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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1988-07-13, Page 17INDEX Births - A5 Obituaries - A5 " Sports - A7, A8 Dublin - Al2 Walton - Al2 • Weddings - A13' Graduates - A13 Serving the communities and areas of Seaforth, Brussels, Dublin, Hensel) and Walton r---Seaforth, Ontario Lots of sun cind fun at Lions Park. See page A3. Town of Seaforth authorizes agreement. See page A4® St. Columban soccer teams winners. See page A7. Xposit HURON EXPOSITOR, WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 1988 50 cents a copy J Retail study u A lot of Seaforth area people have been stopped recently in front of the Post Office or on the street and extensively questionned about their shopping and buying habits. This isn't just nosey people at work, there is a Retail Opportunities Study currently taking place in Seaforth. Main Street Coordinator Tom Lemon and the Business Improvement Association's summer student June Rivers have put together a survey to identify further retail opportunities in Seaforth. Todd James who is working for, the town this summer has been helping June question Seaforth's con- sumers to find out what they're buying and where. This Retail Opportunities Study is funded by a community planning grant worth $12,000 and is sponsored by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Mr. Lemon says the idea of this market research is to find out from the consumers themselves what retail opportunities there are in Seaforth. After that is done he will be able to go to existing businesses with solid data to support proposed expansion into the new areas identified. The survey will zero in on specific con- sumer goods that people buy out of town. Clothing, for example, is one product that people have identified as something pur- chased out of town. But there are five clothing stores in Seaforth. The survey asks what brand names people are buying, where they buy, etc. This infor- mation' can then be used by Seaforth retailers to curb the leakage out of the derway Seaforth market. The idea is not to recruit new clothiers to create competitiort, but rather to cover a specific leak out of the retail market. The existing five clothing stores in town could balance their stock to do this, or a new merchant could be recruited to fill the retail gaps. Mr. Lemon points out the new children's clothing store in Seaforth, Kids Kloze, opened recently as a response to a hole in the Seaforth market. Part of the community planning project involves starting an initiative in the com- munity to cover what are identified as leaks in the market. "What we're after is specific information from Seaforth customers that tells us what they want to have that they're not getting, so we can keep their dollars in the trade area," says Mr. Lemon. Other consumer items which are subjects of the survey are new cars, shoes, books and entertainment. There are 12 goods and services which have been identified for the survey, and 25 people are being gtlestionned for each. Each of the surveys ends w}th the same set of questions -what products do you buy out of town? Can you think of a recent item you bought out of town, and where you bought it? And is there a store or service you would like to see in Seaforth? Mr. Lemon is optimistic Seaforth mer- chants will respond to what this market research shows, and will try to provide in town what people are currently going elsewhere to buy. The result of the surveying will be com- pleted by late August or early September. THE OFFICIAL OPENING of McGavin Farm Supply Limited of Walton was completed when Jeff, Neil and Brian McGavin finish- ed the ribbon cutting ceremony. Jeff is a second year student at Guelph University where he is taking Agriculture Business, Neil is the President of McGavin Farm Equipment, and Brian is the presi- dent of McGavin Farrp Supply, The open house for the official opening on Monday featured many door prize giveaways, reduc- tions on parts prices, and a chance for customers to talk to representatives from about 30 different companies and look at their equipment. By 1:00 pm over 500 people had already visited the event, and it estimated that this number was doubled by the day's end. Corbett photo.. Health Day wiped out by hot weather Saturday was health day in Seaforth, but headed for the beach," said June Rivers, the event passed largely unnoticed on Main who organized the event for the Business Street as the general public avoided the Improvement Association and the warm weather. downtown businesses. It too must Also contributing to the lack of traffic downtown were four weddings which took was hot. Everyone have Local girl to make acting debut When "Fires in the Night" makes its debut July 27 at the Blyth Festival, so will a budding local actress. Eleven -year-old Sarah Johnston, daughter of Jill and Terry Johnston, has been cast in the role of Elizabeth (Liz -Beth) Sloman in this play inspired by the travell- ing "School on Wheels" that rode the rails of Northern Ontario teaching children in remote areas. And so far she is enjoying the experience. "It's fun. I've met a lot of new friends and it's been a good experience," she said. Sarah, who will enter Grade 7 at Seaforth Public School In the fall, has in the past at- tended some of the children's productions hosted by the Blyth Festival. She learned about this play through an audition notice circulated to her school in the spring, and decided being an actress for the summer might be interesting. I've never done anything like this before but I always wanted to. I like acting and I thought it (being in this play) might be fun," she said. But before it became fun, Sarah admitted it was nerve-wracking. There was the audi- tion to go through, and that meant doing a reading and singing a song. Sarah sang the song, "Gee I'm Glad I'm No One Else But Me", from her Anne of Green Gables tape. "I was really nervous about the singing part. But, when I got there they made me feel at home." Now, after three weeks of rehearsals, Sarah said the singing doesn't bother her at all. "It's different now," she said. "Now I sing all morning in front of older actors." But as confident as she is now, Sarah ad- mitted she expects to be a little nervous come opening night, although by then she will have logged four weeks of rehearsal time. In pieparauon for her debut Sarah rehearses six days a week, from 11 a.m. un- BUDDING ACTRESS Sarah Johnston, middle, of RR 2 Seaforth, will be making her debut at the Blyth Festival on July 27. Sarah will be appearing in "Fires in the Night", a story about the Sloman School on Wheels. She plays the part of Liz -Beth Sloman. Mcllwraith photo. til 4 p.m. A typical day begins with a number of what Sarah called "really weird" warm up facial exercises, followed by sing- ing, and finally by rehearsal of specific scenes. "We do expressions - like scrunching up our face like a lemon, or smiling as wide as we can, to loosen up our mouth. Then we sing for a bit to get into it so we're all ready to start going over certain scenes," she said. "I guess you could call it work, but it's fun." But being an actress Isn't all fun. Sarah admitted It has meant making some sacrifices too, and added her parents have been particularly understanding in that respect. "My parents have been really good. They've let me have my friends over a lot more because they know I've not got the time to do the normal things - like swimm- ing, that I used to do in the summer," she said, adding her parents also make four trips to Blyth every day to drive her to and from rehearsals. "And I usually go to basketball camp in August, and this year I didn't think I could. But mom and dad are going to take me for four days, when I have no shows, so I get to see all my friends there. They've been real- ly good." All in all Sarah said she is enjoying her summer, despite the sacrifices. "It's worth it - giving up my spare time. All the grown ups (particularly overall director Gerry Franken and Assistant Director Peter Smith) are so kind to us (the child actors) and everybody makes sure we're having a good time and understand what's going on. And, it's nice and cool in the gym - and there aren't any flies." "And every relative and friend is coming `to see me in the play." As for the character she portrays, Sarah said, she likes her. "I don't look anything like her, but I'd say she's a bit like me in real life, so it's not real- ly hard to act her. And the way I play her she's got a real temper. She gets really trig- gered off, and the way she is in some scenes makes it really fun to play her," she said. Created in the mid -1920s the innovative school on wheels program became one of the closest links between many settlements that couldn't afford teachers, let alone schools. Seven individual school cars gave an im- aginative education to children along the railways from Capreol to Foleyet (the Sloman car) ; • Thunder Bay to Sioux Lookout/Kenora/Fort Frances; Cartier to Chapleau and North Bay to Cobalt. The travelling schools were re -fitted railway coaches, two-thirds of each deisgned as liv- ing quarters for the teacher and their family with the remaining space being used as a schoolroom, containing all the equipment found in a typical one-room•school. Each school car had its own route and travelled an average of 150 miles. Blyth Festival's "Fires in the Night" is inspired by the lives of Fred and Cela Sloman,'whose CNR School on Wheels No. 15089 is now an historical landmark in the Sloman home town of Clinton. Accompanied by his wife Cela and their growing family, Fred Sloman rode the rails • of Northern Ontario for 40 years firing the imaginations of his unusual students. Fires in the Night premieres July 27 and will run through to August 27. place on Saturday. The idea of Health Day wits to get people 'downtown on Saturday, and to promote good health. There was a good response from the participating organizations, and the event was well organized. The only thing lacking was consumer traffic. There were some successes with the health day. Para-med's blood pressure clinic generated interest, and the Protec- Alert program sponsored by that organiza- tion brought seniors seeking information. Wi ly's Catering Sold much of the muffins and nutritious foods which it had on display. And the Hospital Auxiliary sold tickets for a draw for a quilt, lamp and another prize in order to raise money for the hospital building fund. The fire department had a extrication demonstration; the police department gave information on the Breathalyzer; Epilepsy Ontario, Town and Country Homemakers, the Cancer Society and Quest for Health had information tables; the Seaforth Fitness Club gave a karate demonstration; Drusilla Leitch gave information on the Fun Fit pro- gram; Alfie Dale had a display of his pain- tings; and the Red Cross had a table with in- formation about the blood donor clinic at the arena on Thursday, August 4 at 5 pm to 9 pm. Turn to page 11 • GREEN LAWNS are out of vogue this summer. The drought has caused the Seaforth Public Utilities Commission to appeal to Seaforth residents to cut back water consump- tion by eliminating outside watering. Most people are complying with the appeal. but there are still some who are going for that green lawn, and we'd like to remind them of the cutbacks. The PUCIs drafting a by-law to impose watering restrictions, and the by- law may be put into effect if lawn watering puts consumption at an unacceptable level PUC drafts restriction by-law Seaforth residents have cut back their necessary the commission looked at the con - water consumption to a normal level, but sumption in Seaforth over recent weeks, Ju - are not out of the woods yet. ly 7 saw 682,920 gallons pumped in Seaforth Public Utilities Commission manager -the most ever used in one day without there Tom Phillips says the utility appreciates the being a large fire or sewer maintenance response from consumers, and except for a work. 642,664 gallons was the average con - few people lawn watering consumption has sumption per day for that week, and Mr. been cut down. However, there is still a long Phillips said that's another record since he's way to go until summer's end, and the utility been with the utility. is taking precautions to insure an adequate This large consumption could cause pro - water supply is maintained. blems. The pumps were running for 22 and For the first time the utility is having a by- 23 hours per day, and if one broke down the law drafted to restrict outside watering -if it town would be reliant on the remaining one. becomes necessary. This was decided by the "If we had a fire it would drain that tank commissioners at their July meeting. The right away and we'd have no water by-law is currently being drafted and will be pressure," explained Mr. Philips. implemented by the commission at a special Mr. Phillips said he has also received meeting as soon as possible. some complaints from consumers about low In deciding whether or not the by-law was Turn to page 11 V