The 24th annual Verona Car Show Sunday was the biggest ever, with 303 entries.

When show originator Ed Asselstine did his last one before handing the reins over to John and Julie Nizman, there were 171 entries. The very next year, that rose to 270.

“That was the big jump,” Asselstine said. “John brings in things like Party in a Box, the military displays, the firefighters demonstrations and the vendors in the building.

“The old car people feed on the vendors.

“But these are all things that make Verona special.”

“The best thing about this show is that there’s something for everybody,” said Julie Nizman.

One new thing this year was the addition of live music, in the form of ZC Top, who cranked out the ZZ Top tunes complete with beards and everything.

“The drummer’s an old buddy of mine,” John Nizman said. “But we couldn’t have had them without Revell Ford sponsoring it.”

And there certainly were a lot of vehicles, everything from sports cars, to trucks to passenger vehicles and even an old dune buggy.

When asked which one he liked best, Asselstine immediately mentioned a ’51 Chevy two-door hardtop, his own.

But, it didn’t take him very long to also point out a black Beaumont two-door hardtop, which he identified as a ’67.

It may have started out as a ’67 resto project, but it evolved into Jack Bowes’ personal dream car.

“I had one when I was 19,” Bowes said. “It was black with a red interior.

“But I wrecked it.”

Now some of you might remember Bowes as the guy who had a car repair shop in Glenburnie for many years.

So, when he wanted to put together the ride of his youth, he was faced with a formidable challenge.

You see, the Beaumont is somewhat rare. They were made by Pontiac but only sold in Canada. They were the counterpart to the Chevy Chevelle.

Regardless, there weren’t all that many of them around to begin with and putting one together wasn’t easy.

“I didn’t get a car, I got a trailer load of parts,” Bowes said of his pet project. “It took me 3 1/2 years to do and I would totally do it again.”

He said there are about six cars put together to make this one.

One of those cars came from John McDonald, who was also at the show.

“This is the first time I’ve seen it completed,” McDonald said. “Holy s...!”

But Bowes took a few liberties to put together his dream car.

The engine and drive train are from a 2000 GMC truck. The suspension and tires are upgrades and there are a few cosmetic additions.

“And gauges,” he said. “It wouldn’t have had all these gauges but I really like looking at them.”

This wasn’t his first restoration job however. In his 20s, Bowes worked on a lot of drag racers.

But this one was special.

“It was designed to be a retirement project,” he said. “And since I didn’t have a job, I worked on it all day, everyday.

“It was a lifesaver in the winter.”

And, he’s very pleased with how it all turned out.

“It’s a blast to drive,” he said. “My wife calls it ‘the Mistress.’”

By the way, at their wedding, Bowes and his wife rode in the rumble seat of Asselstine’s Model A.

Jack Bowes and grandson Boyce Bowes are all smiles in Jack’s one-of-a-kind Beaumont two-door hardtop. Photo/Craig Bakay

Ewe Can Knit in Verona was a busy place Saturday as Heather Woodward and her mom, Darlene Slack, host All Dyed Up and the Purlin’ J’s Roving Yarn Van for a “Mini Fibre Festival.”

It was the fourth year they’ve done this and it was the busiest yet.

“A lot of yarn shops in Kingston have closed,” Woodward said. “But a lot of people who used to go to them are coming out here now because they know we have good product.”

They do have a lot of things you won’t find anywhere else. For starters, there are literally thousands of colours of yarn, and it’s not just sheep’s wool either.

“People come to see what we have and discover new products as well,” she said. “We have cotton, acrylic, wool, alpaca, cashmere . . . we even have tree wool.

“About the only things we don’t have are are camel or yak.”

She said they cater primarily to knitters and crotchetiers but they have a number of rug hookers as customers as well.

“And it’s people from all walks of life,” she said. “There are even some guys.”

One aspect of having a fibre festival she also likes is that it brings people into the community.

“A lot of people have never been here before and we like to point out the other shops in town like Nicole’s Gifts and Local Family Farms,” she said.

For Woodward, the knitting has many attractions, but for her, it’s generally the finished product that gets her most excited.

“It’s nice that you’ve done something,” she said. “You’ve made it.

“And it’s so nice to give somebody a hand-knitted something.”

But she’s also attracted to the colours, and that’s something guest Master Knitter Deb White can attest to.

In fact, White is enjoying a recent bout of success with one of her own creations — the Ma, Ma, Ma, Verona hat (like a skater-boy toque), both in pattern sales and finished products. By the way, the name is easier to understand if you sing it to My Sharona.

“There are over 100 of these patterns out there,” White said. “It’s very popular on the yarn crawl.

“The thing is, no two ever turn out the same, regardless of the colours you use.”

Dan Desjardins welds old pieces of metal together to make animals, birds, flowers, etc.

And this past weekend, he made his art world debut at Art in the Sawmill, Verona’s summer visual arts showcase.

He’s a rookie at this, but like a baseball rookie, he had a veteran to whom he could turn for advice and guidance.

“Mac (The Pine Man) McCormac introduced me to this,” Desjardins said. “This is my first as an exhibitor but I was here last year with him, to see what it was like.”

Desjardins and McCormac go way back. Both were bus drivers in the Kingston Transit Service and retired about the same time.

Now Desjardins does have something else to put in the time during his retirement. He plays guitar in the Swift Kick Blues Band. The constructive sculpting came about as a bit of serendipity.

“The welding I do is mostly a hobby,” he said. “About a year ago, my sister asked me to make her a couple of figurines and it just sort of carried on from there.

“I’ll see something and say to myself, ‘I can make something out of that, like birds, turtles, masks.”

He said old pieces of metal seem to bring out his creative side.

“I like to create,” he said. “I’ll find a a piece of metal — or a shovel, and I envision what I can do with it.

“This is bringing out my artsy side.”

But early on in the show, he’s also finding another aspect he’s enjoying.

“I like to mingle and meet with people,” he said. “They ask me what’s going on and where I get my inspiration from.

“And this is a good starting point to find out what people are interested in.”

For those unfamiliar with the Fantasy In The Forest Art Show, it takes place every year in a mythical forest Kingdom somewhere down Draper Lake Road, allegedly in the Township of South Frontenac.

But for two days every summer (this was the 24th annual), this part of the Township magically teleports to another realm, one presided over by sculptor and King Jamie Brick.

“We have 86 artists this year (in 75 booths),” he said. “We had 60 last year.

“The bigger it gets, the harder it is to manage (but) I guess we’ll have to do something for next year (the 25th edition).”

One thing they did manage to vastly improve this year was the parking situation. For this year, they secured a location just where Draper Lake Road meets Norway Road and operated a shuttle bus every 15 minutes to take guests back and forth to the main location. Big improvement.

The limited parking around the actual site was reserved for exhibitors and food vendors.

One person who didn’t really know how much the parking situation had improved was The Tape Man, Jeff White. This was White’s first ever show/sale.

“Well, I did do a couple of Christmas craft shows at the school,” he said. “But nothing’s like this.”

White, a storyboard artist by trade (he worked on the Canada-France co-production remake of Belle and Sebastian among others), creates fantasy characters by first constructing a wire frame and then building it up with masking tape. He then applies an acrylic gel as a preservative.

“I like dragons and wizards,” he said.

He met Brick at the Originals Fair in Ottawa last December.

“I was just there looking for someone I could relate to,” White said. “I saw Jamie and we started talking.

“Next thing you know, I’m spending the last six months getting ready for this show.

“But even if I don’t sell anything, at least I’ve got my Christmas shopping done.”

(For those who might be interested, White is related to Plevna musician Bill White. Jeff’s dad, Don, is a member of the band Grateful We’re Not Dead and is Bill’s Cousin.)

On the other end of the spectrum, Ron Tremback and Patti Robertson of Solar Woodcuts have been coming to Brick’s world almost since the very beginning.

“It’s been at least 15 years,” Tremback said. “We go back to when there were only 12 booths down by the lake.

“The artists were billeted at cottages around the lake and we were billeted on an island. You couldn’t do that now.”

Tremback said he’s been doing this full time for 28 years now and has raised four kids in the process.

Fantasy in the Forest is one of his favorite shows and he has every intention of returning.

“You never drop a good show for something else,” he said. “The grass is not always greener.”

He said he enjoys seeing the same people every year.

“When we stop doing shows, we lose a lot of friends — and we don’t even know who they are,” he said. “Your booth attracts people of similar consciousness and that gives me hope for humanity.”

Inviting the world to your home and business may not be everyone’s idea of a good thing to do, but after the past four years, George Conboy pretty much takes it all in stride.

Last weekend, visitors from all over made the trek north on 509 to Bell Line Road for the annual Maple Weekend, put on by the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association.

Along with his wife, Darlene, and a host of offspring and grandchildren, Conboy runs Conboy Maple. Down Bell Line a piece, Mel and Joyce Conboy run Oso Sweet Maple. They’ve all been doing it for generations.

And they seem to honestly enjoy showing people how it’s done.

“I look forward to it,” Conboy said. “It’s hectic, but it’s good for business — sales.

“I’m glad I got rid of all the snow (around the sugar shack) and put down some extra gravel (for parking etc).”

Every year is different, he said. And like any farming-related activity, they’re at the mercy of Mother Nature.

“We didn’t have much warm weather until last week,” he said. “But the syrup is excellent quality this year, all light.

“It may not be an exceptional year but I think it’s a good year (and) we’re still looking at a few more good runs, for sure.”

Conboy said they started tapping the last week in February and were done a week later.

“That’s more normal,” he said. “The last couple of Februarys have been colder.”

But really, what determines a year’s maple syrup production tends to be the summer before.

“The experts told us that with defoliation, there’d be a low sugar content,” he said. “They were wrong.

“You need lots of sunshine and sufficient rain (in the summer) so that that the trees produce more sugar.

“The year before last, it was wet and the sugar content was down to about 1 per cent.”

And while area public works managers may be bemoaning the freeze-thaw cycle’s affects on their roads, it’s just what the maple syrup producers need in late winter.

“As far as southwestern Ontario, the season’s over,” he said. “But here, we might just get a couple of weeks yet.”

Conboy said that maple syrup has become more popular in recent years.

“Maybe it’s because it’s a healthier sugar than the refined sugars,” he said. “But it’s also local and people seem to like the experience of coming out to the sugar shack.

“The media and everybody seem to be on board with it.”

And he’s OK with it becoming a popular hobby. People making their own doesn’t seem to affect his business and he sees it as a positive.

“The hobbyists are keeping the equipment dealers in business by buying evaporators and gear,” he said. “But once they find out how much work is involved . . .”

But hobbyist or just a fan of maple syrup, maple weekend brings people out.

“It’s been at least as good as or better than last year,” said Darlene. “We’re seeing a lot of new faces.”

On Sunday, March 11 at 2:00 pm the Clan Hannigan is performing at MERA. This is an intergenerational family band based out of Baltimore Ontario that takes traditional Irish music and blends it with elements of Jazz, Pop, and other folk traditions, to create a unique high energy sonic soundscape.

Steafan Hannigan and Saskia Tomkins have been mainstays on the traditional Irish and world music scenes for the last thirty plus years working with acts like. Uriah Heep, Loreena McKennitt, Olivier Schroer, Julian Lloyd Weber, Bjork, Depeche Mode, Martin Carthy, Sin É, LinnTilla, The Afro Celt Sound System, The Chieftains and countless others. Since they moved to Canada in 2007 they have started collaborating with their three children Oisin, Eile & Ayisha and thus Clan Hannigan was born.

TICKETS: available at Tickets Please in Perth, 613-485-6434 or www.ticketsplease.ca

Santa and Mrs. Claus came to Sydenham on Saturday the 25th of November. The little bit of rain sure didn’t dampen the spirits of those who lined the streets to see them arrive.

The floats were fantastic, lots of smiles and laughter to be had and many memories made. Thanks to all those participants who helped to make the parade a success.

Parades this coming weekend
The parade season hits high gear
this weekend. There are parades
on tap in Harrowsmith, Sharbot
Lake, and Northbrook at 10am on
Saturday, December 2; in Denbigh at
6pm on December 2; and in Parham/
Tichborne at 1pm on December 3rd.
For a complete list of events this
weekend, visit the event listings on our sister site: Frontenac Live.

Last Saturday, Grandmothers by the Lake brought four local and very different music groups and one pianist together for a sold-out eclectic evening of music. The first performance was, appropriately, Log House Rhythms, a group of five playing powerful compelling West African based rhythms on Djembes and Dun Duns. Then Toute Ensemble, three well-known local flautists Anne Archer, Debbie Twiddy and Melanie Fyfe, played a broad range of chamber music. Carpe Musica came next: self described as an eccentric mix of three saxes, a trumpet, a trombone and a bass ukulele, they wound up their set with the New Orleans jazz classic “Just a Closer Walk”

During the breaks between sets, sixteen-year Noah Pedersen played the piano and sang, with a skill far beyond what one might expect from a person who first began piano two years ago.

Shout Sister, a 25-member women's choir was the closing act, with a wide range of popular songs. They are a group who get together for the joy of singing, and welcome new members at any time.

After the concert, audience and performers and performers met in the church hall for cookies and coffee.

The evening was a fundraiser by the “Grandmothers and Grandothers” who are committed to helping those in Africa who have been left to raise grandchildren orphaned by the HIV/AiDs pandemic. All of the performers donated their time.

South Frontenac Rides is a two year old initiative dedicated to promoting cycling in South Frontenac. Without a lot of fan fair or funding it has been promoting safe cycling, the trails system as a cycling venue. Although cars and trucks and ATV’s are the common vehicles of rural life in Ontario, South Frontenac Cycles has been able to make cycling to work a viable option for a segment of the population. And thanks to promotional efforts and the bike stand project recently completed by Sydeham High School students, the face of the township as a cycle friendly place will dovetail nicely with efforts to promote the trails system now that there are three trails (Cataraqui, Rideau, and K&P) running through the township.

In each of the last two summers South Frontenac Rides held Tour du South Frontenac events in July. This year, in the early spring volunteers began meeting with a group that has been promoting sports on the Sydenham Lake for decades, the Sydenham Canoe Club.

Since then other groups and individuals have come on board and as a result the first edition of the Sydenham Lakes and Trails is upon us.

The Point Park is the ideal location for the event, which takes place shis Saturday (July 15 )  from 10am-2pm. The Park is conveniently located in downtown Sydenham on the lake, within metres of the Cat Trail. It has been the home to large regatta’s in the past (and again this ugust) and hosts the Sydenham Triathlon each summer.

Lakes and Trails is a great opportunity for experienced and inexperienced canoeists and kayakers to get out on the lake. A 5km guided canoe trip sets out at 11:00 am, but the route is open at other times as well, the Kingston Dragon Boat Club is hosting instruction and paddling at 10:30, 11:30 and 12:30.

Thanks to the efforts of the Sydenham Canoe Club and Frontenac Outfitters, boats and instruction will be available at the Point for those who can’t bring their own.

Members of the Cataraqui Canoe Club will be leaving the boat launch at Wilmer and paddling to the Point for a paddle by late in the morning.

For cyclists, there are 3 routes set out for a morning cycle, starting at 10:30am. They are 21, 32, and 44km rides and will be guided as well. Also there is a cycle skills course being set up, and bike repair and helmet fitting clinics throughout the 4 hour event.

For those who prefer to stroll through history to more athletic, cardio raising events, a historic tour of Sydenham is also on the agenda. 4 local historians (Ginny Trousdale, Peer Hamilton, Christine Kennedy and Joanne Ankers will be located at strategic points in the village to talk about crucial events and industries from Sydenham’s past. Maps will be available at the registration table in the Park.

The Kingston Frontenac Public Library is also contributing oversized jenga, chess, checkers, snakes and ladders, dominoes and tic tac toe for kids to play with on the lawn between the ball diamond and The Point.

From 11:30 to 1:45 a free BBQ will be available, capping this entirely cost free event for local residents and visitors alike.

For further information, go to lakesandtrailsfestival.org

Don Bates drove the Official Pace Car of Canada Day at Centennial Park in Harrowsmith.

Franny & Beebs, hosts of the popular YouTube/Facebook phenomenon In the Breezeway, showed up all the way from Cobourg to be in the parade and headline the show at Oso Beach.

Patriotic Flag Wavers signing O Canada, on top of the lookout between Palmerston and Canonto Lakes in North Frontenac!

Preparing the cookie decorating table (Sunbury)

Although rain put the damper on half of Maberly’s Pie in the Sky event, Anne Thomlison, Mary Lou Pospisil, Sue Munro and Marlene Ambler presided over the sale featuring “at least 100” (Photos - Craig Bakay and Wilma Kenny)