Providence Bay
Alexia Hannigan
Alexia Here with your Friendly Deer Fly!
With bells on and in a blaze of orange, ‘tis time again for Christmas and cross trailing. With the temperature drop – the heat is up and on for hunters, bakers, holiday wishmakers! And yes, you can now put up the tree and deck the halls. Rockefeller Center hoisted up their 75-foot Norway Spruce from Massachusetts with a scheduled tree lighting on December 4 and with that, our Central Manitoulin Christmas Celebrations are scheduled for Saturday, December 7!
The Holiday Market and toy, mitt, hat and sock drive will take place at the Mindemoya hall from 10 am to 2 pm, Santa will be next door at the gazebo from 12 noon to 2 pm. Sponge Puck fun from 10 am to 12 noon and family skate from 1 to 4 pm at the Mindemoya arena. The big finish will be the Christmas Parade at 6:30 pm, followed by the community tree lighting outside of Island Home Outfitters at 7:15 pm!
Check the Central Manitoulin site and posters for event times and more information.
To register a float in the Christmas parade, please email Karlene at karlene.scott@live.com. For any other inquiries regarding the Christmas celebrations, please contact Alison at asloss@centralmanitoulin.ca.
Here’s What’s happening:
Providence Bay Arena: The operating season at the Providence Bay War Memorial Community Arena is from December until the end of March and is the host site for the Pearson Cup and the Bradley McAllister sportsman 4 on 4 hockey tournaments.
Mindemoya Arena: is open! Go Mindemoya Thunder! Season is already off to a great start. The operating season at the JH Burt Memorial Arena is from November 1 until the middle of March and is subject to weather and safe ice operating conditions.
Providence Bay Curling Club: The season is off to a great start! Join us for Manitoulin’s first bonspiel of the season! Friday, November 29 to Sunday, December 1. This is an open spiel – men’s, women’s, mixed or any combination. welcome! Entry fee is $220 and includes a minimum of three games plus a delicious Saturday dinner! Email providencebaycurling@gmail.com or call David at 705-377-4668 to register your team!
Youth Curling continues Saturday mornings from 9:15 am until 12 noon.
Providence Bay Hall: Friday morning exercise classes continue November 15 to December 6 between 10:30 to 11:30 am. For information contact Alison at 705-377-5726.
Tai Chi Class is 10 am to 12:30 pm on Mondays and Thursdays, contact Jean Pearce at 705-885-8444, Canadian Tai Chi Academy.
Community of Christ Peace Church service is at 10:30 am. Christmas carols and sing-along is Friday, December 20.
Spring Bay/Providence Bay Lions Bottle Drive: Drop off your empties next to the arena for a good cause. This helps keep our township clean and helps us give back to the community.
Mentions: Hang in there everyone! This can be a very busy and stressful time of year. During this silly season, take your time, ask for help if you need it. Remember it’s the little things, good thoughts and gestures that count.
The year is almost over, you’re doing great, you’ve come a long way baby! Well done everyone. Happy hunting, happy holiday parties, happy tree trimming and decorating. Enjoy the time with friends, neighbours and loved ones.
“Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.” — The Grinch
Kagawong
Team Fergmeijer
It is important to take care of yourself these days. A therapist friend encouraged us to listen to our inner child to help us see things in a new light. We have been trying, but our inner child has to compete with an inner duck who always wants bread and our inner mouse that always wants cheese, as well as our inner focaccia dough which needs to rest for at least 12 hours in a cool, dark place alone before it is ready for anything. Of course, we are also trying to do our part for the planet, so we have started doing meatless Mondays. Though, we spell it “meetless Monday” and involves staying home and not talking to anyone all day. It just feels good to do our part.
Not only have we moved from daylight savings time to standard time, but we’ve also gone from summer landfill hours to winter landfill hours. You can now access the landfill Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 6 pm, Saturdays from 1 to 4 pm and Sundays from 10 am to 4 pm.
Happiest of happy birthday wishes go out to Dwayne C. and Mel C. We hope you have a huge birthday party to celebrate. And don’t worry if no one shows up. It just means you can have your cake and eat it too!
Thanks to all the vendors, volunteers and visitors at last weekend’s Christmas in Kagawong! It was a great two-day event that had folks coming from all over, with the furthest traveller being from the North Pole! That’s right, St. Nick put in an appearance and helped us kick off the festive season.
Big news: the naming contest for the Pickle Dome has wrapped up and the winning name was the Kagawong River Complex! It’s really exciting that the Pickle Dome has an official name finally. We can’t wait to see if the town installs new signage on the Pickle Dome showing off its new moniker!
Tomorrow! The Billings Library will be holding their annual online silent auction starting on Thursday, November 21. All bidding is done via facebook.com/groups/libraryauction. Something for everyone will be available for bid. Trail rides? Check! Wheel alignment? Check! Basket of chocolatey goodness? Check! With the library now able to accept payment via credit and debit, it’s never been easier to take part in the auction.
The Manitoulin Community Choir will be performing in Kagawong on Friday, November 29 at 7:30 pm at the Park Centre. They’ll be presenting a mix of songs and styles with a little something for everyone. Admission is $15 per person with tickets available at the door.
If you need support, Team Fergmeijer is here for you. We are starting a group therapy session where we sit around to talk about our stresses and eat pasta. We’re calling it Penne for your thoughts. Have a great week!
Meldrum Bay
Elaine Bradley
We had a very busy week. On Friday we went to the Lyons United Church rummage sale. The displays were well done, everything was spotlessly clean and the items were inviting. The bake sale was really nice as well. Later we stopped in at Almaz’s and Almaz was there with large amounts of baking that she had bought. We got talking and pretty soon we were all enjoying her cookies and muffins. Her ginger snaps tasted exactly like my mother’s. Delicious, thank you Almaz.
Saturday there was a Celebration of Life for Gary James in the Silver Water Hall. Stop 540 and Randi’s supplied the food. There were a lot of people, I found the stories and pictures interesting and the meal was great. Gary was the next-door neighbour of my good friends Sara-Lynn and Terry Arnot. Terry has now passed away, but they always enjoyed having Gary as a neighbour. Our condolences to the family. Gary’s brother lives here in Meldrum Bay.
Sunday was the baked pasta dinner followed by a euchre tournament in Meldrum. I was not part of the baking, but the food was amazing. The ladies had really excelled at the variety of pastas that they had made and they all got rave reviews. There were lots of dessert. After they were well filled, everyone went upstairs to play euchre. Karen Noble and Myra Duncanson won first prize, congratulations! Proceeds went to the Meldrum Bay DCIA for the hall repairs and a roof for the marina building.
Monday was the Remembrance Day Potluck in Silver Water with donations to the Angel Bus. Again, good food, good friends to visit with and a good cause to support.
On Wednesday and Thursday, we brought our truck to McQuarrie’s for winterizing and to Meneray’s for undercoating. Excellent friendly service.
Silver Water
Karen Noble
On Friday, November 8 at cards there were 18 people, four tables and two sit-outs. High lady was Ann Gifford with 74 points; high man was Rick Bradley with 79 points and four lone hands; ladies’ lone hands went to Myra Duncanson with four; men’s lone hands went to Steve Gugelyk with three; most euchres went to Brenda Carter with 11; the 50/50 draw was won by Linda Rumley; the door prize was won by Lisa Townsend; the juice was brought home by Natasha McVey; the money jar is safe.
Hunting season is upon us. Stay safe everyone.
On Friday, November 8 I went to Mindemoya to do more bookkeeping work. Friday evening, I took some neighbours to euchre in Meldrum Bay.
On Saturday, November 9 there was a Celebration of Life for Gary James at the Silver Water Hall.
On Sunday, the Meldrum Bay ladies held a luncheon to fundraise for their community hall. The meal was fantastic. At 1:30 pm there were seven and a half tables of euchre players upstairs. Congratulations to the winners, Myra Duncanson and Karen Noble, first place; Larry and Sylvia Pfeifer, second place; Harold Rogers and Ken Reiss, third place. The euchre players raised $151 through 50/50 draws. Thank you to everyone who came out to support this day.
On Monday afternoon from 1 to 2 pm, the recycle bins were open.
There was a potluck supper and service for Remembrance Day at the Silver Water Community Hall on Monday, November 11. Thank you to everyone who came out to raise funds for the Angel Bus.
On Tuesday, Albert Meijer and I went to Meldrum Bay for the last kits and quilts meeting for the season. There were lots of ladies from Silver Water and Meldrum Bay.
Tuesday evening was fire practice at the fire hall.
On Wednesday I attended an Island Wide Waste Management meeting in Kagawong with seven other people from other municipalities. There is some progress being made but it will be a long-term process. We are hoping to implement one small idea at a time. The pink fabric Sic Sox recycle boxes are definitely being used and the collection continues to be made once a week. We have been asked that any small pieces of material be put into the bin inside a pillowcase or plastic bag and tied up to make it easier to remove from the bins. The loose material pieces are very difficult to remove and fly around on to the ground if there is much wind.
On Thursday morning I made tourtiere meat pies.
Thursday evening there were 18 euchre players at the Silver Water Hall.
Craig Duncanson is at his parents’ house.
There are lots of hunters already arriving this week. Good luck to everyone next week.
The Local Services Board is having the budget meeting on Wednesday, November 27 at 7 pm.
The next UCW meeting is on Thursday, December 5. Then the Christmas party starting at 12 noon with a potluck lunch. There will be a loonie table full of items to bid on. DonnaKay McDonald is collecting donated items for that. All ladies are welcome to join in, upstairs in the Silver Water Hall.
The community turkey dinner for all residents of Robinson and Dawson Township is on Saturday, December 14.
