It’s Official – there is a fellowship of the pig and it lives in Central Frontenac

They are not likely to chase a strip of bacon over the edge of a cliff into a fiery abyss, but that does not mean they are not committed to their quest.

It all started way, way back … well back in 2012. Michael McKenzie of Seed to Sausage held a party on Victoria Day weekend to mark the opening of a summer outlet for his fresh and dried sausage factory on Road 38, halfway between Tichborne 0and Sharbot Lake. He called the event the “Day of the Pig” and that first year a lot of people showed up, many of them from Toronto and Ottawa. You could tell the ones from Toronto from the black, tapered skinny jeans and ball caps that the men were wearing. The Ottawa attendees were cooler than the locals, but not by as much.

It got bigger each year, and eventually McKenzie decided to transform it from a party to a food festival and it was held at the Sharbot Lake beach, with support from the District 3 Rec Committee, in 2017. That was the only year when weather was a factor, but even with an entry fee of $20, a pretty good crowd attended.

Seed to Sausage then entered into some major retail ventures in the Greater Toronto Area and McKenzie decided not to run the festival at the beach in 2018, and almost canceled the Day of the Pig entirely, but ended up holding a stripped-down version at Seed to Sausage this past May. He told some friends that he was thinking of calling it quits, not because he did not enjoy the event but because he did not have enough time available to pull it together.

Those friends decided that the Day of The Pig was too well established and had too much potential as a local food event and a tourism draw for a community like Central Frontenac to let go of, so they began to meet. A new location, a plan of attack, and a set of responsibilities emerged over a couple of meetings, and the Fellowship of the Pig was born. Slowly, word slipped out about the fellowship, but they have remained a mystery until they emerged this week, in an unlikely place.

On the agenda of the final Central Frontenac council a meeting of the decade, at the tail end of the agenda package, item 16, under ‘Oher business’ it says: “Day of the Pig – that council receive the information and presentation from Councillor Heese regarding the Day of the Pig event.”

Councilllor Heese, it turns out, is a member of the formerly secretive fellowship.

And on page 142 of the agenda package there is a letter which reveals all of the members and something about their plans and how the township fits in.

“The members are Mike McKenzie (Seed to Sausage), Brian Wilson (Orbital Talent Inc.), Rob Moore (Cardinal Café), Ken Fisher (Sharbot Lake Business Group) and Victor Heese (Township Councillor). This group, informally called the Fellowship of the Pig, has met 3 times to begin planning for next year’s event (meeting notes included). Although it is still early in the planning process, we envision the upgraded Day of the Pig to be a Food and Beverage event with various artisanal food, beer, wine and distilled beverage vendors displaying their products. There would also be demonstrations by well known chefs, a pig roasting contest, and entertainment for all ages throughout the day.”

The group is seeking that council make the Day of the Pig a Central Frontenac event, and “appoint the group as a township committee either as a committee of council or a sub-committee of the Central Frontenac Rec Committee.”

This would set the stage for the township to provide various “in-kind” donations to the Day of the Pig, such as inclusion in the township insurance policy, free use of the Parham Fairgrounds, and access to other resources such as “fencing, barricades, tables and chairs, etc.”

The township is not expected to provide any financial support and the Day of the Pig is to be run as a not-for-profit event, although it will include vendors, including Seed to Sausage, who will sell their product as part of it.

Council decided to take on the Day of the Pig as a committee of council, using the precedent of the Frontenac Heritage Festival as a model for how to set up the relationship.

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.”

Saturday … in the park … I think it was the 20th of July.

With apologies to Robert Lamm, there wasn’t a man selling ice cream but there was a ton of other stuff going on at The Point in Sydenham Saturday for the 3rd Annual Lakes & Trails Festival.

“We’re here today because they like doing things outdoors,” said “closest to an organizer as we get” Ross Sutherland. “And it’s a fun festival for kids.”

Sutherland said the underlying purpose of the Lakes & Trails Festival is three-fold.

“First, it’s a celebration of our natural beauty,” he said. “Second, it’s a celebration of our active lifestyle.

“And (third), it’s about our history and bringing it all together in one place.”

And that’s exactly what they did.

Natural History wise, displays from the Frontenac Arch Biosphere and Reptile and Amphibian Advocacy provided information and a platform for their interests.

“I think it’s very well organized with lots of activities and a great location,” said Julie Servant, executive director of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere. “We’re a community organization ourselves so anything the community does is important for us.

“And it gives us a chance to tell you we’re having a Trails-Fest ourselves, Sept. 28 at Charleston Lake Provincial Park.”

And trails figured prominently on this day as well.

“We’ve had about 40 do the cycling trip with about a couple of dozen doing the 21 kilometre long bike route around the lake,” Sutherland said. “And the dragon boat out there has been quite popular.”

The South Frontenac Museum had a booth set up and there were walking tours of historical Sydenham.

“We even have Wallace’s local roast beef and portabello mushroom sandwiches,” Sutherland said. “Surprisingly, that turned out cheaper than hot dogs and hamburgers would have been.”

For the past six years, Randal and Darlene Doner have been inviting people to their home/studios down at the eastern end of Washburn Road.

It’s right on the Rideau Canal system, Brewers Mills Lock to be exact, and the studio is the old grist mill from which the lock presumably takes its name.

The Doners form a rather artistic family. Randal is a metal sculptor. Darlene makes jewelry. Daughters Rachel and Miranda are art consultants. Son Luke does corporate interiors and his wife, Katie, is a painter and commercial artist.

And they have a lot of friends who are also very artistic. So, it should come as no surprise that they invited about 50 of them to come and be part of the 2019 Doner Studio Art Festival last weekend.

The grounds are more spacious than they might first appear and it took a good hour to wander around and see everything. Painters, sculptors and artisans of every stripe were on display and there was a steady crowd of visitors making the rounds.

“We used to do a lot of art shows since 1996,” Randal said. “Then we got to an age where we wanted to slow down a bit — we haven’t slowed down much.”

In 2003, the Doners were visiting his parents on Easter Weekend. They were looking for something just like the mill.

“We went to look at it and I said ‘we have to buy this right now,’” he said. “I was prepared to give them the asking price but the real estate agent convinced us to put in a lower bid because it needed a lot of work.”

It was work his dad, an artist himself, was prepared to do They moved in in 2003.

While the art and music was the main attraction of the event, there was also a pleasant surprise on hand for visitors that ventured into the old mill itself.

Keith Kiell, who ran the mill for 25 years while his father, Jeff, owned it.

At 92, Kiell may have slowed a bit, but his memory is sharp as a tack.

“He’ll talk your ear off,” said Darlene.

He did.

“This is my wife, Evelyn,” he said. “We’ve been married for 70 years and so far, we haven’t had one argument.”

What about the mill Keith?

“Oh, McBroom owned it and my father rented it,” he said. “At one time, it provided the first electricity to Gananoque.

“I started running it in March of 1944 til 1968.

“We used to grind grain for the farmers using a thirty-horse, 550 volt electric motor because the water rights had been sold. That motor wasn’t big enough and it took a lot of maintenance.”

And that’s not all he did.

His father ran a grader for Pittsburgh Township, as did Keith (“for 27 years”).

“In 1942, I got a job on the survey crew that was mapping out routes for the 401,” he said. “I’m the last man standing from that crew.

“We planned out a route from Gan to Kingston and it almost went right through the heart of Kingston.

“They changed that to north of the city.”

Loughborough Lake Holiday Park (LLHP) owner Del Vezeau is ecstatic over Mr. Justice Hurley’s rejection of South Frontenac Township’s request for an injunction on music concerts and weddings at the park.

“I’m pleased, yeah,” Vezeau said after receiving written conformation of the judge’s ruling last week. “I love the way this guy (Hurley) writes.”

The Township had sought an injunction on concerts and weddings at the park, contending that they contravened its zoning bylaw.

One such concert is the annual Canadian Guitar Festival that brings world-class acts to the Township and one that Council has supported in the past.

Hurley made the following “declaration.”

“I do not believe that an injunction in the terms sought by the applicant (the Township) is appropriate at this stage. The impugned functions have been irregular and there is no allegation that (LLHP) has failed to comply with the bylaw in any other way.

“South Frontenac has supported the Canadian Guitar Festival and it appears that the neighbouring landowners do not object to it. If I was to grant the injunction requested by South Frontenac, this event could no longer take place. The municipality is free to decline an exemption under the noise bylaw for it but I do not want to, in effect, tie its hands by issuing a permanent injunction at this time.

“This does not mean that an injunction would not be granted should (LLHP) contraene the bylaw in the future or fail to abide by the declaration I have made. If that happens, South Frontenac will be at liberty to bring another application or seek a contempt order.”

“The way I read it, as long as I don’t turn this place into a mini-Woodstock, I’m good to go,” Vezeau said. “And I’m not going to do that.

“I don’t want to do anything different than I have been. This is a campground first and while music is recreation, this was never going to be a concert hall in a field somewhere. Without the campground, I have no business.”

Vezeau said the park has a rule that all music shuts down at 11 p.m. whether there’s a concert on or just around a campfire.

“This (action) has cost me money but I’m not bitter and I’m not smug about winning,” Vezeau said. “I just want to work with the municipality and I hope this doesn’t turn into some acrimonious feud.

“I’d like to sit down with Council and discuss how to do business in this township.

“I may even run for Council in the fall.

“I knew I was right but I wasn’t sure I’d win.

“Group hug.”

The Township declined to comment on the matter.

Frybread has been around “ever since we’ve been around,” says ‘Frybread Queen’ Carol Anne Maracle.
And this year, the Queen brought her court to the 22nd Annual Silver Lake Powwow for the first time.
“My grandmother had her recipe, my mother had her recipe and I’ve taken parts of both to make my recipe, to get it the way I wanted,” she said.
For those unfamiliar with the cuisine, frybread is just what it sounds like — a type of bread that’s fried instead of baked.

It’s deceptively simple, essentially a type of dough that is fried in oil. But getting it just right is a matter of much trial and error, she said.
“I use flour, baking powder and water,” she said. “And then fry it in ½ inch of canola oil.”
The result is something quite unique and somewhat difficult to describe.
Essentially, it’s a bun, the size of a very large hamburger bun, but it really isn’t a hamburger bun. It’s fried on the outside, but soft on the inside and kind of like an English muffin, but it isn’t really that much like an English muffin either.

And then then there’s a flavour to it  . . . again, it’s kind of unique.
You can eat it with just butter (recommended) or with jam, and/or peanut butter, or whatever your favourite spread is.
Or, it does make for a unique sandwich.

“When we started, we made just the bread,” Maracle said. “But then people started asking for butter, and jam.
“And then they started asking for fried baloney and pea-meal bacon, other meats. So we started offering that also.”
Whatever it is, it works. Maracle, who’s from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory,  has been in the catering business for 30 years but in the last 10, she’s found a niche travelling around to powwows all over — Toronto, Ottawa, New York State.

“This is our first time here but we’re booked every weekend from June through September,” she said.
When asked if there was a secret ingredient she neglected to mention that makes it taste so good, Maracle did come clean.
“It’s the love I put in it,” she said.