HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1973-08-23, Page 40PAGE 16
CITIZENS NEWS SOUVENIR EDITION
Zurich residents
welcome visitors
The residents of the village of
Zurich extend a welcome to you
when you attend the sixth annual
Bean Festival, and hope your
visit to the community will re-
main in your memories for years
to come.
Zurich was first organized in
1856 by a Swiss, named Frederick
Knell. Shortly after this a post
office was opened and later a
store, a grist mill and a saw mill,
Mr,. Knell became active in the
early life of Zurich and served
four years as reeve of Hay Town-
ship. His wife taught the first
school in the area.
Within ten years of its founding,
Zurich acquired a population of
300 people. Today the population
of the village is about 750. After
25 years of existence the com-
munity had a daily mail service
to and from Hensall, as well as
its own telegraph service. It was
the largest settlement in Hay
Township.
In 1956 Zurich celebrated it's
centennial, and an old boy's
reunion was held for four days,
to mark the event. Thousands of
former residents visited their old
home town during this celebration
All this time Zurich was a
police village, in the Township
of Hay. In 1959 the village trustee
decided it was time to incorpor-
ate Zurich as a village, and the
official incorporation began in
January of 1960. The village now
has a reeve and four councillors
while previously governed by a
three-man police village trustee
board, under the jurisdiction of
Hay Township.
When you visit the village
during the Bean Festival, talk to
some of the older residents, and
ask them about the interesting
history of the community, where
most of the residents are of Ger-
man or French descent,
0
Organize early
lir festival
A Bean Festival general com-
mittee oversees the planning and
organization of the event and
the committee's task is be-
coming an almost year-round
activity, so much has the festival
grown in its five years of exist-
ence.
Backing up the general com-
mittee is a large group of vol-
unteers. There are sub -commit-
tees in charge of everything
from cooking beans to emergency
arrangements in the event of
adverse weather conditions. The
sub -committees report regularly
to the general committee on
progress through the year, and
as festival time nears the meet-
ings become more and more
frequent.
Chairman for this years' fest-
ival is Douglas Armstrong, with
Glen Thiel serving as co-chair-
man and secretary -treasurer is
Miss Carol Erb.
Gerald Gingerich and his wife,
are head of the most important
committee of the festival-- food.
Other chairmen for the com-
mittees are; concessions and mid-
way, Glenn Weido; tours, Orland
Reichert; traffic and parking,
Carl Thiel; hydro, Douglas Arms-
trong; property, Oscar Greb;
horseshoes, Jim Bedard; entert-
ainment, Mrs. Glen Thiel; tick-
ets, Wayne Horner and Cyril
Gingerich, and publicity, Herb
Turkheim.
Ontario's Agriculture Minister attended last year's Festival
The Bean Festival in Zurich
is believed to be the only one
of it's kind in all of Canada,
and was originally fashioned after
the Maple Syrup Festival which
is so popular in Elmira each year.
There is however, a Bean
Festival held in Michigan each
year, in the village of Fairgrove.
Last year a group of interested
persons from the Michigan Fest-
ival visited Zurich's festival,
and were quite impressed with
what they saw. In addition, they
brought along the Michigan
I3ean Queen, Miss Patti Kunish,
of Sebewaing.
A week later, a busload of
festival workers from Zurich
attended the big events in Fair -
grove. They took along their
Bean Queen, Miss Dianne "Lehr,
who took part in their parade.
While the Michigan Festival
is somewhat different in program -
wing than the Zurich event, the
local people were also impressed
with the outing.
This year, a group of visitors
are expected to be back again .
from Fairgrove, and they expect
to bring along their new Bean
Queen, Miss Beverly Clingenpeel.
of Gratiot County. She was
chosen of the annual event in
Fairgrove last September, and
rules until this September when
their arinual festival is staged
again.
Donations
help
Festival
Each year the committee in
charge of the Bean Festival in
Zurich is grateful to area farms
for their generous donations to-
wards, the food. The Ontario
Bean Producers' Marketing Board
has donated 1, 000 pounds of
white beans again this year, and
W. G. Thompson & Sons, Hensall,
and Cook's Division of Gerbro
Corp. both donated 400 pounds.
The Itensall District Co -Operat-
ive have donated 200 pounds of
white beans.
Another generous donor last
year and again this year is the
firm of W.G. Coles and Co. Ltd.
Food Brokers, of London. Both
years the firm, through Ian Coles,
of London and Grand Bend, supply
300 pounds of brown sugar felt the
project.
The committee is also grateful
last year and again this year to
the Ausable River Conservation
Authority, for the use of picnic
tables for people to sit at and eat
their beans.
Some 3, 500 Ontario bean
growers harvest over one hundred
million pounds of beans annually,
producing a crop worth 10 mil-
lion dollars.
Canada is a foremost world
exporter of beans.
Welcomes visitors to the
Drop in and see
us while you're
at the Festival
Gfl
7.1
Peter and Anna ProII
'Your Chef' Your Hostess'
Main Street — Zurich