A Canadian Pacific Railway sign was stolen last week from Railway Heritage Park in Sharbot Lake. The enameled steel sign in the shape of a shield and beaver, approximately one foot wide, was attached above the door of the storage shed belonging to the Central Frontenac Railway Heritage Society. The person responsible for the theft would have had to climb a ladder and remove several screws.
The sign was noticed missing on Saturday, August 12, but exactly when it was taken is not known. Its location had been mentioned on the "Kick & Push Sharbot Lake" Facebook page on Friday, August 11, and there is some speculation that this led to the theft.

The shields were originally used in the 1940s and 50s on the cabs of the CPR's large steam locomotives and in passenger cars. This example was donated to the CFRHS in 2001, through the efforts of Russ Hoas who was the CPR's Road Manager in Smiths Falls at the time. It was mounted on the shed near the caboose museum in Railway Heritage Park in 2009, and is one of many rare and valuable railway artifacts being preserved by the CFRHS for public enjoyment and education. A similar sign was sold to a private collector in an online auction recently for $1400.

Virgil Garrett, of Sharbot Lake, has opened up his home this year as his bit for the Central Frontenac Canada 150 celebrations. He has been showing and talking about his 9 grandfather clocks (which he built) as well as the 101-year-old Model T he has in his garage. His goal was to have 150 visitors by the end of the summer. Last week, he hit 150, and had now reached 154. He is still accepting visitors, but call first in case he is out and about. His phone number is 613-279-2286.

The other milestone is a collective one. Three years ago, Jim Macpherson started up a weekday evening outdoor jam in the summers. They met at the caboose in the railroad park at first, eventually switching to the beach. Last fall, Jim was with Craig Bakay, one of the regular jammers, when the two came up with the idea that this summer the jam would be restricted to Canadian songs until 150 were sung. Participants in the jam, starting in late May, took on the challenge, and prepared songs by well known and obscure Canadian artists alike to bring to the Wednesday night jams. By mid-July 129 Canadian songs had been sung, and then came a snag. It rained two Wednesdays in a row. However, last Wednesday, August 9, it looked like a go until a torrential downpour hit at 6:50, ten minutes before the jam was to start. The rain ended however, and the jammers gathered on the covered stage and began, a little over two hours later, they played song # 150, “Ahead by a Century” by the Tragically Hip. The entire list of songs is posted on the Facebook page Flash Jam 150. Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell had a few songs each, and there were selections by Hank Snow and Wilf Carter, and a larger number by Neil Young. The most popular songwriter had at least 15 selections by my count, and that was Gordon Lightfoot.
“It really is amazing how many great songs Gordon Lightfoot has written,” said Macpherson.

The largest crew of musicians and audience ever gathered at the jam came out last week to hear the countdown to 150, over 30 people in all. The jam continues on Wednesday nights until Labour Day, and songs from anywhere will be the order of the day.

Organizers of the summer long Central Frontenac Canada 150 celebrations have been working with staff at Frontenac County on a trails event for Sharbot Lake as a celebration of the completion of the K&P trail between Lake Ontario and Sharbot Lake. It turned out that the Trans Canada Trail is celebrating Canada 150 on August 26, and there was funding available to put on events. It seemed like an ideal opportunity to mark the long anticipated, hard fought for, completion of the K&P Trail between Lake Ontario and Sharbot Lake, bringing the trans Canada Trail through Central and South Frontenac.

Unfortunately, while construction on that final stretch has begun and the County of Frontenac has agreements in place for all required parcels of land along the rail bed, in some cases the completion of the necessary paperwork to transfer ownership has taken more time than expected. The official opening of the final stretch of the Frontenac K&P Trail from Tichborne to Sharbot Lake has been delayed until the trail is closer to completion.
Still, Sharbot Lake will be a hub of trails activity next Saturday, August 26. The gathering will be one of more than 200 celebratory events planned in Canada from coast to coast to coast. The event in Sharbot Lake will be held in partnership with the Trans Canada Trail and the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance.

“I am especially looking forward to this event as it will bring all the various user groups together to celebrate our trails. I encourage everyone to come to Sharbot Lake and be part of it,” said Richard Allen, Manager of Economic Development for the County of Frontenac. “The volunteers who have been running Canada 150 events in Central Frontenac have been doing an amazing job all year and their involvement in this event makes me look forward to it even more,” Allen said.

The event will include a participatory element with opportunities for different trail user groups to be involved. Members of the Napanee and District ATV cub will be gathering at the Kaladar Community Centre at 9:30, to take a trail ride on the Trans-Canada trail to Sharbot Lake. Also at 9:30, cyclists are asked to gather at the caboose in the Railway Park in Sharbot Lake for a 26km ride. Less adventurous cyclists can gather at the Canada bench on the causeway south of the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team at 12:15. At noon, walkers are asked to gather at the trail crossing at Road 38 in Sharbot Lake. All groups will gather at the caboose at 12:30 when the festivities will start. The gathering will eventually proceed to Oso beach for music, food and games.

The best way to plan your participation is by visiting the website of the Central Frontenac Canada 150 Celebrations Committee at https://www.cfcanada150.ca/k-p-trail-day.html.
To date, the completed section of the Frontenac K&P Trail stretches the length of roughly 40 kilometers between Orser Road in South Frontenac and the village of Tichborne in Central Frontenac. The last time a section of the trail opened was in November of 2015 when it was extended from Verona to Tichborne. That 20-kilometer section includes bridges over White Creek, Elbow Creek and Fish Creek.

The Frontenac K&P Trail is open to a variety of user groups including hiking, biking, skiing, horseback riding and snowmobiling. And, contrary to more southern parts of the trail, the section north of Craig Road, just north of Verona, is accessible to motorized vehicles year round. While many trails in eastern Ontario require a permit for ATVs, that is not a requirement on the Frontenac K&P Trail between Verona and Sharbot Lake.

When completed, the K&P Trail will also serve as an important link in the Trans Canada Trail, which enters Frontenac County near Arden, connects to the K&P Trail and exits the County to the East towards Smiths Falls via the Cataraqui Trail.

They are swimming across Sharbot Lake for the 9th time! The Procter sisters: Katie, Theresa and Becki,are going to be at it again. On the morning of Saturday, August 19, 2017, the group will swim approximately 3km from the docks at Sharbot Lake Provincial Park to the Oso Township Public Beach. The swim is estimated to take 1.5-2 hours to complete. They will be arriving at the OSO Township Public Beach around 11:00am, and hope to see you there! They are raising funds to support the fight against cancer. The money they raise will help the Canadian Cancer Society fund lifesaving cancer research, offer vital information on cancer, provide compassionate support services to people living with cancer and their families, and advocate for healthy public policies. With public support, they have raised more than $13,500 in the past eight years! To donate on line go to http://convio.cancer.ca/goto/hopeswim2017cancer.ca/goto/hopeswim2017 or donate in person at Rural Frontenac Community Services (formerly NFCS) in Sharbot Lake.

The Frontenac Five, events you should not miss in August, have been posted. This month they include The Wolfe Island Music Festival, which runs this coming weekend – August 12 and 13, is the first one on the calendar, check wolfeislandmusicfestival.com for details. The following weekend, August 19 and 20, the Parham Fair is featured. See Parhamfair.ca for more.

Ongoing events this month include the Godfrey Sculpture Park, see Godfreysculpturepark.ca for more, and the Thursday Night Battersea Porch Sessions, different musicians each Thursday all summer between 6:30 and 9:30 at Holiday Country Manor. Rounding out the list is the K&P Trail day grand opening on Saturday August 26 at the trailhead in Sharbot Lake.

For the full Frontenac-Five experience, go to Frontenac-live.ca/events/frontenac-five.

Royal Canadian Legion Branch 425 has been having Friday night suppers for many years now. The suppers have ranged from roast beef, spaghetti, roast pork, and the list goes on. Over the years our amazing and dedicated cooks have of course gotten older and are not able to do it anymore. These Friday night meals have been a night to sit down to a great meal, to visit with friends we haven’t seen for a while, and to catch up on all the old and new gossip.

Well, the time has come for new cooks to ‘belly’ up to the stove and show off their cooking skills. There are usually three to a team and of course one should be the ‘team leader’. If you are interested in hosting one Friday night or more, please contact Bob Olmstead.

Please consider, we really need your help if we are going to continue with these Friday night suppers.

It was rather quiet in the meeting room of the United Church in Sharbot Lake Saturday, despite there being quite a number of people there.
The reason for the silence is that everyone seemed to be reading.

They were reading stories about area women, 150 of them to be exact, stories that were written by local people who either knew the women or were descendants of them, and this was the brainchild of Dianne Lake for a Canada 150 project — 150 years, 150 women, 150 stories.

There is a book (a few copies are still available) but the quests on Saturday were reading from recipe cards.
“This is a trip down memory lane,” said Ann Walsh. “We’ve (the MacPherson clan) been here for eight generations and this is amazing.
“I’m learning so much about people I knew as a child.”

Lake set the process of gathering the stories and then it sort of took on a life of its own.
In the end, she had 114 people submit stories about grandmothers, mothers, aunts, you name it.
“I enjoyed almost every minute of this,” Lake said.

The first story in the book is Myrtle Law, Lake’s mother-in-law and the last (150th) is Susannah Minerva Wagar, who was born on Oct. 5, 1867.
“It took me eight cemeteries to find someone born 150 years ago but we found one,” Lake said.
Along the way, they collected stories about five midwives, one chiropractor, several nurses and teachers.
When they had collected 150 stories, they stopped.

Lake said the focus on women seemed appropriate.

“I could find a lot of information about the men in the area,” she said. “But not so much about their wives — and I knew all the wives had stories.”

Dock permit clarity, water quality issues and the lake partner program, electricity pricing and the seasonal resident designation, invasive species, engaging younger people in lake associations and quantifying the economic impacts of cottagers in rural Ontario were just a few of the items on the agenda as the Sharbot Lake Property Association held its annual general meeting at St. James Major Saturday. Since this meeting was at the end of a two-year cycle, there were elections for the entire executive. However, despite there being 222 paid members, all of the executive positions were filled by acclamation and one, secretary-treasurer, remains open.

The new executive includes, Ken Waller, president; Guy MacLeod, vice-president; Barbara Fradkin, environmental issues coordinator; Robert Patten, Barb McIssac, members-at-large.
New president Waller said that the organization’s constitution allows for the executive to appoint a member for any executive vacancies.

Fradkin, who remains as environmental issues coordinator, said there have been 16 adult and 10 baby loons in the East Basin; 10 adults and three babies in the West Basin and two adults with two babies in Elbow Lake.
There were anecdotal reports of an increase of algae in the East Basin. Fradkin responded that “I have not seen any algae in the West Basin and there are reports of zebra mussels thinning as well.

Glenburnie, Ontario – A ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Frontenac K&P Trail is planned for August 26 at Railway Heritage Park and Oso Beach in Sharbot Lake. The event – also a Canada 150 celebration – will be held in partnership with the Trans Canada Trail and the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance. Construction on the final stretch of the Frontenac K&P Trail north of Tichborne is underway and the County of Frontenac has agreements in place for all required parcels of land along the rail bed. While construction is underway, users are urged to refrain from accessing the trail between Tichborne and Sharbot Lake until further notice. The County of Frontenac will continue to issue updates on progress made on the trail. To date, the completed section of the

Frontenac K&P Trail stretches the length of roughly 40 kilometers between Orser Road in South Frontenac and the village of Tichborne in Central Frontenac. The last time a section of the trail opened was in November of 2015 when it came up from Verona to Tichborne. That 20-kilometer part includes bridges over White Creek, Elbow Creek and Fish Creek. The Frontenac K&P Trail is open to a variety of user groups including hiking, biking, skiing, horseback riding and snowmobiling. And, contrary to more southern parts of the trail, the section north of Craig Road, just north of Verona, is accessible to motorized vehicles year round. While many trails in eastern Ontario require a permit for ATVs, that is not a requirement on the Frontenac K&P Trail between Verona and Sharbot Lake. With the completion of this project, the K&P Trail will also serve as an important link in the Trans Canada Trail, which enters Frontenac County near Arden, connects to the K&P Trail and exits the County to the East towards Smiths Falls via the Cataraqui Trail.

The St. Lawrence Employment Centre Bantam Girls team from Central Frontenac (which includes Sharbot Lake, Plevna, Mountain Grove and Parham) overcame a first-inning, 6-run deficit to defeat Kingston Kia 12-6 in the B Final the Greater Kingston Softball Association Intercommunity Year-End Tournament in Sydenham Saturday. 

Back row: Nicole, JessieMae, Julia, Tangie, Meg, Autumn, Marcie; middle row: Vanessa, Sidney, Tori, Amber; front row: Michaela, Claudia. Photo/submitted