This coming Friday, October 19th, the DRA euchre luncheon will be held at the church hall. Because of unavoidable delays with the new exterior stairs, access ramp and automatic doors, the Dunvegan Recreation Hall won’t be back on-line in time. So the gang at the Kenyon Presbyterian Church kindly offered use of their lovely facility. If you’ve never been there, just turn north at the Dunvegan crossroads on to County Road 30. The church hall’s address is 1630 County Rd. 30, which is the building on the north side of the old stone kirk. There’s plenty of parking across the road.
Regrettably, I won’t be able to attend this Friday. Which is a real shame, because it promises to be a very special day. Peggi Calder will stand in for me and help Linda Burgess serve our award-winning buffet luncheon. And mayor-elect Jamie MacDonald, a euchre shark in his own right, is slated to stop in… along with Jeff Manley, the councillor for Kenyon.
Admission is only $5 and includes trays of scrumptious sandwiches, pickles and beets and homemade sweets by Sandra Daigle. As an added bonus, a 50/50 draw is also part of the fun. The event starts at 12:00 noon and wraps up around 3:30 PM. All are welcome…. experienced players and novices alike.
Big rock candy mountain
As promised last week, I have nailed down where folks can drop off candy donations for the Dunvegan Recreation Association’s community Halloween party. Please leave your sweet offerings on Mona Andre’s porch in the appropriately labeled receptacle. Mona’s house is the blue one on the northeast corner of the Dunvegan crossroads. Our goal is a pile that’s visible on Goggle Earth.
Event organizers are also looking for a CD of “spooky Halloween museum.” I suspect this is a product of the autocorrect gremlin and what they mean is a CD of Halloween “music.” If you have one, please drop it off at Mona’s.
Spooky traffic jam
As Mark Twain reputedly quipped, “An expert is someone from out of town.” And I’m delighted to report that Dunvegan is now has its very own Halloween expert: Anne Forrester. Anne and her husband, Mike Bertrand are relatively recent additions to our community. They moved into the heritage brick farmhouse at the east end of Dunvegan Road last year and promptly got involved in the DRA.
Now don’t get me wrong. I think the decorations at past DRA Halloween parties have been pretty boss. For over thirty years, they’ve set a convincingly spooky tone for the evening’s festivities. Nevertheless, there’s always room for a fresh way of doing things. And one must not forget that Anne comes from Toronto.
“Toronto” in this context is code for Halloween on steroids. Certain neighbourhoods in the centre of the universe take the night of October 31stvery seriously. I suspect Anne and Mike lived in such a community. “Before we moved to Dunvegan,” Anne told me, “our house was one where folks would drive by just to take yearly pictures of their kids by our blow-up gate.”
Anne tells me she has been collecting Halloween paraphernalia for the last thirty years. “I’m thrilled to be able to put it to good use again to scare a whole new crop of people,” she beamed. I for one can hardly wait to see what she has up her sleeve. Perhaps we’ll have traffic jams outside our hall as tourists come from near and far to get scared out of their socks.
Movie night postponed
Renovation woes at the DRA hall have also had an impact on the “Saturday Night at the Movies” event slated for this coming weekend. So, instead of this coming Saturday, October’s movie offering will hit our silver screen on Friday, October 26th. Given the proximity to Halloween, Laurie Maus and Bob Garner have chosen to show the classic horror film: The Shining.
The movie stars Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a position as the off-season caretaker of the isolated hotel in the Colorado Rockies. Wintering over with Jack are his wife Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duvall) and young son Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd). Danny possesses “the shining”, psychic abilities that include him seeing the hotel’s horrific past. The hotel’s cook, Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers), shares this gift and is able to telepathically communicate with Danny. After a winter storm leaves the Torrances snowbound, Jack’s sanity deteriorates, placing his wife and son in danger. Bring a comfy cushion or chair and your favourite beverage. We will supply the popcorn and cookies. There is no formal admission fee, but donations are welcome.
Why is the DRA holding the movie event on Friday, October 26thinstead of Saturday, October 27th? Because they don’t want to conflict with the pre-Halloween event being held by the Glengarry Pioneer Museum…
Glengarry Paranormal
The event’s full title is: Glengarry Paranormal, Revealings and Revelations at the Museum. And — if you missed the first paranormal tour of the Glengarry Pioneer Museum this past Saturday — you have a second chance on October 27th. Here’s a quick peek at what happened.
After the museum grounds were cloaked in darkness, thirty adventuresome souls gathered to confront whatever spirits might inhabit this historic site. Jim Mullin reports that the crowd was divided into three groups who were then guided from building to building. There, paranormal enthusiasts from Bytown Paranormal talked about the equipment they use to detect otherworldly spirits and of their experiences in exploring the unknown. “The Star Inn was the focal point of the investigation,” Jim told me, “as this is the building where spirits have been sighted by numerous witnesses throughout the years.” However it was in the Trapper’s Cabin where a group led by Christina Quesnel was given a strong signal from the other side. It felt so real that Christina felt uncomfortable walking home alone.
I’ll save a detailed report of the paranormal investigation until after the second tour. But one very positive thing that came out of the event was that more than half of those in attendance were new to the museum, Several even came from Ottawa.
Tickets for this rain-or-shine event must be purchased in advance. The cost is $20 per person and they’re available to PayPal users though the museum’s website: GlengarryPioneerMuseum.ca. Or, if you’d prefer, call the museum at 613-527-5230.
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