Now in its third year, the Land O'Lakes Tourist Association's (LOLTA) annual big and small mouth fishing tournament on August 15 continues to attract anglers looking to hook big bass for big bucks. It was one fish per fisher at this live release event that took place this year at three lakes in the Land O'Lakes tourist region, including Hay Bay near Napanee, Beaver Lake in Erinsville and Big Gull Lake in North Frontenac. Fishers at all three locations had a chance to win for the biggest three fish. Kirk Kove Cottages was the location of the weigh-in station on Big Gull Lake where over 20 boats and over 40 fishers took part on a hot and sunny day of fishing. Jason Lemke, facilities/recreation supervisor with the Township of North Frontenac, was one of four North Frontenac volunteers helping out at Kirk Kove and he said it was a busy day on the lake.

The big winners at Big Gull lake were Mark Kropf, who won with a 3.95 pound large mouth; Kevin Romanick took second place with a 3.9 pound large mouth; and Clarence won third with a 3.8 pound small mouth bass.

Also up for grabs was a $500 gift certificate from Canadian Tire that was won by Donald Swartz of Napanee and Bonnie McCaughtery won the fishing kayak that was donated by the Canadian Tire in Napanee. Other prizes included three $50 hidden weights that were also won at all three locations. Joanne Cuddy, tourism coordinator of LOLTA, organized the event with the help of Deanne Allen, and said she was pleased to announce that although the number of lakes this year was reduced to three instead of five due to a lack of volunteers, 160 participants took part. The goal of the event she said is to attract people to the region that spreads north to Denbigh, south to the Frontenac Islands, west to Tweed and east past Sharbot Lake. “Not only do anglers get a chance to fish a lake they may have never fished and have a chance to get familiar with it, but by picking new lakes every year, we are also bringing tourism dollars to different areas in the region.” This year's event attracted anglers from as far away as Waterloo, Renfrew, Ottawa, Toronto, New Jersey and from Belleville, Kingston, Napanee and the local area as well. For those who missed this year's tournament, have no fear. Next year it will happen at the same time but on three different area lakes. For more information visit www.travellandolakes.com

The sport of  Eisstock has steadily been gaining in popularity, especially in the Township of South Frontenac. This is likely due to the fact that a number of enthusiastic and gung-ho players from the area have recently taken up the sport.

Karl Hammer Jr. is one such player. Just a few years back he discovered the sport through his family's German heritage and after taking it up he has been encouraging friends and family members to do the same. “My father and grandfather both played the sport, which was popular in the area up until the early 1990s but for some reason almost disappeared. It was when I moved to Gould Lake in the winter years back and saw the dust collecting on my dad's old stocks that I became interested in the game, and encouraged my dad to get out his stocks and play with me”.

Now just a few years later the Kingston and Area Ice Stock club is slowly coming back to life.

The gaining popularity of the sport was evident in a recent Canadian Ice Stock Federation tournament that took place at Harrowsmith Centennial Park on August 16. Hosted by the Kingston and Area Ice Stock Club, whose membership has gone from 20 to 40 members, five teams participated in the Harrowsmith tournament, including three out-of-town teams from Barrie, Cambridge and Kitchener.

The sport, which combines elements of bocce ball and Canadian-style curling, originated in Europe, specifically in Bavaria, Germany. Both Karl’s father, Karl Sr. and his sister Tasha Hammer played at the Sunday event. In fact Tasha Hammer, who herself has only been playing the sport for a year and a half, and long time player Kata Zaric, were teammates on the women's Canadian national team and won gold when they competed against Brazil at the 2015 America's Cup, which took place in Barrie, Ont. earlier this year. Kara also participated in Sunday's tournament and Tasha said the team is hoping to compete in Ritten, Italy at the World's Cup in February 2106.

Tasha and Kara were not the only well-known players throwing stocks in Harrowsmith on Sunday. Ronny Horvath, president of the Canadian Ice Stock Federation, competed at the world championships in 2012 in Bavaria, Germany as part of the Canadian national team, who placed tenth out of 42 countries and he was also participating at Sunday's tournament. He described the game as involving two four-member teams who compete against each other by tossing stocks with the aim of getting them closest to the target. The game differs from curling in that the target is not a fixed point. “The game is unique because unlike curling, the target moves throughout and the players have to be able to shoot left and right, long and short. Certain tactics come into play that give competitors more chances to outwit their opponents.”

Horvath said that he is aiming to make the game better known to all Canadians. “Canadians are well known players of games in all seasons so why not make ice stock an all-seasons sport? We play hockey and go ice fishing on the lakes so why not play ice stock out on the lakes in the winter months as well?” Horvath also said that the game is perfect for the whole family. “If you join a club, you can make up a team solely of family members of different ages so it is a great game if you want to spend time with the whole family and socialize with players of all ages.”

Karl Hammer Jr. said that another nice thing about the game is that you can play at any level you want. “Serous players can chose to compete at as high a level as they like or alternately, can choose to play just for fun.”

Over 30 players ranging in age from 11 to 70 plus and at a wide range of abilities participated in the Harrowsmith tournament. Anyone interested in trying out the game can join members of the Kingston and Area Ice Stock Club, who play regularly every Thursday on the tennis courts at Harrowsmith's Centennial Park starting at 6pm. Karl encourages anyone interested to come out and give it try. For more information email him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

People lined the main street of Verona for the Saturday morning parade marking the 20th installment of the Verona Cattail Festival on August 8 and 9.

South Frontenac mayor Ron Vanderwal opened the festival and congratulated all of the volunteers and sponsors who continue to make the event one of the community's biggest of the summer.

The festival is a much-loved community event that continues to attract locals and tourists year after year to the cattail-filled wetlands of Verona. This year’s theme was “Themes of festivals past” and fairies, birthday party goers, and bog-dwelling creatures of all shapes and sizes, plus many more made for a colorful start to two densely packed, fun-filled days.

Veteran festival emcees Debbie Lingen and Dick Miller awarded prizes and kept guests informed of all the events and activities taking place in and around the Verona Lions grounds.

Highlights included the landing on site of five parachutists from Skydive Gananoque, who thrilled the crowd by jumping from a small Cessna plane high above the festival grounds following the opening ceremonies. Each parachutist expertly hit their mark in a nearby field.

The 20-year anniversary was highlighted on Sunday with Georgette Fry and her soulful choir singing a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday and with guests enjoying a birthday cake generously donated by the Goodwin family in remembrance of long-time festival committee member Joan Goodwin.

Guests of all ages enjoyed educational games, activities and demonstrations indoors at Cameron’s Cattail Centre and this year the children’s activities were expanded to include a 60 foot bouncy obstacle course, a new climbing wall and old-fashioned fun like the new three-legged, stilt and sack race events for kids.

Also new this year were horse-drawn wagon rides along the K&P trail with a shuttle bus taking riders back and forth from the trail to the festival site.

The live entertainment is always a huge draw for weekenders and this year’s line up was hugely diverse, with offerings of rockabilly, blues, Celtic, jazz, easy listening and of course, good old-fashioned rock 'n roll. Performers included a number of local entertainers of all ages like fiddle wiz Jessica Wedden, local old soul country crooner Henry Norwood, and other notable groups like Turpin's Trail, Bauder Road, and Still Standin’

Over 20 vendors were on site selling a wide array of crafts, comestibles and more and the festival volunteers had their canteen running all festival long.

The most popular attractions that keep festival goers coming back year after year like the duct tape boat races at McMullen beach and the antique car show were also well attended.

Congratulations to this year’s parade winners who included Asselstine Hardware, The Casement family, The Youth Centre, Beau Mcilroy, and Lance Duerst.

Over 250 young paddlers from six different paddling clubs across Ontario competed at the Eastern Ontario Division Championships, which took place at Sydenham's Point park on August 8 and 9. The small but mighty Sydenham Lake Canoe Club hosted the event, which included competitors from the Rideau, Ottawa River, Carleton Place, North Bay and Gananoque Canoe Clubs. Most of the paddlers competing were aged 11-15 but paddlers as young as eight years old also took part.

It was thanks to a grant from the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation in the summer of 2014 that the Sydenham club was able to restore their course, making it once again a nationally certified one where these kinds of provincial qualifying events can take place. The event was the first of this summer’s qualifying events for the Ontario Championships, which will take place August 15 at the Rideau Canoe Club in Ottawa.

While the Sydenham Club is a considerably smaller club than most, with just six competitors ages 8-16, its members did amazingly well in their events. On Saturday George Willes and Sebastien L'Abbe placed second of 11 in their final K2-500M race. Matt Symons placed first in his K1-1000M race and his twin brother Nic placed third in the same event. Both will move on as direct entries as two of the top seeds in the division. On Sunday the Symons brothers placed first in their K2-500M race, crossing the line well ahead of the pack, which made for a very exciting race. Also of note was Ian Ramzy, who placed second in the K1-100M sprint and he will also move on to the Ontario Championships. Eight-year-old Parker Friendship, the club’s youngest competitor, competed for her very first time and did her personal best in her U11 event.

One of the reasons that this small but talented club does so well is because of the dedication and talent of their coaching staff. Head coach Cia Myles-Gonzalez, a former member of the club for nine years, has been coaching the team for two years now and currently competes as a paddler with the Balmy Beach Canoe Club in Toronto. She has recently qualified to race in two C1 events and two C2 events and in four war canoes at the upcoming Ontario Cup Three Championships in Ottawa on August 16. Gonzalez credited her team for being “dedicated and working very hard towards the event despite the challenges that come with being a small club”. Gonzales also spoke of the home club advantage, saying, “It really helps to know the lake and the course. Sydenham Lake can get really windy and our team has had experience with those conditions, which is an advantage”.

Assistant coach, 16-year-old Rhiannon Murphy is also a long time member of the club and a talented paddler in her own right. Rhiannon will be competing in three events including the K1-100, K1-200 and C1-6K at the national level at the upcoming Canadian Nationals, which will take place in Ottawa at the Rideau Canoe Club from August 25 - 29. Should she place in the top three, she will move on to compete internationally.

Helen Parfitt, vice-commodore of the club, credited Roger L'Abbe and the club’s sprint paddlers for working tirelessly setting up the course prior to the weekend’s championships and she thanked the 30 officials and the 30 community volunteers who helped to make the event run so smoothly. The event is not only an exciting day of racing for competitors, their families and supporters but also attracts between 500-600 people to the area, which is a great thing for economic development in the Sydenham area. Anyone interested in joining or learning more about the SLCC can visit www.sydenhlakecanoeclub.com or call Helen Parfitt at 613-376-6613. 

The annual seniors’ baseball game took place on August 9 at the Arden ball diamond. There was an enthusiastic effort from both teams and an exciting level of play. It is wonderful to experience the ability of a group of seniors who are able to make impressive plays in spite of the 60 to 80 years of wear and tear. The Arden team provided a barbeque after the game, which all enjoyed very much. They likely report the results as a tie. We were indeed tied in our sheer joy of playing. Credit goes to the Arden team who won the tightly contested game 27-24. The Cloyne Grey Jays return home to Wednesday morning practice and preparation for the next meeting of these two great teams. Thanks to Gord Brown and Don Patry for organizing the event.

This past weekend over 300 Miata enthusiasts in 155 of their favorite cars took part in the Underground Miata Network's tour of Quebec and Eastern Ontario on August 7, 8 and 9. The event was organized to help celebrate the Ottawa-based club's 20 year anniversary.

Mazda MX5s are those eye-catching, spiffy and sporty convertible roadsters, also known as Miatas, and they attracted a lot of attention as groups of them took part in a total of 35 different daily tours over the weekend. The tours included destinations like the Rideau Canal, Upper Canada Village, Montebello, Quebec and more.

There were 12 different touring groups that included drivers from clubs as far away as Florida, Texas, Indiana, Ohio, Rhode Island, Michigan, New York and Massachusetts, as well as Canadian drivers from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and the Maritimes. The tour was the largest event that the 186-member club has hosted since its inception in 1995.

Club president, Rolly Eeaulne, and vice-president Ron Staples said they expected 75 drivers to participate but were forced to cut off the numbers off when they reached over 300. Both gentlemen lunched on Friday at Sharbot Lake's Crossing Pub with their tour group number 10, who were at the half-way point of a 350-kilometre loop that began at Ottawa's Conference Centre, the central hub of the tour, and would take them after lunch to Merrickville along the Rideau Canal.

Sandra White, co-owner of the Sharbot Lake Country Inn, was more than pleased to host the participants and had arranged in advance with Eeaulne to offer the pub as a key lunch destination for the tour.

Eeaulne said that the scenery and roads in this area make for perfect driving conditions. “The roads like those up through Snow Road, Ompah and beyond are just perfect for the kind of driving we love. Lots of curves, (aka twisties) and great scenery.”

First produced in the 1990s, there are currently three generations of Miatas, all two-seater, sports car roadsters and all known for their superior road handling abilities. They also all boast convertible tops, either in soft or hard top models.

Vice president Rob Staples said “Though there are faster cars to drive, there is not a more fun car to drive than a Miata and nothing beats driving on these twisty, curvy roads with the top down, hearing the birds, smelling the country air and watching the gorgeous scenery go by.”

The tour participants covered close to 1000 kilometres over three days and had stellar weather for the tour. Judging by the turn out it will likely not be the last Miata club tour that will pass through these parts.

Anyone interested in joining the Ottawa club can visit www.ottawamiata.net. But be sure that you have the $20,000 -$45,000 that it will take to become a proud Miata owner.

President of the Parham Agricultural Society, Wendy Parliament, says interaction is the key principle behind this year’s version of the Parham Fair. “We wanted to plan an event where people young and old could enjoy trying their hand at farming activities.”

Friday night’s Opening Ceremonies include the Hay Bale Rolling Contest and the Cattle Calling Contest. The whole family can get in on the Pet Show and the Best Dressed Cowboy or Cowgirl contests.

Saturday is family day at the fair. Critter Corral will include ‘Moooonica’, a cow that teaches you how to milk her, from the Ontario Dairy Farmers. There will also be a children’s hay bale playground, lassoing games, horseshoe games, a giant corn-filled sandbox with farm toys, baby chicks and goats and a Petting Zoo of farm animals with free pony rides. Displays will encourage everyone to learn a little about today’s local farming practices. Extra seating in the shade will be provided to allow parents and grandparents to rest while the younger ones play in the Critter Corral barn.

The afternoon will feature Country Fair Games for kids “of all ages”. The ever-popular egg toss, pie eating, log sawing and nail hammering will be featured in front of the grandstand. Kids races, shoe toss, and sack races will take place in the Fair Games arena.

There is a “Unlimited Ride” program in effect for Saturday’s fair. This makes it easy for parents to outfit their family for a day full of midway entertainment. Coupons for ride bracelets can be purchased at local stores. Check the fair website for details.

The Exhibition Palace will feature displays of handiwork ranging from garden crops to works of art. Just outside the Palace the fair has added four new picnic tables to allow lots of room for people to sit down with meals and treats provided by the local churches.

There will be spectator sports as well. Friday night features the Horse Pull, Saturday morning the Cattle Show and Saturday afternoon the Miniature Horse Show and Lawn Tractor Races. Sunday afternoon the Demolition Derby returns. There will be concerts featuring local talent both Friday and Saturday night. Friday night “Old Habits” opens the evening and “HD Supply” shuts down the midway. On Saturday night “One Busted Ego” warms things up for “Shawn McCullough”.

This will be the Parham Fair’s 123rd year. For more than a century local volunteers have been working to highlight agriculture, horticulture and rural living in an event that brings the community together.  

This year’s edition of the Parham Fair is calling on you to share your creative side. The Exhibition Palace will be packed full of projects from canning preserves and baking, to needlework, paintings, sketches, pottery and photographs. Whether you’re a grandparent or a pre-schooler there are opportunities for you to share your passions.

The Palace is one of the most popular destinations at the fair. It provides a rare chance to share your own interests and to catch an eyeful of ideas for future projects. The colourful arrangement of home garden vegetables and flowers, beautiful photographs of local scenes and delicious smelling fresh baking brings olden days back to mind.

Participants bring their entries to the Parham Fairgrounds on Thursday evening, August 20th, between 5 and 8 pm. There is a $10 fee for adults to enter competitions – children’s entries are free. This gives you free admittance to Friday and Saturday’s events over the fair weekend. Volunteers organize the items and set them out for judging on Friday morning. By Friday evening the Exhibition Palace is open and busy with admirers!

There is a demolition derby for the mechanically inclined. Get that old car running again for a good smash dash in the derby ring.

All of the contests and other fair activities are outlined in the fair book available online through their website (parhamfair.ca) or their Facebook page (Parham Fair). There are also galleries of pictures from past fairs to enjoy. If you have some memorabilia from past fairs – trophies, silver plates, etc. – you might like to loan them to the fair board to display this year. They can be contacted through their website (parhamfair.ca).

Prizes for the various competitions range from a toonie to over $100 in gift certificates and prizes donated by local businesses. Last year’s top winner took home over $200 in prize money! This 123-year-old tradition is not to miss!

Over four hundred supporters of the Bobs and Crow Lakes Foundation attended the organization's annual fundraising event, the Frontenac Frolic, which was held at the Bedford hall near Godfrey on August 1. The foundation was established in 2005 and works in association with the Greater Bobs and Crow Lakes Association to “preserve and enhance the quality of the environment around both lakes for present and future generations” . It holds the annual event as a means of raising funds for various lake-related projects, either initiated by the association or by individual groups. These projects include aiding in the protection, restoration and maintenance of water quality, protecting fish and wildlife populations, encouraging the prevention of forest fires and water pollution, and encouraging water and water craft safety, as well as educating the public about issues affecting the quality of lake environments.

The Frolic as always included a cow flop bingo event in which Kim the cow, a five-year-old Holstein from Barr Farms, roamed a fenced off area on site. She took her time to do her business, which eventually landed a number of large cash prizes to three winners. Over 1600 tickets were sold for the bingo event. The event also included a bake and yard sale, an on site fishing pond and a petting zoo courtesy of West Winds Ranch plus a lunch of back bacon on a bun. There was also a stellar silent auction that included 20 items donated by members of the foundation and local area businesses. Up for grabs were original art works, a Stihl chain saw, two red Muskoka chairs, a telescope, gift certificates and more. For those who missed the Frolic, donations can be made out to the The Bobs & Crow Lakes Foundation and addressed to the same, care of Alexander Cameron, PO Box 482, Verona, ON, K0H 2W0.

The Frontenac minor hockey community invites you to be part of our 3rd annual Frontenac Minor Hockey Association (FMHA) “Rinks to Links” golf tournament. There are many ways to be involved, including sponsoring a hole, contributing a prize for the silent auction or individual prizes for golfers. Our fund-raising event will be held Saturday, September 12.

With your support, FMHA fund raising is keeping hockey affordable for over 400 children in our community. Over the past two years, despite the rising costs of operations, the Initiation Program (IP) Tyke registration fees were reduced slightly, and our league fees have remained the same in all other age categories. Rep team jerseys have been replaced and (3) five week sessions of power skating were available to players at an affordable price. All of this could not be possible without tremendous community support.

This year we are offering two types of sponsorship: the $200 Silver Sponsor will be presented on individual signage that will be displayed on the course tee blocks or greens, as well as on a large thank you signage board for display during the tournament and at Frontenac Arena during the 2015/2016 season. The $500 Gold Sponsor package includes the above sponsor signage PLUS a Big Box Web Ad placed on our website's homepage for the 2015/16 season!

Your day will be complete - tournament registration begins at 12:30pm with a 1:30pm shotgun start, lots of fun, followed by a delicious pork loin dinner, prizes and silent auction all for $100 per person.