COMMUNITY CALENDAR

THE WRITER’S VISION BOARD- Hosted by the County of Brant Library on Saturday, May 27th at 1:30 pm. Join us and explore the creative processes behind good storytelling (fiction and non-fiction), and create individual vision boards that will encourage, motivate, and energize you and your writing. Register for the workshop at or connect with staff at your local branch to sign up This is a free event.

CARA SMITH BAND PRESENTED BY THE BURFORD OPTIMIST CLUB- A night of country music and classic rock covers, with 100% of proceeds going to the new skatepark in Burford. Saturday, June 3 from 8 pm to 12 am at the Burford Community Centre Learn more and get your tickets online.

Vernon 905-536-2037 for more information.

PARIS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY JUNE MEETINGJune 7th at the Paris Fairgrounds at 7:30 pm. Our guest speaker is truly Anna Leggatt from York on June 7th(last minute switch happened in May), her topic is ‘Shade Gardens’. Anna writes for several magazines on topics which include her travels abroad, and subjects that reflect her vast interest and passion for gardening We welcome visitors. Come and join your local Garden Club!

See story in next week’s edition!

PARIS LIONS CLUB WALK FOR DOG GUIDES – Sunday, June 4th meeting at Lion’s Park Paris for registration at 1 pm Everyone welcome to participate. Check out the story in last week’s edition!

PARIS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY GARDEN TOURSaturday & Sunday, June 3 & 4th from 10 am - 4 pm in Paris Come and visit behind the gates of six beautiful Paris and area gardens Live Musician’s and Local Artist’s will be performing In the gardens Tickets $15.00 per person. Tickets may be purchased in advance at Sobey's Floral Department in Paris, Green Heron Books, Walter’s Greenhouse or at the Gardens on the day of the event. Please call Anne

ANNUAL BIKE RODEO –Hosted by the Paris Community Safety Group on Saturday June 10th, at the Syl App’s Community Centre, side parking lot from 10 am 12 pm. Free! Everyone ages 4-12 are welcome to attend. There is a chance to win a bicycle, courtesy of Robin McNaughton from the CoOperators

Paris Firefighters’ popular fish fry returns this year – with a smoke-filled twist!

By Casandra Turnbull

A popular Paris Firefighters Club fundraiser is returning for the first time since the pandemic – with a smoking twist! For the last 20 years, the club hosted a successful, and often sold out, fish fry to help raise money for a slew of community projects the group supports. Like many other events and fundraisers, Covid put the brakes on the fish fry, but it returns next month under a new persona: a smoked meat dinner, dance and fundraiser.

“The fish fry has been a fantastic tradition for many years and drew great crowds to support the Paris Firefighters Club’s fundraiser,” says Matt Amy, a member of the firefighters’ club and a member of the fundraising committee for the dinner. Anyone who attended one of the popular fish fry events will easily recall the delicious fish dinner served by long time caterers, Knechtels. Amy says they have since retired so the firefighters club is freshening up the dinner aspect of the fundraiser by offering a smoked meat dinner.

“The Crazy Canuck Smokers will be providing the food for the event this year and we’re really excited about it,” says Amy “They’ve won several awards from numerous Ribfest events and in 2020 opened the Crazy Canuck Smokehouse restaurant in Brantford. They’ll be bringing one of their smoker trailers to the venue early that morning to start the smoking process.”

Continued on page 6

In previous years, the annual dinner and dance fundraiser has raised thousands of dollars to help them support a variety of community projects such as the Lions Park baseball diamond renovations, the Brant Sports Complex dressing room sponsorships and the Paris dam lighting and walkway, to name a few. The club is also notorious for supporting community initiatives Earlier this year they hosted a community touch a truck event to raise money for a local restaurant owner battling cancer. They’re also famous for bringing Santa Claus to town on a fire truck and more recently responsible for taking over and successfully hosting the Paris Santa Claus parade in its new north-end parade route. If you’ve skated on an outdoor rink this past winter, thank a Paris Firefighter!

To help support the Fire & Smoke Dinner and Fundraiser, they group is asking for financial donations or donations of goods/products or gift certificates for the silent auction and door prizes. The funds raised from the donations always make their away back into the community.

Amy says the exact projects the group plans to support this year is under wraps at this time, but he did tease that “We are talking with some other local groups and are really excited about some projects that are on the horizon We hope to be able to make announcements soon.”

As the event draw near, the excitement is mounting. “We’re anticipating the fundraiser to be a great success, already having sold a large number of tickets to those waiting its return since the hiatus over the Covid years,” says Amy And it’s not just the community that’s excited. So are the local firefighters and their families. It takes over 40 members to organize and execute this exciting event, which wouldn’t be possible without everyone’s support, says Amy.

The Paris Firefighters Club Fire & Smoke Dinner and Fundraiser takes place on Saturday, June 3 They are accepting donations until May 31 and you can donate by reaching out to them by email: Breanna.meza@brant.ca or Michael.suki@gmail.com

Girl Guides of Paris savour sweet success!

Sparks, Embers, Girl Guides, Patherfinders and Rangers from all units joined together on May 17th to celebrate the Sweet Success of completing another full year guides. Some members were recognized in a bridging up ceremony, which officially welcomes them to a new unit in the fall. During evening, 5th Paris Embers guide, Rainspark (Genevieve on the left) was presented by Sunshine Owl (Sue on the right) with a special Bronze Award for her incredible efforts in her first year as a guide leader. Registration is now open for the 2023/2024 year.