HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-11-09, Page 2020 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Remembrance Day banners
in Clinton honour the fallen
Justine Alkema
Postmedia Network
Central Huron wanted to
go above and beyond for
this year's Remembrance
Day to honour the Cana-
dian service men and
women from our area that
fought for our freedom.
You will notice that six
banners have gone up on
street poles on Albert Street
by Clinton's cenotaph, each
one with the face and name
of a local veteran.
The banner idea origi-
nated last year when Coun-
cillor Dan Colquhoun, the
council rep for the BIA,
shared the idea after seeing
a similar display in another
town.
Jeff Roy, past chair of the
BIA, thought this was a
great idea and sent in a
photo of his grandfather,
Victor Roy, to his branding
company, the Seamless
Brand. They designed a
mock up banner.
The idea sat on the shelf
for almost a year until Roy
brought it up at the newly
formed Central Huron
branding committee meet-
ing in September.
At that point, Angela
Smith, the new Commu-
nity Improvement Coordi-
nator, took the idea and
ran with it.
To get a banner on every
sign post in Clinton is a
huge undertaking, so for
this year, they started small
with just six banners. This is
to get the project up and
rolling to create a tradition
for years to come.
"Families of service men
and women can see them,
and if they would like to
honour their relative, they
can contact me and pur-
chase one that will be up in
time for next year," said
Smith. "We hope to do all of
Albert Street [and beyond
in the future]:'
The banners will be up
for a few weeks each fall.
Those interested in the
project can contact Smith
at angela.smith@central-
huron.com.
Smith emphasized that
she doesn't want people to
feel excluded since there
were only six banners this
year. The reason for six was
during their discussion
about the initiative, six peo-
ple committed right away,
including Councillor
Colquhoun, Facilities Man-
ager Steve Campbell, Wes
Chambers and Jeff Roy.
Smith purchased those
banners the following day.
"We want to open it up to
the entire community and
honour everyone who
wants to participate," said
Smith. "But it is a big
investment, so we want it to
be done right; we wanted to
see how it went before we
One of the banners up in
Clinton by the cenotaph.
do the whole street."
Each family purchases
their own banners. So while
on one hand it adds to the
downtown, on the other
hand it is a chance for peo-
ple to honour their family
members who have served.
"We're really pleased to
share a visual reminder of the
sacrifice our veterans made,"
commented Mayor Ginn. "We
want those men and women
to be remembered"
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Walton native wins gold and silver
at world championships in dancing
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
Teegan McGavin consid-
ers herself to be a "half
decent" competitor in danc-
ing, yet the silver and gold
medals at the 2016 IDO
World Championships in
Germany echo a grander
outlook.
Across the Atlantic Ocean
she traveled on a more than
6000 km plane ride accompa-
nied by her teammates from
Danceology in Lucknow as
well as her father and mother.
There was not much time to
sightsee or indulge in all the
foreign land of Europe had to
offer on their trip from Octo-
ber 21-31, as this retreat was
strictly business.
Five days later, giggling in
their home, her mother Shan-
non McGavin of Walton Ont.
said they are still a little
jetlagged.
Contending as a team rep-
resenting Canada East,
McGavin and her competitive
team usually enter roughly
five to six competitions a year,
however she confessed to
having never danced in some-
thing of this degree.
"I was very nervous, you
are dancing on the world
stage against everyone from
all these different countries, it
was live streamed when you
made it to the finals;' stated
McGavin, 16, November 5. "It
was played live in Germany
on national television, it was
stressful and nerve-wracking.
Her mother responded
with confidence immedi-
ately, "well nobody looked
was very nervous, you are dancing on
the world stage against everyone from
all these different countries, it was live
streamed when you made it to the
finals,"
— stated Teegan McGavin, November 5. It was
played live in Germany on national television, it
was stressful and nerve-wracking.
stressed out on stage:'
What impressed her
mother the utmost was the
age group the dancers
entered in.
There were three specific
categories at the champion-
ships -children -junior and
adult.
"They were actually a very,
very young adult team,
exceptionally young," the
mother said about the team
that just met the age require-
ments that goes from 16-23.
While in Toronto Last
March, the team was invited
to audition in front of three
to four well-known chorog-
raphers to see if they made
the cut to represent Canada
in world competition.
Which, they did make.
This translated into the
team having two weeks to
learn a totally different
dance routine for jazz and
modern -style dancing.
These same two routines
would eventually earn them
a silver and gold at the inter-
national level in Germany.
Getting her first taste of
dance at what most call late,
seeing as she was nine -
years -old at the time, her
coaches saw something
unique for the late -bloomer.
"I never thought it would
go this far, we tried every
other sport, her siblings play
hockey, nothing worked
stated her mother. "We said
we might as well try dance,
then we (were) like you are
actually good at this."
Currently the Grade 11
student is unaware of where
dancing will take her, but at
the moment it's not a hobby
or pastime, this is a lifestyle.
"It's pretty much all I do,"
she said.
Part of the winning team
who were also successful in
medaling were Bailea Erb
and Megan Erb from Goder-
ich, Emily Plumsteel from
Clinton, Ava McCutcheon
from Brussels, Mikayla and
Kaitlyn Dowler from Luc -
know, Taylor Pollard from
Ripley and Jasmine Gould-
ing from Mildmay.
Shaun Gregory
Teegan McGavin, 16, from Walton sports the silver medal for a jazz formation and a modern
formation gold medal she won at the 2016 IDO World Championships in Germany last month.