HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1973-03-22, Page 15It's easy to : ace* handouts.
ft s such. a.harder to work for
something ou want!, but when
t1 the final ,40.404 is yin, it a lot.
Mare satisfying to know that the.
sweat of your brow and the toil, of
your hands 'has br ought' ` you
something worthwhile.
Little did Walter. ; Reflwiek
know, six, years ago, that count-
ing trees could lead to a b'usin'. ss;
and littledid, , . , ,, o ��
the small
munity of Delmore°:tmow that 'or e
I* Maple S.yrup'Festival could '.ut`it
on the map and make it coned the
most talked -about v111age3 i each
spring.
' Belmore itself is a' little Hamlet'
of fewer than 100 :people. It' is
•
situated about eight mile* .south
of Formosa, on, the four corner s
which: separate Bruce and. Boron
Counties and:the . Townships: of
Culross,' Carrick, Hole* and
Turnberry. It is� the, kind of � place
where:everyone knows everyone
else and
n: '4
`'e i'
� . ,th, �y�_e>� �tinaoza
1
#nha to
fashion, b rite ruay, • dis-
agree amore themselves but'let
an,„,outsider cause "troub1e and
hen's' .its. a ainst the 'entire
4 �, •� ate
community.' The that bind tae
Community together are . that
strong..
More than. 20 years ago, the.
Belmore area residents felt' a
strong: need for at community
centre in Ytheir. village. Rather
isolated,' the .nearest - villages
almost 10 miles away, there'Was
an urgency for'some facilities for
the youth growing u Pin the ;area.
So people got together' and built
an arena, mulch Po f it,'with volun-
teer help.It included luded ,`u • main
skating area, , 'essi 1 rooms, a
Women's Institute :room,; an, up-
stairs auditor'
,autn, fob c� uni�
stage presentation*:e a eilittes
for ;pre 'ring l 'hes. I
preparing g. t�est,�e
community , but$th centre
wasdebt-free :iii tr o: $,yearsc ,,
Unfor ,
tiu�pt�yi �>-� lists
forever and.' `by 1908 ;the centre.
had deteriorated to t,r' riilrttiat
a new -roof was,, hadiyi neeriethfor
the building. They: :coul+dr have
°
asked for money from.•x.the.
government—but3 no .
pendent Belmore'peo
they could work fit
selves; after all, hadn't
it before?
Concern ran high amp_
residents until
himself the father of fi
P
•
no other 'reason, than i
arena •their children
for a few nights! gki ..
Everyone wanted to be
action. Day and :
mostly farmers, .then
children, tra,irspor.
shed which had`ca `1..
the occasion and which,'
came a'to,, be . ,vii. as
Sbanty,,' 'Wit , ^ort
evaporator.a'tta
they worked in shifts, . serving
pancakes and sausages,along
cwithpuld alleat, 'alatoe maple syrup l'ers, one
weary businessmen, and Many'
ioc residentswho Were 00 +y
at the. Sugar , qty lto eat at
home!
e;
Its 4 suc
c
es.:s•c _
no
t'
be
•neSipguhtdrs f ti'acpsntirten dsp ne
rng
Made everyda seem like a corii-
at. r .:
;i�#g w�►ritctt h�1�it1'es f �fe�(`it•
s®
f les whi , f u n
7 cb, o�F.� � �ve.e
O';eva h> Elected and. t Sa` . t ,deer'
e ova ' ”` t f the l'it. le restaur t, O
p. nine f i ,
�.;;����';��►:, rs'�o t e.fss�T�st�, tk!
it as o:go1d miney,t ou eve an!d
haave not tossed. out.e,,i"; nly
shelved it fortthe tame being-
Since 1970, 'theBelmere Maple
Syrup business has • been '. prl-
a ,
marily a RenwicicFpro t though
volunteers still %help ;with syrup -
Making :operations- 1 e1more
Maple Products: is no* ai business
which supplies SPIV* and sugar.
P
oducts to ari lestivalt and
exhibits. Much syrup is'Said ;'to
food,. process' g plants,. Maple
sugar cantly,. one-gaon of , syrup
i
ming about eight 'pounfords of
candy, s ifnade in the m of
maple' leaves and ia,always
a popular• seller.
ie Maple Syrup `'estival,
t.�t.'cn
MRS. JEAN PRESS DISPLAYS MAPLE PRODUCTS in
her general store at Belmore, showing the custom-made
pottery containers for the syrup and maple sugar. candy.
The handsome ceramic` pieces were especially made by
Royal Canadian Art Pottery at Southampton. (Staff photo)
dren who were making 1180,h
arena, came- up with an fi idea,
Whylnot a maple syrup festival?'
Where elee,but in thia area of 01)'- membeir,is
tario were all the things needed to BelmoreC
it woa •,L
mu�+�rk''� fie even t�k••a a Iurw
drive throughout ,the area one protea
day, coun " =the, maple, ire th!e{ .new
Within
hamlet taxi
convinced ' ;rat it cord be'`done
This type of thing would add
something to the community in a
way nothing else could. He men-
' tioned it to others and, thoughthe
idea- was not without opposition
from some, most were willing to
chance it. Mr. Renwick put the
train on the tracks and everyone
climbed aboard to getit' moving.
It was to be the largest under-
taking ever tackled by the people
in the Belmore area.
was publishedin the Maple Syrup
Digest, a Bainbridge, New York,
publication.. Signs .at each en-
trance to -the 'hamlet, now read
"Belo ore—Famous, .for Maple;
Little Planning
Looking back at it now, Mr.
Renwick remembers it as :some-`-
thing spontaneous. "There
wasn't much planning involved,"
he says, "it just 'sorsa happened',
as a lot of things do in Belmore."
In other words, when a need is
evident, the people rise and meet
it.
' The enthusiasm that prevailed
in the area that first year was
overwhelming; people residing
nearly 10 miles away were claim-
ing Belmore as their home if for
THE BLOCKSo
WERE GOi U P RAPIDLY -in fine Bather for the new ice. machine
'building for Beirnore arena at,;.the,hand's of>fieiford Gerhardt (left) and Aaron Fischer of
Ayton. Abnormally warm weather sped the construction, but bled the natural ice right out
Of the rink, el'iroloafing a planned skatathon, (Staff photo)
tde
Shanty was read y t, s'I. --
By"that time; it meted"oil-
fir-ed evaporators, a steam boiler
and a steam finishing pnn; roll of
which were designed; together, to
produce 25 gallons of syrup an
hour if the need arose.
In some privately -owned
bushes something else was being
tried for the first time. Plastic
tubing, which . was fastened to
each tree and carried the sap to a
mainline, was successfully used.
Approximately 20 taps were con-
nected to one main line emptying
int �....a gathering ^ tank and
eliminating the need to trudge
through the bush to empty
buckets. It is estimated that this
year about 50 per cent of the sap
will be gathered in, .this manner,
the remainder coming from
roadside trees more easily ac-
cessible.
Food Service
In 1969, the women of the com-
munity decided to get into the act
before festival day and set up a
little restaurant service in the
arena. For several hours a day
ile wor in''slafit :'COok
food,, serve coffee,etc., Mart the
bootlis.and sell tickets at the big
day every year. Area people also
exhibit handwork and hobbicraft
at booths but the community is
quick to point out that no outside
booths are allowed. ,fn no way is
the Delmore Festival to become
commercialized or be for anyone
but the people who have worked
to make it .big.
Since 1969,, the proceeds from
t`helestival have paid for an addi-
tion to the community centre
(new dressing rooms, utility
:noun, etc.) ; glass installed in
,front of the bleachers; the arena
has been painted inside and the
auditorium redecorated; picnic
facilities have been improved
and lights have been installed in
the ball park.
3,000 Attend
About 3,000 people attended the
1972 festival, many of them from
distant places. About 1,100 gal-
lons of syrup were made. An
article, telling of the remarkable
achievement and entitled "The
Delmore Story—or 'How Maple
if Wali 11*
rlounced'. that Belmore, had. re-
ceived avant of $8,150, approved
by the Local Initiatives Program
through Canada Manpower. The
grant is. tO pay for unemployed
labor in the installation of an arti-
ficial ice plant. Twenty thousand
dollars will 'be needed for the
plant and construction has al-
readybegun toward its installa-
tion. A 10 -hour skate a -thou was
planned for March 10 to raise
funds for the plant but mild'
weather melted the natural ice.
4-11 Syrup Club
Another first for „ the com-
munity is the organization of a 4-
H Maple Syrup Club, the first of
its kind in Ontario. It is under the
leadership of David McCallum
and he will be assisted by Len
McGregor, junior extension
assistant with the Ontario Minis-
try of Agriculture at Clinton. Mr.
McCallum, who owns a large
sugar bush and conducts tours
through it on Festival Day (last
year about 300 visited the Mc-
Callum farm), organized the club
for young girls and boys. He
hopes to teach them all aspects of
ach member will tap a
berof trees and follow closely the
process of syrup making. On
Festival Day they will exhibit a
two -ounce sample of syrup' 'to be
judged by Ontario Maple Syrup.
Extension Specialist, Walter A.
Humphreys,
The 1973 Belmore Maple Syrup
Festival Will be held April 21 and
will be, in Mr. Renwick's words,
"bigger and better 'than ever"
Again, all proceeds will be spent
on community projects.
Do the people dare to look
ahead to the festival's future?'
They'd really rather take one
year at a time andjust let' t 'things
"sorta happen". If its future de-
pends on its volunteer markers
the people whose enthusiasm and -
sacrifice has kept it alive for six
years, the festival cornrnittee
feels condident that as long as the
project is undertaken by the com-
1 from;
TI;
to a p.m.
Courses offered will include
Agricultural`B a.
ment, • Home Ecu mica .and
Animal Health Technology.
Displays and presentations will
be underway during"'this two-day
event. t Everyone is invited to
attend and see the many aspects
of the 'college:
Centralia College is located 20
miles north of London and '5 miles
south of Exeter off Highway 4.
WILLING WORKERS ON TH. HOES were Ivan Mawhinney and Ralph Dickson, who
were part of the crew that kept rnaterlals flowing to the artificial ice machinery building
construction site at Bel more A ran& (Stuff photo)
BRINGING UP MORE MATERIALS were Ralph Metcalfe
and Ivan Mawhinney as blocklayers Gerhardt and Fischer
kept the wail acl imbing for the new ice -raking unlit soon to
be in operation at Belmore arena through the continuing
efforts of the residents of the community. (Staff 1 ►to)