AOK challenges towns, First Nations to friendly fall festooning bout
MANITOULIN—The Harvest Glory Days community decorating event, organized by the Expositor office as a friendly, Island-wide competition in the interest of building community spirit, brought almost immediate response from one Manitoulin community following its announcement in last week’s paper.
Holly Anderson from Aundeck Omni Kaning contacted the office last week to say that her community would definitely be involved and also to offer a friendly challenge to other Manitoulin communities, from Birch Island to Meldrum Bay, to also rise to the challenge and also decorate their communities in the spirit of harvest, Thanksgiving and fall colours. Ms. Anderson, who works in her community as the assistant in the NNADAP program, gave credit for the initial enthusiasm to her mother, Sybil Eadie, who had seen the story and the advertisement in last week’s paper and told Holly she “thought it would be a good thing for the community to get involved with.”
Ms. Eadie is the medical driver for Aundeck Omni Kaning’s Health Centre, Naandwejig Amik, and when Ann Marie Corbiere, the health center’s director, heard about Ms. Eadie’s enthusiasm she said, “I thought this would be a great build-up to the AOK Fall Harvest Fair on October 26 and 27.”
“Our slogan for the fall fair is ‘putting the unity back into community’,” Ms. Corbiere said Monday of this week, “so being involved with this competition is something everyone can do so it’s a great fit.”
Picking up on Ms. Anderson’s offer of a friendly competition from AOK to all other Island communities, Ms. Corbiere observed that, “this is good Island-wide community endeavour where people can drive around Manitoulin this fall to see how other towns, villages and First Nations are decorating. It might be an opportunity for a van to take seniors on a local drive to see the fall colours and the outside decorations. They’d love that”.
Expositor publisher Rick McCutcheon says Ms. Anderson’s and Ms. Corbiere’s responses were exactly what The Expositor office staff had been hoping for: building community enthusiasm and pride at both the local and Island-wide levels.
The community that is chosen by the judging panel to have done the best jobs of decorating for the Harvest Glory Days theme and involving homes, businesses, institutions (like churches, hospitals, halls, etc.) as well as the municipality’s or First Nation’s own buildings will receive a large and colourful sign that they can display permanently at the community’s entrance indicating this is the place chosen to win the 2013 Harvest Glory Days community decorating competition. The sign will be made with the generous cooperation of Beacon Images of Tehkummah.
The Expositor Office would like to hear from more community enthusiasts like Ms. Anderson who can help to champion the event in their particular communities.
If you are taking the challenge, or want to help where you live, please let The Expositor office know by emailing expositor@manitoulin.ca or by calling (705) 368-2744 and letting the paper know. The Expositor will also post photos of ongoing community decorations on its website to help build enthusiasm. Please email them to expositor@manitoulin.ca. Don’t forget to note where the photo was taken and in which community.
There is also a short registration form included in the Harvest Glory Days advertisement on page 8A of this paper which The Expositor office is asking participants and/or communities to return as an indication of the level of participation. The same form is also posted on The Expositor’s website: www.manitoulin.ca and can easily be found by looking at the website’s main menu. When it is filled out online, it can be emailed directly from the website. Judging for the contest will take place following Thanksgiving.
As for Aundeck Omni Kaning, Health Centre director Ann Marie Corbiere has a call out to any local farmers or others who may have some corn stalks or other seasonal items to spare for AOK community decorating. She can be reached at (705) 368-3171 (and by the way, she is also looking for some surplus apples to pick for an apple pie baking event planned in conjunction with AOK’s Fall Fair).
