Lovers and growers of the ever popular “Stinky Rose” (a.k.a. garlic) descended on the Verona Lions grounds for their annual garlic festival on Sept. 5, which this year included 55 vendors offering up everything garlic, from seeds, single and braided bulbs to flavorful spreads, jellies, and much more. The event attracted upwards of 1500 visitors, who wasted no time in sampling and loading up on the bounty of vendors from as far afield as Manitoulin Island and London, Ontario, though local growers from Kingston, Bath, Verona, Harrowsmith, and Enterprise made up the majority of vendors.

The annual event is run by the Verona Lions and has become increasingly popular over the years and as always, numerous growers competed in the Eastern Ontario Garlic Awards at the festival. The judge this year was Ann Babcock of Harrowsmith, a long-time Ontario Horticultural Association qualified judge. She was assisted by Heather Lebeau of Carleton Place.

Bill Kirby of Harrowsmith, who specializes in a rarer variety of garlic called Yugoslavian Gold, won the overall champion award and was presented the $100 prize donated by the NFU's Local 316. Kirby is one of the only growers of that variety in Eastern Ontario, which he described as “a beautiful bulb that grows to a large size and tastes fabulous both raw and cooked. It has a potent flavour due to its high level of allicin, the compound in garlic directly associated with its health benefits.”

Denis Craigen of Newburg, who has been growing organic garlic for family and friends for five years, participated for the first time this year. He won the second place reserve champion trophy and its $50 prize donated by Local Family Farms in Verona. His selections included varieties of Siberian Fire, Red Russian, Artichoke, Music and two Rocambole varieties. He said his win this year will likely see him return at next year’s festival.

Local garlic guru Paul Pospisil, editor of The Garlic News, Canada's only newsletter solely devoted to everything garlic, spoke at the event on the subject of cooking and storing garlic. “I often speak on how to grow garlic and since everyone these days seems to know how to grow it, I decided to speak this year about cooking with garlic because not everyone knows how to eat garlic”.

He said that the entire garlic plant is edible including its early spring leaves, which he said, “are delicious in salads, omelets.” He mentioned of course the edible scapes and the bulbs, but also the smaller white roots of the plant, which contain lots of oil and are also very flavorful.

Asked about the challenges to growers, Pospisil said this year's growing season was one of the worst. “A late spring robbed the garlic of three weeks of growing time, which resulted overall in smaller, shorter, plants with fewer leaves and generally smaller bulbs.” Then a subsequent cold period with frost also set back the plants, as did the later heat waves in the season. Rain and heat at harvest time also posed problems and created fungal diseases that resulted in crop loss. As a result, the bounty this year was overall smaller than usual, but that did not seem to affect the crowds and sales at this year’s festival, where growers were selling their harvest hand over fist. Those wanting a taste of Bill Kirby's winning Yugoslavian Gold can visit his farm at 625 Colebrook Road near Harrowsmith.

Garlic enthusiasts will be pleased to know that a brand new book titled “Ontario Garlic: The Story from Farm to Festival”, published by The History Press in July, 2015 is now available for those interested in how attitudes towards the stinky bulb have changed.

Toronto author Peter McClusky spent a year and a half digging deep into hundreds of years of archival material to write the book, which explains how garlic arrived in Ontario, and how the attitude towards it has drastically changed over the years. He cites the changes as the result of changing immigration laws in Canada in the 1970s. “At that time people arrived in Ontario, brought their cooking with them and with that... their love of garlic. Up until then we were a mostly Anglo-population with an Anglo appreciation of garlic that was not only very conservative but actually quite negative”.

McClusky gives examples of these negative attitudes in the book. One was taken from the minutes of a teachers' meeting from a school near Sudbury in 1928 where the teachers there were considering if they should be allowed to send children home who smelled of garlic and who in the end decided to do so.

In another example he tells of a woman he interviewed who lived on a farm in small town in Ontario in the 1940s, whose parents were Ukrainian and how she loved to put on a dress and sing. Her one and only opportunity to do so was at her Sunday school but the Sunday school teacher told her she could do so only if she stopped eating garlic. “Imagine what kind of attitude that would put in this little girl's mind and the mind of her parents.”

In the book McClusky looks back further to 10,000 years ago and explains how garlic came from central Asia. He describes how it arrived here and how it was both popular and reviled at the same time. The big turnaround came, as previously mentioned, in the 1970s. “As people in Ontario became exposed to new cuisine from other parts of the world, they realized that this cuisine often included garlic as an ingredient and so their attitudes began to change”.

McClusky also cites changing attitudes towards garlic using a sociological and anthropological perspective and in the book explains that certain experiments show how human taste actually works. “What we think of the taste of something can often be quite different from its real taste and this occurs often from a negative association we may have or may have inherited.”

McClusky, who is from Toronto, had a booth at this year's Verona Garlic Festival and was selling and signing copies of his book. He has been growing garlic near Toronto since 2009, has interned on a farm, and also founded and runs the Toronto Garlic Festival, now in its fifth year. He said he is interested in promoting not only Ontario garlic but also other locally grown produce in the province. “People should get away from only thinking about the price of locally grown food and consider more how good it tastes and how is it is being grown by farmers right in their own back yard”.

McClusky definitely did his homework in his effort to arrive at “a deep understanding of garlic.” He interviewed 150 people for the book, including farmers, chefs, gardeners, older residents, and scientists. The book also includes maps, illustrations plus 40 recipes, many by famed Ontario chefs, with more obscure recipes that include desserts like ice cream and brownies. As well it has tips on growing garlic and information about its medicinal qualities. McClusky said he is very excited about the positive response he is getting to the book, which he said is likely due to the fact that he wanted to write a book that he himself would like to buy and read. The book is available in book stores and online at Indigo and Amazon.

Heather Woodyard, who has resided in Verona for just three years, never expected that she would enter the retail business. But as the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens.

It was a lack of jobs in her specific field of study that led Heather to open Verona's newest yarn store, called Ewe Can Knit. Heather returned to school at Loyalist College in Belleville to become a community and justice services worker, but after graduating with a diploma in 2012, she and her 90 other fellow graduates got the news that the Kingston penitentiary would be closing, which meant that hundreds of students would be vying for fewer jobs.

After having no luck at landing a job in her field, Heather decided to create work for herself and was determined to “do something that I love and am really passionate about”. She looked to the past and the years she spent in Toronto working at Lewiscraft, where she had learned to knit and crochet, pastimes that she continues to be very passionate about. “After coming to Verona I realized that there is nowhere between Kingston and Perth to buy knitting and crochet supplies so I decided to open up my own shop.”

The store is located at 6667 Highway 38 in Verona just next to Verona Convenience and it fronts onto Walker Street. The 650 square foot store is bright and airy and has ample parking. Inside, Heather is busy unpacking supplies that have just arrived, and a long stretch of shelving across one large wall displays a veritable rainbow of coloured yarns. She stocks a wide variety of yarns and wools including two major classic lines, Paton's and Bernat and also offers everything from sock and baby yarn to bulkier yarns as well. She sells merino wool and alpaca blends, and will also be carrying fine hand-dyed yarns from Fleece Artist and Hand Maiden of Nova Scotia. Along another wall hang a wide assortment of knitting and crochet needles as well as a variety of patterns designed for hobbyists at various levels of ability.

While Heather said that she has received “a lot of positive response” on her current inventory, she added that she is happy to order other items that customers might want. “I know that people like different things so I am happy to stock different items that customers might request.” Heather has future plans to also offer a variety of all-ages knitting and crochet classes in the near future.

Though the store officially opened on Tuesday, August 4 and is currently open for business, Heather is planning a special official grand opening on Saturday, Sept. 12 from 10am - 6pm. Guests will be able to enter a draw for a gift basket and cake and refreshments will be served free of charge. The store is currently open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am - 6pm and on Sundays from 11am - 3pm. For those who have never knit or crocheted, Heather encourages them to give it a try. “It's a lot of fun and an excellent hobby to start. If I can do it, having taught myself, I am sure that anyone can learn.” For more information call 613-374-3000.

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.

Owners of the Verona Convenience and Greco Pizza on Road 38 in Verona, Anil and Azmina Velji, wish to thank the local Verona and area community for their support for a 10 kilometre fundraising walk the couple took part in in Ottawa on May 31.

The Veljis, who moved to Verona from Calgary in May 2014 and who have been participating in the World Partnership Walk Canada for over 20 years, were thrilled with the local support they received, which saw them raise close to $1,000 to help fight global poverty. “Being relatively new to the community, we were a bit nervous soliciting people for donations for the walk, but we were so thrilled with the warmth, support and generosity people showed us,” Azmina said when I interviewed her by phone earlier this week. “Not only were we able to spread awareness about the foundation and the good work they do, but we felt that the local community really trusted us, which has really meant a lot.”

This year was the 31st annual installment of the world-wide fundraising walk, which is run through the Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC), a non-profit development agency whose goal is to find sustainable solutions to ending global poverty by focusing on improvements to health, education, and rural development while also strengthening community organizations and educating new generation of girls and women in developing countries in Asia and Africa. The walk was started in 1985 in Vancouver when a small group of women, most of them immigrants from Asia and African countries, decided they wanted to raise funds to give back to the impoverished native communities they came from. They encouraged 1000 other walkers to join them and that first walk raised $55,000 in donations.

In just over 30 years since it began, the walk has raised over $90 million for international development programs and initiatives run through the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, and in 2014 close to 40,000 walkers in 10 Canadian cities took part, raising $7million. In addition to 100% of the donations going directly to the foundation, the donations also enable the foundation to leverage further donations from major sources like the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. Currently AKFC funds more than 30 development initiatives in a dozen countries, which have been recognized by the Canadian government as having long-lasting positive effects.

In Azmina's words, the foundation “aims to show people living in poverty how to fish by giving them the tools they need instead of just giving them fish.” The Veljis strongly feel that they too are happy to support local area causes, thanks to the trust they have been shown by the community.

For more information about the Aga Khan Foundation Canada and the World Partnership Walk visit www.akfc.ca

Ninety-five golfers participated in this year’s Southern Frontenac Community Services’ annual Family & Friends Golf Tournament, where 24 teams took to the greens to enjoy 18 holes at Rivendell Golf Club in Verona. The event, now in its seventh year (the fourth consecutive at Rivendell), is the organization’s single biggest fundraiser of the year. This year’s tournament was organized by long-time SFCS driver volunteers, Dave Linton and Bill Hartwick, along with Jennifer Linton, a past board member and founder/current coordinator of the SFCS food bank. Although the weather on July 17 was a bit wet, that did not stop the participants from enjoying a fun and relaxing day on the greens, which concluded with a delicious ham 'n all the fixings supper, and prize presentations. No less than 26 local businesses sponsored the event, along with seven corporate sponsors, including RBC Sydenham and the Investors Group, both of whom offered hole-in-one prizes of $15,000 and $5,000 respectively, though neither was won at Friday's event.

Dave Linton said that the tournament is truly a “team effort” and that “the SFCS staff and volunteers really stepped up to the plate and helped to get the word out there”. Linton said he was pleased with the turn out and with the generous support received from sponsors and participants.

All tournament proceeds go toward supporting programs and services for seniors in South Frontenac and rural Kingston and Linton believes this is a big reason for the tournament being so successful. Services provided benefit not only seniors, but also their families and care givers. The Adult Day Program is a huge example of such a service. In fact, the Adult Day Seniors contributed to the golf tournament by placing items in gift bags - a meaningful task that saved the organizers hours of work. Each golfer received one of the gift bags.

As a social event, the annual tournament provides a venue where family and friends can take time out to share laughs and stories, and simply enjoy each other's company, and the day. Linton said that organizers have always gauged the degree of enjoyment by participants according to the degree of noise generated, and at the end of the tournament, the noise generated in the banquet room was deafening... truly a bonus reward for the organizers.

Wayne Conway, past president of the Verona Lions and the current director and chair of the Verona Lions Jamboree, said that not much has changed since the annual fundraiser began 64 years ago. Guests from near and far return year after year to attend the annual event, one of the Lions’ biggest fundraisers of the year, which ran from July 9-11 and included a midway, numerous games of chance, mini golf, bingo and food and beverages prepared on site at the Lions canteen.

This year the organizers were promoting their new waste recycling management system, which was adopted by the Lions from the annual Cattail Festival and involves all of the garbage being brought to one central recycling station where it is processed and sorted. Conway said the system has dramatically decreased the amount of garbage being generated at the event. A number of student volunteers assisted at the waste management center. Great weather made this year’s event another successful one for the local Lions.

Everywhere in the Sydenham High School catchment area, the communities are still reeling from the car crash that happened on Rutledge Road at 10:45 at night on June 16.

The crash took two lives and left Verona teen Tyler Parr in a fight for his life, a fight he is, thankfully, starting to win.

In the village of Verona, where Parr and his best friend Kevin Grant, were raised, it's as if a fog rolled in as news spread on the following morning, a fog that has lingered. Kevin Grant, from Bellrock, and Abigail Sutherland, from Kingston, both died as the result of the accident.

When police informed Carl and Laura Grant on that terrible night that they needed to go to Kingston General Hospital (KGH) right away, they picked up Tammy Parr on the way. That's how the families were connected, through their own family ties and the friendship that their sons shared.

Tyler and Kevin lived the life of country teenagers, hunting and fishing and playing sports whenever and wherever they could. Kevin helped out at his family's dairy farm, and Tyler was about to interview for a job washing cars at Revell Ford's the day after the accident took place. They were in grade 11 and looking forward to the kind of summer adventures that only 16-year-olds get to experience.

Now the Grant family is struggling with having lost Kevin, and the Parrs are still camped out at KGH as Tyler starts a long physical and emotional recovery process that won't end in days or weeks, but will take months and years.

The family is more than grateful for the efforts of the staff in the ICU at KGH. At one point the hospital had been planning to move Tyler to Toronto, where there is some extra equipment available for damage that had been done to Tyler's lungs, but his condition improved and the KGH staff were committed to following his recovery through from the life-threatening state he was in when he arrived, towards stability and eventually to the rehabilitation stage

The village of Verona has changed over the years. People don't gather together as often as they did in the past. It could be because people travel more for work, or work longer hours, or because instead of meeting for coffee once in a while, people send dozens of texts to their friends each week. The events of June 16 have changed all that for the time being in Verona

At a fundraising ball tournament on June 26 to raise money for medical and rehabilitation costs for the Parr family, an event that was initiated by a high school friend, people gathered in large numbers, raising spirits as well as $6,000.

Online fund raising campaigns have raised even more money (see www.gofundme.com/xdt4H9w), where $24,000 has been raised thus far.

More than that, people in Verona are taking solace in community these days. They are still conducting business, still carrying on old rivalries, but there is a camaraderie as well, as they think about the unbearable loss of the Grant family and the mix of hope, pain and anxiety over the future that is the daily reality of the Parr family.

There was a sign up at Verona Hardware last week: “God help our community” it said.

As for Tyler Parr's condition three weeks after the accident. His father Larry said on Tuesday, “Tyler is having a good day today. He is waiting for another orthopedic consultation for his arm. He is still quite tired but did go outside for a little while today. Our family is still very cautiously optimistic and he is improving all the time.”  

A capacity crowd breakfasted and networked at the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation’s (FCFDC) Annual General Meeting at the Verona Lions hall on June 18.

Board chair Jan Dines introduced the organization’s board, staff, and committee members as well as the attending dignitaries and guests speakers. Following the elections, Dines let the numbers speak for the organization, whose mandate is to provide business counseling and loans to support small business growth, which they continue to do successfully.

In the past fiscal year, 2014-2015, a total of $1,232,751 in loans was dispersed, the most ever for the organization, and that included 29 new loans. These loan values have increased by 17.36% in the past year, and the impact from the loans on jobs has been substantial. Last year they created 14 new full-time jobs, five new part-time jobs, and maintained an additional 72.

Dines spoke of the organization’s recent new partnerships with Launch Lab, Futurpreneur and St. Lawrence College. She spoke of the FCFDC's strategic plans and how these strategies continue to be met by supporting local businesses, vibrant communities, tourism and accommodation, awareness of services offered and FAB (the food and beverage region).

Following Dines’ talk, a number of guest speakers who have benefited from support from the FCFDC made presentations. The first was Ian Stutt of Patchwork Gardens, a certified organic farm and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) business located in Battersea. Loans from the FCFDC enabled Patchwork Gardens to purchase new equipment, build new infrastructure, and to explore marketing and branding to grow the business, which supports two families. Ian gave a history of the farm and its growth since he began farming in 2004 and he thanked the staff at the FCFDC and board members for their ongoing support over the years. Cindy Cassidy, manager of the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance and Anne Marie Young, manager of economic development with the County of Frontenac, spoke about the FCFDC loans that have supported local trail development throughout the county.

Lastly, Scott Runte of Launch Lab, a provincially funded regional innovation center that provides business advice and support to entrepreneurs throughout Ontario through 17 centers, spoke about how the organization, in partnership with the FCFDC, assists entrepreneurs. Launch Lab is all about entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs and staff work one on one with new businesses owners, helping them to grow and succeed. Runte spoke of the often lonely and difficult road that new business owners face and how Launch Lab can offer much needed support and advice when they are just starting out.

Wrapping up the meeting were a number of presentations made to board members leaving the organization, after which the guests had an opportunity to mingle and network. For more information about the loans and other support services that the FCFDC offers, visit www.frontenaccfdc.com or call 613-372-1414.

Verona Lions Club will be hosting the 64th Annual Verona Lions Jamboree at the Verona Lions Centre, 4504 Sand Road, from July 9 to July 11. Starting on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, canteen and rides will open at 5pm. The bingo pavilion and other Verona Lions’ activities open at 6:30pm. Once again this year the Bingo Pavilion will have one grand prize bingo game worth over $100 during each evening. The Verona Lions Jamboree Raffle will be drawing three prizes, one each evening. The first draw will be on Thursday at 10pm for a prize worth $400. The second draw will be on Friday at 10pm for a prize worth $600. The final draw will be on Saturday at 10pm for a prize worth $1000. Tickets can be purchased from any Lion member, Mom’s Restaurant, Asselstine Hardware and Verona Hardware. Established in 1949, the Verona Lions Club is a non-profit organization. Funds raised go to programs for the blind, hearing, diabetes and also for many local needs.