Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen-Blyth Festival 2002, 2002-06-05, Page 24Yoit v-e artirwa` outheore ciestorsos '11 cfoch 52-4 —61.61 ) Visit our Neighbourhood of Custom Built Homes... as well as Southcove's Adult Lakefront Community. Experience the superior location, design and quality of construction Customized homes to suit your lifestyle, single family neighbourhood... or Lakefront Adult Lifestyle Community. Southcove in Goderich... the Residential Destination of Choice! Goderich... the Prettiest Town in Canada with regional Health Care Facilities, Shopping Centres, Community Services and Amenities. Model Homes Open Daily... Call 524.6161 or 1.800.241.6222 For many, just living in the Prettiest 7bwn in Canada might be enough... but its the many practical reasons • The Goderich hospital is Huron County's Regional Health Centre with intensive care units, surgical & specialist support. • Goderich is a regional retail centre with three major shopping areas all featuring leading department stores and retail chains. • A wealth of municipal and regional sports amenities, golf, fishing, lawn bowling, tennis, curling, swimming, boating, squash, cross-country skiing, plus a host of service clubs, live theatre, concerts, libraries, churches & restaurants. utheove Developmen Sales Office: 199 Bethune Crescent, P.O. 234, erich, Ontario 7A 3 4 telephone: 519-524-6161 fax: 519-524-9779 email: southcove@hurontel.on.ca The Town of Goderich... • that establish Goderich as Southwestern Ontario's residential destination of choice. • Walking access to everything and not a single parking meter in town. , provide financial stability, buffer taxes to residential properties. • Worldcprnpetitive, environmentally sound industrial facilities that PAGE 24. BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2002. Local picnic areas o er opportunities or casual meals Blyth's Greenway offers picnic spots beside Blyth Creek. Auburn's Manchester Gardens offers a lookout over the Maitland River. If you don't have to rush from work to the theatre, there are several opportunities to take a more leisurely approach to a performance - at the Blyth Festival, perhaps stopping for a picnic either in Blyth or along the way. Blyth offers two stops with picnic facilities. Lions Park, just off Queen St. on Wellington, has been a favourite quiet spot for years. If it's an inclement day there's a picnic shelter to stay under. For curiosity's sake, there's a spruce tree stump that has been chain-saw sculpted into an eagle. More recently the former CPR track and station area on the north side of the village has been turned into the Blyth Greenway project, opening up the Blyth Creek area to public access. With the entrance off main street (Queen), just behind Bainton's Old Mill, the Greenway offers a couple of locations with picnic tables, one near the road beside Blyth Creek and the old railway water tower, another farther down the trail. near an area where the trail follows the banks of the river. The Greenway has become a popular-spot for Blyth residents and visitors alike (many members of the Festival company use it for running, walking and biking), combining nature and history. There are signs along the way that identify the different varieties of trees, some of which grew naturally along the stream, others of which have been planted. The Canadian Pacific diverted the river to the north to make room for the station, sidings and cattle pens when the railway was built from Guelph to Goderich in 1907. At the south side of the former railway lines two of Blyth's largest industries had their start. Bainton's moved the tannery portion of their business to a location southeast of Blyth in the 1960s but Howson and Howson just keep expanding their flour milling business, keeping a fleet of huge bulk tankers on the road drawing flour to pasta making plants all over eastern Canada. If you follow the trail to the east you'll eventually come to "the arch" where the north-south "Butter and Eggs" railway passed over the CPR. If you want to climb to the top of the arch (which was partially destroyed when the CPR pulled up the tracks in 1988), you can enjoy a panoramic view of the village and Blyth Creek. Though there is no picnic area, you can also travel west of Queen St. along the Greenway trail. There are separate trails that go down to the river and a neighbour who keeps fallow deer as a hobby. Three miles north of Blyth there's a shady roadside park on a former school grounds that many people stop at in their travels. Just south of Belgrave you can take Nature Centre. Road to the Wawanosh Valley Conservation Area and the Wawanosh Nature Centre. If you're coming from the east, the Brussels Conservation Area offers a beautiful area for a picnic. The picnic area is on the east side of the Maitland River and can be reached by travelling south on Albert St. from Queen St. (County Rd. 16). There's a picnic pavilion for inclement weather and a wide green space for strolling. Nearby the water tumbles over the Brussels dam, originally constructed to power Logan's Mill, which still stands on the west side of the river. The dam was reconstructed in 1984 when the conservation area was created. South of the dam the broad mill pond is as large as a small lake and provides small craft boating opportunities for local residents. If you're coming to Blyth from the west, the Auburn Lions Club has created a delightful roadside picnic area south of the village off County Rd. 8. Manchester Gardens (Auburn was formerly called Manchester), hugs the bank of the Maitland River, offeribg both picnic tables with scenic views of the river and two lookouts, where you can stand right out over the steep banks. To the south you can see the remnants of the dam which once powered the early industry that was the reason for Auburn/Manchester - s founding. Farther afield there are also the Falls Reserve Conservation Areas at Benmiller, the Clinton Conservation Area along the Bayfield River east of Hwy. 4 at the south edge of Clinton (with a picnic pavilion), the Seaforth Lions' Park on Hwy. 8 at the eastern edge of Seaforth and the Pioneer Conservation Area beside the