Providence Bay
Alexia Hannigan
Alexia here with your Friendly Fly! Buoys, birdies, bots and brides to be! So many wonderful things are happening these days in our lovely township.
Toot! Did you hear that? The CCGS Samuel Risley buoy drop began last week and that’s happy news for boaters and brave polar bear swimmers like my daughter. The season of spring and summer fishing and boating officially launches as of May so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to register early for your pleasure craft operator card course now for June 15. There will be one in Little Current and one is Espanola. The cost is $75, email boatigal@gmail.com for details.
Fore! Golf season is officially underway as well with tee sheets and live bookings at an Island golf club near you. If you don’t have a fair game on the fairway, maybe re-purp that nine-iron to the Manitoulin Metal Robotics FRC which won the Sustainability Award at the World Championships in Houston, Texas. Well done, World Champions! What an incredible accomplishment! Worthy of much celebration this summer.
Here’s what’s happening:
Providence Bay Arena: Youth soccer kicked off last Saturday and (weather permitting) will continue Saturdays on the arena field from 10 to 11 am. You can find information on the Providence Bay/Spring Bay Recreation Committee FB page.
Providence Bay Hall: Yoga at the Spring Bay Hall/Providence Bay Hall Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and Central Manitoulin morning exercise class begins again on Friday, May 10. Visit centralmanitoulin.ca for information. This weekend the Providence Bay Hall is hosting a birthday party and the Twilight Group meeting will be in the lower Hall.
Mindemoya Community Hall: traditional taekwon-do classes begin tomorrow evening and continue into May on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Reminder to all, it’s Mother Day Market celebration weekend! Join the Mindemoya Community Hall and Memorial Park events and fun this Saturday, May 4 from 10 am to 2 pm.
Providence Bay Community of Christ Church: The Providence Bay Fair Board bridal shower took place the weekend of the 20th and was a huge success! The memorable and beautiful event was hosted by the Providence Bay Fair Board as a gesture of appreciation to honour and celebrate the diligence and hard work of four wonderful young ladies. Congratulations to our brides to be Jary White, Carolyn Glasby, Victoria Cranston and Rebecca Dawson and families. Wishing you all the very best! Dawn Dawson shared some lovely pictures and memories of the special event.
Regular mass will be held this Sunday.
Volunteer week was a huge success as were the Island-wide Earth Day events and celebrations. Keep up the good work everyone and keep on keeping it clean! We want to keep our Island sustainable and beautiful for many years to come.
Happy May Day, Learn to Ride a Bike day, School Principals Day, National Brothers and Sisters Day. Listen for the lazer whistles of the Cardinals and May the 4th be with you all during the Mother’s Day celebrations this weekend in Mindy! Have Fun. Love to Moms.
Kagawong
Team Fergmeijer
How would you describe your perfect date? Although it’s a tough call, for Team Fergmeijer, it’s April 25. It’s not too hot, it’s not too cold. Mostly you just need a light jacket. May isn’t too bad, either. Take this week for example – it’s Star Wars Day on Saturday! May the 4th be with you all! And don’t forget to go out and celebrate Cinco de Kylo, just beware of the Revenge of the Sixth.
With April showers signaling spring is definitely here, you might want to start looking forward to some of the amazing events going on in the coming months as things really heat up in Billings! The Jabbawong Storytelling Festival is July 5 and 6 (featuring Waubgeshig Rice, Kim Fahner, Emily De Angelis, Mark Seabrook and Steve Paikin). Jabbawong organizers, if we’re honest, as impressive as all those participants are, you had Team Fergmeijer at Steve Paikin.
The library book sale and local author showcase will be held July 20, and the Manitoulin Art Tour is on that same weekend. And don’t forget about Kagawong’s huge market on Wednesdays throughout the summer!
We’ve seen plenty of people taking advantage of the lavender Sic Sox boxes near the Kagawong Park Centre. Drop off any unwanted textile items and the Sic Sox team will take them from there. Items in good shape will be resold at the Sic Sox retail store. Other textiles that would otherwise be garbage are recycled into insulation. It’s a win-win for you and for the environment!
If you or someone you love has a birthday coming up, let us know (fergmeijer@gmail.com). We’ll ‘honour’ the special occasion as only Team Fergmeijer can!
Billings council has established an Ad-Hoc Committee to create a municipal-owned water system policy. The committee will be responsible for developing clear procedures on capital projects and major upgrades to the water lines, as well as reviewing options for implementing a capital levy that can be used to create a water capital reserve, among other important tasks. The township is looking for four members of the community to serve on the committee. Application details are available on the Township website.
Old Mill Road bridge replacement will begin today, May 1! There will be several weeks when the bridge is out-of-service and the only access to properties on Old Mill Road will be via Newburn Road/Graham Hill. Full closure of the bridge is expected to be no later than May 15. Please note that construction will also affect those using the river trail. Anyone walking on the east side trails (along the bluff) will not be able to cross the river at the river mouth and will have to retrace their steps to the new pedestrian bridge.
The local librarian has some reading suggestions for Star Wars day: Qui-Gon Girl, Gone with the Windu, A Bendu in the River, Heart of Darthness, and of course, The Fault in Our Death Star. Have a great week!
Meldrum Bay
Elaine Bradley
Monday afternoon there was an annual planning meeting for St. Andrew’s United Church in Meldrum Bay. Attendance was good and plans were made. Included in the plans is a Strawberry Social later in the summer when one of the members will be able to get a large quantity of strawberries for us.
Tuesday was Kits and Quilts at the hall and a large number of hygiene bags were assembled. Soon they will be going down to Southern Ontario to be distributed to where they are needed for disaster relief. I am so proud of the people who work so hard on this.
A group of us have been working hard cutting trees, splitting wood and piling it for next winter’s supply. The trees that are being cut right now are some of the dead ash that were killed by the emerald ash borer. It is really sad to see the effect of this invasive species.
Two pairs of ospreys have returned to their nests near Lake Wolsley. It is so nice to see them.
Friday night at cards there were two full tables and one three handed tables. High lady was Lois Wismer with 72 points; high man was Harold Rogers with 79 points; ladies’ lone hands went to Natasha McVey with three; men’s lone hands went to Karen Noble with six; most euchres went to Diane Jones with 12; the juice was taken home by Natasha McVey; the special prize went to Donna K McDonald; the 50/50 draw was won by Myra Duncanson.
I received a call this week to make something for the ATV ride that is coming up soon. Everyone else is being called to bake and cook and work at the event as well. The trail is getting prepared. It should be an amazing day. Mark it on your calendars for May 18, the Saturday of the long weekend in May. Be sure to come.
Barrie Island
Lillian Greenman
The Earth Day ceremony at the Gordon Community Centre was on April 19 and was the planting of a transparent apple tree by Reeve Lee Hayden with Councillor Isobel Harry. Following the tree planting, community members went inside for coffee, cookies and squares. Earth Day t-shirts and caps were available as well as lavender and echinacea seeds to grow. There were also garbage bags for community cleaning for April 22, Earth Day 2024.
Silver Water
Karen Noble
Murray and Gladys Duncanson had her great niece, Jessica Eisenbraun and her friend Jacob visit them on April 19 and 20. Craig Duncanson arrived on April 21 to help with next winter’s stove wood. He left on Tuesday.
Friday night, Myra Duncanson, DonnaKay McDonald, Lois Wismer and I went to Meldrum Bay to play euchre. There were about 20 deer to avoid on the drive home.
Lara Chevrette and family spent last week in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic on vacation. Larissa finished her third year of university just in time to go on the trip.
Shawn Noble stayed at Lara’s house to look after the dogs and cats.
Carl Barager and Heather Sparks were married on April 20. There was a dinner and reception at the community hall in the evening.
There was a birthday party for Lynn and Charles Pickard’s daughter, Abby Morrison, at Don Tenniswood’s house on Saturday night.
Some of the Silver Water ladies attended a baby shower for Lily Hore’s son on Sunday afternoon at the Gordon Barrie Island hall.
Monday, April 22 there were seven tables of euchre players at the Burpee Mills Complex. I had good enough luck that I won the money jar.
There was an exercise class at the Silver Water Hall on Tuesday afternoon.
During the night on Tuesday, there was a lot of snowfall. It was mostly melted in two days.
On Wednesday morning, Albert Meijer and I packed the liquor containers into the car and went to Little Current with them. On the way back, we picked up the frozen strawberries for the fish dinner on May 4. We had breakfast at Elliot’s and did a number of other errands.
Alfreda Wickett had lunch at Stop 540 on her 90th birthday on April 25. Everyone sang happy birthday. Her son, Paul, and his wife were with her.
Peter Rankis is at his house for a few days.
Gladys Duncanson and I had a visit with Maya Baumann when we were all out walking one day. Albert and I had a look at the inside of her house on Wednesday. Her family has done a wonderful job of renovating the inside.
Thursday night, we had five tables of euchre players at the Silver Water Community Hall. Congratulations to Paul Sorbara who won the money jar.
There are lots of events coming up in the next few weeks. May 2 is the UCW meeting at St Andrew’s; May 4 is the Snowduster’s fish dinner at the Silver Water Hall; May 5 is the euchre tournament in Tehkummah; May 11 there is a fashion show at the Silver Water Hall in the afternoon.
Condolences to the family of Bruce Collard.
