Providence Bay
Alexia Hannigan
Hello my Cicadas! Alexia here with your friendly Fly! I am always pleasantly surprised by the small Universe. The chaos of the cosmos holds great method and yet the questions surrounding the impossible, infinite madness of her expanse remain as infinite and impossible as the lessons of everyday life. As we marvel at the beauty of summer skies and Perseid meteors showers we project our thoughts and wishes upon stars of bygone eras and are reminded of the concept and chaos of time. How everything is always “hurry up and wait.” How the best times, memories and minutes seem to disappear in only a few glimmers and glints. Summertime is just that, glimmers and glints in time witnessing the pure joy of a dog jumping in the waves or the gift of children carving magnificent castles in the sand. Time to reflect, relax, recharge, rediscover ourselves and the wonders of the world around us. For us local folks, Providence Bay is at her peak, this is our busiest time of the year. Whatever your plans, we welcome all vacationing and visiting friends and neighbours. You are in the best place on the big blue dot, right here, right now. So put your phone down, sit back, take a look at the beauty that is all around you. Enjoy and revel in it, take a ‘Toulin time-out and breathe!
Here’s what’s happening: Providence Bay Arena and Fairgrounds. Summer fun preregistered programs daily Monday to Friday July through August from 8 am to 4 pm, remember to save your spot via CentralManitoulin.ca.
Friday Family Rec Nite continues 7 to 9 pm.
Drop in and play pickleball, badminton, basketball, cornhole, ping-pong and air hockey with friends, family and neighbours. All ages welcome.
Lions Club 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.
Providence Bay Hall: Central Manitoulin Beachside Market featuring local bakers, foodies and fun continues Thursdays July through August from 11 am to 3 pm. Contact Central Manitoulin for vendor information and details.
Mindemoya: Manitoulin Zumba continues Thursday evenings behind the Lions Pavilion from 6 to 7 pm July through August.
Mindemoya Pioneer Museum upcoming crafting socials is Wednesday, July 31 from 11 am to 2 pm.
Plein Air Workshop at the Mindemoya Old School, for registration and information email cmhsmuseum@gmail.com.
Taekwon-do continues July through August, Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 to 8 pm at the Mindemoya Community Hall. Drop-in classes available for vacationers and summer residents.
Providence Bay Boardwalk and Discovery Centre: Sunset Music Series continues this weekend on Friday, July 26 is Ricardo Chavez from 6:30 to 7 pm and The Lofty Pines from 7 to 8 pm; Saturday, Charlie Gammon and The Good Time Jammers from 6:30 to 9 pm. Check the Huron Island time Facebook page or Sunset Music Series online for the full musical lineup. Be sure to bring a chair or blanket and enjoy the shows!
The Discovery Centre is filled with all the wonders and teachings of elders and locally trained experts. Drop by to learn about the incredible biodiversity of our Island ecosystem. And drop by 10:30 am to 12 noon for fun July events! Today Wednesday, July 24 is the Sandcastle Competition! Wednesday, July 31 is all about erosion!
The Discovery Centre is located at 24 Mutchmor St., Providence Bay. For more information go to discovery@eastlink.ca.
Huron Island Time is busier than ever! Be sure to ask Lance and crew about their awesome new ice cream flavours, sweet and savory food! Lance has a great lunch and dinner menu and carries a bevy of beach toys and sporting accessories to keep the kids busy at the beach. Enjoy the beautiful warm waters of Lake Huron or simply stroll along the beach and boardwalk. Make memories, snap selfies and enjoy the beautiful scenery, music and views! Be sure to visit The Mutchmor Peace Cafe and Gallery, take a selfie by the bear and owl mural. Say Hello to Catherine, Obayaa, Liz and the crew and be sure to stop into the brand new and beautiful Sandalwood Market. Ben and Carli proudly showcase organic, hand-crafted goods and wares curated from small scale producers in India. You will meet a lot of locals here and there and perhaps meet some local artists as well. If you fancy a bite to eat before sundown visit Huron Sands for a quick pizza to go or Matt and crew at Huron Fish and Chips and Co. for some good eats, great inspiration and good company.
Dear beachcombers, visitors, friends and neighbours, please keep our beaches clean and safe by using the blue bins all along the boardwalk. If you see debris or large pieces of driftwood, please place them near or under the boardwalk or at least out of harm’s way if possible.
Providence Bay Community of Christ Church: Sunday town meeting at 10:30 am, Sunday Mass at 11 am. Youth Group McNevin meet-up is Wednesdays at 10:30 am to 12 noon (meetings subject to change and weather permitting).
Next meet-up is Wednesday, July 24, making mandalas.
Wednesday, July 31, beachcombing and driftwood art
The Horses: August 3 is the Haweater horse show, Little Current. August 18 from 9 am to 1 pm is the Providence Bay Fair Horse Show. Please reach out to Katie SG on Facebook or Manitoulinhorseclub71@gmail.com for more information.
The heavens: One of the best meteor showers of the year
is underway, offering a chance to see shooting stars in the summer night sky. This year’s annual Perseid meteor shower will peak the night of August 12 into early morning on August 13. The Perseid meteor shower produces shooting stars at a high hourly rate. The Perseids occur when dust particles and leftover debris from a comet known as 109P/Swift-Tuttle burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. The next full moon is the Sturgeon Moon of August 19.
Happy stargazing and camping!
Toulin Turtles: Turtles are nesting all over the roadways and waterways now so please watch closely for them and watch your speed. Ceilidh and I rescued two wayward painted turtles recently and both times we found them crossing the street at a very busy time of day. If you see a turtle you can try to safely relocate it to the curb in the direction it was headed. Note: There are a lot of bunnies, foxes and other critters out there including the Kamikaze birds that will jump out in front of your car so always be very alert with eyes on the road! If you see an injured turtle contact Turtle Pond at 705-691-0433.
Keep your eyes open for the Great Canadian Superhighway Crossings, a moose was spotted swimming across Lake Mindemoya last week, and there are gaggles of geese and goslings crossing at various roadways in both Mindemoya and Providence Bay. So keep your cameras poised and ready!
Mentions: Happy 80th to our Carol Gilmore, happy birthday to my dad, Brian Hannigan and my stepmom, Claudine.
Welcome to Providence Bay Patrick and Jenny and happy new beginnings MJ and Alex. We wish you all the best!
“There is no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal kindlier and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
Carl Sagan, The Pale Blue Dot, 1994
Kagawong
Team Fergmeijer
Team Fergmeijer is well known for its love of getting out in nature – hiking, canoeing, camping, etc. (maybe one of us more than the other but whatever). This love of the great outdoors has us looking to one of our favourite philosophers of nature – the US National Park Service – for our words of wisdom this week. Their social media posts have helped us learn and grow in really important ways with advice like “Believe in yourself like park visitors who believe they can pet bison” and “If you drink a lot of water, you won’t have time for other people’s drama because you’ll be too busy looking for a bathroom.” They also have our safety at heart with cautionary warnings such as “Your chances of getting hunted by a turkey is low, but never zero.” Their advice tends to be both practical and profound at the same time: “One does not simply become a master of karate. First, you must accidentally walk into a spider web” and helps us navigate tricky social situations: “If you come across a bear while hiking, never push a slower friend down…even if you feel the friendship has run its course.”
The township is looking for naming suggestions for the covered rink area, because although we will forever know it as the PickleDome, it would appear some people weren’t happy with that option. Name suggestions for the Kagawong covered rink are being accepted at the town office until the end of August. Check their Facebook page for more information.
And don’t forget Team Fergmeijer’s completely informal, not-affiliated-with-the-township and unlikely to get approval, naming competition for the town’s recently acquired new tractor. So far, we have a good start with some new submissions including Attract Her, Sir-Chugs-A-Lot (or Lady Chugs-A-Lot) and Muddy Buddy. Email fergmeijer@gmail.com and let us know your pick!
The Manitoulin Tennis Club meets twice a week and welcomes players of all abilities to come out and play on Sunday mornings at 10 am and/or Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm, both at the Manitoulin Secondary School courts.
We have another big group of folks celebrating birthdays this week. Many happy returns go out to Jen C, Meredith C-N, Mike C, Dawn N-M, and Beth G. We hope that just like our puns, you never get old!
A huge thank you goes out to all the volunteers who helped to make the library book sale another wonderful success. Many books found new loving homes and the funds raised all go to support the public library!
The annual History Day in Kagawong is coming up on August 8 at the Park Centre in Kagawong. In both the matinée (3:30 pm) and evening (7:30 pm) sessions, author and journalist Mike Strobel will speak about the North Channel “Rhu” tragedy, and author and journalist Richard Thomas will celebrate the Chi-Cheemaun with 50th anniversary sailing stories. Don’t miss out! Follow the Old Mill Heritage Centre on Facebook (facebook.com/KagawongMuseum) for more information.
The township is hosting a public consultation session and an open house tomorrow (July 25) at the Park Centre. From 2 to 4 pm you can head to the second floor to learn about Oakville Enterprises Corporation and the power generation that happens on the Kagawong river. From 2 to 6 pm you can stop in downstairs to voice your thoughts on how the township should use the ‘Graham’s Hill’ property. Seniors’ housing, municipal garage, recreational trails… let the ideas flow. The more input, the better!
One last bit of National Park Service wisdom to wrap up this week’s column: There’s nothing wrong with following your heart, but it never hurts to check the map, too. Have a great week!
Meldrum Bay
Elaine Bradley
At cards on Friday night, July 12, there were four tables. High lady was Irene Kelly with 67; high man was Donna Kay McDonald with 64; ladies’ lone hands went to Natasha with three; men’s lone hands went to Bob Benedict with six; most euchres was won by Rose Van Every with 10; Donna Kay McDonald brought home the juice; the money jar is safe.
Saturday morning Pat picked Rose and myself up and we were off to Karen Noble’s yard sale in Silver Water. We drank coffee and visited. I bought some jam from Josie Daniel who had a table there. It was a good time.
On Monday night the UCW had an ice cream party in Silver Water. I saw Diane pick up Rose and although I did not go, I checked with Rose how it went. She said it was fantastic. There were two homemade cakes, many varieties of ice cream and the ladies each brought their choice of topping to share with everyone else. I am told it was hard not to overindulge because everything tasted so good.
This Sunday there is going to be a Strawberry Shortcake get-together at the hall followed by an evening service at the church with lots of singing. This Tuesday will be Kits and Quilts again at the hall.
It is fun to see all the tents and trailers at the Meldrum Bay campground and the boats at the marina. Today we were talking to a couple of boaters returning home from a race on Lake Michigan. They came in third. Congratulations to them!
Have a great week everyone.
Barrie Island
Lillian Greenman
Lorne and Dawn Calback and boys from Sudbury spent last week with his parents George and Carolyn Calback.
Silver Water
Karen Noble
Murray, Gladys and Craig Duncanson attended the funeral of Chalid Brockelbank in Ottawa on Friday, July 12. They drove home late in the day. On Saturday, they left home early to pick up Erwin Thompson. The three of them attended Kathy Robbie’s funeral in Onaping.
On Friday morning Albert Meijer and I went to Gore Bay to the market and the café. Our local UCW was serving the treats and coffee. They did very well and did not have many leftovers. Their next turn is July 26.
On Monday night the UCW held their ice cream party at the Silver Water Community Hall. The results of the picnic were discussed. The day was a big success. The theme for next year’s picnic was chosen and it is “In the Garden”. I am picturing giant worms and ladybugs.
Albert spent the week on stove wood. The woodshed is filling up more every day and the log pile is shrinking.
Albert and I picked up our Enclave from Jewell’s Collision on Wednesday afternoon. After three weeks and a lot of work, the car is back to new for now. We took Larissa, Colton and Jackson Chevrette out to supper at Purvis Fish and Chips afterwards.
Jack and Alice Addison have arrived at their cottage.
I had a visit from Jean Brodie and her sister on Thursday afternoon. After they left, I went to Silver Lake for a swim with Gladys. The water was the perfect temperature.
Thursday evening there were six and a half tables of euchre players at the Silver Water Hall.
Janet Joyce packed up a large number of hygiene kits and quilts to go to the warehouse in New Hamburg. TJ Murray loaded them up on Thursday afternoon and will deliver them when he gets home on Friday night. The group’s goal will be to have another load ready in a month. Anyone willing to come out to volunteer is welcome. The next dates are July 23, August 6 and August 20. People willing to sew up the bags for the hygiene kits are needed now.
There will be a committal service for Bonnie Henry at the Silver Lake Cemetery on Saturday, July 27 at 11 am with lunch after at the community hall.
The euchre tournament in Tehkummah has been moved to Sunday, July 28 at 1:30 pm to avoid the busy long weekend.
