The Citizen, 2007-04-19, Page 23THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2007. PAGE 23.
With over 100 volunteers active
each year at the Blyth Festival, the
Ontario Ministry of Citizenship
recognized the volunteer years of
service for 15 people who were
active in ushering, helping with
special events, donating their time to
Blyth Festival Singers or Blyth
Festival Art Gallery to work behind-
the-scenes.
“The youngest of the award
winners were Nathaniel Peel,
Auburn and Leticia Kolkman, Blyth
who regularly usher at the Blyth
Festival each summer,” said Jane
Gardner, general manager at the
Blyth Festival. “We invite people to
assist with ushering, office work and
committee activities. There are
many fun activities where volunteers
can become active.”
The volunteer orientation is on
Monday, May 14 at 7 p.m. at Blyth
Memorial Hall. Volunteers will learn
more volunteer opportunities and
theatre activities.”
Special events in 2007 include the
Book Sale (June 1-2), the new
Ontario Open Country Singing
Contest (June 8-10), opening night
(June 28), Blyth Spirit and members
day activities (July 14), Bonanza
Weekend and play readings (Aug.
10-12), Doors Open (Aug. 18), and
gala auction (Oct. 28).
Blyth resident Jean Nethery
received a 15-year service award for
her ushering, office work and
assistance in distributing Blyth
Festival brochures around the
region. June Johns (Seaforth), Rena
Kolkman (Londesborough), Lissa
Kolkman (Blyth) and Larissa Kugler
(Lucknow) each received volunteer
awards for the many hours of
ushering completed at many theatre
performances each summer.
Blyth Festival Art Gallery
volunteers Joan Perrie (Walton) and
Paul Carroll (Goderich) were
recognized for their work behind the
scenes in supporting the art exhibits
in the Bainton Gallery each summer.
Six Blyth Festival Singers
volunteers were recognized for their
volunteer contribution to the 50-
voice community choir led by
Robert Blackwell. They included:
Dorothy Dietrich (Zurich), Teresa
Feagan (Goderich), Ruth Ann
Steckle (Zurich), Fran McQuail
(Lucknow), Jill Beardsley
(Wingham) and Gord Chiddicks
(Gorrie).
Over 40 Blyth Festival volunteers
were treated to a bus trip to London
on April 14 to see a performance of
Wingfield’s Inferno at the Grand
Theatre and to enjoy the Blyth
Festival’s special London season
launch reception that afternoon.
“It’s our way of saying thank you
to volunteers for their many hours of
service to our not-for-profit theatre,
“ said Gardner.
At the London launch, artistic
director Eric Coates introduced two
playwrights – Paul Ciufo and Gary
Kirkham to the crowd of Blyth
theatre lovers and guests in the
poster launch before the show.
For more information about
volunteering at the Blyth Festival,
call Amber Riehl at 519-523-9300.
Over 40 ratepayers attended the
committee of the whole meeting
held at Blyth’s community centre
last week.
Jane Gardner, general manager of
the Blyth Festival, was the first
delegation that North Huron council
heard for their Blyth meeting.
Gardner thanked council for their
continued support of the Festival.
She reiterated how important the
Festival is to the summer economy
of the village. Gardner said that the
Festival brings in 25,000 people to
the village annually and that she has
appreciated everything that
council has done for them over the
years.
She ran down a list of a handful of
things she would like to see done for
the Festival’s benefit, including new
lighting in the lower hall, new rugs
in the lower hall and a wheelchair
access button for the door.
Gardner says she hopes to have the
lighting problem solved by the
opening of this season in June with
help from some local funding,
around $6,000, she has received. The
carpeting and door issues, Gardner
says, she hopes to tackle for the 2008
season.
Gardner voiced her intentions to
apply for a Trillium grant in the
amount of $15-20,000 for the latter
two items, telling council that she
would need their approval.
“Unfortunately, we can’t do this
alone because we don’t own the
building,” she said.
Clerk-administrator Kriss Snell
interjected, saying that one of
Trillium’s main initiatives for 2007
is disabled accessibility, so it might
be worth applying for the door
button this year, as opposed to next.
Gardner agreed saying the
deadline for application for the grant
is July 1, so while they didn’t have to
make an immediate decision, the
clock was ticking.
In regards to the rugs, Gardner
joked that the rugs are “only 25
years old”, adding that when
summer help is hired on for the
Festival, often the rugs are older thansome of the people employed there.
While she was listing off items,
Gardner added that a steam cleaner
is something else they could use. No
timeline was given for this, but she
said that obtaining all these items
would be “the dream” to keep up
maintenance on the theatre.
These were just some of the
capital improvements that Gardner
had in mind. She did, however, list
several other areas in which the
Festival could improve and help to
plan for the future.
One of the main areas that
attracted a lot of attention from
council was a new on-line ticketing
system. Gardner said that would go a
long way in improving conditions
and sales for the Festival.
“This way, if people wanted
tickets the night before a show, after
the box office is closed, they could
go on-line, get tickets and still know
they’ll have great seats for the
show,” she said.
Gardner added that secure
software would have to be purchased
as well to ensure customers they are
buying securely and can be
confident that their credit card
information goes no further than the
Festival’s site.
This kind of upgrade is something
that goes along with planning for
the future, something that Gardner
said is required by the Festival in
order to just keep up with other
summer theatre festivals like
Stratford.
In addition to freshening the face
of the Festival, this would provide a
lift in customer service as well,
making the Festival more accessible
and increasing the exposure the
village would receive.
Gardner also mentioned a roof
repair, however, because the roof is
still under warranty from an earlier
repair, this would not be a cost that
the municipality would have to
incur.
Council took Gardner’s
information, but did not make a
decision at the time, deciding to
table it in the near future for further
discussion.
Little house, big hopes
While this little residence was only put together with sticks, it was built on a solid foundation.
At $2 a stick, guests at a benefit dance for the Gulutzens last weekend were invited to rebuild
a model house for the family, with the money going to the Gulutzens to help them rebuild. The
dance went from 9 p.m. last Friday night until early Saturday morning in an attempt to help the
family as much as possible. The Gulutzens lost their home in a Feb. 9 blaze. Thankfully no
one was hurt, but the community is reaching out now to help the family any way they can.
(Shawn Loughlin photo)
Buck & Doe
for
Dave Inglis &
Colleen Van Camp
Saturday, April 28
Belmore
Community Hall
9:00 pm - 1:00 am
* Age of majority
* Lunch * Music by D.J.
Tickets $5.00
Available by calling
Becky De Jonge 519-234-6847
or
Rod MacEwan 519-327-8672
Blyth Rd., Auburn 519-526-7759
NOW LICENSED
UNDER LIQUOR LICENCE ACT
OF ONTARIO
Stickers Family Restaurant
Monday - 6:30 - 4:00;
Tuesday & Wednesday 6:30 - 8:00;
Thursday, Friday & Saturday 6:30 - 9:00;
Sunday 9:00 - 7:00
Saturday,
April 21
Steak
& Wings
5 pm - Closing
Friday Smorg. ~ 5 pm - 8 pm
Sunday Smorg. ~ 4 - 7 pm
The Brubachers of Ethel
Restaurant & Bakery
Real Home Cooking
Try our Cinnamon Buns
519-887-8659
Mon. - Fri. 7-6:30;
Sat. 8-6:30, Sunday Closed
Buck & Doe
for
Brad Anderson
& Michelle Henderson
Friday, April 20
9 pm - 1 am
at Seaforth & District
Community Centre
Lunch - DJ
$5./ticket
Phone Amanda at
519-482-5293
Buck 'n' Doe
for
Kim Mulvey &
Adam Rose
Saturday, April 28
9:00 pm - 1:00 am
Brussels Community Centre
Tickets: $5.00
Music by D.J.
Lunch provided
Age of majority required
For tickets contact:
Brad or Kim
519-887-8849
By Shawn LoughlinThe CitizenCitizens hear BlythFestival’s requests
Festival volunteers honoured