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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1983-10-05, Page 2.lilt2110140111 �(fXPOSitOrr- eftf XrU R NB'.'• Wal 198.4 fS(nce 1889; Serving?lid ComlrjinitJ( fent - /incorporating BfliSs S/II()St founded 181g 12Main $t._ 527.9240 Pa -jailed SEAFORTH, ONTARIO every Wednesday morniflq: Susan White, Managing Editor Jocelyn A. Shrler, Publlaher 1- ' Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Community Newspaper Association and Audit Bureau of Circuletlon A member or the Ontario Press Council Subscription rates: Canada $18.75'a year (in advance) .��. Outside Canada $55.00 a year (In advance) Single Copies - 50 cents each SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1983 Second class mall registration number 0696. A community festival If there's anyone, anyone at all who still doubts that Seaforth has both lots of talented people, and plenty to Interest visitors, after the booming nostalgic weekend just past, he or she needs a head read. Perhaps your cup of tea Is strolling through the shady grounds at the Van Egmond House looking for flea market bargains and learning how old fashioned artisans did their stuff. Of you prefer whooping It up with music, friends, sausage and beer at Oktoberfest. Seaforth this weekend had It all for you. Crowds from outside the immediate area (and any local asked for directions knows there were plenty of them) probably didn't know the difference, but they were two distinct events. Sensibly most visitors, like the rest of us who live here, probably took in the best of both. A steady stream of people, for example, moved from the Lions parade Saturday afternoon down to the Van Egmond House. And,as afternoon activities wound down in Egmondville, a number headed to the arena for supper and a busy evening. As organizers of both events agreed, the two didn't compete with each other. In fact we think a suggestion by the Van Egmond Foundation that Ciderfest and Oktoberfest join forcesand prornvte themselves, at least out of town, as one event is an exciting one. The whole\weekend could go under the Cideffest label, a label that's become known all over the province over nine years. Ciderfest is unique to Seaforth; giving it an Oktoberfest section only adds to its attraction. Attraction is the key word in the whole issue. An event like Ciderfest, combined with Oktoberfest, BIA sidewalk sales, community group bake sales, church suppers or whatever else any segment of the community wants to organize to have fun and raise money, is a terrific promotion for Seaforth and district. It's not a case of competition so much as the -more -the -merrier and all groups concerned working together under a common umbrella. That spreads the workload and the profits. That brings the people who value' Seaforth's history and small town flavor, from all over the province; Once in awhile you hear a Seaforthite wondering aloud what our town can do to match Clinton's Klompenfeest or Zurich's Bean Festival. We think (and let's have plenty of letters, public discussion and maybe a meeting on the subject) Seaforth already has it's community festival. It's Ciderfest and let's get together on it. - S.W. Usey�ur week!y In the last edition of the Herald, a lady sent in a letter and signed it off with saying good luck with "Our Weekly". Someone else might thjnk to themselves, "Who does she think she is? She doesn't write, edit, layout, print or distribute this paper, what makes her think such a phrase is applicable?" In journalism class, we were taught who puts out a p per"but-we were -- also taught that withpput readers, there could be no ewspapers, so readers do play a v',fal role. y takes i formation and In fact, a journal; is more like a'tiniddleman. He ideas from people, an in his ow yle, gives it back to more and different people. So without pedplet info and without an audience to read it, a newspaperman's job becot'rifs obsolete. It is, therefore, your paper folks, so use it There will be times that I might not be able to let a letter run for legal reasons, but those will be as few and far between as possible. Newspapers are public servants, so if you need us, use us, that's what we're here for. Equally as important are your duties for this privilege. Namely, if something worth covering is happening in your area, let me know about it. I can't read everybody's minds, and if it isn't advertised in this paper, how can you be sure I know about it? Believe me, if three people call about the same.event, I won't be angry. I'll be thrilled that more than one person cares that something be written up in the newspaper, because that means you care about what goes into your paper - your weekly. This doesn't only apply to me, either. There is a correspondent in every area to ensure even the most personal events like visitors, trips and the like are mentioned If you, want them to be. But they can't read minds any better than I can, so don't rely on chance. If you would like something in the paper, call them. It would save them a lot of unnecessary running around. It's unfortunate that so many people think of a newspaper as sortie far-off body and a fo'fce to be reckoned with. It's only as far as your phone. And the strength we have is in the people. Because a paper can unite people and brings ideas across, it is strong. This page is reserved for your ideas, opinions and views. So far there has been no trouble filling it, but don't leave it up to your neighbor to continue expressing your views. Do it for yourself. We're here and we're open to you, so use us. Make use of "Your Weekly". UNITY NORTHWEST HERALD, UNITY SASKATCHEWAN A Katimavik helpers cheerful c[r© @drrapc During this past weekend our tin Shop and Memorabilia Parlour were open for public tours in conjunction with Ciderfest activities put on by the Van Egmond Foundation. The Foundation offered help in looking after the people interested in the tours and engaged the Katimavik group for that purpose with the result that two of them would come about every two hours and perform the chore. No doubt it must have been awkward for them dealing with people and a place they didn't know but they did it willingly and cheerfully and we appreciate their efforts very much. One of these young people was Stephanie Scarnat from Winnipeg who was on the last shift. When she left she gave us the following poem which she had written while with us for such a short time and we would like to pass it along to your readers. We enjoyed the sentiments expressed and are amazed at the Pickin' 'n grinnin' HOMEMADE music was enjoyed by all who visited Ciderfest on Saturday. Mike and Bert, top photo and Mike Park, top right, specialized in folk music. 4The No -Note Band of Goderlch were favorites -with their niq,ee sinstr ments. • (Po What weird, wacko customs in Canada? How often have you heard someone just back from a far away place describe a foreign country as weird? Or read a book that talks about tribal customs and traditions some- where half way around the world and found yourself doubled over with laughter and amazement? i mean, how can those (pick one) Fijians, Philippines, British,, Portuguese, French, Scottish, Brazilians' or Japanese act so strange? We've all done it, because we're all culture -bound. We think the Canadian way is the only one; we've been raised with it. It sounds right. It looks right. It feels right. Hey, it iS right; it's those other places that have the wacko customs. Then 1 talked with a visitor from another part of the world who's been spending his summer in Canada. While he was much too polite to come right out with the "weirds" the 'stranges" or even "how quaint" he did ‘ttave some questions. �We Westerners, when we are visitors \alen't usually as shy as our friend about quickness that she created this little poem. It is to be hoped that she will pursue her poetic abilities. The antique shop, all gold and brown With pictures telling a million words about the historic town. The old folks come to reminisce about days long passed Those days they miss. Everything here is now so rare It seems so few people really care About the articles that are so old Or of the Stories that can be told. If we would just take the time to learn Such valuable knowledge we would learn It would teach us of theast And all the things that didn't last. Now we laugh but soon it will be Our great grandchildren wilt be laughing at me. Wishing her every success and thanking the Katimavik for their help we remain, Frank Sills George A. Sills and Sons Hardware RO ►rt�r c@i lfng 4O o©Y saylig, what, we think, Doubt me? iF along for a few minutes behind aery protected tour of Canadians and Ame cans next time you're in a foreign country. ome pretty insensitive things are said. Loud, I guess on the theory that the "natives" don't understand English. Hah! Boorish or patronizing behavior breaks through a language barrier every time. POLITE But this polite visitor wondered about the Western Ontario custo O baking your body . red nd raw on a suns each. Why not swim, he sked and we explained about the pollu ion in Lake H ron. Acute observer that he is. le had fur her questions about the vehicle- mind ting rites of our young people. Why don't they walk together, instead of cruising, gravel running and long distance eye contact. he watlted to.knbw: : We told about afilin, called American.. raf iiti, • assured him the mates do eventually get together in the same car, and explained about cars providing privacy that kids don't seem to find anywhere else. You segregate people by age in your country, don t you, was the next line of questioning. Kids are usually with other kids and old people arc usually by themselves. They even live by themselves, he says. Well, yeah, but both age groups like it that way, we told him. Pretty primitive place when you don't even live with your whole family, was the testiest comment he made. A FAIR In the interests of international under- standing and cooperation, we took our tourist to a fall fair. A small one, in an agricultural community like Seaforth. Although he had a wonderful time' and obviously enjoyed the sight of so many "natives" doing likewise, a few of our customs bewildered him. "AMUSEMENT" You pay money to go on "amusement" rides and get sick,, or scare yourself, to death, he said. Queen contestsand,babyconfeijs , .struck him as. quite strange, a throwback to • the people -as -products concept that his culture hvas been trying to get rid of since slavery was banned. But he saw the sheep, the cattle and the pig contests too and with our explanations. tried to see it as all'part of the healthy Canadian mania for competition. Tired from riding, walking and craning our necks at the fair, our little group of Canadians took the tourist to a licenced premises nearby. As the evening wore on he stifled his laughter. The rest of us were talking about Ontario's liquor laws. Who drinks when, in which bar, is strictly regulated but driving around with a case of beer is common practice. That's not weird, we assured him. That's just the way things arc done around here. Even small communities are complicated A community, even a small community. is a pretty complicated machine. it takes wheels operating within wheels to make a community work and very few of us ever step back and watch to see what makes things tick. 1 remember a few months after we moved to our town. relatives visiting from the city asked if we knew everyone in town yet. Somebody coming from a city of three million people just figured you'd automatically get to know everybody in a town of 1000 within hours. It's part of the myth about small towns. A year or so later the relatives asked again: surely we'd know everybody by now. Twelve years later, I think 1 know fewer people than I did back then. - WAVELETS A community is really made up of a lot of little communities, circles intersecting circles like wavelets in the water when you throw a handful of pebbles in. You move to a new community. say as a young married couple, and you move into two communities: you get by IICG.Nh L°3©ttll ©rrt to know your neighbours and you get to know the people you work with. Through your work you may even get to know, well enough to say hello to at Zeas% a few dozen other people in the community. For some people, people who like to live a lifestyle much the same as they would in the city, that may be all the people you ever really get to know. If you're a more socially involved couple, however, you move into other communities within your community. The husband joins a service club, for instance and the door is opened to a whole new group of acquaint- ances. even friends. The club has events that include the wives and there are new meetings. The wife joins her club and the same thing happens when the husbands are included in social events. The couple goes to church and there are new acgtfaintances. October is T.S. Eliot said, in one of his poems that, "April is the cruelest month.' 1 won't go into the symbolism of the whole thing, but 1 can imagine the fastidious, old -maidenly banker, sitting by a blazing fire in his London lc igings. looking out at the rain, and writing lines like that. full of hidden allusions that drive teachers and students crazy. It's certainly true of Canada, where he never lived, the old hypocrite. April in this country can he the cruellest month of the year. wficn you get a snowstorm just after planting your begonias. or whatever you plant. But for Canadians, I would like to paraphrase the quotation, and suggest that October "is the coolest month." And 1 don't mean in the sense of temperature. 1 mean, like, you know. dig, in the language of the sixties, October is like, well, you know. i mean. real cool. if it behaves itself. If it does, it can be a golden benison on the fruits of our labors, the yellow sun slanting through the foliage of an artist gone mad, the hackneyed nip in the air that makes you hustle through washing under your arms. If it doesn't behave itself. it can be a dreary. sodden introduction to November, which should be dropped from the calendar, as far as I'm concerned, except for Remembrance Day. It's a holiday, I'm writing this in the hope that springs eternal that this October will be one of the golden ones. The couple has children and eventually: the children go to school and the family enters a new community. They meet the teachers. They meet other parents who complain about how exhorbitant school taxes are and what a rotten job the teachers are doing because they don't realize that. little Meg is an exceptional child and would be far ahead of the other children if only she were handled properly. The children get involved in the community outside the school and there are more people to meet who.you may have nodded to on the street but suddenly, as/parents, have to work with if you want to keep these activities 'going. Perhaps it's Girl Guides or Boy Scouts and you meet the hardworking people who are trying to keep the local organization going. The kids play sports, say hockey and a real `cool' month kigcm © 0.pacg by MO gf6OQ}y Days of sun and blue sky. Nights drawing in to give a feeling of snug comfort without a -blizzard howling around the eaves. It's a month that, 1 think, accords more closely with the Canadian psyche than any other. i± strange time of rest after labor and girding of the loins for what's to come. in the Annapolis Valley in N.S., in the orchards of Ontario, in the prime land of B.C.. the apples are either gathered or being eaten, the rich spurt of juice flying over one's shoulder at the first crisp bite. in the prairies, there's a great sigh of relief or groan of despair, as harvesting ends' and the farnter tots up the endless hours of labor, and makes the decision whether to go south for the winter, or go bankrupt. It's a time for that final attempt to break eighty on the golf course, to shoot a duck (just one this year. please, Lord), or to catch a rainbow trout (same refrain). For old people, it's a time of mists and mellow fruitfulness, of a little walk in the last of the lingering sun, combined with a tinge of fear for the coming ordeal. For adolescents, it's a romantic Interlude between the madness of summer, and the in baseball, and you realize that something you ways took for granted as just being there, j st being a natural part of growing up in a community, is only possible because there are dozens of people spending a big piece of, their free time to make it work. THE DOERS The inside workings of each group is a community in itself. There are the leaders and the followers, the bitchers and complain- ers and the doers. There are little political battles as people try to get their way and try to solicit support for their side from those around them. madness of winter. It's a time tor falling in love, last year's infatuation obliterated by this Year's anticipation. A time of holding hands. and bunting, like calves, on the street -corner before the girl heads for home and dreary parents and dreadful siblings. For little kids, it's a great month. School hasn't yet become boring, there's still some light to play in the leaves after supper, and winter, though farthest from their thoughts, is no grim enemy. - 1 What about the rest of us? Well. there are siich diverse joys as fall fairs, auction sales. putting on the storm windows, starting again the silly social life that picks up in the fall, raking the blasted leaves, wondering if the old furnace will hold out for another year, and viewing all the horrible new "premeers" of TV shows, while we deplore the cancelling of our old favorites. it's certainly no time for falling in love. Many marriages almost founder in October, as the wife worries and nags and the husband keeps sneaking off to fish or hunt or golf and neglecting the caulking, the wood to be split In many ways, life in a small town is more complicated than life in a big city. Most of us in a small town are involved in more of these communities within communities than we would be if we lived in a city. We have to, if we want to make our community work. We'd better be if we want to keep our community alive. Canada fr for the fireplace, the leaves to be raked, the bills to be paid. But a pretty good month. as a rule. t wonder what it will be like this October, in Canada. Not so good, 1 would think, for a great many people. We're into a depression. and call it what you like, it's a fact. A hell of a lot of men and women are out of jobs, an -a bleak winter. And more will be. Y can count on \ that. The shrivelling and the panic of the money -men are just like that of the Great Depression of the Thirties. They're tucking up their skirts and running scared. The great difference between this depres- sion and the Great is that inflation has not only not been wrestled to the ground, it is bright-eyed and bushy -tailed, eager for another round. Another big difference this time is that taxes and interest and mortgage rates are cruelly punitive, so that those who lose their jobs are caught between a stone and a hard place. Despite the Liberals desperate measure of the six -and -five, in order to remain In power. there are tough times ahead. But don't let it get you down. All the ineffectiveness of the politicians, the growing impersonality of society, where the computer is king, can't lick that odd indescribable - the human spirit. We shall not only endure, we shall prevail. And we may even have some fun. however grim. in doing so. Happy October, all.