There was something for everyone at this year's 7th annual Frontenac Heritage Festival, which ran from February 15 to 18 and included a plethora of events in Central Frontenac put on by various community groups. The festival was moved to Family Day Weekend this year in the hopes of attracting out of town visitors as well as the local community. The festival attracts roughly 1200 people every year.

The breakfast kick off on Friday opened with a blessing by Chief Doreen Davis and included a presentation by Wayne Harris about the history of the K&P Trail. The Strong Women Drum Circle performed along with students from St. James Major Catholic School, who sang the national anthem.

Friday's highlight was the evening variety show at St. James Major Hall in Sharbot Lake. It opened with a wide variety of local musical talent, courtesy of the Center Stage Café House Band; Renee, Dan and Alyshia Richard of Arden (with 16-year-old Alyshia demonstrating her promise as a young and upcoming original country music talent); and second time to the stage, local crooners Rob and Nancy Moore with their selection of mellow covers.

Headliner Roger James, a Detroit-born comedian who worked for years alongside Nancy White in the Three Headed Trio, tickled the funny bones of the capacity crowd with his musical comedy. He demonstrated his prowess on guitar, banjo and bodhran drum, and his clever and witty antics poked fun at the metric system in his tune 500 Kilometers. His interactive show delighted the crowd and he easily managed the two young hecklers in the front row.

On Saturday at Oso Hall the Sharbot Lake Farmers Marketeers offered up their wide range of goods and services along with numerous heritage displays, including quilting. The Crow Lake School House as usual was a popular destination both for busloads of local school students, and a handful of brave young winter campers who experienced a night of winter camping and typical pioneer life. Other heritage enthusiasts enjoyed numerous heritage displays, including hand-made heritage guns and other implements courtesy of Bob Miller; an upholstery demonstration by Josh Amlin; rug hooking with Sandra Moase; spinning & weaving by Beth Abbott; soaps and knitting by Kathy Martin; tomahawk tossing with Mike Procter; and on the menu, hearty turkey soup, apple pie and samples of fresh goat cheese. Visitors were also treated to the festival's special campfire-cooked Crow's Feet donuts.

Photo above:  members of the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market, Janet, Pat, and Mary at Oso hall with festival chair Central Frontenac Mayor and market and festival enthusiast Lyla Duggan.

Photo below:  at the Crow Lake School house l-r, Earl Bain, Peter Boudreau, Bob Miller and Laura Michels handle locally made heritage guns.

Polar Plunge

Photo: ballerina Jen Farnum was a graceful plunger

On Sunday over 100 people gathered in the -20 degree temperatures and a fierce biting wind at the Sharbot Lake Marina to witness dozens take the Polar Bear Plunge to raise funds for the Child Centre, the Sharbot Lake High School council and the Alzheimer's Society. Since the event's inception plungers have raised over $20,000 for a number of local community groups and causes.

Antique lovers got their fill at Dr. Bell's historic log home on the Fall River Road where Gordon Wright from Kennebec Lake entertained visitors on banjo and bagpipes, and a young bonneted and aproned Tilda Bron served up home-made biscuits. Visitors had a chance to explore Bell's amazing collection of heritage antiques and implements. The second storey of the house was open this year and a tour through it revealed four large bedrooms, each boasting interesting pieces, including a quilting frame, numerous settle beds or beggar's benches, as well as examples of typical domestic art pieces mounted in shadow boxes. One, an intricate hair wreath, was made from human hair.

Bell was pleased with the turnout and said he is happy to open the home to visitors. “I have a passion for old things and the old way of life and I think there's kind of a universal attraction to it. You can see people's faces light up when they are here and you can see the place and antiques grab them.”

Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski initiated the festival seven years ago and she continues to act as chair. She was pleased with how everything came together this year. “This is one of the few events where we have the participation of the whole of the township and beyond. Our goal with the festival is to make it a self-sufficient, community-driven event and we have been very successful in achieving that, thanks to all of the community groups who recognize the event as a way to fund raise and to create awareness of what they have to offer.”

Winter Fun on Kennebec Lake

Members of the Kennebec Lake Association made a sunny section of the lake a destination for family fun on February 16 as part of the 7th Annual Heritage Festival. The second annual event gave local residents a great excuse to get out on the lake and to enjoy some snowshoeing and skating on a rink that volunteers had prepared a week before. Volunteers not only supplied the snowshoes, hockey sticks and pucks but also offered up a hot snack of chili and hot chocolate. Back by popular demand was association member Howie MacKenzie's famous home-made fish chowder, which boasts five different types of fish including shrimp, basa, scallops, salmon and clams- it alone was more than enough to attract visitors to the Kennebec event, which is fast becoming a popular one for local residents during the Frontenac Heritage Festival weekend.

The Heritage Festival's Family Run/Walk

Photo: The family relay winners, the Pickard family with Mayor Janet Gutowski.

The Heritage Festival's Family Run/Walk was held on the Sunday, Feb 18. The results are: 2K Walk/Run (First Local Trophy given by the Rising Bun): Male - Ben Lusk; Female - Annika Putnam. 5K Walk/Run (Trophy given by the Heritage Committee): Male: Kyle Kinkly-Dale; Female: Sarah Armstrong. 10K Walk/Run (Trophy given by St. Lawrence Employment Centre): Male: Jim Steele; Female: Anne Marie Carter-McAuslan. Family Relay 10K (Trophy given by Oso Rec Committee): The Pickard Family - Lesley, David, Sam, Ben. There were over 50 participants and $400 was raised for Fitness stations on the Trans-Canada Trail

The Frontenac Fury Bantam girls were tournament champions in Ottawa last weekend. In games against Kanata, Burlington, Cornwall and Ottawa the girls were perfect in five games. They won 1-0, 7-0 and 4-3. Then they won 3-2 in a thrilling overtime semi final game to get to the A championship game, where they won 4-1 against a tough Kingston opponent. Reliable goaltending, strong defence and timely scoring were again the keys to a Fury win. The win caps a successful tournament run: the girls won two out of the three tournaments they entered this year, and finished second in the other. They represented the community and the Fury organization very well, garnering few penalties and many compliments about their hard but fair play from opposing coaches and officials alike. They made their coaches proud, again.

Over 150 people gathered at the Frontenac Arena in Piccadilly for third annual day of family fun in the winter sun on February 18. Visitors were treated to a free BBQ and a number of games and rides that kept youngsters entertained through the morning and afternoon. There was a constant group waiting for Norm Garrison of Parham, who offered horse drawn wagon rides. Kids won an assortment of free prizes as they snow shoed, ice fished, tossed bean bags, frisbees and rings, and rolled hula hoops, while others opted to climb the 8-foot snow banks surrounding the grounds. Inside the arena volunteers from all of the South Frontenac were invited to enter a draw, and the winners won gift certificates to Local Family Farms and Blossoms, two local area businesses who generously donated the prizes for this year’s draw.

The event was organized by Dan Bell and Pam Morey of Harrowsmith, who enlisted the help of a crew of dedicated volunteers. Bell said the event “is a great friendly, free event for everyone in the area and encourages people to get outside and have some fun. We are Canadians after all .. and the winter season offers up a great opportunity for everyone to enjoy the great outdoors.”

Changes coming to local waste site

Waste Management Supervisor Kyle Labbett brought a number of updates and proposals to a meeting of Central Frontenac Council this week (February 12).

First, he informed Council that as of February 1st the township's recycling program has expanded. The township now accepts most forms of styrofoam, including cups and flat styrofoam trays, as well as plastic grocery bags, bread bags, wood pellet bags, etc. All recyclable materials must be cleaned.

This expansion of the recycling program comes on the heels of the release of recycling results in 2012, when the township went to a clear bag system for waste. Cans and plastics were up 29% in 2012 over 2011 and mixed fiber (paper) recycling was up 15%.

A further change is coming to the recycling program, since Council approved the recommended purchase of large, 40 cubic yard recycling bins to replace the ageing 16 yard bins that are currently in place. Buying the new bins is tied in with setting up hauling contracts with a private hauler to transport them.

The entire cost of the purchase of the bins and a new compactor is prohibitive, $200,000, but according to a report from the Waste Management Committee, because of more efficient operations over 10 years there will be a savings, and over 15 years the township will not only have paid back the $200,000, but will be ahead by another $184,000.

Council gave the Public Works department its approval to seek proposals for bins, a compactor, and a hauling contract.

Labbett proposed that Council enter into a contract for a hazardous waste recycling day on July 20 from 9 am to 2 pm. The estimated cost of the one-day event is $30,000 and last year the township received a rebate of $26,000 from Waste Diversion Ontario. Council approved Labbett’s proposal.

Council also gave the go-ahead to establish year-round dump hours of 8 am to 12 noon, and 1 pm to 5 pm, eliminating summer and winter dump hours.

Arden dump site to formally close – Although the Arden dump has not accepted any waste since 2007, it has technically been in limbo, and it has a limited amount (600 cubic metres – about 30 dump truck loads) of potential dump space available.

But the costs involved in re-opening the dump in order to make use of that space is prohibitive.

“It will save us money to forego the 600 cubic metres and go through the steps to formally close the dump,” said Labbett. Again, Council concurred.

After dealing with all the waste matters, which took over an hour to work through, Public Works Manager Mike Richardson said to Council – “I promise not to bring Kyle with me the next time I bring a report.”

Let’s not be so easy on CP, says Richardson

Mike Richardson commented on a proposal by CP Rail to put in a signal stop at the railway crossing on Eagle Lake Road. In a letter to the township, CP said that the federal government is cutting back on subsidy money for these kinds of projects.

Under the system that applies until now, the government would cover $219,000 of the $273,00 cost, with the township paying $34,000 and CP $20,000.

With the change the Feds will only pay $136,000 and they recommend that CP cover the difference, bringing their cost to over $100,000.

Not wanting to spend that kind of money, CP is asking Central Frontenac to double their commitment, so both Central Frontenac and CP would pay $68,000.

“CP rail would be happy if we said yes to this but I think we should be a little bit miserable with them over this,” said Richardson.

He suggests that the township go to the County or to the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus to seek support from others in the same position, and Mayor Gutowski said she will indeed bring the matter forward to those bodies.

Road allowance for habitat – The township's lawyers, Cunningham and Swan, have agreed to waive their fees to stop up and close a road allowance for the proposed Habitat for Humanity project on a lot on the east side of Road 38 just north of Tichborne. Council agreed to waive their fees as well to help the project along.

Recreation guide to go ahead – Council agreed to pay $1,500 towards the production of a Central and North Frontenac Recreation Guide for 2013, an increase from the $900 they contributed in 2012. The increased cost came about because Northern Frontenac Community Services backed out of the guide, which is produced by the Frontenac News.

CF Budget target set

After listening for two days as department heads went through their budget requests, Central Frontenac Council has asked the interim CAO Cathy MacMunn and Treasurer Michael McGovern to make some cuts to the proposed budget and bring the document back to council. The target that council set was for the overall budget, including education and county rates, to stay within a 2.5% tax rate increase. With the average property seeing an increase in assessment of 2.73% this year, that would mean the average Central Frontenac ratepayer would end up with an increase of over 5% in their 2013 property tax bill.

The preliminary township budget that McGovern presented to Council called for an increase of $700,000 in the levy to ratepayers for local services, and he will have to cut about $280,000 to get to the level that Council is asking for. Council expects to finalise their 2013 budget later this month.

Township planner to pay the price for budget shortfall

Central Frontenac has employed the services of Tunnock Consulting ever since the township came into existence in 1998. The township pays Glenn Tunnock a small retainer of $2,500 each year so that he will handle all planning work that comes forward from local residents and developers for zoning bylaw and official plan amendments, site plan agreements, etc. The fees charged to applicants cover Tunnock's fee for completing the work. Glenn Tunnock has also written the township’s Official Plan and Comprehensive Zoning bylaw and the updates to those documents as well, and he charges the township for that work.

With an official plan review scheduled for this year, Council is now reconsidering their relationship with Tunnock.

As council was going over the budget for planning in their 2013 budget, Mayor Gutowski said, “There is a way to save money here. There is $16,000 in the budget to pay Glenn Tunnock for an Official Plan Review. If we switch to the County for planning services, there will be no charge for the review.”

Council's interest was piqued.

“Could we just have the County do the Official Plan Review, and leave everything else as it is?” asked Councilor Norm Guntensperger.

“I'm not sure that we can pick and choose,” said Gutowski. “The offer to do all of our work for free was part of an offer to take over the entire service.”

“I move that we have staff investigate having the county do our planning, so we can cut $16,000 from our budget,” said Guntensperger.

The motion was carried, setting the stage for a change.

The Frontenac County Planning department already provides service for the Township of Frontenac Islands and has an open offer to take on the work from North Frontenac Township, which also uses the services of Tunnock Consulting.

Frontenac County has two planners on staff, and their salaries are covered through county-wide taxation.

South Frontenac Township, which saw $30 million in new construction activity in 2012, has its own in-house planning department.

The volunteers at the Ompah library had satellite internet service reinstalled last week, to replace the federal government’s CAP program, which ended last year. It has now been reopened in memory of John Conrad, who was a great help and friend to many people in their computer frustrations. The library group made the financial commitment to a two-year contract, believing that internet access is an essential service, especially for low income residents, summer residents, and tourists, many of whom were thankful for the site when CAP was funding it. The termination of the CAP program was a huge loss to small sites in rural areas like ours.

The Kingston Frontenac Public Library was also using CAP, but, being funded by Kingston and Frontenac County tax dollars, has reallocated resources to continue internet service. In addition, North Frontenac Township covers the salary cost of the public internet student assistants in Plevna and Cloyne branches. The Ompah library has enjoyed a lot of support, from the township for the use of the building, from Mazinaw-on-Line for much technical and financial support, and from donations by patrons and friends. Based on that support, and with the funds generated for full-time wireless access, the Ompah library group has made a big commitment for internet service for the next two years. As ‘The Little Library that Could’ – we think we can, we think we can- make it work.

The volunteers invite the community to come in, meet their neighbours, enjoy a fine book and DVD collection, and use the internet for free during winter hours - Wed. 10-12, and Sat 12-2. For a nominal fee, wireless access by password can be purchased. That access can be used anytime outside the library and lasts for 3 months from its first use or until the time limit is reached, a worthwhile investment for regular users.