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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, October 3, 2019
Volume 35 No. 37
FIRE SAFETY - Pg. 13
‘The Citizen’ honours
Fire Safety Week
FALL FAIR - Pg. 18
Brussels residents shine
at 158th Fall Fair
CADETS - Pg. 3
Brussels Cadet command
to change hands
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:
Lack of parking in Blyth addressed by BIA
Local business owners have some
serious concerns about parking in
the community according to Blyth
Business Improvement Area (BIA)
Chair David Sparling.
Reeve Bernie Bailey, alongside
North Huron staff, attended the
BIA’s regular meeting on Sept. 26
where Sparling detailed concerns he
had received from local business
owners. He said that, while there
were concerns and it was a serious
issue, most business owners were
only interested in trying to solve the
problem and weren’t confrontational
about the issue.
Sparling started his presentation
with two important questions: how
many public parking spaces does
North Huron have in Blyth and how
many parking spots does the Blyth
Festival need when Memorial Hall is
at full capacity.
While there wasn’t an immediate
answer to the former question, Blyth
Festival General Manager Rachael
King said that a sold-out
performance in Memorial Hall is
380 tickets. Artistic Director Gil
Garratt said that the majority of
those would be couples or groups, so
190 spots would suffice.
After that, Sparling started dealing
with specific questions or concerns
brought forward by Blyth BIA
members.
BAINTON PARKING LOT
Sparling’s first question was
whether or not the parking lot
located near the Howson and
Howson facility in Blyth was public
or if it was owned by the agricultural
company.
Located at the curve where
Westmoreland Street becomes Mill
Street, the large paved area isn’t
identified as being associated with
any particular organization.
Other BIA executive members
believed it was part of Bainton’s Old
Mill’s holdings. Sparling said if it’s
privately-owned, there is no reason
for it to be marked.
REDUCED PARKING SPACE
Sparling said some people he had
spoke to highlighted two different
areas of concern for the parking
stocks in the community.
First, Sparling explained that, with
the former site of the Blyth Public
School, soon to be home of several
residential properties in the near
future, the parking spots for the
former school would no longer be
available.
Sparling also reminded the BIA of
a report he made at their August
meeting that the parking at the Blyth
Pharmacy, would be changed to
reflect the needs of the building, now
owned by his company DEAMS
Holding Inc.
Several of the eight spots on the
east and north side of the building
will be for the business and
apartment building, while the rest
would be made short-term parking.
Signs will be erected noting that
With much of the county still
riding high from 2017 when Walton
played host to the International
Plowing Match (IPM), the
momentum continues to build with
Huron producing provincial plowing
champions.
Verner, West Nipissing played
host to the 2019 IPM in Northern
Ontario, just an hour east of
Sudbury, and several locals
triumphed in the fields there,
including Jordan Shortreed of
Walton and Lucas Townsend of
Blyth.
Shortreed placed first atop Class 7
Group 3, which is the Junior Tractor
Plowing – Mounted Plows category.
He triumphed over Ben Gilpin of
Thornton, Breanna Weiser of Mount
Forest and Tristin Boutilier of
Belleville.
Shortreed also placed sixth in
Class 1 Group 3, which is the Horse
and Mule Plowing – Sulky Plows
division. Doug Lambie of Elmvale
won the class, however, coming out
on top on three of the four
competition days.
Jim Shortreed, also from Walton,
placed third in Class 1 Group 4, the
Horse and Mule Plowing – Sulky
Plows class for first-time plowers
only, finishing behind Julie Nellis of
Owen Sound and Scott Gilpin of
Thornton.
Townsend placed fourth in Class 2
Group 2, which is the Tractor
Plowing – Ontario Junior
Champion, Two-Furrow Plows
division. Townsend was bested by
Hailey Gruber of Richmond,
The Blyth Festival is able to boast
another successful season according
to Artistic Director Gil Garratt, who
says just under 24,000 people made
their way through the Festival’s
doors this season.
While those attendance numbers
are slightly lower than those of the
2018 season, Garratt said they’re
still higher than seasons ranging
from 2017 back to before he took
over as artistic director.
Garratt says he was really thrilled
by this season’s attendance, saying
he could see support for shows swell
as the run went on, especially for In
the Wake of Wettlaufer, which
gained support every performance.
The Festival also saw tremendous
support in its season-expanding
efforts. With the production of Bed
and Breakfast for a two-week run in
September, over 5,000 people
attended the Festival, quite the boost
into the late days of summer, Garratt
said.
Hosting a fifth show on the
Memorial Hall stage that can run
independently of the four traditional
main stage shows, Garratt said,
could be a positive road map for
expanding the season, which has
Festival posts successful season
well. Once the puck was on the ice, however, the action was fast
and furious with neither team willing to give an inch. In the end, it
was York that would triumph in the contest by the slimmest of
margins, 1-0. Here, Taylor Coward of York, right, and Brooke
DiCicco, left, tangled in one of their many face-offs against each
other. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Scrambling
Fans both young and old were treated to something special
last week as the women’s teams from the University of
Western Ontario and York University clashed at the Central
Huron Community Complex. The Clinton PeeWee
Mustangs were honoured on the ice before puck-drop for
their back-to-back provincial championships that night as
IPM gold
for locals
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 2
Continued on page 2
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 7
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen