HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1981-08-27, Page 1MORE BEANS Doug O'Brien carries one of the many trays
of beans used at the Bean Festival in Zurich, Saturday.Staff
photo
Hungry crowds devour
more beans than ever!
While Zurich Bean
Festival Chairman Chuck
Erb was obviously pleased
with the increased crowd,
the highlight of Saturday's
16th annual bean fest was the
new salad and volunteer
help.
Erb said workers came out
really well this year, noting
people were eager to pitch in
and help.
The kitchens ran out of
bean salad at ,1,p,m. as the
'old fashioned bean salad,
new to the festival this year
was well accepted by the
lerowds.
Though Erb did not
estimate the size of.. the
crowd attending this, year's
function, he said dinners
served were up by. about
1,000 this year.
Last year's crowd was
estimate( at 15,000 and
about 7,000 partook of the all -
you can eat bean dinners.
Erb said the kitchen staff
served up 18 more flats of
beans than were served last
year. He said this was
estimated to be about 1,200
more dinners.
Attendance at the Friday
night teen dance was not up
to levels hoped for, as Erb
called it a medium at-
tendance.
Most were probably
gearing up for the Saturday
events with Bean festival
crowds swelling record
levels.'
Erb estimated the break-
fast attendance at 1,000
people up from 700 last year.
Seven contestants were
competing for the Miss Bean
Festival title which was won
by - 17 year old Michelle
Durand.
Michelle, from Zurich, was
sponsored by Small World
travel. Miss Dashwood
Friedsburg, Sally Ford, was
rtmner up.
Other contestants and
their sponsers were : Jackie
Schenck, William's Hair
Styling; Patty Meloche,
Laporte's Meat Market;
Pain Bregman; Ferguson
Apiary; Joanne Pepper
O'Connor Mineral Homes;
and Patty Bedour, Fisher's
Abattoir.
The team of Slim Harburn
Staffa and Dave Kyle,
Hensall, lead 52 competitors
to win the Fred Harburn
Ontario Doubles Cham-
pionship in horseshoe pit-
ching.
World Cham') Elmer Hohl,
and teammate . Keith Lovell,
Kippen, took second.
In the championship's B
side, the team of Art Burg
and Ab Jolliffe, placed first
followed by Frank Solman
and H. Knott.
The festival concluded
with a sell-out dance
Saturday night. Erb said the
doors at the arena were
closed at 10:15 and no more
Please turn to page 2
FIRST WITH LOCALNEWS
AUGUST 27, 1981
Price Per Copy Ce.its
(Hensall plans work on 84
NOT INTERESTED - Eric Groot seems to pay more attention to the Zurich Bean Festival
crowd than the balloon held by his mother Elaine. Staff photo
A plan for reconstruction
of Highway 84 in Hensall
from the village's west
limits to Highway 4 was
presented to council for con-
sideration Wednesday by
Gary Todd, the ministry of
transportation and com-
munications project
manager of planning and
design.
The reconstruction, which
will take one summer, "is
badly needed because the
main street is in bad shape
and it's been needed for
some 'time," said Reeve
Paul Neilands.
The ministry will contact
all the property owners
affected by the reconstruc-
tion, said Todd, as he pointed
to the planning map on the
wall and told council the
program will involve no
property acquistion. .
Both sides of the main
street from Brock St. to
Elizabeth St. will have
sidewalks . replaced and at
the corner of Nelson and
King Streets a catch basin
will be installed, a culvert
will be' removed and a
gradual slope will be made
Huronview blast injursll
Gasoline fumes leaking
from a broken underground
line were blamed for an
explosion that rocked
Huronview and sent 11
people to hospital, Thursday
afternoon, and one of those
injured indicated the fumes
had been evident for some
time.
Vera Thiel, Zurich, a day-
care patient at the Huron
County home for the aged
south of Clinton, said she had
noticed unusual fumes in the
day-care area for seven
weeks before the explosion
which caused damage
• estimated at $500,000 to a
wing of the 310 -bed home.
"All the Thursday day-
carepeople complained. -The
fumes were there every
week. We opened the doors
as much as we could,"
commented Mrs. Thiel in a
telephone interview from a
Clinton hospital bed where
she was recuperating from
severed tendons in her wrist.
Flying glass cut eight
participants in the day-care
program, two staff members
and a resident of the home.
Several people were singed.
Most of the day-care
patients were sitting outside
the auditorium when the
explosion occurred and this
had been cited as one of the
main reasons why more
serious injuries did not oc-
cur.
Mrs. Thiel was among
those working on crafts. "We •
heard this BOOM BOOM and
I fell off the chair on my
face. Then I picked myself
up and all I could see was
blood. My eyes felt funny. I
could feel the cuts on my
face."
"I could hear the fire
trucks and ambulances
coming," said the Zurich
woman. "I felt dizzy and two
women who worked there
drove, me to Clinton Public
.Hospital."
That night, she had a
lengthy operation on the
tendons of her left hand and
was treated for cuts on her
face and arms.
. "I had a funny feeling, a
premonition, that I wouldn't
be at the (Zurich) bean
festival. I had no enthusiam
at day-care. I had a funny
feeling," said Mrs. Thiel.
Jack Carter, chief
engineer maintenance
supervisor, who was outside
his office not far from the
explosion, said he never had
any suspicions of gas
before.
Administrator Wayne
Lester credited staff
members for their quick
action in removing other
Huronview residents from
the area in a quick and ef-
ficient manner.
"When the explosion
happened, I ran to the area,
assessed the need and or-
dered ambulances," he
reported. "My staff func-
tioned in proper accord."
The five persons kept in
hospital were all listed in
satisfactory condition. They
were day-care coordinator
Rosemary Armstrong of
Clinton, activities director
Sandra Davidson of
Goderich, day-care par-
ticipants Vera Thiel of
Zurich and Shirley
Haggerty of Clinton and
Huronview resident Irvin
Trewartha.
Released from hospital
after treatment for cuts,
bruises and minor burns
were day-care participants,
Ann Bennis of Zurich, May
Gibson of Clinton, Barbara
Bellfleur of Clinton, Olive
Harvey of Exeter, Ann
Dyskstra of Clinton and
Elizabeth Alexan
der of Exeter.
Please turn to page 2
to accommodate
wheelchairs, said Todd.
The proposal will resolve
drainage problems west of
the CN train tracks and the
section of the highway from
Highway 4 to Nelson St. will
be resurfaced. The entire ex-
isting sewer system beneath
the proposed area will be
removed and a new system
will be installed at no cost to
Hensall, said Todd.
The proposal will resolve
drainage problems west of
the CN train tracks and the
section of the highway from
Highway 4 to Nelson St. will
be resurfaced. The entire ex-
isting sewer system beneath
the proposed area will be
removed and a new system
will be installed at no cost to
Hensall, said Todd.
"We won't be improving
sidewalks because they're
not the dept. of highway's
responsibility," said Todd.
The boulevard is a concern
because it is hard to main-
tain. "We '11 have to pave
the boulevard unless council
promises to maintain it,"
said Todd.
"Grass grows through the
pavement anyway, "said
Reeve Paul Neilands. Coun-
cil decided to maintain the
boulevard.
A healthy beech tree at the
corner of Wellington and
King Streets will have to be
cut down because it's a
hazard. On the south side of
Brock St., two trees will be
cut down because excava-
tion would kill those trees
anyway, said'Todd.
All light poles in the
proposed area will be
replaced, he said, and the
entire project completion is
expected in the early part of
the five-year program but
"our target is within the
next three years".
Council will decide on the
proposal Sept. 14.
On vacation were: clerk
Betty Oke and councillor
Dick Packham.
Plan lung rally
The Huron -Perth Lung
Association is sponsoring a
"Breatheezie"" Rally at the
Perth District Health Unit,
Stratford on Monday, Sep-
tember 21 at 7:30 p.m.
QUEEN OF 81 BEANFEST -- Michelle Durand 17 of Zurich
was Crowned Mks Zurich Bean Festival, Saturday.