| Feb 15, 2017


“Everything is falling into place” for the 11th annual Frontenac Heritage Festival this weekend, says organizer Janet Gutowski.

It looks like even the weather will be cooperating with partly sunny skies and temperatures around 0 degrees forecast.

“For the past two years, we’ve hit the coldest weekend of the year,” Gutowski said. “Even to the point of having to reschedule the Polar Bear Plunge.”

And speaking of the Plunge, it’s back on Sunday at noon where costumed plungers will jump into the frozen Sharbot Lake down at the marina to raise funds for Community Living, Connections Adult Learning Centre and the Central Frontenac Volunteer Firefighters.

Things get underway Friday afternoon as Gutowski, town crier Paddy O’Connor, Debbie and Doug Lovegrove will be going around to various businesses and organizations dressed in period costume to award prizes.

Those prizes, along with those for the snow sculpture contest will be awarded at the opening ceremonies at the Granite Ridge Educational Centre at 6:30 p.m. with a performance by the Limestone North Young Choristers.

Then, at 7 p.m., things move upstairs at GREC for Frontenac’s Got Talent, the annual variety show (admission is a donation to the food bank).

“(Variety show producer) Rob Moore’s enthusiasm for the variety show is amazing and there will be plenty of ‘variety,’” Gutowski said.

Things really get going on Saturday, with a variety of events all with heritage themes including Bavarian Curling in Tichborne with the Kingston Area Ice Stock Club (noon-2 p.m.), an open house at Peter Bell’s restored 19th Century log home on Fall River Road (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), Lion’s breakfast at Oso Hall followed by an open mike, a ‘romp & stomp’ at the Child Centre with kids events, the caboose in Sharbot Lake will be open, a host of events at the Community Centre in Arden including the popular fur-traders camp reenactment, wolf creek carvings, displays by the Kennebec Trappers Association and Historical Society, the Arden Potters Empty Bowls Project, horse-drawn wagon rides and finally the chilli cook-off at the Legion.

On Sunday, there’s the aforementioned Plunge, followed by chili on a bun at the Sharbot Lake Legion and the popular Tryon Farm visit on Wagarville Road from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Parking is at the Parham Fire Station with a free shuttle every 20 minutes. There’s also a movie for kids at Oso Hall at 1:30 p.m., The Good Dinosaur. Sunday evening wraps up with a performance by Harry Manx at The Crossing Pub in Sharbot Lake.
On Monday, there’s the annual Heritage Walk/Run at 1 p.m. Register at Oso Hall.

And something else that will be running on Saturday that Gutowski’s really looking forward to is quilt displays. Participation and interest was such that they had to arrange four venues to accommodate all the quilts.

“It will be at the Sharbot Lake United Church, the Sharbot Lake Anglican Church, the Arden United Church and the Masonic Hall in Sharbot Lake,” Gutowski said. “I think with this being the 150th Anniversary year for Canada, there’s been a lot of interest.

“The vast majority of quilts are heritage but even the newer ones will have something special about them that will show what we have in our hearts.”

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