HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-08-23, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012.
Continued from page 1
for good racing.”
Lee said the country was well
represented this year, with riders
making the trip to Walton from every
province except for Newfoundland
and every territory except for
Nunavut.
In addition to drainage
improvements, Lee also said that
measures taken to improve the
spectator experience at the course
paid off as well.“It worked perfectly,” Lee said. “Igot a lot of comments about
improved visibility.”
As far as the new building on the
grounds, a collaborative effort with
KW PowerLogic’s Bill King and
Gerry Wheeler, Lee says it worked
out well, but that it will take a few
years to properly utilize the building
to its full potential.
“It’s an asset that we need to learn
how to use,” Lee says. “We need to
see how people react to it and assess
the traffic flow.”
Lee says it was a “massive shift”
to move people into the building and
there was no way to anticipate how
3,000 to 4,000 people would react to
a brand new building and how it
would fit into the grand scheme of
the grounds.
The building was certainly tested
on Sunday as nearly half of the
event’s patrons made their way
through the gate on Sunday,
comprising approximately 15,000
people.
While there were some ambulance
calls to the event, two of them being
rather serious, because of privacy
laws, Lee says he is unsure of who
was hurt and what their condition is.
On the whole, Lee says, when the
event closed he felt a huge sense of
relief.
“Making as many changes as we
did,” Lee said, “we didn’t make any
major mistakes, which was a
relief.
“With something like this, you’re
just waiting to find out what youscrewed up and that wasn’t the casethis year.”
Lee says there was a general
positive response from both riders
and spectators and he’s certain
that he’s heading in the right
direction.
“This year we had no excuses,”
Lee said. “We had funding help from
the Ministry of Transportation, the
weather was perfect, I’m really
happy with the outcome.”
Lee says that with the success of
the Friday night concert, it’s
certainly something that he’ll look
into continuing. He says he thinks he
found the perfect genre of music for
the event on the first try and will
definitely look into a concert for next
year’s event.
He says that people weren’t
necessarily expecting a concert, so
as the years go on and it becomes a
concrete part of the program, people
will come to look forward to it every
year.
“We have every reason to think we
can continue that,” Lee said.
Lee says he was very impressed
with the event’s web traffic as
well, which he says spiked
significantly during the course of the
week, as they posted results and
pictures.
To see a full list of results, pictures
or a number of interactive items,
visit the event’s website at
www.waltontranscan.ca which will
have links to the event’s Facebook
and Twitter feeds.
Continued from page 1
municipality fire area boards, but
apparently there are options in a
joint fire service that solve that
problem.
In the end, council passed a
motion to attend the Sept. 6 meeting.
Meanwhile, councillors had an
opportunity to meet Shawn Edwards,
newly-appointed chief of the
Howick Fire Department who
attended the Aug. 14 meeting.
Edwards, who served for nine
years at the Ayton station of the West
Grey Fire Department and worked in
the Hanover dispatch centre until its
closure, has taken extensive training
with the Ontario Fire College and is
on the list of instructors at the
Emergency Service Training Centre
in Blyth, said he has identified a
number of areas for improvement for
the Howick department.
Because of the agricultural nature
of the area the department covers,
there will be increased training in
agricultural emergencies, he said.
The department’s ability to access a
water supply for rural fires will be
augmented. Edwards said he had
been talking to the Huron County
Emergency Services about
upgrading first response medical
training for fire fighters.
With a large Old Order Mennonite
population in Howick, he had been
working on ways to extend fire
education to those residents, he said.
Gowing thanked Edwards for
introducing himself and said council
was quite pleased with the service
provided by the Howick department.
School transforms into business centre
Lee and crew excel in ‘no excuses’ year
Kicking up some dirt
On Saturday, female competitors took their turn in Walton as the annual TransCan weekend
continued. Organizer Chris Lee said the weather was perfect for racing and made for a great
weekend of competition. (Jim Brown photo)
Joint fire meeting
set for Sept. 6
While the sale doesn’t officially
close until the end of the month,
Huron East Economic Development
Officer Jan Hawley says she has
already had inquiries into the former
Brussels Public School.
Hawley has been working
aggressively to market the centre,
now named the Brussels Business
and Cultural Centre, and she says
her work has been paying off.
“People have shown interest
already,” Hawley said. “We have
tenants.”
Hawley said that for legal reasons
she couldn’t disclose who the
tenants are, but says she’s excited
about the direction the centre is
heading and the interest that has
already been expressed by those in,
and outside of, the community.
“I feel good about this. I’m very
optimistic,” Hawley says. “I see a
good opportunity here.”
She says that while little work was
needed because the building is in
such good shape, the classrooms
have been converted into suites. The
building now houses 14 suites, of
various sizes, and a community
auditorium.
On average, Hawley says, the
suites are affordable, working out to
approximately $500 per month, with
the average size of a suite sitting at
750 square feet.
Hawley says she and the rest of the
Huron East staff has been careful to
not disrupt the natural order of
things in Brussels, being sensitive to
main street business owners, as well
as neighbours of the centre.
“We’re not looking to compete
with office space in the downtown
core,” Hawley said. “We’re being
very sensitive to the residential area.
We want this to have a low impact on
the community. We’re not looking
for light industrial here.”
Hawley says that at a time when
the municipality doesn’t technically
own the building, the Avon Maitland
District School Board (AMDSB) has
been extremely helpful in granting
her access to show the property and
get people interested in the centre.
Hawley says the building is in
great shape due to the extensive
renovations that have taken place
over the years and that its layout was
perfectly conducive to a concept like
the Brussels Business and Cultural
Centre.
Hawley says the former school’s
gym will remain a community space
and it is being rented out by the
Brussels Community Bible Chapel
on a full-time basis on Sundays.
Prior to the closure of the school, the
church had to relocate during the
summer, as it wasn’t granted access
while school was in.
For more information on the
centre, contact Hawley or Huron
East Chief Administrative Officer
Brad Knight by phone at 519-527-
0160, or by e-mail respectively at
jhawley@huroneast.com and at
bknight@huroneast.com
UP
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By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
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