The Citizen, 2018-08-23, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2018.
TransCan ‘reboot’ makes for a successful event
How the summer slips by! You
know the school break is almost over
when you have to attend the “bus
orientation” meetings. I personally
thought July just meandered by and
now, bang, it is the middle of August
already! If you haven’t had your
holidays, better hurry up and get
going.
One group had their holiday by
heading south to the U.S. to enjoy a
motorcycle trip. George Zwep and
brother Harry and friends Henk
Pardys, Felix Weber, Felix Jr. and
Lucas went on a six-day bike trip to
the Blue Ridge Parkway in the
Smokey Mountains. The Blue Ridge
is 750 kilometres through the states
of Virginia, North Carolina and
Tennessee. It was a two-day journey
through the region with lots of
lookout points and 12 tunnels
through the mountains. The views
were spectacular! They travelled a
total of 3,400 kilometres during
a very hot week! Welcome back to
all.
Also heading to the U.S. were
Craig and LeeAnn McDonald Ellis,
who made their way to Chicago.
They boarded the train at Port Huron
and made the six-hour train ride in
style to Chicago. They had an
amazing five days away and
crammed in three boat tours, two
tower tours, an architectural tour of
the city and two ball games, to see
both the Chicago Cubs and the
Chicago White Sox. The city of
Chicago is very art-oriented with
magnificent pieces of work, such as
the bean, a large silver bean in a
beautiful park. Did you know that
Chicago, also known as the “windy”
city, is not called that because of the
wind, but because of its many
politicians that talk all the time!
It is an amazing place to see and
others in our area will agree, such as
George and Jane Zwep and Jeff and
Erin Robinson, who were there
recently as well. They all
recommend going there!
Brussels was the destination for a
vacation for Weldon and Joanne
(Knight) Black from Saint John,
New Brunswick. They spent a week
visiting with dad and members of the
family. Weldon dropped in for a visit
with me and his once a year Ontario
haircut; he says he never has time to
get one before he leaves home!
People are travelling all the time,
but Walton was the destination this
past week for many. It was the final
leg of the Grand National
Competition and Amateur
Championships this past week in
Walton and the participants started
to arrive on Saturday, Aug. 11. An
early group of 25 flew in from B.C.
to spend the week racing the amateur
event at the Walton Raceway. A
couple of fathers trucked the bikes
and gear and the rest flew. Sunday
the group from Nova Scotia arrived,
a caravan of three families, together.
Let’s not leave out the many families
from Quebec, Northern Ontario and
Michigan.
There were probably 300
campsites with over 500 entries to
ride plus all the family members that
make this their vacation for the
summer. Lots of people everywhere.
The event now starts a day earlier
and finishes a day earlier, and
Saturday was the big day for the pro
riders to ride. Many have raced in
all 10 races across Canada to
hopefully come to Walton and be
crowned the King of Walton and
receive the coveted sword.
It was a great week for all in this
“reboot” of Walton after a year off
and I would say it was great. Always
glitches in an outdoor sports event,
but the heavy rain of Friday night
didn’t dampen the spirits of the
competitors or the many men and
women of the working crews.
Congrats to Brett Lee and Mel
Hodgson and their staff for a job
well done.
Celebrating a special birthday
with an afternoon come-and-go
party was Mabel Glanville. She has
reached the special age of 75 and
daughters Sharon, Teresa and Lisa
hosted a party at the home of Lisa
and Joan. There was about 40
dropping by with five of Mabel’s
nine siblings able to attend along
with six of Lloyd’s siblings and
many friends. They enjoyed food
and cool drinks and an afternoon of
visiting with all. Happy birthday to
Mabel!
Happy anniversary to Bill and
Sharon McClure, who celebrated 50
years of marriage last week. They
celebrated with a dinner for about 60
family members and friends at their
daughter Connie and Brian Alcock’s
home. Their children Sandy and
Mark and their families were all in
attendance. They enjoyed a roast
beef dinner provided by the Walton
Hall Board. Congratulations to Bill
and Sharon!
Another McClure family function
was held lately with a pig roast held
in honour of engaged couple Adam
McClure and Laura Glasson. The
event was held at the home of
parents Fred and Heidi McClure and
there was a great turnout of family
and friends attending.
Congratulations to them on their
upcoming wedding.
We are glad to hear Jim Blake is
out of hospital after spending a few
days. We understand he is feeling
much better. We are also glad to hear
Bruce Blake is home from hospital
after a week’s stay. We hope he
is feeling much better.
Congratulations to Bridget Blake
and Jacob Williams on their
marriage on Saturday. The wedding
was held at their home south of
Seaforth and the dinner and
reception were at the Seaforth and
District Community Centre.
Beautifully decorated in black and
white was the theme. Bridget is the
daughter of Bruce and Michelle
Blake. Congratulations to the
newlyweds.
Celebrating birthdays this past
week included Amanda Fraser,
Shayna Melady, Devin Blake,
Marion Godkin, Rob McIntosh,
Hayden deVos, Jim Armstrong,
Susan Nichol, Andrew McDonald,
Jacob Flood, Shawn Flaxbard,
Christine Gulutzen, Nicole
McIntosh, Gloria Wilbee, Terri
Gulutzen, Pat Nolan and Bradley
Shortreed.
Thrills, chills and spills
Thousands of fans visited the Walton Raceway over the weekend for the annual TransCan
event, which returned after taking last year off. Fans like, from left, James McCarthy, Preston
and Dayten Porter from Mitchell lined the track to catch all the action. (Denny Scott photo)
NEWS
FROM WALTON
By Jo-Ann
McDonald
Call
887-6570
PEOPLE AROUND
WALTON
For Tickets Call 519.523.9300 Toll Free 1.877.862.5984 or visit blythfestiv
Parkland
FUEL CORPORATION
Season Sponsors
LIFETURAL GRICULAGOF GAZINE AGTHE MA
val.com
Media SponsorSeason Media Sponsor
ARMERS’ REVOL
estival itselfthe creation of the F
Y
ed up ftoday
An epic Canadian story about a rebellion whose
reverberations helped build the very Canada we know
y.. F faarmers with muskets lay siege to muddy
Yoork. This is a play that was born here, and helped inspire
Fe f,, and is being produced
Ƥ Ǥ
1837: THE F LTT
Written by Rick Salutin & Theatre Passe Muraille
Directed by Gil Garratt
August 1 to September 15
A
VTheRural Vooice
Making it work
Dozens of employees and volunteers, like the flagger above,
came together to make the Walton TransCan happen last
week and weekend. (Shawn Loughlin photo)