HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-09-08, Page 1INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
SPORTS - Pg. 8
Wroxeter to host year-end
fastball league tournament
BREWERY - Pg. 10
Cowbell Brewery to make
environmental history
CALENDAR - Pg. 11
Locals to be featured in
women's shelter fundraiser
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON NOG 1H0
4Citiz
Volume 32 No. 35
n
81.25 GST included
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, September 8, 2016
Memorial Building opening to mark 55th reunion
For a 55th time...
Dozens of volunteers from the Huron Pioneer Thresher and
Hobby Association were out in full force on Monday, Labour
Day, preparing the campgrounds for the group's 55th
annual reunion, which will attract thousands of people to
Blyth this week and over the weekend. From left: Mery
Bauer, Glenn Hodgins and former association president Henry
Hendriks. For a full slate of stories pertaining to this year's
reunion, as well as a schedule of events, see this week's Thresher
Reunion special issue, prepared by North Huron Publishing. (Vicky
Bremner photo)
R2R conference continues to take shape
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
The Rural Talks to Rural (R2R)
Conference set to be held in Blyth
later this month is quickly
approaching and bringing with it a
great number of educational
opportunities.
The event, which is being hosted
by the Canadian Centre for
Rural Creativity, part of the Blyth
Arts and Cultural Initiative 14/19
Inc., runs Sept. 27 to Sept. 30 and is
bringing panelists, presenters and
visitors to the village to talk about
the challenges facing rural
communities, businesses and
individuals.
The event, which will primarily be
held at the Blyth and District
Community Centre, starts with a
pre -conference tour of Huron
County on Sept. 27, with registration
opening at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday,
Sept. 28.
The opening ceremonies, will
include local youth musical talent
says 14/19 Inc. Project Director
Peter Smith.
Smith explained that a small band
and choir from St. Anne's Catholic
Secondary School in Clinton will be
providing the music for the morning
and said that, aside from performing
"0 Canada", the group will be
performing "Wheat Kings" by the
Tragically Hip to open the event.
Following the opening
ceremonies, Al Lauzon, a professor
in the School of Environmental
Design and Rural Development, will
be looking at the Canadian Rural
Revitalization Foundation's report
The State of Rural Canada 2015.
Lauzon is set to provide an overview
of the report and highlight some of
the final conclusions.
Wayne Caldwell, Professor in
Rural Planning will speak at 10:45
a.m. about communities that are
succeeding in reinventing
themselves in the rural landscape as
well as those that struggle. The
presentation will include an
interactive session for participants to
share their own experiences.
At 11:30 a.m., a presentation
about the Huron County Rural Lens
project will be hosted by Central
Huron Mayor Jim Ginn and Sheila
Schuehlein of the Gateway Centre of
Excellence in Rural Health. The
project aims to have decisions made
at all level of government done so
with a rural mindset included.
Following lunch, the first four
panel discussions are being held
from 1:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
The panels, which are fit into
streams focused on different parts of
rural life (arts and culture, food
and farm, community revival/
development and sustaining and
growing our population), include a
moderator and several panel
members talking about issues they
are experts in.
Panels included throughout the
event feature members and
moderators such as Blyth Festival
Co -Founder and North Huron
Publishing Company Publisher
Keith Roulston, Canadian theatre
icon Paul Thompson, Blyth Festival
Co -Founder James Roy, Brussels
Continued on page 17
This weekend Blyth's population
will grow exponentially as the
annual reunion of the Huron Pioneer
Thresher and Hobby Association
rolls into town.
This, the 55th annual reunion, will
be full of plenty to see, hear and eat
over the course of the next four
days.
While jam sessions were held on
Tuesday and Wednesday nights,
Thursday morning begins with the
annual tractor parade, which will be
leaving the Blyth grounds at 7:30
a.m.
Once everyone returns, the annual
Plough Day will be held on the
Hubbard property just east of Blyth
on Blyth Road. The come -and -go
event will give those in attendance
an opportunity to get out in a field
with the antique farm equipment
they brought to Blyth. Plough Day
begins at 1 p.m.
That night three jam sessions will
be held. Glen Hodgins will emcee
the event in Shed 1 from 7:30-
10 p.m., while in Sheds 2 and 3, jam
sessions will begin at 7 p.m.,
emceed by Jack Hackett and Tom
Melady, respectively.
Jam sessions continue on Friday
and Saturday nights in both Sheds 2
and 3.
On Friday, the reunion truly
begins with Elementary Student
Activity and Senior Citizens Day.
Gates to the grounds open at
8 a.m. and many of the day -long
activities, including the displays,
crafts, working displays and
Lifestyles Tent, begin at 9 a.m. and
run throughout the day.
At 10 a.m. the fun tractor pull and
the horse demonstration will take
place, followed by John Heaman's
Band taking to the main stage at
11 a.m. The weekend's first
threshing demonstration will also
begin at 11 a.m.
Threshing is held again at
1:15 p.m. on Friday, then at 10:30
a.m. and 1:15 p.m. on Saturday and
at 11 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. on Sunday.
Throughout the early morning and
afternoon, the Blyth Lions Club and
Trinity Anglican Church, among
others, will offer food options at
various locations throughout the
grounds.
On Friday, the Blyth United
Church will serve lunch from
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The church will
also serve dinner that day, which
will run 4:30 to 7 p.m.
The United Church will also serve
lunch and dinner again on Saturday
as well.
The reunion's opening cere-
monies will be held at
12:30 p.m., followed by a special
opening ceremony for the new
Memorial Building at 1 p.m.
At 4 p.m. on Friday the first of
three weekend parades will begin.
Parades on Saturday and Sunday
will also be held at 4 p.m.
Also at 4 p.m. on Friday, the
Shriners will hold their annual fish
Continued on page 15