Repair Cafe Frontenac is organized and plans initial cafe for Sunday, May 26 from 2-4:40pm at St. James Major Catholic Church in Sharbot Lake.

Subsequent cafes are planned for June 23 at the Bellrock Community Hall and July 28 at Perth Road United Church.

One of the organizers, Peter de Bassecourt, said: “we’ll be putting out the call for volunteers shortly.”

He said they’ll always be looking for fixers but also welcomers and guides, who will greet visitors and direct them to the proper table. They are also looking for someone to do some publicity and someone to maintain their new Facebook page www.facebook.com/RepairCafeFrontenac. If you’re interested, contact the organization via Facebook or the new email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Repair Cafe concept was begun in the Netherlands by Martine Postma in 2009. Currently, there are 1,822 Repair Cafes worldwide.

“Repair Cafes are essentially free meeting places and they’re all about repairing things together,” the parent website (repaircafe.org) says. “Visitors bring broken items from home (and) together with the experts, they start making repairs in the cafe.

“It’s an ongoing learning process.

“If you have nothing to repair, you can enjoy a cup of tea or coffee or lend a hand with someone else’s repair job.”

Example items to be repaired include clothing, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, toys. The cafe doesn’t stock a lot of spare parts but volunteers can usually assist in finding out what part is needed and how to go about getting one. Anything you can manage to get there on your own has a good chance of getting properly repaired. If you want to find out if someone will be available to help you mend your broken item, contact them via Facebook or email.

There is no charge but there is a tip jar or piggybank for donations to cover costs.

Repair Cafes do not take donations of broken items. Tools and/or repair products (such as glue) are sometimes accepted.

Amanda Pulker-Mok has only been living in Almonte for 3 1/2 years but she has already made her mark. When a council seat came open in April of last year in Mississippi Mills township after a tragic death, she was one of 11 applicants for the position. All of the applicants appeared before Council and made their pitches, and voting began. Three ballots later, she was declared the new member of council from Almonte ward, no mean feat for a newbie in small town Ontario. It was a result that surpassed her expectations.

“Being new to the area, I applied for the position in order to improve my name recognition, as I intended to run for Council in 2018,” she said, when interviewed last week in her parked car, while preparing to drive from one municipal meeting to another one.

She tries to schedule many of her responsibilities, which include sitting on three committees as well as council itself, around the days when her young children are in daycare. She may still run for council this coming fall, that is if her attempt to wrest the new Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston riding from the Conservative Party proves unsuccessful.

On December 20, 2017, she was confirmed as the Liberal candidate at a riding association meeting in Perth. She will remain on Mississippi Mills Council until the writ is dropped and the election starts up in earnest, around the beginning of May, at which time she will be taking a leave of absence from council to contest the election.

In the meantime she will be spending time attending riding forums that are being organised by the Liberal Riding Association.

She said that she will be taking advantage of those forums, as well as other opportunities to meet people in the riding.

“It is a very large riding. I don’t want to be going into different parts telling people this is what I think needs to be done, I would rather build on what people are saying,” she said.

Her commitment to the Ontario Liberals comes from what she calls “my political inclination towards the party, which has made me a supporter. More recently, I have come to feel strongly about the Premier’s messaging around opportunity and fairness.”

She said that she will be considering all the issues that are important in the riding between now and May so she is ready to answer questions at public events, during door to door campaigning at all candidates forums, but one thing about her candidacy that is already in place is her attitude towards politics.

“I think I need to be who I am, and my feeling is that the people of this riding are ready for a change, a positive fresh change, and that is what I am offering.”

The issues that she thinks will be top of mind for many voters in the coming election, particularly in this riding, will be education, child care and health care, “three areas that touch on everybody’s lives. Dealing with the urban versus rural reality will also be a challenge,” she said.

And she is happy to be representing the current government, and representing some of the initiatives they have undertaken.

“I feel the current government has done some really great things, such as OHIP Plus and changes to the Ontario Student Aid program.

“It would be good to have someone who comes from a younger demographic sitting at the table.”

Pulker-Mok went to Trent University, where she studied Business Administration and Cultural Studies. Before moving to Almonte, she was working in Newmarket in health administration as a cancer screening co-ordinator at the South Lake Regional Health Centre.

On January 30, Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust is hosting a fun Nature Quiz Night at the Golden Arrow Pub, 71 Foster Street in Perth.

This fun evening is a part of the current campaign to raise the funds needed for the stewardship of the 100-acre Byrne Big Creek Nature Preserve located near McDonald’s Corners. This ecologically significant property was bequeathed to the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust by Joel Byrne, a true nature lover who, through this act of giving, fulfils his dream of protecting forever this special place.

Come to socialize with friends, tell stories about Joel and test your general knowledge of nature trivia. The Quiz Night starts at 7:00pm and there will be a cover charge of $10 that will go towards the fund.

More than 80% of the $48,500 goal has already been received. The MMLT hopes that all those who care about preserving wilderness in Eastern Ontario will visit the MMLT website at mmlt.ca and donate generously to the cause.

Councillor Amanda Pulker-Mok will carry the Ontario Liberal Banner in Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston in the upcoming provincial election.

“We are all very happy Amanda has stepped forward,” said local Liberal Association president David Campbell. “Amanda will be a tremendous representative for our riding at Queen’s Park and we are looking forward to doing all we can to help Amanda win the election this spring. Our communities need a Liberal MPP who will focus on building a fairer and better society for everyone.”

In the meantime, Amanda Pulker-Mok will continue to carry out the duties and obligations that come with being a Councillor in Mississippi Mills until the Provincial election campaign begins.

The riding association will host a nomination meeting tonight at the Perth Lions Club, 50 Arthur Street.

OnSunday, December 3rd at 2:00 PM, the fine local band, The Tritones, will be presenting a concert at the MERA Schoolhouse in McDonalds Corners.

The Tritones is an original Jazz, Funk Jam Band. Playing the compositions of guitarist Franc van Oort, as well as standards from many different genres, their sound takes a refreshing new direction, celebrating the roots of American music while venturing into uncharted territory. It is sensitive, yet with an edge — adding elements of Latin, Blues and Rock.

The Tritones are made up of three very talented local musicians, who got together a number of years ago, and play at a range of local venues.

Frank van Oort plays lead guitar and contributes his own compositions. He moved to the Perth area from his native Holland in 1987, and has since been playing in local groups such as Powersnooze, The Usual Suspects and Tell Mama. A growing interest in Jazz led him to join forces with Cam and Dave.

On drums is Dave Colter who has been a mainstay of the Canadian music scene for 40 years. He has played with Grammy Award winners Bo Diddley and Pinetop Perkins, Juno Award winner Jack de Keyzer (with whom he toured for two and a half years and recorded the Juno-nominated album “Blues Thing”), and many others. He now lives near Perth.

Rounding out the group is Cam Gray on bass guitar. Cam’s love of music started with listening to his dad play the piano and the ukulele. After 8 years of dutiful piano lessons he picked up the guitar. Something to do with Hendrix and Johnny Winter. He, Franc and their friend Tim Wynne-Jones started a band in the late 1980s. Cam jumped from guitar to bass when they became a five piece with keys and drums. He’s still lovin’ music.

Tickets for the concert are $20, children under 16 are free, and are available only at the door.

Trina Conboy

MERA Administrator

The knitting continues.

We have donated over 11,800 articles in the last ten years. This past year we sent knitting up north with the Anglican Church Bales in the spring and recently Marge Taylor from Ompah took a hundred and thirty more toques, afghans, sweaters, mitts, socks, dolls and teddy bears to go north of Igualuit.

Many thanks to knitters Yvonne Leblanc and Liz Bruce from Sydenham and Val Kennett from Perth for their continued support. Also thanks to Bev Murdock and Jackie Saville for their generous donations of yarn. Best wishes to all during this Christmas season and keep knitting.

For info call Peggy Beckett at 268-2443.

Come on out and dance for a great cause! On Friday, November 17, the Guatemala Stove Project is hosting a fundraising dance featuring the talented local band, Under the Covers. This band will have you up on your feet and dancing all night.

This annual fundraiser will feature a silent auction of unique items crafted by local artisans or donated by local businesses.

The Guatemala Stove Project, a volunteer-based organization is continuing its efforts to raise funds for the construction of masonry cook stoves for impoverished, rural Mayan families. Over 6,400 stoves have been built so far, creating a lasting legacy for rural families in the western highlands of Guatemala. Consider that a single stove extends the lives of each family member in a household by 10 – 15 years and reduces the amount of firewood needed by half which helps to preserve the country’s precious forests.

The Guatemala Stove Project also supports sustainable-development projects in over a dozen communities and issues micro-loans to indigenous women to start small businesses that will help lift them out of poverty. The Guatemala Stove Project recognizes the importance of education in creating opportunity and hope for the future. It provides scholarships to a number of students who would otherwise not have this opportunity.

You’ve heard about the GSP and maybe you have even made a donation in the past. Now is the time to show your support for the indigenous people in Guatemala. Bring your dancing shoes to the Perth Civitan Club for this fantastic licensed fundraising event! Mark the date on your calendar and get your tickets! Tickets are $20 at Tickets Please in Perth, on-line at ticketsplease.ca, by phone at 613-485-6434 or at the door. Civitan Hall doors open at 7 p.m. Under the Covers starts playing at 8 p.m.

For more information, please call 613-267-5202 or Check us out at guatemalastoveproject.org

As part of a province-wide speaking tour, individuals representing the Labrador Land Protectors – a group who are trying to stop the threat posed to a number of Indigenous nations by a massive hydro project at Muskrat Falls, Labrador – will speak at a free public presentation on Wednesday, November 22 at St. Paul’s United Church, 25 Gore Street West, at 7 pm.

Organized by the Ontario Muskrat Solidarity Committee and supported locally by Lanark Neighbours for Truth and Reconciliation, the evening will discuss the issues surrounding the $12.7 billion project, which is backed by over $9 billion in federal loan guarantees even though it has doubled from its original price, and will likely cost even more if completed. A significant concern is whether the dam will hold, given a significant portion is being built on quick clay (sand subject to liquefaction under pressure), as well as the flooding of sacred territories.

In addition, during the fall of 2016, Harvard University produced a report documenting the alarming rates of methylmercury poisoning that could be expected if specific mitigation measures were not undertaken at Muskrat Falls (especially clearance of vegetation, trees, and soil in a large area slated for the dam’s reservoir). The issue of mercury poisoning’s severe impact on Indigenous people is well-known in Ontario because of the international attention focused on the Grassy Narrows community. For Indigenous people and settlers living in Labrador, poisoning of traditional food webs that include seal, fish, and other creatures would likely have a devastating impact.

“I can’t help but ask why it’s okay to disregard the concerns of Indigenous people affected by a hydroelectric dam,” says Kelly Morrissey, a Nunatsiavummiuk Inuk woman from Labrador who will be speaking at the Perth event.

“I can’t help but wonder why it’s okay for the government to complain more about the ballooning costs of this mega-project than the human health effects. What about my Indigenous sisters and brothers who wonder if their children and grandchildren will be born with developmental concerns, and those who wonder if the dam, built on clay and sand, will hold.”

Morrissey notes that forcing Inuit and Innu to turn away from eating their traditional foods will not only affect their culture, but also pose the economic challenge of purchasing exorbitantly-priced store-bought foods. “And even if they can, how will this affect their ties to the land? In turn, how will this affect the culture?”
The Perth speaking event takes place two days before Prime Minister Trudeau will travel to the province to deliver an apology to Labrador residential school survivors. Some of those survivors are among the three dozen Indigenous and non-Indigenous protectors who have been criminally charged for peaceful acts of protest, including one journalist facing contempt of court proceedings for covering the issue (a case which has drawn the attention of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression).

The Perth event is free and open to the public. For further information, call (613) 300-9536 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

October 7, 8 and 9, 10 am – 5 pm daily. Today the rate of change is so fast that at times we need to step back and appreciate the skills, tools and artistry of the past before we lose these to modernity. The Perth Autumn Studio Tour highlights some of these traditional skills, from fence building and canoe making to woodworking, pottery, weaving and felting. Tour artisans also demonstrate the way these old talents have been adapted to our modern world. By producing works that reflect our past but are still functional today, the artisans on the tour keep old skills alive and create unique pieces.

Today’s potters may use electric wheels and kilns, but the skill needed to produce a fine and functional pot takes years of practice. Dunn Sohn may use an electric lathe, but much of his machinery has been restored to working condition. Brent Kirkham has taken the traditional skills needed to make canoes to an art form, while Franc van Oort uses many old print-making techniques to create images that meld with modern decor.

This year on the tour we also have several new and returning fibre artists who again use old techniques and equipment to raise function to an art form, inlcuding Bridget O’Flaherty, whose delicately stitched pictures depict the Ottawa Valley landscape using quilting methods combined with embroidery. Zoe Lianga has also developed the traditional technique of felting into an art form and a new guest, Dagmar Sagat’s functional cushions and household items are decorated with her subtle stitchery. Heather Sherratt’s handwoven clothing, made on looms that are basically the same as the pioneers used, is produced from time-honoured and modern fibres including wool, silk, linen, bamboo, and soy silk. For more information visit mailto:wwwperthstudiotour.com or call 613 267-5237.

The annual Perth Festival of the Maples has been a welcome rite of spring since 1976. As the festival celebrates its 41st anniversary, maple syrup producers, business vendors, entertainers, visitors and local residents alike recognize the yearly Maple Festival as a giant ‘coming out’ party. Winter is over, and it’s time to head outdoors to meet long-shuttered neighbours and friends at last. What better way to celebrate, than with our region’s most famous agricultural commodity – sweet, savoury maple syrup. What better place to hold the festivities, but in Lanark County – the ‘Maple Syrup Capital of Ontario’.  

Mr. Vic Lemieux of Perth spearheaded the original Festival of the Maples back in the early 70’s in an attempt to get people out of their homes after a long winter and to celebrate spring with the fresh harvest of locally-made maple syrup. Since then, the festival has grown in popularity, but it has stayed true to its roots. The stars of the show remain the local maple producers who are finishing off a successful season of syrup-making this year and preparing to offer the newly-designated 4 grades of syrup, as well as taffy-on-ice, maple sugar, candies and whole array of maple-flavoured condiments and concoctions.

This year’s Festival of the Maples is being organized and presented once again by the Perth & District Chamber of Commerce on Saturday, April 29th in downtown Perth. Chamber Manager Amber Hall says, “This free yearly event is really the grand finale of the syrup season. Our local producers are proud of their syrup. Their work in the bush is done for now, and they can’t wait to show off their final product. They pull out all the stops at the festival with some great looking displays and booths to showcase the new syrup crop.”

Hall adds that producers will also enter their products in a number of syrup-making categories in this month’s annual competition run by the Lanark & District Maple Syrup Producers Association. Awards will be handed out for top producers at the festival’s main stage on Herriott Street during the opening ceremonies at 10:30am on festival day.

In addition to maple syrup producers, the festival features a wide array of retail and food vendors, farm products, artisans and community and charity exhibitors from 10am til 4pm. Festival Co-ordinator Jennifer Perkin says vendor registration has been busy. Perkin states, “We have confirmed more than 150 exhibitor spots for this year’s event. The display booths will run down Gore Street from Foster Street to Craig Street with something for everyone. We’ve also received great support from our very generous sponsors. It’s their donations that allow us to present this event free for the public.”
                      
Perkin adds, “The Classic and Antique Car Show will be on display on Herriott Street between Gore and Wilson Street. There’s also lots to see in the Tay Basin with our Safety Square exhibits, the big rigs in the Mighty Machines display and the Childrens’ Play Park that features bouncy rides, a rock-climbing wall, kids’ activities, pony rides and a petting zoo.  We’ve also added new live shows to entertain the kids in the Crystal Palace, including the Paddling Puppeteer.” The day also kicks off with a pancake breakfast at the Perth Legion from 7am til 11am.

On the festival’s main stage on Herriott at Gore Street, live entertainment includes performances by the Smiths Falls Gordon Pipe Band at 10am, Opening Ceremonies at 10:30am, the ‘Pie Plates’ bluegrass band at 11am,’ Maple Hill’ bluegrass at noon, ‘Doubleback’ with Wade Foster and Shawn McCullough at 2pm, and the Jesse Greene blues band at 3pm.  The Maplefest ‘Wood Cookie’ Challenge returns this year at the main stage at 1:15pm when 2-person teams will let the chips fly to clock the fastest log-sawing times. The ‘King of Swingers’ band will roam the site as well with a number of ‘pop-up’ concerts.

Debra Bellevue, President of the Perth & District Chamber of Commerce, says the festival brings close to 20,000 visitors to Perth each year, and she expects another record crowd. Bellevue states, “We are so lucky to invite everyone to Perth to celebrate the maple syrup season in one of the prettiest downtown cores in Ontario. Our local businesses are gearing up for a busy spring and summer, and it’s a great opportunity for them to shake some hands and showcase their products and services.”

Bellevue adds that the Chamber has organized a free parking and shuttle service for visitors with buses running from the Perth Campus of Algonquin College on Craig Street to Gore Street. The Algonquin College Police Foundations Program and OPP Auxiliary Unit will assist with traffic control and patrol.  Bellevue says, “Our organizing committee is working hard to make the festival a success again. We hope everyone joins us for another ‘sweet’ experience this year!”