Last Monday morning (the day I key this column), I was delighted to discover in my e-mail box an item marked “news”. It’s so rare that notices about past and future events come my way that I relish each one.
Monday’s e-mail bore glad tidings of the baptism of Spenser Wayne Barton, son of Brittany and Jeremy. The ceremony took place in the Kenyon Presbyterian Church on Sunday, March 15th with Rev. Julia Apps Douglas officiating. After the service, a luncheon was held at Brittany and Jeremy’s home for the many relatives and friends that attended the event.
And, if you have your smartphone at the ready, you might want to make note of the Annual Church Breakfast on Saturday, April 25th from 8 – 10 AM. I’ll have all the mouth-watering details in a later column.
As a bit of a historical aside, Brittany and Jeremy’s house used to be owned by Jim and Betty Gamble. Now, don’t quote me on this, but I believe the Gambles bought the house from John and Marion Lowen. The Lowens operated the Dunvegan Post Office from there, until they moved it and themselves to the last house in the hamlet, just south of the crossroads. I’m told that, before the Lowens, the property was owned by a Mrs. D.C. MacLeod.
Mrs. MacLeod was the aunt of John Duncan “Big John” MacLeod. Among his many accomplishments, Big John farmed the land that runs south of the hamlet along County Road 30 and lived in the wonderful Ontario brick farmhouse that in recent years belonged to Pat Michaels, and her late husband, Dave. The farm’s present owners are Christine Gallant and her husband, Garo Demerdjian. I also learned that John Duncan MacLeod owned a seed cleaning business in the hamlet. The building that housed it is still standing; it’s the large structure at the north end of the house on the northeast corner of the crossroads. We’ll return to Big John in a later column. His life and accomplishments deserve to be covered in more detail.
GPM AGM… first notice
While your “calendar” app is still open, you might also want to tick off the Friday evening, April 17th. That’s when the Glengarry Pioneer Museum will be holding its Annual General Meeting and Potluck Supper. Here too, I’ll have more details, as we get closer to the big event. However, I do know that one of the highlights of the evening will be a presentation on the life and times of Velma Franklin given by Dane Lanken together with a slide show prepared by her daughter, Vivian. A Pioneer Award and a Volunteer Award will also be presented to two worthy recipients.
Become a preservation partner
Since you’re already in a “museum” frame of mind, now’s probably a good time to fulfill my promise to Heather Bentley. Heather heads up the Museum’s membership committee and she asked me to remind folks that NOW is the perfect time to renew your Glengarry Pioneer Museum membership… before the hectic 2015 season begins. If you’ve never enjoyed the fruits of being a member of this dynamic institution, I’d like to recommend that you do so. It’s worth every penny. Your membership dollars help provide the Museum with the stability it needs to keep its doors open and put on its crowd-pleasing range of community activities.
As a member of the Museum, you will enjoy: a special discount on entrance fees to all Museum exhibits and events; a 10% discount on most Museum merchandise and souvenirs; a discount on the rental of the Williams Pavilion; an invitation to the Museum’s Annual General Meeting; advance notice of special events; and the Museum’s information-packed Timelines newsletter.
The membership program has three levels of support: Individual (only $15 per year), Family (just $25 per year) and Individual Lifetime (a bargain for a one-time donation of $150). To become a “History Preservation Partner,” just call at Heather at 613-525-5268. You’ll be glad you did.
Store tossed into the bin
On my visit to Bins & Things in Alexandria last week, I was saddened to learn that the store will be closing its doors at the end of this month. If you’ve never dropped in, Bins & Things is a second-hand outlet in the same mold as Salvation Army shops and the St. Vincent de Paul store. Staffed by volunteers, proceeds from the sale of donated merchandise go to enrich the lives of Community Living clients.
The reason for the closure is simple. In recent months, the store’s income is just barely covering expenses. Not surprising given that their rent alone is $2,000 a month. You have to sell a whole lot of used books and hand-me-down clothing to cover that nut.
Nevertheless, it’s a shame the store has to go. Not only will it have a negative impact on Community Living programs, those living on a fixed incomes, many of them seniors, will also sorely miss it. They greatly appreciated the fact that Bins & Things was within easy walking distance of their homes.
It is obviously too late to save this enterprise. And so Alexandria will have one more abandoned storefront to grace the north end of Main Street. I’m sure there’s an excellent reason, but I can’t help wondering if a little creative accounting couldn’t have avoided this situation. Perhaps Bins & Things could have remained viable if they had been offered a break on the monthly rent in exchange for a charitable tax receipt.
I know: What has a soon-to-be-dead store in Alexandria got to do with Dunvegan? A number of people from this area, including Terry and I, enjoyed shopping there. As well, a number of Dunvegan citizens work or have worked for Community Living.
Pizza, crokinole & taffy this Friday
Don’t forget that this Friday, March 27, is the date of the Dunvegan Recreation Association’s annual Pizza, Crokinole and Taffy Party to be held at the DRA Hall, 19053 County Road 24.
The event starts at 6:00 PM with delicious pizza — for just $2.00 a slice! It’s a great way to kick off an evening of family fun. Soft drinks, water and coffee are provided free of charge.
Pizza time will be followed by a no-holds-barred crokinole tournament. Even if you’ve never played this uniquely Ontario game before, you owe it to you and your family to attend. Mastering the basics of the game only takes a few minutes. And once you do, you’ll be rewarded with hours of fun.
Each year, one of the highlights of the evening is when organizers call a break in the crokinole frenzy to serve fresh-boiled maple taffy drizzled on beds of snow. In years past, we’ve had to collect the snow and squirrel it away in freezers. But this would appear to not be an issue this time. It’s a sweet, sticky interlude in what promises to be a perfect evening.
By the way, if you own a crokinole board and a set of crokinole “buttons”, please bring them along. Depending on the turnout, they might be needed.
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