HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-07-20, Page 1INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
SPORTS - Pg. 8
Local heading to national
track and field competition
FIREFIT - Pg. 10
Area firefighters work
towards national event
FEST1vAI. - Pg. 19
`Ipperwash' round table
set for Huron Museum
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Volume 33 No. 29
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Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, July 20, 2017
Arts and crafts
The Brussels Ministerial held its annual Vacation Bible School this week at Brussels
Mennonite Fellowship. It began on Monday with dozens of area children making their way to
the church and making some crafts to start the experience. The Brussels Vacation Bible
School comes after other schools were hosted in Blyth, Auburn and Brussels in recent weeks,
offering plenty of options to local youth looking for something to do in the summer. Here,
Arabelle Garland, left, and Rowan Gaspirc get crafty on their first day. (DennyScottphoto)
Festival of Wizardry
agreement approved
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
The Festival of Wizardry is one
step closer to being a reality in Blyth
as North Huron Township Council
approved a rental agreement for the
Blyth Campground for the event for
Oct. 14 and 15.
Council approved the agreement,
which includes several pages of
required plans and documents, at its
Monday night meeting.
While council members had no
issue with the plan, Councillor
Trevor Seip wondered why the
agreement was being exempt from a
section of the municipality's
procedural bylaw.
Seip was referring to the fact that
the municipality would not be
seeking public input on the decision
by passing the agreement the same
meeting it was presented.
"Why can't we wait another
meeting for public consultation?"
Seip asked during the meeting.
Director of Recreation and
Facilities Pat Newson said that
public consultation was waived for
two primary reasons; the festival had
been discussed at previous meetings
and the public had opportunities to
contact council regarding it and
Transfigured Town Inc., the
organizing group behind the event,
wants to have the rental contract in
place to begin signing other
contracts.
"We have had no one from the
public come forward to suggest the
event would not be a good idea," she
said regarding the consultation
process. "We reached out to
community groups and the BIA."
Newson said the organizers
wanted to quash any rumours that
the event would not be held in Blyth
and were looking to launch a
website as soon as possible to recruit
local volunteers.
"The event does seem far away,
but with the size and scope of it,
they will need as much time as
possible to get these agreements into
place and move to the next stage of
planning," she said.
Newson then said that, normally,
rental agreements for the
campground don't come to council,
but, due to the size of the event and
the fact that council had directed
staff to work with the organizers,
she felt it was appropriate for
council to sign the agreement on
behalf of the staff.
Seip's final concern was any
"future hiccups" after adopting the
rental contract, however Newson
said that the contract, like any other
rental agreement, can be declined by
the township.
"We are confident we are ready to
move this to the next step," Newson
said.
The contract includes several
pages of stipulations Transfigured
Town Inc. needs to meet before the
event can happen.
Aside from requirements such as
insurance and a damage deposit, the
agreement calls for fencing around
the event, details for use of the ice
surface at the Blyth and District
Community Centre and cleaning of
Continued on page 12
Third 'Win This Space' initiative set for Brussels
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Brussels will be home of the third -
ever Huron East Win This Space
competition, which will foster
creativity and provide plenty of
incentive to motivated entrepreneurs
in the area.
Jan Hawley, Huron East's
economic development officer,
officially launched the program last
week and is looking for submissions
before the Sept. 1 deadline.
The program has proven
successful in its past two forms. It
asks local entrepreneurs to apply to a
panel of judges with their business
idea. The program then provides
applicants with compulsory business
training and fosters their plans
along, ahead of someone winning
the grand prize: a year's free rent and
thousands in other in-kind services.
The first time the program was
rolled out was in 2015 and it focused
on Brussels and Seaforth, but
Hawley feels that because Seaforth
is a larger community, the program
inadvertently became focused on
Seaforth, with the majority of
contestants seeking commercial
space in that town, as opposed to
Brussels.
The second roll-out of the
program was focused on available
industrial space in Vanastra, which
Hawley says was also a success,
albeit with a slightly different focus
than the retail- and service-oriented
original Win This Space.
The third Win This Space will be
focused entirely on Brussels,
encouraging local people with great
business ideas to set up shop in the
village with 12 months of paid rent
awaiting the grand prize winner this
fall.
Hawley says that with the
construction of Brian Morton's Four
Winds Barn project and the
impending revitalization of a
number of downtown buildings, it's
"Brussels' time" right now and it's
the perfect occasion to focus on the
village and economic development
within it.
The third installment of Win This
Space has been partially funded by
Huron County and Hawley says it's
been one of the shining programs
within the world of economic
development in Huron County. She
said it took the department "30
seconds" to approve the Win This
Space application.
The finale of the Win This Space
program is set for Saturday, Oct. 21
in Brussels at the Four Winds Barn.
Not only are there a number of
vacant storefronts in Brussels that
could serve as potential sites for
businesses, but Morton is also
offering space in Four Winds as
well.
Submissions are due by Friday,
Sept. 1 and can be submitted in
writing or using video by e -mailing
Hawley at jhawley@huroneast.com
or forms can be picked up at the
Huron East Municipal Office in
Seaforth.
As for submissions, Hawley says
they are of a casual nature in which
she asks applicants to explain their
concept for a business and provide
some of the details.
For more information on the
program, visit the municipality's
website at www.huroneast.com.
G2G group host meeting in Blyth
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
G2G Inc., the group behind the
Goderich-to-Guelph (G2G) Rail
Trail, held its second annual
barbecue and general meeting in
Blyth this year, attracting dozens to
the meeting last week.
The Blyth Lions Club was on hand
to serve hot dogs to those in
attendance ahead of an update on the
trail and a handful of guest speakers,
although intense rain threatened to
ruin the evening, which was held
along the Blyth Greenway Trail.
The informal barbecue and
information meeting was first held
last year in Milverton, hosted by Joel
Phelan. Phelan, who is one of only a
handful of people who have cycled
the trail from end to end, said that
last year's gathering did wonders for
the trail. The meeting served to send
information out to members of the
public and to educate potential users
of the reality of the trail.
Doug Cerson, executive director
of G2G Inc., opened the meeting,
welcoming those in attendance and
thanked Blyth representatives for
welcoming the group of trail
proponents to the community.
Cerson said he was happy to
report that significant progress had
been made along the trail in the last
12 months. The trail is now officially
open from end to end with a minimal
amount of short detours — off the top
of his head Cerson said there
were five detours along the
Continued on page 3