Providence Bay
Alexia Hannigan
Alexia here with your friendly exhausted puddle fly!
Last weekend the Providence Bay Arena hosted the amazing 30th Bradley McAllister 4 by 4 Memorial Hockey Tournament, marking the official/unofficial close of another great winter and hockey season and of course, on March 20 we welcomed spring 2025! The Chi-Cheemaun announced that reservations are open now for May 2 to October 26 ferries from South Baymouth to Tobermory and back. Despite what the calendars and the groundhogs say, winter weather is not done with us yet! So, keep your toques, boots and winter tires on! This time of year, it can flip and switch in an instant so always be wise and well prepared while travelling/commuting.
The sun stays a little longer these days, so be patient! The warmer and longer days will be here in no time. And as it warms up on the Island, our calendars fill up! There is always so much to do to prepare for another busy season of visiting friends and neighbours, get outside when the weather allows it, get busy, keep trucking, keep planning, keep planting, pruning, cleaning and enjoy the marvel and songs of spring as the birds know well ahead of any of us that it’s almost ‘Toulin’ time and tourist time again.
Here’s what’s happening: Providence Bay Arena, Sundays learn to skate from 12 noon to 1 pm; public skate from 1 to 3 pm; and family sponge puck continues from 3 to 5 pm.
Soccer coach search continues! The Providence Bay Soccer Club is in need of a head coach in order to run the season. If you or someone you know is interested, please reach out to the Providence Bay/Spring Bay recreation committee via Facebook.
Providence Bay Curling Club: Bonspiels were a success! Well done teams.
Get your tickets to win ‘beer for a year.’ The draw will take place Saturday, March 29 at 2 pm. Tickets are $10 each. If you would like a ticket please send your e-transfers to provbayjrcurlers@gmail.com and include your name, phone number and email address. Your tickets will then be emailed to you directly. The Providence Bay Curling Club Youth Program thanks everyone for their support!
Providence Bay Community of Christ Church: 10:30 am joys and community chat; 11 am worship.
Gentle Yoga continues with chair yoga and gentle yoga on Tuesdays from 1 to 1:45 pm and 2 to 3 pm at Providence Bay Hall.
The Heavens: March 29 partial solar eclipse (Northeastern US and Maritimes). Next full “Pink” Moon is April 12. Venus will pop out as the “Morning Star” from April 1 to November 20 and be visible in the east and southwest just before sunrise. Wishing you clear skies and bright sights! Happy sky-gazing.
The Friends: Congratulations to you end of March babies old and new. Hope all your wishes come true.
Happy Spring Everyone!
“Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.”
– Rainer Maria Rilke
Kagawong
Team Fergmeijer
Throughout the winter in Billings, it’s often so quiet you can hear a pun flop, but now that spring is making itself known, the silent fields are starting to ring with the melodic coo of our favourite bird. Yes – the Sandhill cranes are back and that means one thing: we have a winner of the Team Fergmeijer annual crane spotting competition! We had more entries than ever before, but we have a clear champion this year. Honourable mentions go out to Ruth F, Stephanie and David H, as well as Phillip S who all reported seeing or hearing cranes within a very tight time frame of one another. However, crane spotting heavyweight Peter G has taken the crown once again this year reporting a sighting more than 48 hours earlier than any other competitor. Congratulations to Peter, we hope you lord it over Willa as is only appropriate.
The closing of one competition leads us, as ever, to the opening of another: the annual Sandhill crane cooing competition is just around the corner! Every year, on April 1, competitors from far and wide meet for this one-of-a-kind contest. Men, women and children give it their all to recreate their best crane coo, with the champion being selected by a star-studded panel of experts. We are under strict instructions not to reveal any of the celebrity guests expected and we would never break confidentiality. That said, did you know that Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood considers herself to be an amateur ornithologist? Also, given his recent farming adventures, it will come as no surprise to learn that British TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson is also a bit of a twitcher. No reason we are mentioning this; no reason at all…
This week we are wishing a happy 29th birthday to Tahnee P and Micki B who are both honourary Kagawongians. We hope you don’t let your birthday pass without celebrating. Your big day demands celebr-action! Party-cipation is mandatory!
The Manitoulin Community Choir is back performing in Kagawong on Saturday, April 5 at 7:30 pm at the Park Centre. Come, relax and enjoy a mix of songs and styles. Admission is $15 with tickets available at the door.
It may not always be easy being green, but the Billings Climate Action Committee is making it a little easier! Join in the township’s Neighbourhood Cleanup Day on Saturday, April 26 by coming out to the Park Centre for a “junk in the trunk” community yard sale. If you’d like to book a table for the event, reach out to Vince at vgrogan@billingstwp.ca. Cleaning up around your neighbourhood? You can bring any collected waste in clear bags to the Park Centre parking lot that day where it will be sorted, weighed, and then brought to the landfill. Easy peasy!
Due to the warmer weather, the half load restrictions are currently in effect for the Township of Billings. Groups of Sandhill cranes (also known as “sedges”) are limited to no more than 5 on a road at any given time.
Bet you thought we couldn’t fit a crane pun into the column. Whoop, there it is! (Not our greatest work, but we have no egrets.) Have a great week!
Barrie Island
Enid Runnalls
Spring has arrived on Barrie Island; the ice fishers have returned their shacks to shore, snow is sinking into the ground, daffodil leaves are poking through the warming soil and the sap is running full tilt in the sugar bush!
George and Carolyn Calback shared a meal at their home with his younger brother Ashton, Nina and Lynne. After an enjoyable visit, the group headed to the home of Darlene Orford where they spent the night before returning to southern Ontario.
Good news! Lance Greenman is home from his stay in Sudbury for rehab. I’m sure he was pleased to see the winter had moved on and he can get out for a bit of a walk without snow on the ground. Lil reports that Natalie has been on hand to help.
Carolyn has made her way back from Portugal and is kicking back in Sudbury for a while. She will soon be here at her Barrie Island abode to visit her Barrie Island friends and family.
St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated with dinner dances around the area. Barrie Island people were wearing the green and enjoying Irish stew and Irish music at the Burpee and Mills Hall last Friday and then again with the Manitoulin Swing Band at the Water’s Edge on Saturday where Oliver Runnalls was blowing his own horn (saxophone) along with Jim Smith, Doug Smith, Paul Best, Wayne and Heather Bryant. The ballroom dancers and line dancers had a lot of fun on the dance floor, too!
Katie Runnalls has been home for a week away from Toronto. She loves to get up here in the early spring and spend time with family and at the sugar shack, where she assisted Cameron with his new systems. This year’s grand and gold maple syrup will be offered in a new bottle and in a can. Micah is also on hand to keep things going. He loves to check the sap buckets and ask a lot of questions.
Mina Hodder of Gordon township has provided a bit of the following news from the Gordon side of things. The Happy Quilters who meet twice a month (the first and third Wednesday from 1 to 3 pm) at the Gordon/Barrie Island. They have been working away on quilts for the OPP cruisers so that the police can give it to people who need warmth.
Also, the Gordon/Barrie Island Municipal Office at 29 Noble Side Road is acknowledging Earth Day in the month of April. They are giving away lavender and echinacea seeds at the office to those who participate in the Roadside Waste Collection Day on April 1. Garbage bags will be provided at the office. A Plant Sale fundraiser on Tuesday, April 22 from 9 to 4 pm. Also, food waste buckets for your composting needs are sold there.
Enjoy the warm spring sunshine everyone!
Silver Water
Karen Noble
On Friday we went to Meldrum Bay to play euchre.
Saturday morning there was a breakfast in Meldrum Bay to raise funds for the Dawson Citizens Improvement Association. The meal was excellent and the proceeds go towards the repairs to the community hall front.
Gladys Duncanson returned home on Monday after her week’s visit with her son Clarke and his family. She attended the theatre production of ‘Come From Away’ on Saturday night.
Karen and Steve Marshall returned home on Monday. They are getting ready for their daughter’s wedding on March 22.
Monday evening was euchre in Burpee and Mills. There were eight tables of players.
Tuesday afternoon was exercise class at the Silver Water Hall.
The new bathroom upstairs in the hall is completely finished.
On Wednesday afternoon there was line dancing in the hall.
On Thursday there was euchre at the Silver Water Hall.
There will be a lunch and euchre tournament at the Silver Water Hall on Sunday, March 30. Lunch starts at 12 noon and euchre at 1 pm. Funds raised will go to projects in the hall.
Happy Spring!
