MANITOULIN—The fall rain came in earnest earlier this week and that usually means that, by the end of October, virtually all of the fall splendour will be entering its next phase of life as leaf mold on the ground.
But this fall, the Harvest Glory Days friendly inter-community competition has seen the most participation ever in this fourth annual event organized and sponsored by The Expositor Office as a public service.
To people who have spent time touring the Island this glorious fall, it will come as no surprise that Manitowaning and Silver Water have once again captured top honours in the large and small community categories, respectively.
This makes Manitowaning a four-time winner and Silver Water a three-time winner. Each community already has a Harvest Glory Days “Community Spirit Winner” sign and so each community will be getting a 2017 leaf to add to their sign.
In Silver Water, virtually every home along both sides of the Highway 540 right angle turn took the time to create original decorations and the community also nicely decorated its town entry and Harvest Glory Days signs. Well done.
Once again, Manitowaning’s community spirit was also outstanding with seasonal decorating extending along Highway 6, up the Bidwell Road and also into Clover Valley.
This year, to encourage Island people and visitors to take the time to enjoy some of these decorated communities, an online poll was added to the mix with the poll results a factor in the judges’ decision. Interestingly, the two winning towns also posted high poll numbers relative to their populations: 134 votes for Silver Water and 397 for Manitowaning.
This year, in recognition of the fact that places with more streets are more difficult to decorate sufficient to make a proper display, The Expositor office is initiating a prize for best mid-sized town decorated in the Harvest Glory Days theme.
The first such winner is Providence Bay where volunteers have done a good job in decorating the new town square, all of the hydro poles coming into town from the north and many local residents along this stretch have also done a good job, with stuffed characters a unique theme.
Other communities in the mid-sized community category will include Sheguiandah, Aundeck Omni Kaning, Sheguiandah First Nation and Kagawong.
Sheguiandah gets honorable mention based on the display beside Bass Creek as does Kagawong were the annual Scarecrow Festival is a nice fit with Harvest Glory Days.
In the Large Community category, Wikwemikong gets honourable mention this year, especially because of the number of inter-active fall themed activities the community put in place this year. These include a hay bale maze at Thunderbird Park, a toss-the-apple through an apple tree cutout at Buzwah Park, you could play Quidditch (a la Harry Potter fame) at the Holy Cross Mission Ruins, pose for a photo at the Harvest Glory Days “throne” at the top of Monument Hill above the village in addition to home and business decorations throughout the various satellite communities.
M’Chigeeng First Nation did a fine job of decorating the sign in front of its band office and, up by the door, a tipi set out in a fall colour motif. As usual, the Immaculate Conception Church across the road had decorated its front garden delightfully.
The Northeast Town took on the job of decorating at all of its public buildings and volunteers at the Manitoulin Centennial Manor did an exceptional job.
Another exceptional job was the Harvest Glory Days themed wedding display in the gazebo at the Little Schoolhouse Museum in South Baymouth and in Tehkummah village, all of the public signs (for the village, the community hall and the library) were artfully and enthusiastically rendered.
Mindemoya’s town sign was also nicely decorated, as were the hydro poles in the downtown area in addition to businesses and homes along Highways 511 and 542.
In Gore Bay, the downtown lampposts carried out the theme and in the surrounding municipality of Gordon/Barrie Island, the annual decorated farm gate event was, like Kagawong’s scarecrow festival, an appropriate fit.
Manitoulin did well and we can all look forward to doing it even bigger and better in 2017.
Thanks to everyone for their hard work in decorating Manitoulin this fall.
