship would be prepared to carry cargo on the voyage back to Europe. Conditions in steerage

were cramped and unsanitary.

Some ships required the passengers to bring their own food while others provided only meager provisions. Berths that were used for bunks were stacked on two or three levels and two to four people would be expected to share each bed. In addition, the only fresh air in the steerage section came from hatches that were closed during rough seas or storms. Washroom facilities were on the main deck and buckets were used in steerage human waste and by those who

became seasick. These buckets easily overturned and the result of all these factors was an unhealthy area that had a continual stench.

Many people died in steerage quarters as a result of typhus and dysentery. Sometimes as much as 10 per cent of the passengers did not survive the crossing and there were many burials at sea. Once ships arrived in Quebec, to prevent the spread of diseases, ill passengers were quarantined on Grosse Île. This facility operated as a quarantine

centre from 1832 until 1937.

By 1855, steamships in the Allan Line were scheduling the voyage for every two weeks. Crossing times shortened through the years to be measured by days. By the 1950s, intercontinental air flights were measured in hours.

There are scanty records of the people who were among the earliest immigrants. By 1865, entry to Canada had become more documented. Library and Archives Canada has a website called “Passenger Lists for the Port of Quebec City and other Ports 18651922,” which can be found at baclac.gc.ca. On this site is a database of passengers’ names that entered Canada through official ports of entry during that period. A separate database exists for the ships that carried the immigrants. After the

ships’ manifests had been copied, the originals were destroyed.

Unfortunately, not all copies are legible and not all people who immigrated to Canada can be found in these databases, but it is worth a search if one’s ancestors came in this era. The majority of passengers, arriving in Canada, first set foot on land in Quebec City with others landing in Montreal and Halifax. It must be noted that some immigrants arriving in American ports such as Boston and New York and then making their way to Canada are not documented.

After making the difficult decision to immigrate to Canada and to endure the hardships involved in making that trip, new Canadians were still not settled in a home. That part of the journey will be a story for another column.

Smashing and crashing The Clinton Spring Fair made a magnificent return over the weekend, welcoming thousands of people to the town for a host of festivities, including Friday night’s demolition derby, which is always a hot ticket. Saturday

would continue with a number of activities on the grounds, including a midway, tractor pulling, a wrestling show and more. It all culminated in a concert by Canadian legend Kim Mitchell on Saturday night. (John Stephenson photo)

37th Annual Citizen of the Year Award Nominations Open Pictured from left, Marguerite Thomas accepting on behalf of her late husband Bob Kellington, 2020 Citizen of the Year award recipient. Presenting award is Citizen board member, Ralph Watson.

There are so many people out there who do so much to improve their community.

This is your opportunity to show your appreciation for all they do.

Each year a committee chooses an outstanding citizen from each of the Blyth and area and Brussels and area communities to receive an award for contribution to the community. If you know someone you think should be honoured, please fill in the form and send it in. You may attach a longer explanation of why you think your nominee should win, if you like. If you have nominated someone before and they didn't win, we encourage you to submit again.

Emailed submissions can be sent to Shawn Loughlin at editor@northhuron.on.ca I nominate ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ as Citizen of the year for

q

Blyth & area

q

Brussels & area

q

Huron County**

** New this year! Due to requests from the wider community we have added a category for Citizen of the Year Huron County to recognize outstanding citizens from beyond Blyth & Brussels.

I feel she/he deserves this award because ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Nomination Deadline September 30, 2022.

Name and phone number of nominator Fax: 519-523-9140 Box 429, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0

THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 3.

Student votes paint very different election picture New Democratic Party with 39 per cent of the vote (nine votes), followed by Thompson’s Progressive Conservative Party at 30 per cent (seven votes), the New Blue Party at 13 per cent (three votes) and the Green Party at four per cent (one vote).

Across the province, 29 per cent of student votes went to the NDP totalling 75 seats, while 22 per cent of votes went to the Liberals for 28 seats.

The Progressive Conservatives captured 17 seats with 19 per cent of the vote, while the Green Party captured 16 per cent of the vote. That differs drastically from the results of the provincial election that saw the Progressive Conservatives claim a majority victory with 83 seats, followed by the NDP with 31 and the Liberals with eight. The Green Party holds one seat and one independent candidate was elected to Queen’s Park.

Students were surprised with the

Making it count While the Progressive Conservative Party dominated the recent provincial election both locally and across the province, the students in Marcy Bachert’s class at North Woods Elementary School and their peers across the province through the Vote Ontario program saw the NDP winning the election locally and in Ontario. Above, Adel Fischer, centre, and Jesa Fischer, right, cast their vote while returning officer Lia Marshall keeps an eye on the process. (Denny Scott photo)

As voters across the province headed to the polls last Thursday, students at North Woods Elementary School were heading to their own polls to participate in the

province’s Student Vote Ontario program.

The students in Marcy Bachert’s class cast their ballots for the province’s political parties, leading to a very different political landscape than the one their parents created.

Continued from page 1 much tonight as it was Oct. 6 in 2011,” she said. “There is so much we can do working together in Huron-Bruce. The opportunity is here, desire is here and the will is here and we’re going to get it done.”

Election night saw results delivered very quickly, with Thompson being named the winner by numerous news organizations by 9:20 p.m., 20 minutes after the polls had closed. Thompson said that was proof of the will of the people and that infrastructure throughout Huron and Bruce works. She credited her success with door-todoor canvassing, saying that’s how she knew she was connecting with voters.

Thompson’s last four years have been her first with a party in power, the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario under Premier Doug Ford. Prior to that, she and the party were the official opposition party.

During her most recent term, she held three ministerial positions: Minister of Education, Minister of Government and Consumer Services and, most recently, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Over the past four years, Thompson said that, since her party has been in power, she has aimed to build strong relationships with the municipalities of the riding.

Working with the municipalities was important, she said, in determining what tasks were important for the government to support.

When asked how she would push agricultural issues forward, she said her government has made Ontario appealing for agricultural development.

“We can add value to the crops

grown right here in Ontario and bring food closer to home to knock off [inflation],” she said. “We can help people realize there is good quality food close to home.”

She also said that infrastructure, including the expansion of broadband and natural gas works, are key focuses for her and the government.

“We made a commitment to connect every community via fibre or low-orbiting satellite by 2025 and we’re going to see that through,” she said.

Other infrastructure projects are also high on the list, she said, including highways. Economic recovery is also a key focus, she said, with value-added manufacturing and food processing projects being encouraged to locate in areas like Huron and Bruce Counties.

Thompson also addressed the ongoing housing crisis.

“We’re going to be working strongly with Huron County and our local municipalities,” she said. “I applaud Huron County for backfilling our settlement areas.

That need was recognized years ago. Moreover, they’re introducing new opportunities through the ARUs, the additional residential units.”

She said the levels of governments, from municipalities up to the province and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to make sure are committed to building affordable, attainable housing is realized throughout this riding.

“I can tell you… in working with municipalities, the appetite is there, the willingness is there, and now we just have to move forward with confidence they can get it done,” she said.

By Denny Scott The Citizen

While Huron-Bruce’s incumbent MPP Lisa Thompson claimed a decisive victory in the riding, capturing more than half the votes cast, the students in Bachert’s class at North Woods gave the win to the

outcome of the provincial election when contrasted with their own, according to Bachert, as the younger voters were surprised more people didn’t choose liberal candidates. The class felt the NDP won in their classroom because of the promises that would benefit Huron and Bruce Counties, but were surprised the New Blue captured as many votes as it did, as it was a new party.

When asked what led to the differences between the student election and the provincial one, students felt their classmates who had presented for the NDP and the New Blue provided more information than those who represented the other parties. They also felt that parental influence played a role in the outcomes.

The students also felt that the PC Party captured the provincial win because incumbent parties and representatives carry some weight when it comes time to cast votes.

Live much in Heaven (Mary Winslow, “Life in Jesus”) “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:1-2 Live much in Heaven — and earth will grow less attractive.

Jesus, You are my chief joy, my life, my all. Without You this world would be wretchedness itself. Keep, oh keep me near Yourself, nearer, nearer still; and allow no earthly idol to occupy Your place in my heart.

A Grace Gem Submitted by: Immanuel United Reformed Church, Listowel, ON 519-492-1359

Thompson wins H-B

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PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

Editorials & Opinions

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A new low The June 2 provincial election marked the lowest voter turnout in the province’s history. With the economy in a state of flux, inflation soaring due to post-pandemic supply chain upheaval and the war in Ukraine and hot-button issues like Highway 413, one would be forgiven for thinking that there was a lot at stake at the ballot boxes.

It’s understandable that Ontarians are weary. The pandemic wore us down - we get it. But in the last 20 years, even the highest voter turnouts in this province are considerably lower than the average turnout for the previous century. Now we have sunk to an election in which more people didn’t vote than who did. What does that say for democracy? The pandemic may be a factor, but it is not the whole story. Maybe 21stcentury citizens are comfortable enough to leave the concern of running the cities, provinces and the country to others or, perhaps, they are past believing that their say matters. Premier Doug Ford is congratulating himself on a majority government, except that the math doesn’t equate to majority support in the province. The Conservatives won 83 seats but only 1.9 million votes out of a potential 10.7 million voters which is less than 18 per cent of the population.

Society has to do a better job at engaging voters, otherwise a small minority decides everything and the cycle of disillusionment continues.

It is often said that “if you don’t vote, you can’t complain” but that is an oversimplification. By voting for the party that most closely represents your values, even if it doesn’t win, your ballot influences choices that future governments make. Your vote could mean that a minority Conservative government has to make concessions to social reform demanded by other parties, or a NDP government would be required to maintain fiscal balance when improving the social safety net. A strong voter turnout creates a much more balanced society. – DS

Never again Over the weekend, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other dignitaries were in London to mark the one-year anniversary of a racist attack that killed four members of the Afzaal family. The community of London and much of Canada came together last year to mourn the tragic and senseless loss of a family that was killed not because of something they had done, but because of how they looked and what they believed. At Sunday’s event, Trudeau said that Islamaphobia is an “attack on all Canadians” and told Muslims that “we are all with you”.

While mass shootings in the United States continue to pile up, one horrific and cowardly act quickly replacing the next - to the degree that unless the shootings are clearly racially motivated or involve children they don’t often see much air time, Canada has held this one incident, the tragic killing of the Afzaals, close to their hearts for over a year.

The fact that Canadians have stood by the Afzaals, those they left behind and Muslims throughout the country shows a tremendous level of empathy that feels uniquely Canadian. At a time when people are being made to feel less welcome in many parts of the world, it’s refreshing to see Canadians stand up for their neighbours, friends and fellow Canadians who are part of the Muslim faith.

That kind of empathy and support for one another is what makes Canada and Canadians great. Caring for people, whether they look like you or practise the same faith, is the foundation of what it means to be Canadian. Over the weekend, everyone from our Prime Minister to regular people at events or on social media showed that they won’t let division, cowardice and violence win the day in our country. – SL

A return to normalcy Northern and central Huron County were the places to be over the weekend, with events keeping people entertained all over the region and, for many, it may have felt like it was a pre-pandemic weekend.

From the Clinton Spring Fair to Brussels Ball Day to Blyth’s Vintage in the Village weekend, there were big events that brought people together in their communities in ways that just haven’t happened regularly since the COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020.

While many could look at that and feel we’re getting back to normal, you didn’t have to look very far to see that the pandemic has changed people and, fortunately, it seems to be for the better. Even at outdoor events, people were masking up if they felt they needed to, with some saying they had a sniffle or were worried about passing on a malady, whether it was COVID-19 or the common cold. Those people, caring for their neighbours, represent a return to form for Huron County. This return to normalcy offers us a chance to show who the majority of us really are: good people and good neighbours.

So, welcome the return to pre-pandemic living for two reasons: first, because it allows people to get back to doing what they did and second because it allows people to get back to being who they really are.

Take this chance to put the strife behind you and mend fences, caring for neighbours and regaining the lofty title “Canadian” once was. – JDS

Looking Back Through the Years June 10, 1965 Jack “The Ripper” McCutcheon of Brussels was said to have had a very good night at the Flamboro Speedway in Hamilton the previous weekend. McCutcheon won two races and placed third in a third, earning 56 of a potential 60 points for the night. This came after McCutcheon won his first feature race at the Delaware Speedway the previous weekend.

“Hydro Showtime”, sponsored by Ontario Hydro and the Brussels Public Utilities Commission and presented under the auspices of the East Huron Agricultural Society, drew a capacity crowd at the Brussels Legion. Brussels Reeve Calvin Krauter was on hand to open the program and Mr. D. Tilman of Ontario Hydro served as the chairman of the event.

Norman Wade of Gorrie was the guest speaker at the Huron County Historical Society held its meeting at Howick Central School. Wade was on hand to speak about the early days of Howick Township.

June 11, 1975 Morris Township Council voted to contribute to a fund to help offset the damage caused by the April flood in Lower Town, Wingham.

The township voted to contribute $100 to the fund, which was being operated by Turnberry Township.

Change was coming for the Huron-Perth County Roman Catholic Separate School Board as the board’s 19 schools were on the way to implementing the metric system. According to members of the board, the groundwork was being laid for the final and complete changeover to common metric units at the board’s schools going forward.

Ruth Jackson, Ontario President

of the Consumers Association of Canada, was in Clinton to meet with the Huron County Federation of Agriculture. She faced some tough questions from the local farmers in regards to her views on marketing boards.

June 11, 1997 Huron County Council was set to hold a special meeting in Goderich to discuss amalgamation and the potential effects of provincial downloading. This meeting was scheduled after several reeves of lower-tier Huron County municipalities voiced the concerns of their councils that Huron County appeared to be heading towards a single-tier government without involving municipal councils.

Morris Township Reeve Bert Elliott said that his council made it clear that if there were any further discussions about amalgamation in the county that his council wanted to be a part of them.

Brussels played host to the first lawn bowling tournament of the season. When the dust settled, it was Gerald Gibson and Laura Johnston of Brussels who claimed three wins and 46 points. Gerry Doney and Hazel Adams of Stratford placed second, also with three wins, but with 34 points.

Third place went to Stuart and Helen Bryans of Mitchell, who had two wins.

June 7, 2012 Huron County Council held a special, closed-to-the-public session, which resulted in the decision to place the county’s two highest-ranking administrators on “non-disciplinary administrative leave”.

With Chief Administrative Officer Larry Adams and Treasurer David Carey placed on leave by

council, Huron County Director of Planning and Development Scott Tousaw stepped in as the interim, acting Chief Administrative Officer. Neither Tousaw nor Clerk Barb Wilson had a comment on the situation and Huron County Warden Bernie MacLellan said that, as a personnel matter, he couldn’t speak about it publicly.

As part of the ongoing dispute regarding fire coverage between Morris-Turnberry and North Huron, Central Huron Council said it wanted a seat at the negotiating table, as the municipality could face rising fire costs as a result of Morris-Turnberry potentially forming its own fire department.

Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn referenced a radio interview with North Huron Reeve Neil Vincent in which he stated that, if MorrisTurnberry were to pull out of the current fire agreement with North Huron, costs would rise for Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh and Central Huron as a result.

North Huron Council voted to rename a small park between Blyth and Belgrave Children’s Memorial Park, after Councillor Brock Vodden suggested council may have erred in naming it Little People Memorial Park. Concerns about the name were raised at the previous meeting, but council went ahead with the naming.

North Huron Council appointed Archie MacGowan to fill the council seat vacated by the resignation of Alma Conn. After council passed the motion, MacGowan said he would give the proposal “heavy consideration” after he placed a very close third in the previous municipal election behind the two elected councillors in Wingham.

THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 5.

Other Views

A tiny price to guard democracy

W

hen taken beside other news about the state of democracy, the news that only 43 per cent of eligible Ontario voters cast a ballot in last week’s provincial election is depressing.

The low voter turnout wasn’t exactly a surprise. Prior to election day, at least two commentators, including Rick Mercer, observed polls that showed young people, in particular, were uninvolved in the election. The situation was much wider than disinterest among young potential voters, of course. One story noted that Doug Ford will be Premier with a large minority when only 18 per cent of the potential voters supported him at the polls.

Some commentators and many potential voters took the easy way out and blamed the politicians for not conducting campaigns that got voters involved. They missed the point!

The election was the one time in every four years that ordinary people have an opportunity – and an obligation – to shape the future of their province (or country, if it’s a federal election).

But democracy, one of the greatest gifts to modern, western citizens, seems in decline at the moment. Of the world’s three largest powers, only the U.S. remains a democracy.

China has never really had a government where the ordinary citizen had an opportunity to choose its leaders. Russia had a brief moment of democracy after the fall of the Communist government, but it wasn’t long before people turned over more and more control to Vladimir Putin and his buddies and became a dictatorship again, even if voting is allowed (but any opponent likely to win political favour is jailed or assassinated).

Of the three major powers, only the U.S.

Keith Roulston From the cluttered desk remains a democracy, though the most-recent ex-president and many Republican politicians are trying their best to circumvent that. Even a year and a half after the last presidential election, former president Donald Trump continues to claim that he is the rightful president and that the Democrats somehow stole the election from him – even in Republican-governed states like Georgia.

Worse, Republican legislators in Washington, and many other states, are changing election rules to make it harder for those likely to vote for the Democrats to cast a ballot, and easier to reject their ballots if it will help a Republican to win.

This week, the House of Representatives committee that has held months of hearings, will begin unveiling the evidence of Trump’s attempts to encourage a coup in the U.S. that would have prevented the transfer of power following the November, 2020 presidential election and kept him in power in the U.S. Trump-supporting rioters attacked the Capitol building on Jan. 6, the day the House of Representatives was to hold a vote to confirm the election results. Some of them shouted to hang Mike Pence, the vice-president who was to chair the confirmation session, because he refused to go along with Trump’s wishes that he throw out the election results.

Meanwhile, south of the border the

slaughter of innocent people goes on because legislators, most of them Republicans, continue to support gun manufacturers, despite polling that shows the vast majority of voters want simple restrictions, such as the ability to stop 18-year-olds from easily buying semiautomatic weapons created for the armed forces.

All the blame for the decline in democracy shouldn’t be reserved for those south of the border. Pierre Poilievre, leading candidate to lead the Conservative Party of Canada, supported people who occupied downtown Ottawa for weeks to protest against COVID-19 restrictions, even though they bullied local businesses, and the people who worked there, from doing their jobs.

Perhaps this is an age when democracy is taken too much for granted. I was born into a divided family, with a sister who was born prior to World War II, while I was the first postwar child of a father who risked his life in Italy and Holland to defend democracy and a mother who worked in a factory producing part of the Mosquito fighter-bomber. They were fighting Germany, a country that had once been a democracy but where the people willingly gave up this privilege to a dictator, at the cost of millions of lives.

I don’t think I have ever missed a chance to vote, the privilege drummed into me by parents who paid a terrible price to defend democracy.

For them, both long dead now, the tiny cost of taking some time out of last week’s schedule to vote would have seemed such a tiny price to keep democracy alive compared to what they sacrificed.

I hope we’ll find a way to give the right to vote to choose our government its proper value before it’s too late.

Finally getting back to normal

L

ast week, having visited a few more stops in my week than had become the norm during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I finally felt like I was doing the job I loved again.

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy my job during the pandemic (heck, I enjoyed not needing to use the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) at the very least), but it wasn’t what I signed on for when I first applied to be an intern at The Goderich Signal-Star almost a decade and a half ago. I love going to events, taking pictures and seeing them in print. (And, as important as council meetings are, their coverage doesn’t usually bring the smiles that a photo of a child or grandchild usually brings).

Last week was like the break of spring after a year full of Januarys.

That’s an inside joke: January is always the leanest month, photo and copy wise, in The Citizen’s calendar, made all the more noticeable by the fact that the last few weeks of December are among the busiest in the year.

While a slow month might sound like exactly what we’d need after putting together the Christmas issue, the biggest of the year, slower times are actually more difficult for us because it means stretching our borders and digging harder to find stories. And that’s what the pandemic was like, from April of 2020 to mid-2021.

Photos were few and far between. Events and stories were hard to come by and the biweekly practice was to wring every single word out of municipal council meetings we could. Local Business Improvement Area (BIA) meetings and Huron County Council meetings looked less like story opportunities and more like life rafts to help us put important, local news in front of people.

In short (and I’ve said this numerous times to many people), the course of the pandemic

Denny Scott Denny’s Den has resulted in The Citizen’s editorial department working harder, but producing less copy than ever before.

Even after those tough months, however, things weren’t back to normal. There were still few events and fewer photos, meaning we were still digging for news pretty hard. I lost track of the amount of times I said, “Well, we’re not desperate for news or photos… but we’re close.” But it wasn’t as bad as that first year of the pandemic.

Last week, however, was busy and, for the first time in years, I felt like I could relax after we put last week’s issue of The Citizen together.

Before the pandemic, my stress levels followed a pretty typical pattern: Tuesday afternoon, after the newspaper is laid out for that week, I’d head home, make myself a decent lunch and put my feet up, letting go of some of the knots in my shoulders. From there, stress would gradually build until the next Monday, deadline day, when everything needed to be done. Through the pandemic, however, there wasn’t really that chance to decompress because, once an issue was put together, exactly how we’d fill the next one weighed heavy on me. Those Tuesday afternoon unwinding periods just stopped happening.

Last week, however, I was busy. There were community events, interviews to conduct for the Blyth Rutabaga Festival special section, interviews to arrange for the Blyth Festival special section and, possibly my

favourite part of the week, two different school events to photograph.

First, Hullett Central Public School returned to the track and field pits and tracks, which always makes for some great pictures. Second, students at North Woods Elementary School filled out their ballots in a student mock election the same day that Ontarians went to the polls.

(Coverage of the former was in last week’s issue of The Citizen while the latter is in this very issue).

I spent hours in my car - windows down, music up - driving from photo to photo, event to event, and, as I write this on Monday, I’m set to do the same for council meetings this week.

Add on to that the number of events our weekend photographer John Stephenson covered over the weekend and, knock on wood, it looks like we’re returning not just to some sense of normalcy but to a sense of being busy again.

That might be one of the greatest changes we’ve seen in a long time. We might actually be seeing the end of this thing, provided the Monkeypox outbreak doesn’t take its place, and we can finally unclench those shoulder and back muscles a little and look forward to some normalcy. If that isn’t something to celebrate (by relaxing with a cold drink in a comfortable deck chair), I don’t know what is.

Final Thought No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.

– Helen Keller

Shawn Loughlin Shawn’s Sense

Airing of grievances

W

hile many newspapers will endorse a candidate ahead of an election, The Citizen isn’t one of those newspapers. Sure, we voice our opinions on pages four and five every week about those in power and those who aren’t, but just before an election, we like to let the candidates speak for themselves, rather than opining as to who we think you should vote for.

Once the votes have all been tallied, however, I guess it’s back to open season. And, depending on how the vote goes, it’s hard not to feel like Seinfeld’s Frank Costanza on Festivus eve during the airing of grievances.

“I’ve got a lot of problems with you people; and now you’re gonna hear about it.”

First off we have a record-low voter turnout.

That’s sad any way you slice it. The morning after the election, voter turnout was in the low 40s. Sources estimated that, when every last vote was counted, voter turnout was likely to sit around 45 per cent, an all-time low.

Full disclosure: I am among the missing 55 per cent. With sickness running through our house and the unreliability of home COVID19 test kits, we did our very best to stick to ourselves for as long as possible. That meant not exercising our right to vote. The old adage states that those who don’t vote don’t earn the right to complain. Guess what? It’s my column and I’ll complain as I please.

Regardless, the province (or about 45 per cent of it, anyway) had its say and the people wanted “Ford” more years. We can debate Premier Doug Ford’s performance over the past four years until we’re blue in the face (or until another 13,000 Ontarians die from COVID-19), or save it for another day.

If you’re a left-leaning voter, seeing the results, overwhelming as they were under the existing system, must have been frustrating.

That leads to my second point. Sure, Ford and his buddies crushed the second-closest party, the NDP, chalking up over 1.9 million votes compared to the NDP’s 1.1 million. But, if you were to unite the left, as was suggested by a Toronto Star columnist just a few days before the election, it would be a clear victory for those voters. Liberal, NDP and Green votes easily tally over 2.5 million votes, showing that, at least based on the way Ontario voted last week, more people voted against the winning party than voted for it.

Regardless of your party affiliation, it’s hard to argue for a system that rewards someone who didn’t garner support from a majority of those who voted.

Third, it seems as though the freedom revolution failed to take hold. New Blue and Ontario Party candidates took home votes from just over 200,000 Ontarians. So, despite Denny telling me about a disproportionate number of local students at a mock election telling him to vote for the New Blue Party, it looks like it’s back to the drawing board.

You’ll always have Ottawa.

Heading into last week, Publisher Deb Sholdice called the election “dangerously boring”, the kind of “boring” election that leads to some disastrous results while others couldn’t be compelled to pay attention.

Will our “Ford” more years simply be more of the same, or does something else await us?

With both Steven Del Duca and Andrea Horwath stepping down from leading their respective parties, can new blood reinvigorate the left? Is just over four per cent of the vote for New Blue and Ontario Party candidates an embarrassing indictment of those parties’ policies, or a seed that could grow into something much bigger? Time will tell.

PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

Homecoming plans coalescing as event approaches A NOTE FROM BETTY

By Betty Graber Watson Call 887-9231

June has to be one of the prettiest months that we have. The many shades of green in the fields and forests grow, while the blooms and blossoms add interest to every scene we view. Each admiring glance shows a different combination of Mother Nature‘s palette at her best.

It does your heart and soul good to have good conversations, and when it involves people from your

past, it’s even better. This week we had several of those. First we caught up with grandson Andrew Watson and a classmate from Montreal. It was a pretty enlightening time, listening about their weeks of learnings with the Natives’ of the Saugeen. Dinner is always a good time to chat, especially if Poppa is paying. It was so good to hear positive reports of their time spent in the Natives

community and hear their enthusiasm.

While we were in the Southampton area, we did a cottage drop-by of Mary, my nursing classmate. They were busy doing yard work, and were more than happy to stop and chat. Family and friend reviews took place as well as several trips of “remember that time”. It’s always good to see old friends, the 1967 kind!

A tree pick-up happened this week as well. Excess trees from the International Plowing Match in Walton (remember the rainy days that September, the workers certainly do), well some of those trees have been growing nicely in our good soil. A high school friend, Jim Graham, knew the tree story last year and knew we were guarding these trees until they found good homes. Two have now made their way to the old Corrigan farm by Bluevale. So, a good deed, and a good visit happened. Jim grew up in Gorrie, and rode the high school bus to Wingham, so we had lots of stories to share.

Homecoming plans are happening and you know time really does fly.

Check your shelves for pictures of past years and let others see/enjoy the changes. The United Church intends to have an open house, a

spot for a rest and refreshment between events. We’ll have pictures on display over the weekend. If you have pictures to share let us know.

Ones that are school related would be appreciated by Mary Douma.

Keep safe. Be kind.

Bye now, Betty G.W.

NEWS FROM BRUSSELS Buying? Selling?

Try the classifieds!

Brussels Legion 218 Catch the Ace Weekly Winner Winning Ticket: Jen Smith $206 Envelope #44 found the King of Diamonds Estimated jackpot for June 10 is $4,000

Run for it!

The Brussels U17 team took on the Londesborough Legends on Saturday as part of Brussels Ball Day. (John Stephenson photo)

At the Branch

Poppy stones placed on graves

By Jo-Ann McDonald It was a quiet week at the Brussels Legion Branch now that Cadets and darts are over. We made up for the lull on the weekend.

Friday started with Comrades Sandra Brown and Kathy Burkholder going to Brussels Cemetery to place the poppy stones on the graves of veterans and Legion members. They will stay in place until after the cemetery decoration service to be held on June 12. So if you are visiting the cemetery, please take note of the rocks and show respect for our veterans who served. The ladies have placed over 150 stones. If you have a loved one at Brussels Cemetery who served and there is no poppy stone, please call the Branch at 519-887-6562 and let us know so one can be placed.

The poppy stones are a reminder of those who gave their lives in the fight for freedom. June 6 is the 78th anniversary of the D-Day assault.

Canadian troops were paramount in the success of the mission, but many casualties were suffered by the Canadians. Take a moment and remember.

Friday was the Catch the Ace draw and the lucky weekly winner was Jen Smith. She won $206 and her chosen envelope was number 44. The king of diamonds was revealed, so the estimated jackpot could be close to $4,000. Get your tickets today.

The pub grub was jumbo hotdogs and this week there will be burgers.

Saturday was preparation day for a very busy day on Sunday. JoAnn and Judy Lee spent the time preparing fish for the fish fry to be

held Sunday. Then the ladies, with Sandra Brown, moved into preparation work for a celebration of life that was to be held Sunday.

Moving tables, setting tables, chopping, cutting and meal

preparation as well. The afternoon slipped by quickly.

Sunday was busy with the crew gathering early to handle the task of the luncheon preparation for the Continued on page 8

Brussels Cemetery Decoration Service Sunday, June 12 at 2:00 pm Please join us in person at the back of the cemetery or on-line on the Legion Facebook Page

If you are a former business from Brussels or a family who would love to share their Brussels history, we invite you to be a part of

The Citizen’s Commemorative issue of

Brussels 150th Anniversary in the July 28 edition 1/4 page (6” wide x 6 1/4” high) . . .$187.50 + HST 1/2 page (10” wide x 7.5” high) . . . .$375.00 +HST Please note: This special pricing is for former businesses of Brussels and for families who wish to be a part of this commemorative issue.

Citizen of the Year Zoellyn Onn was presented her Citizen of the Year plaque by North Huron Publishing Board member Ralph Watson in Brussels last week. Onn has worked extensively with numerous community organizations in recent years, including the Brussels Lions, Leos, the Brussels Agricultural Society and the Brussels Horticultural Society. (Denny Scott photo)

You send the story and photos

by July 15 and we do the rest!

Email: info@northhuron.on.ca or mail your story and photo(s) to The Citizen PO Box 429, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 519-523-4792

THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 7.

NH approves site plan for improved outdoor stage More seating, more parking and washroom facilities will be added to the Blyth Festival’s Harvest

Stage, the outdoor theatre space behind the Blyth and District Community Centre.

At its Monday night meeting, North Huron Council approved an amended site plan control

document to allow for differentlyabled parking spaces, portable washrooms and some changes to

Broken Washer?

Upgrades With improved paths, more accessible parking (in the grey at left) and a gravel pad for portable washroom facilities, the area around the Blyth Festival’s Harvest

Stage is getting refreshed for the coming season. Seating will also be changed and expanded upon through the upgrades.

(Photo submitted)

Haggitt claims top Euchre spot From Marilyn’s Desk

By Marilyn Craig Call 523-9318

Sympathy is extended to the Siertsema family in the death of Hebo this past week.

the existing seating of the space.

While there were no concerns with the applications from staff or from other bodies, Councillor Kevin Falconer pointed out there was some concern as to grass being cut in and around the space. He said there had been complaints regarding the grass height and wondered who was responsible for it.

Chief Administrative Officer Dwayne Evans said the municipality is responsible for base lawn maintenance, but any additional maintenance is the responsibility of the Blyth Festival.

Rachael King, Blyth Festival General Manager, said the lawn maintenance had been put on hold temporarily in preparation for the construction that was approved within the site plan.

Council approved the document, however Councillor Chris Palmer questioned the very need for a site plan, since the lands were owned by the municipality.

Clerk Carson Lamb said Palmer’s question is a logical one, since the township doesn’t need site plan control for its own property.

However, the township had used the approach, in 2021, to make sure that any changes implemented by the Festival would go by council first.

Happy birthday to Jim Howson, Goderich, and Ron Howson, who both will celebrate June 10; Carson Bromley, Belgrave and Mark Nesbit, who both will celebrate June 11; Scott MacDonald, June 12; John Elliott, June 14 and Emily Phillips, Myrtle Badley and Amy and Garret Caldwell, all on June 16.

Hope everyone enjoys their special day.

Euchre results for June 6 are: first, Gord Haggitt, 81 and Harry Smith, 69; second, Doris McClinchey, 70 and Pauline

McMichael, eight; lone hands, Jewel Plunkett, four, and Mac Brooks, three, and share the wealth, Gord Haggitt and Harold McClinchey.

Hope everyone enjoys the Rutabaga Festival events this coming weekend.

This past week we have had summer-like weather, but on Tuesday as I was writing this column, it had been raining all night and most of the day. The fields are wet again with puddles all over the place. Looking out the window, the fog has rolled in and the temperature was only 14°C which seemed cool and sweater weather.

Stay safe and have a good week.

Give someone a phone just to say hello.

Blyth Laundromat 191 Westmoreland St., Blyth 519-523-9687

BLYTH LEGION DECORATION SERVICE at

Blyth Union Cemetery Sunday, June 12 at 2 pm

The Citizen

519-523-4792 or 519-887-9114

Advertise your business here!

One of the most read areas of the paper

SUDOKU Fun By The Numbers Like puzzles?

Then you’ll love sudoku. This mindbending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off, so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test!

History come to life Late last month, local organizations unveiled several new art installations in Blyth, including two new statues showcasing a little bit of Blyth’s cycling history. The statues, one of which is to the right of the image above, mark the beginning and end of an ill-fated pennyfarthing race. The race, which was to end in Londesborough, stopped after a few blocks when the cyclists crashed and wrecked their bicycles. David Sparling, right, of the Blyth Repository of History, unveiled the statues. (Denny Scott photo)

NEWS FROM BLYTH Follow The Citizen on Facebook, Twitter or huroncitizen.ca

Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

Council members unimpressed with art installation

Artistic interpretation Several North Huron Council members said they felt there were issues with renowned artist Randy Jones’ artistic interpretation of a map of Blyth unveiled at the Goderich-toGuelph (G2G) Rail Trail/Greenway Trail trailhead late last month. Councillors critiqued omissions and artistic choices. (John Stephenson photo)

By Denny Scott The Citizen A recent art installation unveiled in Blyth is ruffling some feathers, leading to at least two council members feeling it should have been immediately taken down.

The art installation, an artist's interpretation of a map of the village of Blyth, was unveiled at the trailhead of the Greenway Trail, part of the Goderich to Guelph Rail Trail. The trailhead is where the trail meets Queen Street/County Road 4.

Created by Randy Jones, the piece of art shows the village in four seasons and highlights specific landmarks in the community. It was unveiled just shy of two weeks ago and two councillors passed on heated remarks they said were made about the installation.

Councillor Chris Palmer had a very negative review of the sign, eventually saying it was “so bad and disappointing” that he wanted the sign to be removed until it could be fixed.

“There’s a lot of problems with it,” he said, first claiming that, despite the fact that it was on North Huron property, North Huron staff had not been advised of its installation. “[The Blyth Business Improvement Area (BIA)] didn’t get approval from staff. You can't do that.”

Palmer had a further litany of complaints about the artwork itself including the lack of a “You Are Here” X, the land acknowledgement on the sign being different from North Huron’s,

Gypsy Lane not being labeled while Central Huron roads are, Howson Mills not being labeled, Millstone Elevators not being labeled, the Blyth and District Community Centre being absent and, finally, he offered a critique of the artwork, specifically saying he couldn’t tell if the Blyth Festival’s Harvest Stage was the stage or the Rogers Centre.

He made a motion to have the sign removed by staff, remedied with the BIA and the artist and then replaced, later clarifying all of that should be done at the expense of the BIA. Councillor Paul Heffer would second the motion.

Councillor Kevin Falconer said he wasn’t arguing with Palmer’s concerns, saying he shared some of them, but pointed out it is a piece of art and, therefore, open to artistic interpretation. He went on to say that council would need to consider changing murals throughout the community if council was opening up the option of rebutting work based on content critiques.

He also said council needed to be careful about taking down the sign without a plan to put one up. While the township had acted as an intermediary between the BIA and Regional Tourism Organization 4, which provided the funding for the sign, no actual tax dollars had been spent on it. Falconer said the BIA and concerned citizens had been asking council and staff for some time to help direct cyclists to the downtown core, and that the sign was a volunteer-driven way to do that.

“If we’re going to correct someone on this basis, we better

Fish crew in Atwood Continued from page 6 celebration of life for Harvey Smith. Helping get all the jobs finished were Nanci Ducharme, Brenda Linton, John Lowe, Jo-Ann, Linda Bird, Nancy Bridge and Marni Knight. Serving the meal in the afternoon were Judy Lee, Sharon Stephenson, Janice Machan, Catrina Josling and Jo-Ann. Jim and Sandra Brown were on bar duty.

The fish fry crew was off to Atwood Presbyterian Church on Sunday afternoon. The crew included Deb and Eric Ross, Barry O’Krafta, Kathy Burkholder and

Keith White and Jayne Ross. They fed 310 folks and had a good day with a touch of rain at the end and a cool breeze for clean-up.

Good work folks!

The Branch will be holding a fish fry at the Branch on July 1.

Spend the day celebrating Canada Day and then let us do the cooking.

We have been hosting a Canada Day fish fry for several years and have been doing drive- thru format. We will continue the event in this manner for at least this year, so watch for details on ordering your take-out meals.

have a plan to replace it,” he said.

“We didn’t pay for it to begin with…. These people went forward with a sign because the township hadn’t done anything.”

Falconer said he was fine with removing the sign provided that council had some idea of how to proceed.

“We better have a plan and budget to do it right before we tell someone

that [we] don’t like the way [an artist] painted something,” he said.

“I agree with the faults and [Palmer’s idea] but I would pray that we back it up with a plan.”

Deputy-Reeve Trevor Seip said that, if a rule was broken, North Huron Council needed to remedy that with the proper action.

However, staff couldn’t point to any particular breach of rules, saying they would look into the municipality’s sign bylaw to see if anything hadn’t followed the rules.

Falconer agreed, saying that, if the sign is taken down because conditions weren’t met, council needed to lay out which rules had been broken.

“Show me the law,” he said. “If we want to take it down, [we need to point out how] it wasn’t done right the first time.”

Reeve Bernie Bailey pushed back against the discussion and the motion, calling it “very heavyhanded.”

He said that Gypsy Lane isn’t on the map because the art installation was originally planned while council was addressing the appropriateness of the street name.

He went on to say the installation was never meant to be a street map, but an artist’s version. Bailey then said the BIA had gone through over 20 versions before the finished art piece was chosen, so it wasn’t quickly put together.

Bailey admitted there were mistakes and he said he hoped it could be remedied, but regardless of that it’s an artist’s concept, not a

road map, and the sign shouldn’t be taken down.

Finally, Bailey said, before council voted on the issue, that the project was done by volunteers and council should be very careful before “throwing away people”.

“These are volunteers you are condemning, volunteers that are working to make their village better,” he said. “The same volunteers that will clean up the village, the same volunteers that will get picnic tables out, the same volunteers that do everything.

These are the same people that want their community to be better.”

Bailey called for a vote on the motion and only Palmer and Heffer voted in favour of it, resulting in it being defeated.

Instead, council directed staff to see if any rules had been broken, with staff saying they would review the memorandum of understanding that was signed by the township and RTO4 as well as any applicable bylaws. Bailey said he hoped there were no problems with bylaws, as installation was handled by staff.

“Check out if they violated the bylaw, because our staff were in charge of that part,” he said, before urging staff and council to work with the volunteers.

Falconer also suggested that, as part of any report that staff brought back, signs being erected by North Huron on the trail be included for information, because the art piece could stand alone if North Huron’s signs remedied some of the concerns brought forward.

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN LOCAL GOVERNMEN M T?

HURON COUNTY CAN NDIDATE INFORMATION SEESSION Y JUNE 22, 2022 7:00 p.m.

WEDNESDAY Libro Community Hall H / Electronic Participation via Zoom m any Huron County Municipal Clerk) (link available from 239 Bill Fleeming Drive, Clinton Ontario

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 9.

M-T hit with increase

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Wrasslin’ The Clinton Spring Fair offered a little something for everyone, even for the sports entertainment enthusiast with a wrestling show inside Libro Hall at the Central Huron Community Complex. (John Stephenson photo)

Committee members pledge to BMG centre renovation fund and Grey Community Centre over the coming weeks. Members of the community are encouraged to welcome their calls.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Inspiring Our Future campaign and how to support the community centre project can get in touch with Chair Brian TenPas as 519-492-0214, Campaign Co-ordinator Roxane Nicholson 519-357-6292 or any member of the fundraising team.

Mere weeks after MorrisTurnberry Council had agreed to pay more than initially agreed upon for dust control to help out Da-Lee Dust Control, the firm told the municipality, alongside other customers, it would have to pay even more than their contracts stipulated.

Earlier this year, MorrisTurnberry Council increased the amount it would pay per litre of dust control material from 22.65 cents per litre to 24 cents per litre after some debate. Council members in favour of the move felt it was better to pay more to maintain a relationship with the company. The decision was made at council’s April 5 meeting.

Less than two months later, representatives from Da-Lee Dust Control contacted staff, according to Chief Administrative Officer Trevor Hallam, and said the price would be increasing by 3.024 cents per litre, or 12.6 per cent, for a total of 27.024 cents per litre.

Staff received notification the day before the Labour Day long weekend and were given only days to respond. After consulting with Mayor Jamie Heffer, staff and Heffer decided the only option was to go ahead with the increased price. Director of Public Works Mike Alcock, who worked on the issue with Hallam, said that reducing the amount or quality of dust control material would have a “dollar-for-dollar” impact on future maintenance, as well as resulting in more dust complaints, so there really wasn’t a choice.

Council had already increased its budget when agreeing to the 1.35 cent per litre increase in May, which would have run approximately $170,957 over the year, nearly $1,000 over the $170,000 budget. The new increase will push that further to $186,144.

“There is currently $50,000 held

LIGHT TUNNEL FOR DAD!

Committed Members of the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre volunteer campaign management team have put their money where their mouth is, donating $340,000 of their own dollars into the campaign they’re working so hard to make successful, now that Huron East Council has given the project the go-ahead. (Courtesy

TAKE A PICTURE AND USE #CLINTONLIGHTS TO TELL US WHY YOUR DAD IS #1

photo)

The volunteer leaders heading up the Inspiring Our Future capital campaign in support of the renovation of the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre have collectively pledged $340,000 to the project. These personal gifts have been essential to helping kick off the campaign which aims to raise a minimum of $2 million.

The volunteer members of the campaign management team were the first people to believe that it was possible for the community to come together to raise $2 million to support the major redevelopment of the community centre. Many of the team members have been working together for over five years to make a newly renovated, modern community centre a reality.

The members of the Inspiring Our Future campaign are: Chair Brian TenPas, Co-Deputy Chairs Doug McArter and John van Vliet, Honorary Advisors Joe and Deb Seili and Neil McGavin, Campaign

Co-ordinator Roxane Nicholson, Divisional Chairs Dan Fritz, Leisa Albers, and Michelle Blake and Canvassers Brett and Laura Fischer, Kevin Deitner, Jeff McGavin, Steve and Marnie Knight, Jeff Cardiff, and Patricia Beuermann.

This group of volunteers is generously giving their time to ensure that Brussels and the surrounding area has a community centre that serves everyone and will enrich the quality of life in our community for the coming decades.

They have been equally generous with their personal donations to the campaign. Those considering making their own donation to the Inspiring Our Future campaign can rest assured that all the people leading this initiative are confident enough in the project to take action themselves.

These volunteers will continue their work seeking donations in the community to support the renovation of the Brussels, Morris

in reserves specifically for gravel roads maintenance,” Hallam reported. “This reserve can be used to offset the increase, and, if any savings are found elsewhere in the roads budget, they could potentially be used to offset the increase as well.”

Deputy-Mayor Sharen Zinn was staunchly against the increase, asking how the company could just ignore an established contract, especially after council had already been generous by paying more than required.

Alcock said council’s only recourse would be to pursue litigation for restitution, leaving Zinn saying that made it feel like the contract means nothing.

Alcock explained that anyone who didn’t agree to the new price simply wouldn’t get product, and he said he had been unable to find an alternative source that could match even the increased price.

Zinn was still unconvinced, saying that everyone was running into higher prices, but contracts still needed to be adhered to.

She was also upset that the decision was made without discussion, which Heffer said was his responsibility. He did say, however, that he didn’t feel calling an emergency meeting of council to deal with the issue would have changed the reality of the situation.

Zinn said she wanted to see alternatives for next year as a result of “bad business” practices and Alcock said he was already looking into alternative methods of dust control which would allow the municipality to consider other vendors.

He did say, however, that the decision wasn’t made at the yard that he deals with and was instead passed down by the larger company.

“They were put in a spot here,” he said.

Zinn didn’t feel that mattered, saying, “we’re all in a tough spot.”

Council received the report.

SEE CLINTON'S LIGHT TUNNEL NEXT TO THE TOWN HALL AT 23 ALBERT ST.

RESIDENTS OF CENTRAL HURON:

MAYOR'S MINGLE! JUNE 27: ALBERT ST, CLINTON FREE MEAL AT 6PM STREET CLOSES AT 4PM

NEW THIS YEAR: CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!!

PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

ACW Council directs staff to find, fly Pride flag

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township Council members want to

fly a Pride flag for Pride month, provided they can find the right one.

During council’s July 7 meeting, most council members spoke in

favour of recognizing Pride month and flying a Pride flag at the municipal office, though some pointed out the municipality’s current flag policy didn’t lend itself

Gone fishin’ Despite some less-than-ideal weather conditions, the Wingham Sportsmen Association held its annual fishing derby at the club on Tuesday morning, welcoming members of the community to the pond to try their hand at the time-honoured skill of catching a fish.

(Shawn Loughlin photo)

to the change.

The request came from Huron Perth Public Health [HPPH], which led Mayor Glen McNeil, who was participating remotely while Deputy-Mayor Roger Watt chaired the meeting, to say that the request was appropriate and promoted equity, diversity and inclusion.

Watt, however, said the flag-use policy, which council passed several years ago, doesn’t allow anything other than the federal, provincial and municipal flags to be flown on the three flag poles outside the municipal office.

Councillor Bill Vanstone, however, felt council should pass a bylaw to allow the flag to be flown temporarily. Chief Administrative Officer Mark Becker, however, felt that the flag policy handled day-today decisions and not special occasions like Pride month. He was more concerned with finding a flag if council wanted to fly it.

Councillor Anita Snobelen agreed, saying she wasn’t concerned about council flying a flag as long as the right one could be found.

“What concerns me is [HPPH] shows two different Pride flags, and there are probably a half dozen other versions,” she said. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t endorse it, but… it may have too many layers to it and by the time we get it all figured out, Pride month may be gone.”

Snobelen suggested council work

towards being more prepared for Pride month next year.

McNeil, however, said the municipality could just follow Huron County Council’s lead and use the same flag it approved for Pride month.

“It could be later in the game, but this is the right thing to move forward with,” McNeil said.

Councillor Jennifer Miltenburg agreed, saying council should act as soon as possible and that having something up late is better than not doing it.

Snobelen endorsed McNeil’s suggestion, saying she expected that Huron County staff had vetted the different flags.

Council gave staff direction to get the same flag Huron County is flying and put it up as soon as possible.

Snobelen asked which flag would be lowered for the month of June.

Becker said staff would look into proper etiquette for the flag lowering, however Snobelen said she would prefer it be the municipal flag, not the federal or provincial ones.

Have an opinion to share with The Citizen? Send a Letter to the Editor to info@northhuron.on.ca

NH, Madill club raise Pride flag

VIRTUAL

June 16, 2022 at 7 p.m. via Zoom NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Annual General Meeting of the Members of the Clinton Public Hospital, St. Marys Memorial Hospital, Seaforth Community Hospital and Stratford General Hospital will be held on Thursday, June 16, 2022 to:

Up and up Reeve Bernie Bailey, right, alongside members of The Plus, an inclusive 2SLGBTQIA+ organization at F.E. Madill School, raised a Pride flag at North Huron’s Township Hall for Pride month last week. From left: Madison Forster, Rowan Gaspirc, Marley Gaspirc, Olivia Van Beek and Elyse Ireland. (Denny Scott photo)

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Last week, representatives of North Huron Township Council and members of The Plus, a 2SLGBTQIA+ organization from F.E. Madill School, raised the Pride flag for the first time at a North Huron facility.

The student group requested that North Huron Township fly the flag for the month of June to recognize

Pride month. During council’s May 16 meeting, it approved the request, provided the group supplied the flag.

While the issue was contentious, council did vote in favour of it, resulting in a flag-raising procession being held on June 1 in front of the township’s town hall in Wingham.

After parading downtown, the student group, led by representative Madison Forester, a Grade 9

student from Madill, helped Reeve Bernie Bailey to raise the flag.

Forester explained the purpose of the group, which is to support and include everyone, including straight allies, before thanking everyone who attended the event.

Bailey said he and the rest of council were happy and privileged to be a part of the historic event, reminding the students to continue to lead, and not follow.

1.

Receive Annual Reports of the Board of Directors, including Financial Statements, together with the Auditor’s Report thereon.

2.

Appoint Auditors.

3.

Amend each of the Hospital Corporation’s By-Laws.

4.

Receive the Ad Hoc Nominating Committee Report.

Only members of the hospital corporations shall be entitled to vote at the Annual General Meeting.

Members of the public are welcome to attend!

RSVP to Sue Davey, Executive Assistant at 519-272-8205 or susan.davey@hpha.ca to receive the Zoom link in advance of the meeting.

│ www.hpha.ca

THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 11.

Blyth Rutabaga Festival 2022 Come out and enjoy the fun!

PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

Rutabaga Festival 2022 Rutabaga Festival has something for everyone

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Fun for all ages The Blyth Rutabaga Festival, last held in 2019, has fun and games for people of all ages (and regardless of love for the vegetable). From the age-of-majority concert on Friday evening to the children’s games and activities, shown above in 2019, to the youth science show taking place on the community stage, there’s more than enough to keep the whole family entertained. (File photo)

The Blyth Rutabaga Festival will be returning this year, featuring many fan-favourite activities, alongside some new practices.

Teresa Kolkman, one of the organizers for the event, is heading up many of the activities and said the festival, which will start Friday, June 17 night with a concert that night and run throughout Saturday, June 18, will feature something for everyone.

The concert on Friday night will feature headliner Adam Cousins and opening act Weekend Never Ends, both local bands. The concert is set for the Blyth and District Community Centre and is an ageof-majority event. Tickets cost $20 in advance or $25 at the door and there will be a cash bar. The concert starts at 7 p.m. and is expected to run until 1 a.m.

On Saturday morning, Baga Yoga will be taking place at Lions Park.

Kolkman said the event will be led

by Rachel Feddes, who was in charge of it in 2019, and will see rutabagas incorporated into regular yoga positions.

“The program runs for about an hour,” Kolkman said. “It’s for all ages and all experience levels from people who have never tried yoga before to pros.”

The Blyth and District Community Center will host craft

vendors throughout the day, which Kolkman said will allow local artisans and makers to show off their wares. She said there will also be Rutabaga Festival merchandise at the site, including t-shirts, trucker hats, beanie caps and youth bucket hats.

“All the merchandise either has Rutty or Baga on it,” she said, referring to the rutabaga-inspired mascots for the event.

Teen ping pong will be returning, Kolkman said, under the direction of local Kelly Wharton. While it’s called “Teen” ping pong, Kolkman said it would be open to anyone who wants to participate. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the arena with the winner receiving a commemorative medallion.

Food vendors will also be at the site beginning at 11 a.m. Kolkman said confirmed vendors include the Sunrise Diner from St. Marys, Wicked Witches from Goderich and the Blyth Anglican Church preparing its famous back bacon on a bun.

The Kids Zone, which will be hosted at the Blyth Lions Park, will be free to attend, Kolkman said.

The site will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will feature two bouncy castles, rutabaga-centred games like baga bowling and an opportunity to pick up some snacks.

Kolkman said that local youths will Continued on page 13

G. L. HUBBARD LIMITED GROWERS AND PACKERS OF QUALITY RUTABAGAS

Blyth • 519-523-4554 See you at the Rutabaga Festival June 17th & 18th

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Owned and operated by the Hubbard family since 1963

THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 13.

Rutabaga Festival 2022 Camping a big addition to Rutabaga Festival Continued from page 12 be selling popcorn and candy floss at the site. Everything is free, she said, except for snacks.

The rutabaga culinary cook-off will welcome entries until 1 p.m.

The returning event will see local bakers, dessert-makers and chefs flex their creative muscles to make dishes around the eponymous root vegetable. For more information, see page 14.

Throughout the day, the Lions Park will also play host to a beverage garden for age-ofmajority attendants.

The bed races will also be returning this year, seeing local teams craft and compete in their own homemade beds on wheels.

The races will begin at 2 p.m. and run north on Gypsy Lane, starting just north of County Road 25.

New additions this year include a baseball tournament at the Blyth Campground, replacing a home run derby held at the 2019 Rutabaga Festival, as well as a catered meal at the end of the day.

The barbecue, which will be prepared by Pineridge Barbecue, will be available at the Blyth and

Fun and games The ‘Teen’ Ping Pong tournament, which is actually open to all ages, will once again be part of the Blyth Rutabaga Festival. The main difference this year, however, is that the event will be moved to the Blyth and District Community Centre. (File photo)

Community Stage Schedule 11-11:30 a.m. - COCO Pro Violin Students (led by Capucine Onn) *** 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. - Orbax and Pepper do Science *** 12:30-2 p.m. - Country Junction Band *** 2:30-3:15 p.m. - Orbax and Pepper Do Science *** 3:15-3:45 p.m. - Maya Valdez *** 3:45-4:45 p.m. - Dawe Family Band *** 4:45-5:30 - Down Home Band

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District Community Centre.

Kolkman said the meal will include a half-chicken, baked beans, a sour cream roll and coleslaw and cost $25 per person. Tickets will be sold in advance only.

A big addition to the event this year will be the opportunity to camp at the Blyth Campground, Kolkman said. For the weekend of the festival, the entirety of the campground will be under the purview of the Blyth Rutabaga Festival committee. Kolkman said

it was important to make sure that camping was available not only for people interested in the rutabagathemed activities, but also for the baseball tournament. Campers will also be able to benefit from the Pine Ridge barbecue meal, Kolkman said, which will allow them to end the day with high-quality prepared dinner.

More information and entry forms for the various events can be found online at blythnow.ca/rutabagafest/

Enjoy the Rutabaga Festival See you at the Lions Park Blyth Lions Club

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PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

Rutabaga Festival 2022 Rutabaga cook-off offers chance for culinary creation Saturday, June 18 between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the Blyth Community Centre. Judging will take place starting at 2 p.m. with a public tasting and voting available afterwards.

Each dish must serve between six and eight people, according to McGregor, and will be judged on the “EAT” scale: execution, appearance and taste. While individuals may enter in as many categories as they wish, each entry must be complete and ready to be served when dropped off and

include a list of ingredients. Each entry must be preceded by an entry form.

McGregor said she looks forward to the event because of the incredible “inventiveness” that people showed when submitting dishes for the 2019 iteration of the contest.

“People used their imagination, and their culinary expertise, and came up with some of the most interesting ideas,” she said.

McGregor felt that, with the Continued on page 15

Welcome to the Blyth Rutabaga Festival 2 miles south of Blyth corner of London Rd. & Hullett McKillop Rd.

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The judges for the 2019 Blyth Rutabaga Festival rutabaga cook-off had a hard time deciding on a winner. Organizer Lynda McGregor feels the same will happen this year, saying that the level of creativity that accompanies the event always impresses her. This year’s event will be held in the Blyth and District Community Centre. (File photo)

By Denny Scott The Citizen Among the events returning to the Blyth Rutabaga Festival this year is the Rutabaga Culinary Cook-off, a competition that will see local cooks put forward their best rutabaga dishes.

The event, which is being

organized by Lynda McGregor, welcomes aspiring chefs to make a dish with the featured ingredient after submitting an entry form to either Maple and Moose, the Wonky Frog, John Rutledge Architect or by e-mailing to blythcommunitybetterment@gmail. com by June 14. Entry forms are available at the businesses above or

at www.rutabagafest.ca.

Dishes can be made for five different categories: Kid-Friendly, ‘Baga-bites’ Appetizers, supper, dessert or ‘Baga Surprise’.

Dishes need to be dropped off by

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Returning The extremely talented Dawe family, including Steve and Ava, shown above, will once again be returning to the Blyth Festival Rutabaga Community Stage to perform. The family, also known as The Honey Sweethearts, can be found on Facebook. (File photo)

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 15.

Rutabaga Festival 2022 Bed races return to Rutabaga Festival, Gypsy Lane despite being faced with a youthful team in the Huron Perth Junior Farmers.

The Baga Bunch team consisted of Frank and Marian Hallahan, Darren and Michelle Richmond, Kevin and Lorie Falconer, Jeff and Janice Peters and Shawn and Jess Loughlin.

The team met for months before the festival, even during the winter months, to craft the bed and design it for race day, often pairing their work sessions with dinners together.

“One of my favourite things was our weekly planning meetings/dinners,” said Lorie Falconer. “We were a team from start to finish. Each week, new ideas came to light, from costumes to decorating and how to build the bed, leading up to and building excitement for the race day.”

Team members chipped in with construction and design elements, but Kevin Falconer was the one who did a lot of the metal work to Continued on page 16

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The Baga Bunch, above left, claimed victory at the 2019 Blyth Rutabaga Festival bed races, triumphing over the Huron Perth Junior Farmers to claim the top spot. Will the Bunch make a return trip to the winner’s circle? Only time will tell. Below, the Knechtel and Howson teams run side by side during the 1992 Rutabaga Festival. (File photos)

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Hot Dogs, Sausages, Fresh Fries, Rutabaga Donuts & More!

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen This year, the Rutabaga Festival is back in Blyth, which means the beds will be racing along Gypsy Lane once again.

The bed races have been a tradition with the Rutabaga Festival for years, with teams creating their bed and racing down the road in an effort to cross the finish line before their opponent. So, when the

festival returned in 2019, it was a no-brainer that the bed races would return with it.

At the 2019 festival, just two teams entered the race: the Baga Bunch, consisting of a number of neighbours from the east end of King and Wellington Streets, and the Huron Perth Junior Farmers, with a team comprised of members of that organization.

It was the Baga Bunch team that would prove victorious, however,

Cook-off a fun event, builds community Continued from page 14 breadth of dishes made, it wasn’t just people looking online for popular dishes, but people practising their culinary creativity in coming up with their own dishes.

She said some of the dishes were so popular that, when it came time for people to taste test them, they were devoured by the guests.

“One dish, the bacon-wrapped rutabaga squares… just disappeared,” she said.

The dishes are unique, she said, because some people focus on presentation while others look at flavour. Others still focus on the entire package, which makes for unique dining experiences.

“The judges had a lot of fun,” she said.

This year, the public will once

again be invited to cast their own vote for the awards alongside the judges, who will remain anonymous until the event itself.

One group that will be missing from this year’s festivities are the high school students who participated in the 2019 contest, McGregor said. With school being out already, the culinary classes that took part before aren’t available now.

McGregor said the event was and will continue to be a success because it’s fun and because it focuses on the community coming together, which is critical to the festival and the cook-off. She said it’s a positive experience that will “continue to knit a community together and allow it to celebrate.”

See you for lunch at the Blyth Lions Park during the Rutabaga Festival

For tickets:

1.877.862.5984 blythfestival.com

On the

Harvest Stage in Blyth, ON Miles: “Yes. Uh, I’m here with a group of actors.

We’re making up a play about farmers.”

Angus: “Oh.” This Canadian classic is a new outdoor production, featuring live fiddle

by Canada’s one and only Anne Lederman.

Generously sponsored by:

Artwork by Bruce Horak

The Drawer Boy June 22 - July 16 Written by Michael Healey Directed by Gil Garratt

PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

Rutabaga Festival 2022 Baga Bunch looks back on historic bed race win said that one of the best aspects of winning the race was the opportunity to appear in the Blyth Santa Claus parade that December. The Hallahans rode on the bed while members of the team pushed them along the parade route.

“It didn’t end on race day. Our winning bed was part of the Santa Claus parade in December, when we again got together to plan and decorate, share memories of race day and of how we had become even closer neighbours by building a bed for the race together,” Lorie

Falconer said.

Marian Hallahan agreed, saying that the slow cruise at the parade in December was something that will always stick out for her.

“Our greatest memory was the Santa Claus parade, having the honour of riding in the bed down Main Street, proudly showing everyone the trophy,” Hallahan said.

This year’s bed races are set for Saturday, June 18 at 2 p.m. on Gypsy Lane. It is an all-ages event.

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Winners The Baga Bunch, which consisted of a group of neighbours from the east end of King and Wellington Streets, was able to cruise to victory in the 2019 Rutabaga Festival bed races. A new winner will be crowned this year, meaning the Bunch will have to pass the trophy on. From left: Janice Peters, Lorie Falconer, Michelle Richmond, Heather Leckie, Darren Richmond, Kevin Falconer, Jeff Peters, Carson Richmond and Giulian Larovere.

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Continued from page 15 create the bed for the race.

Falconer, a Whitechurch native and now a North Huron councillor, has been part of teams that had built a number of beds in the past.

Whether it was for Whitechurch events or reunions in Lucknow, Wingham and Teeswater, Falconer said he was no stranger to fastening wheels to the bottom of the bed and building it for speed and handling.

Not only did Falconer have that previous experience, but he also has a career behind him as a welder and sheet metal worker at a number of local companies. He was able to dust off those skills and put them to work in the construction of the racer.

Over the course of between 15 and 16 hours, he would weld all the

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pieces together, even attaching brakes to the front of the bed and calibrating the structure over the course of several trial runs.

While Falconer was busy working on the nuts and bolts of building the bed, other members of his team were constructing items that would eventually decorate the bed. Janice, the former owner of The Gift Cupboard in Blyth, worked with team members to design burlap rutabaga sacks and caps for the runners and supporters to wear, while Janice herself dressed as a rutabaga farmer.

The bed was also designed to look like the driver was sitting in a field of rutabagas, complete with rows of sprouts surrounding her.

The Baga Bunch’s creation would go on to win the bed race at the 2019

Rutabaga Festival. The group triumphed over the Huron-Perth Junior Farmers thanks to pushers Jeff Peters, Giulian Larovere, Carson Richmond and Heather Leckie.

Lorie Falconer recalls it being an exciting day for members of a team that had worked together to create what would eventually be the winning bed.

“The race day itself was filled with laughter and pride for something we built together. I’m not sure if those pushing the bed realized how fast it might take off down that hill and the importance of a driver to steer the bed,” Lorie Falconer said.

“Everyone was involved, from decorations to costumes to building the bed.”

Several members of the team also

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 17.

Rutabaga Festival 2022 Cycle event rebrands, challenges riders to long hauls

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen This year, the Rutabaga Ride has evolved into “The Baga”,

encouraging people to get out onto the Goderich-to-Guelph (G2G) Rail Trail in any way they please, be it walking, riding or rolling.

Funds raised through the ride, set

for Saturday, June 18 to coincide with the Rutabaga Festival in Blyth, will benefit the G2G, specifically the tunnel project just west of Blyth.

Starting point While everyone who knows rutabagas knows G.L. Hubbard’s is the place to get rutabagas prepared, the story actually starts with Russell Dougherty, left, shown discussing the venerable vegetable with Bill Morritt. (File photo)

Organizers have set five distances, or participants are free to choose their own: 10 kilometres from Auburn to Blyth, 30 kilometres from Monkton to Blyth, 35 kilometres from Goderich to Blyth, 50 kilometres from Linwood to Blyth or 75 kilometres from Wallenstein to Blyth.

All routes end at the water tower in Blyth, where participants are asked to go to the check-in tent, where they will receive their package and some information about the Rutabaga Festival.

After Annie Sparling and her Blyth Community Betterment team reinvigorated the Rutabaga Festival in 2019, she has since passed on control of The Baga to new Blyth resident Ruth McLelland.

McLelland and her husband moved to Blyth in 2020 and being close to the G2G was something they kept in mind while house hunting. Upon moving to Blyth, she began volunteering for the trail and soon rose up the ranks, connecting with residents who have been heavily involved with the trail in recent years, such as Jennifer Morris and Chris Lee. Through Lee, McLelland attended a planning meeting for the next ride connected to the Rutabaga

Rutabagas have long local history

By Denny Scott The Citizen When a village has a selfproclaimed Rutabaga King, you can be sure it takes its role on the world rutabaga stage very seriously.

The vegetables have constituted a significant industry in Blyth for more than 150 years and the G.L. Hubbard Ltd. rutabaga plant on Dinsley Street East has been at the centre of that industry.

Today, the plant stores up to 200,000 rutabagas, which are a larger, sweeter cousin of the turnip, before processing and shipping across the continent. It also employs up to 13 people in the field operations or in the plant.

With the London, Huron and Bruce Railway coming in 1875, rutabagas and turnips became a part of the local farm crops. Five years later, turnips were being shipped to Kentucky to feed horses and sheep.

Blyth became the centre for rutabagas in 1939 when local businessman Russell Dougherty began waxing rutabagas in part of the building most recently housing Campbell Transport.

Dougherty built a waxing plant near the Canadian Pacific Railway station and moved his operations there by 1944.

Aside from being a businessman, Dougherty was also an inventor. In 1951, he built North America’s first precision seeder, allowing rutabaga seeds to be planted individually instead of sown by hand and then thinned when the plants grew.

Farmers from Bruce County all the way south to Exeter grew the vegetable to be brought to Blyth to be waxed. The plant, through its 15 employees, trimmed and waxed rutabagas during the winter months, processing 1,500

to 1,800 bushels daily.

During harvest and field work, as many as 150 people would be busy in the fields, Dougherty’s late wife Ruth once explained.

In the mid-1950s, A.H. Wilford worked with Dougherty to create the Blyth Trade Fair in storage buildings at the rutabaga plant.

Wilford was something of a celebrity according to his obituary in the Blyth Standard.

Born in Blyth on March 16, 1887, Wilford would come to be known as the Rutabaga King for his work promoting the vegetables across North America.

Wilford helped Dougherty by

travelling to Ottawa to give rutabagas to every Member of Parliament and, later, during her royal visit to London, Ontario, to the Queen of England.

In 1963, George Hubbard, who had been growing and processing rutabagas in a rented facility near Bright, purchased the plant from Dougherty. That first year, he grew 70 acres of rutabagas and, by the turn of the millennium, he was up to 275.

The rutabagas processed at the plant now come from Hubbard farms surrounding the village of Blyth and make use of more Continued on page 18

Festival and before she knew it she was in an organizational capacity.

She says she’s a lover of the trail and she’s happy to lend a hand where she can.

McLelland also said that while planning for this year’s event may have started a little late, she’s still hoping that it will encourage people to use the trail and to be active on one of Ontario’s true gems.

Moving forward, however, she and her team hope to make The Baga an annual event, which won’t necessarily coincide with the Rutabaga Festival, which will now be held every five years.

For more information on the ride, to register or to make a donation, visit its website online at g2gride2022.donorengine.com or for more information on the trail, visit g2grailtrail.com.

Looking for more history on rutabagas?

Pay a visit to the Blyth Repository of History which shares an office with The Citizen.

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2010 Dodge Grand Caravan - white, 3.6L, loaded, 7 passenger, stow ’n go seating, 190,346 kms ........$9,995.

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PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

Rutabaga Festival 2022 Cousins to unveil new song at Rutabaga concert

By Denny Scott The Citizen Brussels native Adam Cousins and his band will be headlining a concert this weekend to kick off the 2022 Rutabaga Festival.

Cousins is excited to be part of the event after playing at the revival of the festival in 2019 and said he is looking forward to recreating some of the magic from that initial concert.

“I was part of the Rutabaga Festival in 2019 and had a great time,” he said. “A lot of great musicians came out.”

Cousins has played a number of shows locally, including performing at Blyth Cowbell Brewing Company and the kick-off for the Brussels Homecoming. He said he’s happy to be a part of events and venues in Blyth because it’s close to home, which means people from all over the community

he grew up in can be a part of it.

Cousins said that Theresa Kolkman reached out to him through Facebook, saying she was looking for local musicians to play the festival. He was happy to join in, saying he looked forward to playing in Blyth and giving people a chance to “get back to normal” with the Festival and concert.

The concert, which will also feature Weekend Never Ends, another local band, will allow

Hubbard reinvented rutabagas

King and Queen With rutabaga inventions and hundreds of acres of product to their name, it only made sense for George and Marion Hubbard to lead the way in the Rutabaga Festival parades. Above, the royal rutabaga couple lead the 1990 parade. (File photo)

Continued from page 17 mechanical processes than in the early years.

The company has approximately 240 acres of crops to be harvested.

Specially manufactured machines plant the crop and weeds are controlled through scuffling, a specialized technique for row-crops which involves spacing cultivator teeth so weeds are removed but the crop is left untouched.

Harvesting is done with a huge machine that George built himself and modified several times.

George passed away in May of 2014 in his 78th year.

His daughter, Susan Hubbard, who has been at the factory for over 35 years, said that things are still very much the same as they were under her father.

The company employs approximately a dozen people at peak season, still uses the same equipment her father brought in and still ships all over the world.

The village of Blyth has had a lasting mark left by the rutabaga industry, and, in 1989, started the Rutabaga Festival to mark the vegetable’s impact. The festival, unfortunately, was stopped after several years due to a lack of volunteers before being revived by the Blyth Community Betterment group late last year.

The Hubbard plant is now owned

by George’s children Susan, Cathy McNichol, Philip Hubbard and Selina Treble with the first three working in the company.

While G.L. Hubbard Ltd. is likely the longest-lived endeavour on the site it occupies, it isn’t the first. It was in this area that the Grey, Young and Sparling salt well was located in the 1870s. The salt well was only recently filled in according to Susan. After the decline of the salt business, an early flax mill occupied the property.

Cousins to debut a new song which will be on the radio in August, he said.

He is very excited about the song, called “Let it Rip”, as it is a great summer song and he hopes everyone can enjoy it.

His part of the concert will be a “fun, energetic, classic country show” Cousins said, allowing people to dance and have a good time.

The concert as a whole, however, will offer “the best of both worlds” Cousins said, as Weekend Never Ends is more of a rock and roll band.

“Everyone from the young to the old will be able to come out and enjoy it and be part of the great festival,” he said.

Cousins also recently announced that, after a delay, he will be playing the Hagersville Rocks Music Festival next month, which

includes some well-known country musicians like headliner Aaron Pritchett. The concert is set for July 23.

“It’s going to be a great time,” he said. “It’s one of the bigger shows we’ve played as a band.”

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 19.

Rutabaga Festival 2022 Festival’s return a success

Now and then The Rutabaga Festival’s current incarnation may have started three years ago in 2019, including life-sized mascots seen below, but the festival has come and gone more than once resulting in a number of rutabagathemed mascots like the one above in 1992. (File photos)

The return of the Rutabaga Festival is a big moment for Susan Hubbard and her family, who own and operate G.L. Hubbard Rutabagas on the east edge of Blyth.

Not only is the return of the event making good on the desire to have it become a recurring event, returning every five years to mark the village’s anniversaries, but it marks the return of an event which was originally tied very closely to her parents.

Hubbard, alongside her sister Cathy McNichol, told The Citizen back in 2019, prior to the revival of the festival that year, that it was a great opportunity for the community to be reminded of the fact that Blyth has a long history with rutabagas and that there is a plant in town that still not only processes but sells the unique ground root vegetable.

“A lot of people don’t know there’s a plant here,” Hubbard said.

“Even people who have lived in the town for a while don’t know about it.”

The revival of the event was a decade in the making, Hubbard said, and both she and McNichol feel all members of their family, present and past, would be happy to see it happening again.

This year, Hubbard is happy to see the event grow with some new additions, including the Fridaynight concert and a barbecue dinner catered by Pineridge Barbecue on Saturday night.

“Aside from that, pretty much everything is the same,” she said.

“Though we did decide on a baseball tournament instead of a home run derby.”

She was also excited that camping was available, and that the community stage will host some great local talent, like the Teed and Dawe families, as well as educational performers Orbax and Pepper.

While it had always been the intent of the organizers of the 2019 event to have it return, Hubbard said what form the event would take was definitely up in the air.

“We had some ideas to change it up, and we have definitely done that,” she said. “It’s similar, but there are different things to do.”

One of the big changes is moving it to June (it was held in October in 2019), but Hubbard said that’s less a change and more a return to form,

since the first festival was held in June. The change makes sense, she said, as weather will be less of a concern than it would be later in the year. It also gives the village an event to look forward to on Father’s Day weekend since the annual fishing derby held at Radford’s Pond was discontinued several years ago.

“This gives families an event to enjoy,” she said.

While the event is set and many are speaking about it, Hubbard said that COVID-19 has been in the back of her mind, as well as her fellow organizers, since they started planning for the event.

“It’s always been a concern because people are so leary of going out,” she said. “We’re hoping that all goes well and we get as many people as we expect. You can never be sure these days.”

She said there will be measures in place, like sanitization stations, to be proactive and make sure all attendees and everyone else involved is safe.

Now that COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, she said the organizers plan to do what was originally discussed: having the festival every five years, but smaller events every year to keep it fresh in people’s minds.

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PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

Rutabaga Festival 2022 Festival dates back to early 1950s in Blyth

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen While most remember the Rutabaga Festival of the 1990s, running from 1990 to 1994, that was actually the second iteration of the festival, which was founded in Blyth in 1953 and was held again in 1954 before it ceased operations.

The seeds for the festival were planted in January of 1953 when the Blyth Standard reported that the Blyth Turnip Plant, owned and operated by Russell Dougherty, was well on its way to processing another fine crop of turnips.

Dougherty estimated that the 1952 crop, most of which was grown in the local district, was in excess of 75,000 bushels. He said that what

the year’s crop lacked in size, it made up for in quality.

The finished, waxed turnips, Dougherty said, were set to be shipped almost entirely to the United States, with customers waiting in Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas.

It was just a few months later that the headline “Agricultural Day to be held at Blyth, May 23rd” ran across the top of the April 15 issue of the Blyth Standard.

May 23 had been chosen as the date by the Rutabaga Growers and Producers of the Counties of Bruce, Huron, Perth, Middlesex and Oxford and plans were already moving along for a full-day agricultural show and film display to be held in Blyth.

A.H. Wilford, a Blyth native who

now lived in Toronto, met with the Blyth Board of Trade on Friday, April 10 to discuss the event, saying that it only made sense to host the event in Blyth due to its central location in the “rapidly expanding rutabaga industry of western Ontario.”

He also noted that Dougherty’s plant in Blyth was regarded as one of the most modern and progressive processing plants in the province.

One of the main features of the day would be the screening of a continuous film beginning at 9:30 a.m. and running until midnight. The film would be of an agricultural nature designed to interest and attract farmers from western Ontario. There would also be an agricultural display.

It was also at the Board of Trade meeting that Gordon Elliott officially retired as its president, making way for Grant Sparling to take over.

Throughout April, Wilford continued to spread the word about the festival.

Visiting Blyth from Toronto on April 16, Wilford said he had just come from London where he was busy speaking with merchants and drumming up interest in the Agricultural Day. He encouraged London-based producers to form a parade up Highway 4, appointing Charles Ford of Universal Ignition Company as

the chairman. The parade would start in London and make its way to Wingham, coming back south to Blyth.

At the time, Bob Carbert of CKNX Radio was being floated as a potential emcee for the event. He would have the assistance of Earl Gross of Toronto, who was with the United Farmers’ Co-op.

Even in the early stages of planning the event, organizers stressed the importance of providing everything free of charge to the public.

In the May 6 issue of the Blyth Standard, it was reported that the Continued on page 21

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Busking at the festival From left: Norma Preszcator, Rhonda Bruxer, Joan Caldwell and Dianne Josling were all members of the Carry On Cloggers in the early 1990s and they took part in the Buskers Festival as part of the Rutabaga Festival in Blyth. (File photo)

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 21.

Rutabaga Festival 2022 3,000 attended first Rutabaga Festival in ’53 Continued from page 20 ranks for the May 23 parade were swelling.

While there were many planning on making the trip from London, there were others planning on joining the parade along the route.

For example, a fleet of the newest German-made cars and trucks would be joining the parade when it came through Arva.

Enthusiasm for the festival continued to grow. The Blyth Standard on May 13 carried a headline calling the day “mammoth”.

“It is becoming increasingly evident that the Rutabaga and Agricultural Day to be held at Blyth on Saturday, May 23 is going to be a giant industrial fair,” the Standard reported.

For example, Massey-Harris District Manager Bill Mesley said he was organizing his agents in Lucknow, Wingham, Brussels, Blyth, Seaforth, Clinton and Exeter

to take part, with hopes of even involving participants from London.

Wilford even spoke to the Blyth Board of Trade about bringing a firm all the way from Ohio to take part in the event.

On the eve of the festival, the Blyth Standard printed extra copies to accommodate all of those coming into the village on May 23.

“Saturday, May 23 gives every indication of being a red letter day so far as this community is concerned,” read the Blyth Standard. “This mammoth, all-day event is being sponsored by the Rutabaga Industry of Western Ontario, and is being promoted throughout this section of the province by A.H. Wilford, Toronto publisher, who is a native of Blyth, but who has been away from this village for 45 years, working in various capacities throughout Canada and the United States, but always closely associated with agriculture.”

The Standard also reported that

“Rutabaga Day” was being held to draw attention to the industry in both Canada and the United States and to create an “ever-widening domestic market” for the rutabaga.

The industrial parade was set to leave the Western Fairgrounds in London at 8 a.m. on May 23, picking up various participants on the way to Blyth. In the end, organizers estimated that 3,000 made their way to Blyth for the event, calling it tremendously successful.

“The unanimous opinion appears to be that Rutabaga and Agricultural Day held in Blyth was a great success from every angle,” the Blyth Standard reported. “Activity around the town from early morning gave evidence that a large crowd would be present and although there was no way of actually pinning down the number who attended at various times, a figure close to the 3,000 mark seems to be the opinion of most.”

To thank him for all of his work in

preparing the day, the Blyth Board of Trade presented Wilford with the gift of a motor rug and a pair of gloves, both from the Blyth Woollen Mills.

Wilford said that creating the festival in his hometown was truly one of the happiest experiences of his life and he would be happy to help with a remount of the event the following year.

The festival also happened to skirt disaster by just two days. The Blyth

Welcome to Blyth!

Standard reported that winds of “hurricane velocity” touched down in Huron County as a severe storm tore through East Wawanosh and Morris Townships, just north of Blyth the night of Monday, May 25, just two days after the event.

Damages were estimated to be in the thousands with farmers being hit the hardest. The storm was estimated to have winds in excess of 100 miles per hour with a width of three miles.

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Going yard When the Rutabaga Festival returned to Blyth in 2019, a home run derby took to the diamonds, above, allowing area players to show everyone what they were made of. This year, things will be a bit different, as the diamonds will be taken over by a baseball tournament, rather than the ode to the long ball. (File photo)

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PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

R

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 23.

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Brussels Livestock report

Fed steers, heifers sell actively at weekly sale Total receipts for Brussels Livestock for the week ending June 3 were 1,470 cattle and 655 lambs and goats.

On Tuesday, fed steers and heifers sold actively at prices $2 to $3 higher. Choice steers and heifers sold $182 to $192.50. Second-cut cattle sold $172 to $181. Holstein steers and heifers sold $155 to $174. Aged and medium-fed steers and heifers sold $155 to $162.50.

Cows sold steady.

On Thursday, good holstein veal sold $3 to $5 higher, while the rest sold steady. Lambs sold higher.

Sheep and goats sold steady.

On Friday, all classes of cattle

sold on an active trade with steady to stronger prices.

Dwayne Dickert of Ayton, consigned four head. One black heifer weighed 1,460 lbs. and sold for a price of $192.50.

Dave Tilker of Palmerston, consigned 11 head. One limousin steer weighed 1,440 lbs. and sold for a price of $191.50.

There were 250 cows on offer.

Beef sold $95 to $128 with sales to $129.50; good holstein cows, $98 to $114 with sales to $115.50; medium holstein cows, $84 to $98.

Bulls sold $103.50 to $160.

There were 125 head of veal on offer. Beef veal sold $165 to 190;

good holsteins, $165 to $184; SL heavy holsteins, $155 to $168; heavy holsteins, $119 to $141; medium holsteins, $135 to $160; plain holsteins, $116 to $145.

Paul Pennington of Mildmay, consigned five head. One holstein steer weighed 730 lbs. and sold for a price of $184.

Murray Burkhart of Wallenstein, consigned 13 head. One pied steer weighed 990 lbs. and sold for a price of $190.

Lambs under 50 lbs. sold $254.75 to $270; 50 - 64 lbs., $275 to $350; 65 - 79 lbs., $286.75 to $299; 80 94 lbs., $267 to $279; 95 to 109 lbs. $265 to $292.50; 110 lbs. and over,

$285 to $297.50.

Sheep sold $100 to $265.

Goats: billies sold $150 to $400; nannies, $100 to $280; kids: dairy, $350 to $450; meat, $450 to $550.

Grant Campbell of Iona Station, consigned 29 head. Three lambs averaged 120 lbs. and sold for an average price of $297.50.

Top quality stocker steers under 400 lbs. sold $278.50 to $298; 400 499 lbs., $237.50 to $267; 500 to 599 lbs., $235 to $255; 600 - 699 lbs., $212 to $274; 700 - 799 lbs., $207.50 to $242; 800 - 899 lbs., $214.50 to $229; 900 - 999 lbs., $206.50 to $213.75; 1,000 lbs. and over, $196.75 to $203.50.

OFA marks Local Food Week in Ontario

By Teresa Van Raay, Director, Ontario Federation of Agriculture This is Local Food Week in Ontario. It’s an annual highlight for our industry and all the hardworking individuals that grow, nurture and harvest the food that nourishes Ontarians, the province and the world. This special week of recognition takes place from June 6-12 and is the opportune time to celebrate the abundance of fresh, healthy food that is grown, produced and processed right here at home. It’s the perfect month to commemorate local food as the growing season gains momentum with early season favourites such as asparagus, field strawberries and rhubarb.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) challenges everyone to take a moment this week to pause, reflect and celebrate how lucky we are to have easy, affordable access to high-quality foods. It’s important that we recognize the critical links in the supply chain that work tirelessly to ensure Ontarians have food on the table that is proudly grown, produced or raised in Ontario. From field-to-fork, more than 10 per cent of Ontario’s labour force is employed in the agri-food sector in our province.

Whether farmer or consumer; we can all partake in celebrating Local Food Week by sourcing, purchasing and preparing local meats, produce, grains, preserves, beverages and condiments. Visit a community farmers’ market to gather in-season goodies such as produce, flowers and herbs and be sure to check out community butcher shops, local restaurants and bakeries.

Local food is more available and accessible than ever before. The 2021 Census of Agriculture shows marked increases in farms reporting direct to consumer sales across many categories, including farm gate sales, you-pick operations, farmers’ markets and communitysupported agriculture. The census also captured a surging number of farms offering direct deliveries to consumers, a pandemic-driven trend that is expected to continue.

Many municipalities prepare directories, maps, tours and “buy local” campaigns to help consumers access local food directly from the

farmer. Try a quick internet search to see what’s available in your area or check out Farm Fresh Ontario to find a local farm.

My family farm business sells direct to consumers, and we are beyond thankful for the public’s interest in local food. Ontario farmers work around the clock to provide high-quality food and meeting our customers makes all our efforts worth it. Our on-farm store provides us with the opportunity to connect with our customers and I love to answer their questions on modern-day farming practices. We truly love what we do and we couldn’t do it without the support of our community. Thank you to everyone who has taken the initiative to know their community farmers and support them.

Often, summer crops are featured as local and consumers are left wondering where to find local for the remainder of the year.

Remember, local food is always in season and readily accessible.

Local food extends beyond seasonal fruits and vegetables. It also includes a diverse range of commodities from the dairy in your fridge to the meat on your barbeque. Ontario meat, eggs, grains and dairy are in season throughout the year. Agri-food workers also go to great lengths to

process frozen vegetables, jams, pickles and other high-quality products so that we can enjoy local all year round. Local food can be found in nearly every aisle of the grocery store 24-7.

Celebrate Local Food Week by utilizing OFA’s Always in Season toolkit, resources and ideas to highlight the agri-food sector yearround. To commemorate Local Food Week, an “Always in Season” social media planning kit provides free, public images for download to share and acknowledge the agriculture, food and beverage sector across the province. These visuals can also be shared throughout the year to show yearround support for locally grown products. Sourcing, preparing and plating local food is the perfect family affair that teaches youth valuable food literacy skills for life.

Welcome every member of the family into the kitchen to prepare delicious recipes with local food sourced from the farmers’ market, grocery store or farm gate.

The OFA’s Six by Sixteen campaign aims to engage young people in preparing healthy, local food meals, and is full of resources including virtual tutorials hosted by certified chefs, recipes and fun activities for youth.

Celebrate Ontario agriculture

throughout the year by consciously choosing to source and purchase local food products. Ontario’s farmers grow and produce over 200 commodities that feed our province, our country and the world. Purchasing local supports your neighbourhood farmers, processors, and small businesses while supporting the local economy and contributing to community economic recovery.

The OFA encourages everyone to take advantage of all the local food products available throughout this growing season at grocery stores, farmers’ markets or farm gate stands. Let’s all celebrate this wonderful week and enjoy the best Ontario has to offer by filling your plates and cups with locally grown, produced and raised foods.

Top quality stocker heifers 400 to 499 lbs. sold $202.75 to $236; 500 599 lbs., $195 to $232; 600 - 699 lbs., $205.75 to $222.50; 700 - 799 lbs., $191 to $212.50; 800 - 899 lbs., $181.50 to $196.50; 900 lbs. and over, $179 to $195.

Troy Robinson of Gowanstown, consigned 41 head. Eight charolais heifers averaged 742 lbs. and sold for an average price of $212.50.

Amos Martin of Douglas, consigned 20 head. Five charolais heifers averaged 926 lbs. and sold for an average price of $195.

Flynn Farms of Clinton, consigned 288 head. Thirteen red steers averaged 857 lbs. and sold for an average price of $228.

Adam Doerkson of Mildmay, consigned 10 head. Six black steers averaged 843 lbs. and sold for an average price of $224.

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PAGE 24. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

Classified Advertisements – RATES – 20 words or less only $7.00 + HST. Additional words 20¢ each + HST.

DEADLINE 2 p.m. Tuesday Phone 519-523-4792 e-mail: info@northhuron.on.ca

Articles for sale GERBERS FIREWOOD SERVING you for over 10 years. Your number one source of quality slabwood and bodywood. Delivery available. No Sunday calls. 519-656-2057, 519441-2085.

01-50p -------------------------------------------REPRINTS OF PHOTOS taken by Citizen photographers are available to purchase. All are in colour. 4x6 – $5.00, 5x7 – $6.00, 8x10 – $10.00. Phone to order 519523-4792 or 519-887-9114. tfn -------------------------------------------THE CITIZEN IS AVAILABLE TO purchase at these locations – Auburn Co-op, Auburn Esso, Belgrave Variety, Blyth Variety, Blyth Food Market, Blyth Ultramar, Brussels Foodland, Brussels Variety, Clinton Convenience, Clinton Foodland, Dean’s Valu-Mart in Wingham, Wingham Mini Mart, Seaforth Foodland, GT Mini Mart in Seaforth, Fincher’s in Goderich, Goderich Victoria St. Shell and The Citizen Blyth.

Card of thanks BLYTH ANNUAL USED BOOK SALE. Many thanks to all who helped make the Blyth Repository of History Book Sale a success, whether by donating books, buying books or by giving their time.

Special thanks to Jennifer and Chris of Pick a Posie for sharing their property with us! It all helps to preserve the legacy of the Vodden collection.

23-1p -------------------------------------------MACGREGOR. We would like to thank our family, friends and neighbours for all their well wishes, gifts and donations to our chosen charities on the celebration of our 50th Anniversary. It always warms our hearts at the kindness we receive from everyone. A special thanks to Kate and Jason and Liz and Bryan for all the extra work done for us. It was a wonderful day for all who came by. Thank you also to the Londesboro UCW for the great luncheon and supper. It was very tasty. We had flowers from the Secret Garden, a cake from Wilhelmina Bakery and lovely linen from NJS Design. Everything came together so beautifully. – Don and Kittie.

23-1 -------------------------------------------STADELMANN. We wish to thank our friends, neighbours and family members for joining us for our 50th wedding anniversary. Thanks to everyone for the many gifts, cards, best wishes and for sharing in the meal and open house with us. We especially want to thank our children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren for attending. Special thanks to Rhonda Ryan for organizing the decorating and Sharon Bromley and team for afternoon goodies and the delicious meal for dinner. – John and Sheron Stadelmann.

23-1p

Coming events Help wanted Help wanted In memoriam A COME-AND-GO “GIFT CARD” community shower for Tiffany Deitner from 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22 at St. Ambrose Catholic Church, Brussels. Everyone welcome.

23-2p -------------------------------------------JUNE’S TAKE-OUT LUNCH – Lasagna and Dessert, Tuesday, June 14, 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., Trinity Anglican Church, Blyth. $12 per person. Ordering Deadline: Monday, June 13. For ordering/pick-up time: call 519-523-9396 or email: mcgregor@ezlink.ca 23-1 -------------------------------------------FAMOUS FISH FRY AT THE Wingham Columbus Centre on Friday, June 17, noon to 7 p.m. Fresh battered or grilled white fish or chicken fingers. Eat in, $18 or take out, $17. On Saturday, June 18 – Diamonds and Rhinestones, a tribute to Neil Diamond and Dolly Parton – this would make a great Father’s Day gift! There is a roast beef meal before the show and a live band accompanying the performers.

Tickets are $50 pp. Call 519-3571270 to order for either of these events.

22-2 --------------------------------------------

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY Public Works Administrative Assistant Visit the Township of Huron-Kinloss website to view these employment opportunities. https://www.huronkinloss.com/en/townhall/careers.aspx

Citizen-To-Citizen “SWAP SHOP” ad “One person’s junk is another’s treasure”

DOHERTY. In loving memory of my daughter Gwen (Bernard) Doherty, who passed away June 10, 2019.

The world changes from year to year...

Our lives from day to day, But the love and memory of you, Shall never pass away.

– Mom, Mary Ann, Dianne, Cindy and families.

23-1

Reward REWARD OFFERED: $2,000 FOR information or the return of a 333 Massey Harris tractor, stolen from 83408 London Road. Phone: 519523-9586.

23-2p

Services EXPERIENCED GARDENER TO clean, edge and care for flowers beds. Call Nancy for more information 519-440-9439. 22-2p

Let us help you turn that junk into $$

Celebrate Father’s Day at the barn With the IRISH COWBOYS June 19, 2022 Tickets $45 6-12 yrs old $30 5 and under FREE 3 pm Music 5 pm Dinner with 2 meats, all the fixings and dessert Brussels Four Winds Barn 60 Orchard Lane Call 519-998-3014 to reserve your tickets Everyone Welcome!

Help wanted McCall Livestock has a

full-time office administration position available at their beef facility outside of Brussels Duties include: cattle purchasing and invoicing, AP & AR. Please email résumé to franmccall3@gmail.com or drop into the office at 85345 Brussels Line or call 519-887-9571

• Free ad up to 25 words, person to person only (no businesses), items valued at $1,000 or less. Price must be included in your ad.Your ad will run three times unless it sells faster!

• The Citizen reserves the right to limit the number of items or ads per person.

huroncitizen.ca

Call 519-523-4792 or email: info@northhuron.on.ca FOR SALE - one fold-up bicycle for boat or camper, $65; two deck chairs, like new, $15 each or 2 for $25. Phone 519-527-0734. 23-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - belt and disc sander 4"x36" belt sander, 6" disc sander, mounted on a portable table, 1/2 H.P., $75. Call after 6 p.m., 519523-4485.

23-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - girls’ rocking chair, like new, $15; table with two chairs, round with drop sides, like new, $75; two-wheel Razor scooter, new condition, $50; hutch with casters, two shelves, $90; three-drawer antique dresser with mirror, excellent condition, $90.

Call anytime 226-234-0699. 23-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - one Christmas tree, 7', excellent condition, $25; men’s hat collection, all new hats, approx.

75, $20. Wingham, 519-357-7240 or 519-357-3608.

23-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - men’s golf clubs, Nike irons, VRS covert in excellent condition, asking $350. 519-3573008.

22-3 ------------------------------------------

FOR SALE - lawn mower 132cc 20" cut, like new, works fine, $150 or best offer; one-ton set chain falls, brand new, never used, $150 or best offer; wall-mounted hose reel for air, brand new, $150 or best offer. 519-482-9645.

22-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - Elvis Presley china travel mug and Elvis’ –The Holiday Collection (3 cds) in tin container, $20; 2022 Team Canada Official Pin Collection (Journey to Gold), pins still in sealed sleeves, with album, $15. 519-528-2284.

22-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - child’s red tricycle, $30; child’s electric car (for up to 3 year old), $30 – or buy both for $50; folding room divider (holds pictures), $50. Call or text 519441-0484.

22-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - four-drawer filing cabinet, brown, 18"x28"x51", $40; 2 cast iron 25 lbs. weights, $25.

519-887-6571.

22-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - 12V portable winch, never used, $50; homemade utility trailer, 4'x8' box, needs some repair, free. 519-887-9270. 22-3 ------------------------------------------

It’s Yard Sale Season!

Advertise your sale in the classified section of

The Citizen 519-523-4792

All word ads in The Citizen classifieds are put on our webpage at www.huroncitizen.ca

THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 25.

Local students attend massed band in Exeter

All together now Bands from Central Huron Secondary School, St. Marys District Collegiate and Vocational Institute and South Huron District High School recently participated in a massed band event at the latter school. Above, South Huron Vice-Principal Rich Sumstad leads the band. (Denny Scott photo)

On May 27, bands from Central Huron Secondary School (CHSS), South Huron District High School (SHDHS), and St. Marys District Collegiate and Vocational Institute (DCVI) participated in a massed band hosted at SHDHS. “It has been a long time since our schools have been able to band together” says Aaron Neeb, music teacher at CHSS. “It is happy to once again see and hear students playing and collaborating together, in-person.”

The 50 student massed band had the opportunity to play newer and difficult music with clinician Richard Sumstad, Vice-Principal of South Huron and former music teacher at St Marys DCVI. Richard led the students through refining pieces “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Crazy Train”, and “Northern Lights” over the four-hour period at South Huron. At the end of the four-hour period, the students recorded their final products with Exeter audio-engineer Joe Pavkeje.

“Massed band was an experience

that we haven’t been able to have in high school for almost two years.” says grade 11 student Savannah Rutledge of CHSS. “Seeing so many people playing together and enjoying music was awesome. I missed the sense of community; COVID-19 halted our bands and made it difficult to create something together.”

The recordings will be available on YouTube and will be shared through social media by schools by June 10. Organizers are hoping to continue the tradition of massed bands into the future.

“Kudos to music educators Denise Haines and Aaron Neeb for organizing this event and having their young musicians so well rehearsed”, says clinician Rich Sumstad, Vice Principal of SHDHS “It was an absolute pleasure getting to work with these dedicated young musicians. They were well prepared and enthusiastic to participate in the multi-school event that does indeed show that music education is alive and well in Huron and Perth Counties.”

MacGregors mark 50 years with locally-sourced party

Max Lucado, who writes wonderful children’s books, offers this thought: “God will do the right thing at the right time. And what a difference that makes! Since you know that His provision is time, you can enjoy the present.”

As of June 4, Pianovations is operating fully again from its original location on Main Street in the village. A smaller location than the building in Blyth but a nice reason for folks to visit Londesborough.

Over the summer, try to find a chance to drop by and visit with Murray Govier. He would enjoy a chat and it would boost his morale.

The Londesborough Community Hall was a busy spot on May 28 as folks dropped by to help Don and Kittie MacGregor celebrate 50 years together. The afternoon was full of socializing and well wishes.

This was followed by a family meal. Food was catered by the women of Londesborough United Church.

The event was also Don and Kittie’s way of supporting Huron County. The delicious-looking cake was the creation of Wilhelmina Bakery of the Londesborough area.

The flowers around the room were supplied by Bronwen’s Secret Garden also of the Londesborough area. Monies gifted that afternoon were donated to the Lions Foundation of Canada and the Huron County Food Bank.

Daughters Kate (Jason) of Hillsburg and Liz (Bryan) of Kanata greeted well wishers that included six of eight members of the wedding party from 50 years ago, Kittie’s two aunts, Don’s four siblings and various other relatives from around the province. The couple express their appreciation to everyone who made their day special.

Licensed Lay Worship Leader Sue Barnett was in the pulpit at

Londesborough United Church on Sunday, June 5, Pentecost Sunday in the Christian faith. Pentecost, also referred to as the birthday of the Christian church, is celebrated on the 50th day after Easter. The events of Pentecost are found in Acts 2:1-21. Sue also chose Psalm 104 and John 14: 8-17, 25-27 as scripture passages that morning.

The children in the short video that Mrs. Barnett showed, talked of the wind, fire and languages that happened in the upper room so we can all have the Holy Spirit.

I want to step outside the boundary of the village of Londesborough to comment on events in Blyth last weekend. As newcomers to this village we are discovering new happenings.

On Saturday afternoon/early evening we dropped over to the Lions Park for their annual steak barbecue. It was a delicious and generous meal that we will be lining up for again next year for sure. We opted to get take-out,

which was an option, but many folk, glad to be away from COVID19 restrictions, had their meal at the park’s picnic tables.

The Blyth Repository of History held a giant used book sale for three days on the weekend. Some book donations had been stored since before and during the pandemic so the books numbered in the thousands, I am sure. Books to suit everyone’s reading preferences.

And the rain held off until the last of the leftover ones had been boxed.

The sale proved to be a great place to meet friends and catch up since the lockdown.

However, no matter how many people shop at such a sale, there are always many good books left at the end. If you missed the sale and/or are looking for a new read or two, I will be putting some boxes of books out on our driveway in the dry days ahead for anyone to have – all free.

Just a few personal thoughts regarding the provincial election. I was appalled to learn only 43 per

cent of eligible voters made their way to the polls. But kudos to the electors of Huron-Bruce who again surpassed that provincial average at 54 per cent casting a ballot.

Pundits feel that people are weary after years of COVID-19 and its restrictions and were apathetic toward the election and the idea of more possible change and turned off by very negative campaigning.

The political parties in Ontario are now in a state of flux and confusion with the resignation of Liberal Steven Del Duca and NDP Andrea Horwath from their respective parties. I marvelled at and was impressed throughout the campaign by the energy and vitality Andrea Horwath exhibited. But after running in four campaigns I am sure she is exhausted along with a case of COVID-19 midcampaign.

I am not thrilled about the millions of tax dollars Ford plans to spend on Highway 413. Is that a fair share of monies for rural voters who may never travel it? Perhaps er’s Fath ay D

Deadline June 10

we can demonstrate, yet again, for our hospitals, long-term care facilities and schools.

PLATINUM JUBILEE TEA Several centuries ago, in quite Continued on page 26

NEWS FROM LONDESBORO

WHO’S LOOKING AT YOU?

th Bly ival t Fes

Deadline June 10

Put your business in front of the RIGHT eyes!

The Citizen has special interest issues coming up.

Tea, crumpets and tunes Harpist Elise Puska provided music during a special event focused on Queen Elizabeth II at the Clinton United Church. The United Church Women group for the church hosted the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Tea on June 2. (Denny Scott photo)

de 8 Gra uation d a r G

Deadline June 24

Call or email our marketing specialists today!

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PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

McGavins mark milestone birthdays, anniversaries PEOPLE AROUND WALTON

By Jo-Ann McDonald Call 887-6570

The corn is in. The soybeans are in. The white beans are in. Now the spraying has to be done. Spray the wheat with fungicide to stop fusarium. The sprayer seems to go to the field regularly to spray mostly weeds. Hay is being cut and baled. The pleasure in all of this is when you gaze across the fields and see the miracle of growth and the beauty of the fields turning a hue of green, they are so much prettier than the colour of brown.

Congratulations to Neil and Marie McGavin. They have celebrated Marie’s 80th birthday, Neil’s 85th birthday and their 60th wedding anniversary in the past seven weeks. Lots to celebrate for this wonderful couple.

We have often spoken of how things seem to be coincidence or maybe fate. My cousin called me from Stratford last week and we were talking about family and other things. She was telling me about their church needing to do some fundraising for a new roof. A woman that belongs to their church suggested a fish fry after reading about our Legion doing fish frys and said she read it in my articles in The Citizen. Her name is Carol Irwin, a former owner of the Blyth Inn now living in Stratford. Of course, when she said my name to call, my cousin spoke right up to say I know her, she’s my cousin from Walton! I will call her. A small world I say.

Carol told Susan she can’t wait to get The Citizen and read about the happenings in the Blyth area and to read my column. Thanks Carol.

They called the Branch and a fish fry has already been booked for their church. A small world becomes bigger because of our great paper, The Citizen!

Congratulations to Mary Bradshaw, a former Brussels-ite many of you remember. She has

become a great-grandmother and is thrilled. Her oldest grandson Jamie and his partner Brittney have welcomed a beautiful baby boy to their lives. Ace Levi Sutton Miners will be loved by one and all, especially great-grandma Mary and grandma Tracey.

Congratulations to Charles and Shirley Shobbrook on celebrating their 62nd wedding anniversary on the weekend. We hope they had a wonderful time and saw family and friends.

An amazing gathering was attended by three local men. They also were the hosts of the event. It was the 65th anniversary of the graduation from the Ontario Agriculture College (1957A) from Guelph. The three amazing men were Neil McGavin, Bob Robinson and Don Dodds and they hosted the event in Stratford at the Arden Park Hotel on May 30,31 and June 1.

There were 18 graduates attending along with spouses. The first night was enjoyed by all in the hospitality room, catching up with their lives, their accomplishments and as Neil says, “how many pills they are taking”. The second day was a full

UCW hosts Queen’s Jubilee tea

Best dressed The Clinton United Church Women (UCW) group hosted a Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Tea last week. Elizabeth Thorpe-Hearn, right, provided history on the family and instructions for the fancy dress event.. (Denny Scott photo) Continued from page 25 another time of social mores and life, ladies in particular became peckish mid-afternoon. The late meal in homes of that era wasn’t served until evening, eightish or so, and a bite of some kind seemed in order. Thus came about “afternoon tea”. The English, in particular, were/are proponents of afternoon tea and some form of small foods.

I recall when growing up that churches and other organizations held “teas” as a way to raise funds and promote fellowship and conversation. Ladies of the town were great attendees at these events. Much decorating and attention to detail was important.

It was an occasion for dressing up.

June 2 was the Platinum Jubilee of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The United Church Women of Clinton United Church felt it proper to invite folk of the area to tea in celebration of those 70 years. They are to be commended for having great insight and presenting a fine afternoon. No detail of serving afternoon tea was missed.

The church hall was full of tables of appropriately attired persons.

Hats, fancy dresses, pearls, purses and even gloves abounded. Now, teas are normally ladies events, but even in yesteryear men did sometimes be present and this tea was no exception as two men braved the room in tails and top hats – a colourful display of finery.

UCW President Elizabeth Thorpe-Hearn was emcee for the afternoon and she did a spectacular job of giving history lessons about teas in general, the menu, different varieties of teas, etc. Elizabeth presented a slide show of the Queen’s 70-year history on the throne of the Commonwealth. Each of the 20 tables bore the name of a royal and throughout the slide show those royals were explained as well.

Harpist Elise Puska, a St. Anne’s Secondary School student, offered quiet background music. Rachel Hearn sang a very appropriate and lovely “White Cliffs of Dover” accompanied by Louise Dockstader who also offered a lively piano solo.

It proved to be an informative, fun afternoon of fellowship and

tasty treats – a memorable afternoon in honour of Her Majesty.

day with a boat cruise on the Avon River, a tour of the museum in Stratford and then enjoying the annual banquet and meeting. A new area and new hosts were chosen for the next reunion in two years. The alumni graduates attended from all across Ontario including some from as far away as Brockville.

An amazing gathering for so many when you compute the average age of those attending was 85. Obviously many good and lasting friendships were made at this school. Congratulations Neil, Don and Bob! The fastball season is underway and the Walton Brewers played their first game and captured a win over the Monkton team last week.

The Walton Ball park schedule starts this week for games with the Brewers and a slo-pitch tournament on the weekend. The ladies slopitch will start next week at home.

I had a chat with Sheila Prescott this week on the phone. Sheila likes to have Catch the Ace tickets and to hear about the news in Brussels.

She reports she likes her place, but there are always good and bad things to get used to. She misses all her friends in Brussels but likes being close to her sons. She is always a pleasure to chat with and she says “hello” to all!

Congratulations to Abby and Jeff Gordon on the arrival of a bouncing baby boy to their family. Bo McGavin Gordon arrived last weekend. He is the second grandchild for Brian and Shelley

NEWS FROM WALTON McGavin, having a granddaughter, Paisley (Brandon’s), and now grandson Bo. Congratulations to all! Neil and Marie are delighted to be great-grandparents for the third time in three months. Wow! Celebrating birthdays this past week were Scott Dalton, Jillian Houston Csöff, Amanda McClure, Sarah Tipple, Jacob McGavin, Sharon Stephenson, Kennedy Strong, MacKenzie Strong, Ashley Williamson, Bonnie Glanville, Chris Humphries, Rob McClure, Trisha McClure, Rick McInroy, Roger Humphries, Shawna McCall O’Neill and Sandra Lewington.

Happy birthday to all.

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 27.

Wilbee to be guest speaker at church on June 12 PEOPLE AROUND BELGRAVE

By Linda Campbell Call 357-2188

The guest speaker at Knox United Church on Sunday, June 5 was Rev. Bill McAuslan (retired United Church minister). After the congregation was welcomed, Lila Procter asked if there were any celebrations. Paul and Dorothy McLaren celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary on Sunday, June 5 and George Procter celebrated his birthday on June 3.

Best wishes to each of them.

The choir sang, “I was There” accompanied by Paul McLaren at the piano.

Lila Procter introduced each of the children to be baptized.

Madison and Evelyn Davenport poured the water into the font. After the baptism, each of the children were given a candle to be lit at special times of the year to

Clinton’s Next Top Toddler As part of the annual Clinton Spring Fair over the weekend, the baby show was held at the Central Huron Community Complex. (John Stephenson photo)

remember his or her baptism.

Welcomed into the church family by the sacrament of baptism were: George Jonathan McLean, son of Brock McLean and Ashley Higgins; Oliver Daniel Cottrill, son of Shawn and Katherine Cottrill; Robert George Black, son of Brent and Victoria Black; Rebecca Eileen Black, daughter of Brent and Victoria Black. They were also given a certificate of baptism.

Pentecost Communion was administered.

Paul McLaren entertained with prelude music at the piano and Mackenzie Wightman accompanied all the hymns at the piano, along with Lila Procter with her guitar.

Gloria Wilbee is the guest speaker on Sunday, June 12. Everyone is welcome.

Vicky and Brent Black, along with big sister Rachel, hosted a small family gathering at their home following the baptism of Rebecca and Robert.

Oliver Daniel, son of Shawn and Katie Cottrill was baptized at Knox United Church in Belgrave on Sunday, June 5. Many members including grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends were in attendance. Everyone was invited back to Shawn and Katie’s home for lunch and an afternoon of socializing.

The Wingham Golf and Curling Club held a member appreciation tournament on Saturday, June 4.

There were 60 golfers who enjoyed

a breakfast at 8 a.m. and hit the tees for a round of golf at 9 a.m. followed by lunch. Another group of 60 had lunch at noon and then played a round of golf at 1 p.m. followed by dinner. All reports are that everyone had a great day, the weather co-operated and everyone enjoyed their meals.

NEWS FROM BELGRAVE Share photos with The Citizen. Email reporter@northhuron.on.ca

Wingham Memorials Distinctive memorials of lasting satisfaction produced by us to your specifications.

Obituaries

HEBO SIERTSEMA It is with deep sadness that we notify friends and family of the passing of Mr. Hebo Siertsema.

Hebo had a full and happy life with his loving soulmate and wife Marg (2020) of 60 years. He was the loving father of Jean (Bill) Bennett, Alan (Dasha) Siertsema, Ken (Dianne) Siertsema, and Bruce (Cindy) Siertsema.

He was the doting grandfather of Blair (Rachel) Bennett, Dominik, Christopher, Alex, Nicholas, Josh, Lilly, Jessica Nethery, Kasey, Amber, Nicole and Tyler and the great-grandpa of Penny and Evie.

He will be missed by many nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws, neighbours and friends.

Hebo has always been an invested dairy farmer, from being on the board at Gay Lea to trucking dairy products and helping with 4H to owning his own dairy farm for 60 years. He was always willing to help out any club in the community, especially if his kids were involved.

He loved to visit his family and celebrate milestones but not until all the chores had been done.

He played broomball with the 3rd Line and loved to go snowmobiling with the Blyth Snow Travelers. He

loved to hunt with the gang and to share his knowledge of hunting. He had many hunting dogs and used to snowshoe into the bush just to get a good shot.

A man who contributed much to this world with his farming, his friendship, his neighbourly ways, Hebo had a love of a good conversation and an easy smile.

A drive-by visitation took place on Saturday, June 4 in front of the Blyth Union Cemetery on Cemetery Road.

In lieu of flowers and as expressions of sympathy, donations to Melville Presbyterian Church or Wingham & District Hospital Foundation would be appreciated.

Cards of sympathy may be sent to Box 340, Brussels, N0G 1H0.

Condolences may be left at riversidefuneralhome.ca.

NESBITT MURRAY EDWARDS Nesbitt Murray Edwards passed away peacefully on Monday, May 30 at Seaforth Community Hospital. He was in his 90th year.

Murray was the loving partner of Beatrice Rehberg for 15 years, the father of Gord (Joan), Brenda (Brian) and Doug and the grandpa of eight and great-grandpa of 10.

Murray was predeceased by his parents Arthur and Marion (Sales), his wife Lorraine, his sisters Bernie and Florence and his brother Don and daughter-in-law Jennifer.

Murray loved to farm. He started right out of high school and didn’t retire until he was 85. He loved to build things and was quite the handyman for his neighbours, even building five of his own houses.

At Murray’s request, cremation has taken place. A celebration of his life will take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers and as expressions of sympathy, donations to the London Regional Cancer Program at London Health Sciences Centre would be appreciated.

Condolences may be left at riversidefuneralhome.ca.

NICOLAAS VAN DEN ASSEM February 25, 1938 - April 17, 2022 Nicolaas Van Den Assem, beloved husband of Nancy Van Den Assem of Calgary, Alberta, passed away on Sunday, April 17, 2022. He was 84.

Nick was born in Netherlands on Feb. 25, 1938. He was the sixth of eight children.

His family immigrated to Ontario in 1952 and he graduated from Queen’s University in 1960 with a BSC in

Mechanical Engineering, and from the University of Western Ontario in 1965 with an MBA. It was at Western that he met his wife, Nancy.

Nick was a chairman of the society of Automotive Engineers, a member of the society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers, he was also a member of APEGA. Nick was a car enthusiast and enjoyed curling, playing Jeopardy, reading and hiking.

Besides his loving wife of 55 years, Nick is survived by his daughter Susan, son David (Tracey); and his sisters, Margaret (Henry) and Ann (Piet), as well as his brother Ben (Catherine).

He was predeceased by his parents, Johannes and Margareta; sisters, Corrie (Alvin) and Tine (Henk); brothers, Tony (Lee) and John (Joan).

A celebration of Nick’s life will be held at a later date. Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared and viewed at McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes website at mhfh.com.

In living memory of Nicolaas Van Den Assem, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area.

Owned and operated by Mac and Donna Anderson Assisted by Mandy

519-357-1910 E-mail: andgranite@bellnet.ca After hours appointments available 89 North Street W., Wingham www.winghammemorials.com

STRATFORD MEMORIALS Creating Memories in Stone for Over 95 years

Call or email to make an appointment.

Masks are preferred for meetings.

519-524-8457 email: mfalconer@stratfordmemorials.com

Goderich/Clinton Michael Falconer Memorial Counsellor www.stratfordmemorials.com

Remembering your loved one Honour your loved one by placing their obituary in

The Citizen.

This is a free service provided by The Citizen. We encourage you to share the story of your loved one in a special remembrance of their life.

Cards of thanks can be placed in our classified section, starting at just $7.00.

PAGE 28. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

Flag offends Palmer, Kikkert

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Out! No wait! Safe!

One council member and one concerned citizen spoke critically about the Pride flag installed at North Huron Township’s town hall in Wingham council’s Monday night meeting.

In a letter to council, Wingham’s Jake Kikkert said the flag’s presence went against the Charter of Rights, though he didn’t elaborate how. He then said that the “culture” being presented shouldn't dictate truth over God’s word. He said the flag goes against the word of God and the Bible before asking council to take down the flag and put the municipal flag up. Finally, Kikkert said that, by agreeing to fly the flag, which was requested by an inclusivity-focused group from F.E. Madill Secondary School, council was “showing favouritism”.

Councillor Chris Palmer commended Kikkert on being brave enough to come forward and share his Christian point of view, then saying he agreed with Kikkert.

He went on to say the municipal flag being taken down was “a slap in the face” and said if the Pride

flag had to go up, it should have been flown under the municipal flag.

Palmer then targeted Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH), which had written to council requesting it fly a Pride flag.

“To show your support for the LGBTQ2S+ community and show that our communities are safe for everyone - regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity - we ask that you recognize June as Pride Month and raise a Pride flag in your community beginning on June 1,” HPPH Public Health Manager Janet Jackson wrote.

Palmer said that HPPH had no right to be entering into what he viewed as politics, saying they shouldn’t “deal with the Pride business”.

He then said anyone who feels that the Pride flag helps with mental health “has issues.”

Deputy-Reeve Trevor Seip said that council couldn’t win with this issue, explaining that, when council declined to fly the flag in previous years, it resulted in criticism as well.

Despite that, he felt that council needed to show the municipality

Cost-savings make renovation possible Morris and Grey Community Centre renovation sub-committee.

There was little discussion before council approved the amended proposal.

Councillor Ray Chartrand asked about Morris-Turnberry Council’s approval and McRoberts told council that the partner municipalities’ portions of the project cost would not change as a result of the amended tender.

Instead, he said, the overage would be absorbed by the fundraising committee’s efforts.

Several councillors asked about the fundraising committee’s donations versus pledges, asking how confident McRoberts was that pledges would come through during the prescribed period. He said he could never be entirely sure, but that he was quite confident that anyone who had pledged to the project would make good on their commitment.

Councillor Joe Steffler said council needed to move on the project now. Four years ago, he said, the municipality could have built a new community centre for half the cost, so council needed to move now.

Councillors also asked about money that had been put away specifically for the centre when the former Brussels Public School was sold. McRoberts said he didn’t know for sure if there was money there for the project, but he would investigate and report back to council.

Council carried the motion, accepting the amended tender of Elgin Contracting and Restoration Limited in the amount of $7,263,000 plus HST for the renovation and expansion of the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre.

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As part of Brussels Ball Day, the Brussels Tigers put on an impressive show of athleticism, downing the Sebringville Sting 7-0 in five engines. On top of the impressive score, Tigers’ pitcher Ty Sebastian managed a no-hitter, a true rarity in the sport. (John Stephenson photo)

Continued from page 1 provided that the fundraising committee can achieve a final goal of $1.9 million.

The cost-saving measures and changes, as laid out by McRoberts in his report, are: • No masonry price received at time of tender; pricing has now been received.

• Allow use of existing natural gas for temporary heating.

• Delete cost of bonding (should have been omitted based on specification, but bonds were provided and cost was carried in original bid price).

• Delete builders’ risk insurance (not called for in specifications, but carried in bid).

• Hydroseed in lieu of sod.

• Change to asphalt patching in lieu of full replacement.

• Delete ceramic tile and add concrete polishing.

• Delete foundation waterproofing (not required or necessary).

• Reduce sloped insulation.

• GAF TPO mechanicallyfastened roof in lieu of PVC membrane.

• Change design from ordinary hazard to light hazard (ordinary hazard is more typical of industrial or agricultural facilities).

• Change rink piping from galvanized to black.

• Remove wet system for new addition, only provide valve room work, fire department connection, dry valve, air compressor and dry system for the existing rink and bleacher area only.

• Change millwork contractor.

McRoberts told council that all of the listed items had been reviewed and considered by staff and the project’s architect, engineering consultants, and the Brussels,

was inclusive and that the municipal flag was for “branding” and “marketing” and he felt there was no disrespect in lowering it.

Finally, Seip said his oath of office says he is supposed to work in the best interest of North Huron as a whole and that’s what led to him voting to put the Pride flag up.

Reeve Bernie Bailey said he felt the decision is the right one as well before thanking everyone for practising democracy in the discussion and reminding council that town hall is not a church and that council’s oath is to represent all North Huron residents.

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 29.

From the Minister’s Study

Pentecost the perfect time to reflect on Holy Spirit

By Rev. Charmila Ireland Melville Presbyterian Church, Brussels A few years ago I took part in a “fun” event in Listowel: the Character Run. My mother and I signed up for the five-kilometre run in advance and trained leading up to it, but my husband didn’t. He was going to come over with us anyway and cheer us on. I happened to mention to him that there was race day sign-up there – meaning he could run if he wanted to. He decided, ya, why not? And, being the overachiever and fitness buff that he is – he signed up for the 10kilometre run with virtually no training at all!

I figured he would rock it – and he did. (I’m only a little bit jealous!) But by the end of it, his hip, foot and knee hurt. And, somehow, while running, he managed to hurt his shoulder.

I have this love/hate relationship with running that has definitely turned more towards love as the years go by and I keep at it. But when I started, it was a huge challenge just to force myself to put on running shoes and get out the door, so I signed up for the “Motivational Quote of the Day” from Runner’s World magazine.

Just before I started to write this sermon for Pentecost, I checked my e-mail and, like every day, the motivational quote was in my inbox. Tim Noakes, who has run more than 70 marathons and ultramarathons (yes, people are silly enough to run farther than 26.2 miles), said, “Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic.”

In my experience, this is quite true. Most of Nick’s body said there was no justifiable reason to continue, but his spirit stuck it out anyways. I think that sometimes faith is like the ultimate ultramarathon, and sometimes you need to ignore everything else and call on the Holy Spirit.

I think that the Holy Spirit is the most overlooked and least understood part of the Trinity.

Fortunately, this past Sunday was Pentecost, a great chance to take a closer look at the Spirit.

Pentecost was originally only a Jewish feast day, and it is still celebrated by Jewish peoples, but it is called Shavuot. What we’re celebrating is a different thing that originally happened at the feast. As we read about in Acts 2, Pentecost

was the moment when the Holy Spirit very dramatically filled 120 of Jesus’ apostles, 10 days after His ascension. A rushing wind blew from heaven, filling the house.

Tongues of flame rested on each apostle, and they all began to speak so that everyone of every language could understand them. This amazed the multi-lingual Jewish crowd that was gathered there for their festival of Pentecost.

Some of them assumed that the disciples must have been drunk, because there will always be cynics and doubters and miracles aren’t the immediate assumption. But Peter stood up and gave the first sermon of the Christian Church. He spoke about a fulfillment of the prophet Joel’s words, saying, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”

Peter presents a vision for an inclusive, radical, Spirit-led church.

By the power of the Holy Spirit that

day, 3,000 people were added to the Christian Church, the body of Christ was formed, and the mission really took off. The new believers, those there from all over the known world for the festival, then left and returned to their homes, carrying the gospel with them.

Pentecost was both a culmination and a launch pad. It was the culmination of Jesus’ ministry on earth, fulfilling the promise he had made before he ascended that the Holy Spirit would come upon the disciples and they would be His witnesses to the ends of the earth.

Pentecost was also a launch pad.

The disciples’ waiting period was over, and they were now equipped to carry out the mission. They had the Holy Spirit, through which people believe, and they scattered around the globe, taking Christianity wherever they went. In the centuries since, the Holy Spirit has allowed Christianity to reach every corner of the globe, change lives and shape history. So, what exactly does the Holy Spirit do in us? What’s next isn’t an exhaustive list, but it gets us started.

Firstly, when we are weak, the

Sun. June 12, 10:30 a.m. - COMMUNION Pastor Ernest preaching on Luke 12:13-21, “What are You Counting On?”

Churches are now open for in-person worship.

Weekly service live-streamed at 10:30 a.m. on our facebook page or on youtube @St. Paul’s-Trinity Anglican Church Wingham.

Rev. JoAnn Todd, Rector 519-357-7781 email: revjoann@hurontel.on.ca The­Regional­Ministry­of­ Hope www.regionalministryofhope.com

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COME WORSHIP WITH US!

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Available later online “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Gal. 5:22-23) Contact Alex at minister.brusselsandblythuc@gmail.com Website: brusselsandblythuc.ca P.O. Box 359, Brussels ~ 519-887-6259

MELVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BRUSSELS

Come Worship With Us Sundays at 10:00 am All Are Welcome (Masks are optional) 250 Princess St., Brussels • 519­887­6388 • Pastor Ken Gazley

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BMG Community Centre (upstairs room) 800 Sports Drive, Brussels **Please note our new location** Childcare provided for children aged 0 to 4 during the sermon

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Join us for our 10:00 am and 7:30 pm services Services are live-streamed and can be found by searching “Blyth Christian Reformed Church”

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Holy Spirit to intercede for you, in accordance with God’s will. God knows our hearts, and the Holy Spirit is our friend. Trust her to express your needs when you can’t.

The Holy Spirit also teaches us.

In John 14, Jesus says, “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” When we study the Bible, some of the passages seem impossible to understand, but we can trust God to bring truth out of the words. Other passages seem so simple, but if we sit with them for a Continued on page 30

The Regional Ministry of Hope

All are welcome to join with us in joyful worship to the Lord!

Evangelical Missionary Church

Holy Spirit is strong. Romans 8 says, “The spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Have you ever been in such desperate pain that you couldn’t even find the words to pray? When we can’t find the words, when the pain is too great, the Holy Spirit is there with us making sure God knows. If you ever don’t know what to pray, just go to God and ask the

"When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground. May the glory of the LORD endure forever..."

(Psalm 104:30-31) Contact Alex at: minister.brusselsandblythuc@gmail.com

Facebook: Blyth and Brussels United Churches blythunited@tcc.on.ca ~ 519-523-4224

Brussels: St. Ambrose Saturday ~ 6:00 p.m.

17 Flora Street Wingham: Sacred Heart Sunday ~ 9:00 a.m.

220 Carling Terrace Listowel: St. Joseph’s Sunday ~ 11:00 a.m.

1025 Wallace Avenue N. Facebook: Search for St. Joseph/Sacred Heart/St. Ambrose Live Sunday Mass, Sundays at 10:00 a.m.

PAGE 30. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

A full life in God may run counter to modern wisdom Continued from page 29 while, another layer of meaning becomes clearer. If you trust in the Spirit and study and pray faithfully, God will teach you, guide you, and help you learn.

There is no greater knowledge than what we can learn from God. Sure, you can Google pretty much anything you could possibly think of, but I think we all know that there’s a difference between worldly knowledge and Godly knowledge. God does not want us to think the way that the world thinks. Profits first, people last.

Nothing more important than ourselves. Look out for number one. Anything goes. The Bible is full of countercultural wisdom, teaching us how to live a full life that is worth living, and offering us knowledge that can change your life.

1 Corinthians 2 says, “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom. However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.’ But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may

understand what God has freely given us.”

It is through the Holy Spirit that we believe at all. Through the Holy Spirit, we can learn what God wants us to do. If we pray, read the Bible, listen for the Holy Spirit and trust in God, we can learn some pretty amazing, life-changing things. But first, we have to trust the learning and knowledge offered by the Holy Spirit, instead of that offered by the world. Our faith has amazing resources for dealing with meaning, identity, freedom, contentment and dealing with suffering. There is so much to learn! Shout out to the Rev. Dr. Tim Keller’s series entitled “Questioning Christianity” that you can find on Spotify or at redeemer.com under the Questioning Christianity, 2020 Forums– I highly recommend it to everyone!

The Holy Spirit not only helps us in our weakness and teaches us, but she also convicts us of our sin. That doesn’t sound quite as nice, but it is equally important. Jesus said in John 16 that the Holy Spirit will “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” Sure, it’s not very nice to have someone or something convict us of doing wrong. But it is important. Consider, for example, if you were trying to learn how to fire a gun and your teacher only ever tells you how great you’re doing.

They don’t tell you when you’re doing something wrong, or dangerous. They just let you keep doing what you’re doing, never

correcting you. That’s a really good way to get hurt. Sometimes we need people to tell us when we’re doing something wrong or we’ll just keep making the same mistakes.

The Holy Spirit lets us know when we’re sinning. Have you ever been doing something sinful, and you get a feeling inside you that you just shouldn’t be doing it?

Listen to that feeling, because it could be the Spirit convicting you of that sin and encouraging you to make a better choice. As Paul said in his letter to the Galatians, “Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”

Basically, following the Holy Spirit will lead you away from sin.

But how do we become Spirit-led?

You need to want to hear the Spirit, be ready to obey God’s word, and have the sensitivity to discern between your feelings and her promptings. Is what you are about to do something God wants? Or is it something that you want? I find it difficult to know when I’m being led by the Spirit and when I’m just telling myself that I am. But one thing I know that helps: sincere and persistent prayer.

Let yourself be moved by the Spirit, because it will lead you to some really awesome places. Don’t be afraid of being convicted of your

sin. Correction is necessary to grow closer to God. And remember, the Holy Spirit is always with you, always trying to lead you there.

She’s your friend, so listen to her when you feel her.

This leads to the last facet of the Spirit that we’re going to talk about today. The Holy Spirit reveal’s Jesus’ purpose for us. This is part of being Spirit-led, and I think, one of the most exciting things that the Spirit does. Do you think that you have found your purpose in life?

Did or does your life feel fulfilled?

Meaningful? Do you feel like you’ve been called to something?

We all have a role in the church; something we were called to do, some way to be a part of the priesthood of all believers. Some people are called to ordained ministry, as I am. But that is only one small way that you can serve God. Others are called to work with children in Sunday school, to use their administrative skills, to spread the Gospel in their workplace, to sing in the choir.

Paul tells us that “there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all people. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” Retiree, working single mother, child, disabled, able-bodied, rich, and poor. We are all baptized by the same Spirit. God calls us all to use our gifts in His service. We are the

body of Christ and we stand together.

The Pentecost brought the Holy Spirit among us in a rush of wind and flame. She now resides in us quietly, giving us strength, gifts, and guidance. So listen to what you hear from that still small voice inside you, or maybe the rushing wind, and try your very best to venture where the Spirit is calling you to go. Perhaps none of us have ever spoken in tongues, or prophesied. You’ve never had a flame come rest on your head. But the Spirit is with us, even if it is in a less dramatic fashion. It is in you, with each of the fruits that you nourish.

Pentecost was not a conclusion. It was a beginning. Remember, sometimes it will seem that there is no justifiable reason to continue.

Your only recourse is to call on the spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic.

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022. PAGE 31.

Correspondence says resident claims were false

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township Council will be carrying

over a piece of correspondence from its June 7 meeting to its June 21 meeting regarding comments made about the proposed Little Lakes Gravel Pit.

During council’s May 17 meeting, the heavily-opposed proposed pit was the focus of a number of comments and some may have been made erroneously.

Melanie Horton from Esher Planning Inc. said one of the presenters spoke with the intent “to discredit the reputation and qualifications of the consultant” but had misidentified one of the consultants involved in the project.

The presenter had made comments based on a Google search, according to Horton, and cited a poor “rating” to one of the consultants.

“The presenter was referring to the firm Groundwater Environmental Services,” Horton wrote. “We want to be clear that this firm is not involved in the Lobo Sand and Gravel Little Lakes Pit application. The hydrogeology report for the pit proposal was authored by Groundwater Science Corp. based out of Waterloo. This is a highly respected firm of professional geoscientists with over 20 years experience in Ontario.”

Horton went on to write that it wasn’t clear whether or not the

presenter had intentionally provided false information during the public remarks, but the intent was clear.

“We would appreciate it if you could set the record straight for council regarding the false claims that were present at the meeting,” Horton wrote.

Councillor Jennifer Miltenburg said she didn’t know how to stop situations like this from happening again, but did want “some form” of the letter presented during council’s next meeting when the pit is discussed again.

Clerk Florence Witherspoon said the issue could be brought back to council’s June 21 meeting. While Miltenburg said it should be read during open forum, as that’s when the false claims were made, Chief Administrative Officer Mark Becker said it would suffice to have the letter in council’s package to reference if similar claims are brought up.

Two special occasions The White Carnation Banquet Hall near Holmesville marked two very special occasions late last month. The hall itself has been operating in its current capacity as a restaurant and banquet space for 50 years, while its most recent owners, Corinne Bos and Noriel Abejaron, marked five years of ownership. To mark the occasion, the couple planted a Golden Chain Tree, with gold marking the 50th anniversary and the strength of the chain marking the strength of the hall’s history. From left: Abejaron, Bos, Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn, Bill Strong on behalf of Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb and Bos’ parents, Tina and Marris Bos. (Denny Scott photo)

Trail agreement gives insurance

By Denny Scott The Citizen

North Huron Township Council has approved a memorandum of understanding with the Wingham Trail Committee, a committee of council, for insurance purposes.

“Through signing this, the volunteers of the Wingham Trail Committee are able to have insurance as long as they complete the health and safety training provided to all township employees and additional training through the township to make sure they’re not completing anything that isn’t in line with the [document],” Director of Public Works Jamie McCarthy explained during

council’s May 16 meeting.

Councillor Chris Palmer, however, felt that some of the wording was heavy-handed and the group needed to be given more freedom to operate.

McCarthy explained that there are legal reasons for the specific wording, which is more about protecting the group than North Huron. Since the group is working on municipally-owned property, the municipality needs to be kept informed regarding changes to the property in case there are any liability issues on the trail.

Palmer was unconvinced, saying that terms like “municipallyapproved maintenance” were difficult to comprehend, since not

all the work the group does is planned ahead of time.

“I understand these folks are walking the trails looking for things gone wrong or broken,” he said.

“They just want to be able to fix it.”

He said the group has the “knowhow” to address many of the issues on the spot, but the document doesn’t allow for that.

He referenced previous events in which municipal staff, to “the group’s horror”, pulled out shrubs that had been planted.

“I’d like to see them have more control over what’s going on, but [in concert] with staff,” he said.

Despite Palmer’s pleas, council didn’t make any changes to the document before passing it.

Big winner Loan Kang Yee of Seaforth won a Maxmillions prize worth $1 million in the Lotto Max lottery recently. Yee’s ticket was purchased at Mac’s Convenience Store on Victoria Street in Goderich. (Photo submitted)

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Happy 90th Birthday!

An amazing milestone birthday for Margaret (Maaike) Van Veen who was born 90 years ago on June 16th !

Summer reading lists Bibliophiles know that the annual Blyth Used Book Sale is the place to be every year to fill up on reading materials for the summer. This year’s sale, which was held at Pick-APosie as part of the Vintage in the Village Weekend, which saw the clothing business mark its grand reopening, benefitted the Blyth Repository of History. (Denny Scott photo)

We are truly blessed and grateful to celebrate your special day with you!

Lots of love, your husband Pete, your children and their spouses, all of your many grandchildren & great-grandchildren!

PAGE 32. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022.

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