The Citizen, 2019-07-18, Page 1CitizenTh
e
$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, July 18, 2019
Volume 35 No. 29
CROSSWALK - Pg. 7
County consults public
on new Blyth crosswalk
GALLERY - Pg. 19
Blyth Festival Art Gallery
set for second exhibit
AGRICULTURE - Pg. 2
Federal Minister of Ag.
coming to Brussels
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0
INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
New Rutabaga Festival continues to take shape
Festival
takes on
M. Hall
With the revival of the Blyth
Rutabaga Festival less than three
months away, the Blyth Community
Betterment Group is now in the
midst of finalizing the schedule for
the event.
The Rutabaga Festival hasn’t been
held in Blyth for years, and the Blyth
Community Betterment Group
wants to revive it this year, then
align it with the village’s
homecomings.
Set for Friday, Oct. 4 and
Saturday, Oct. 5 throughout the
community the event kicks off
Friday at 8:30 p.m. with a special
concert at Blyth Cowbell Brewing
Company featuring country
musician Kris Barclay.
Barclay, originally from Ajax,
Ontario, found fame through the
Boots and Hearts Music Festival in
2018, where he was voted by fans as
a wildcard entry into the Emerging
Artist Showcase. Competing against
six other artists, he became the first-
ever wildcard artist to win, earning
him the right to work with country
music’s top songwriters in Nashville
as well as a recording deal with
Warner Music Canada.
Since then, he has released his
debut single, “Loved You Like That”
and earned a Country Music
Association of Ontario nomination
for the Rising Star category.
Brussels Musician Adam Cousins
will open for Barclay.
The concert is an exclusive event
for the festival, with Cowbell
serving as the venue.
Saturday morning the Blyth Lions
Club will be hosting a breakfast at
Blyth Memorial Community Hall
from 8-11 a.m.
Shortly after, the Rutabaga Ride, a
cycling journey through Blyth and
some of its surrounding
communities, will start. Details
about the ride are still being
finalized, according to festival
organizer and ride chair Annie
Sparling.
From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., a market
will be held at Memorial Hall
featuring artisans and vendors, as
well as Rutabaga Festival
merchandise which recently was
unveiled at the Blyth Outdoor
Market.
Starting at 7:30 a.m. is ‘Baga’
Yoga at Horticultural Park on
Dinsley Street hosted by Rachel
Feddes.
Memorial Hall’s stage will host
children’s entertainer BarryO from
9:30-10:30 a.m.
Also at 9:30 a.m., tours of
Hubbard’s rutabaga plant will start,
running until noon. Sparling
explained that visitors will also get
the opportunity to harvest a
rutabaga.
A youth-focused ping pong
competition will be held at
Memorial Hall starting at 11:30
a.m.
Sparling explained that part of the
mandate of the event was to have
something for all ages, and the
tournament would give youth
something to occupy their time.
“Right from our launch, we’ve
wanted to aim for all ages, so we’ve
been scheduling to hit,” she said.
“Ping pong is relatively easy to set
North Huron Township Council
has signed a 10-year rental
agreement for Blyth Memorial
Hall with the Blyth Festival that will
see the theatre organization take
over for the recently-disbanded
Blyth Arts and Cultural Initiative
14/19 Inc.
After the disbandment of 14/19
Inc. earlier this year, North Huron
had to find a new operator for the
facility or take over operation itself.
As the operator of the hall, 14/19
Inc. was responsible for the facility
after the group had funneled a
majority of the funds necessary for
significant upgrades to the hall.
The Blyth Festival stepped up and
offered to run the site under a very
similar contract to what had been
implemented between 14/19 Inc.
and the township.
The new lease was presented to
council at its July 2 meeting and
approved by council and by the
Blyth Festival’s board of directors. It
was made official on Monday night
when council approved the
agreement by bylaw.
Minor changes were made to the
document, which will see the
Festival responsible for the site for
10 years with the possibility of a
five-year extension.
The biggest change to the
document is that the municipality
will have to provide a building
condition assessment for the hall in
2020 to help establish expected life
cycle for the recently-renovated
building’s infrastructure.
Council approved the contract.
CHANGES FOR FESTIVAL
Blyth Festival Artistic Director
For dear life
The Rawhide Rodeo company stopped in Dungannon over
the weekend to produce the Dungannon Pro Rodeo for the
hundreds of visitors who took in the third installment of the
annual event. The rodeo brought together numerous
champions from various rodeo levels to put a top-notch
show in the ring. The Sunday show, billed as “Championship
Sunday” included barrel racing, calf-wrestling and bareback
bronc riding, seen above, which challenges the rider to stay
on a bucking horse for eight seconds or more. As you can see, it
can be a very long eight seconds. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 16
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 10