The Citizen, 2005-09-15, Page 1The Citizen
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 21 No. 36 Thursday, Sept. 15, 2005
NH
NORTH HURON PUBLISHING COMPANY INC.
Inside this week
Pg. 2
Pg. 6
Pg-8
Brussels firefighter
gets certificate
Two pages of
Thresher memories
Blyth Legion
looking for info
Pg. 15 Fair ambassador
chosen
U ^2 Artistic director has
Hr plans for ‘Spirit’
Weekend
busy for
firefighters
Besides cooking breakfast on two
mornings for an estimated 1.700
people this past weekend, the Blyth
firefighters were kept busy with
emergency calls too.
A total of 16 calls came in from
Friday to Sunday, with 15 of these
being from the Blyth campgrounds
during the annual Thresher Reunion.
On Friday there were three medical
calls, Saturday there were six and
Sunday the firefighters dealt with
three bee sting calls, two reported
missing children and one heart
problem.
They also responded to a call
outside Brussels when a child fell off
a trampoline.
Making things even more hectic
was the fact that some of these calls
came in while the firehall was full of
diners enjoying a home-cooked
breakfast.
BBA to hear
new/old vision
Business owners and main street
landlords who attend Blyth
Business Association’s fall dinner
fneeting Sept. 20 will see and hear a
vision for main street that goes back
to the future.
Guest speaker at the meeting at
the Blyth Legion at 7 p.m. will be
Steven Sparling, chair of Blyth Idea
Group. He’ll unveil what Blyth’s
main street could look like if the
“Blyth: Historic Village” theme is
carried out with main street shops
and buildings. Sparling says many
things can be done to conform with
the historic theme without spending
a lot of money. He’ll show what
some of the buildings could look
like f given treatments ranging
from low cost to complete
makeover.
Because of the nature of the
evening’s topic, invitations have
been extended to building owners as
well as the business community to
attend. Anyone interested can
reserve a ticket by calling Lorna
Fraser at 523-9687.
Choo choo
It was an incredible weekend of sunshine, warmth and sights as the Huron Pioneer Thresher
& Hobby Association hosted its 44th annual Reunion in Blyth. Steam engines, good music,
plenty of food, a craft sale and flea market and lots of old-style games and entertainment made
for a busy time. This small scale steam engine runs along a track as an onlooker takes a close
Up look. (Heather Crawford photo)
Sun beams on 44th Reunion
Sunny skies shone over Huron
Pioneer Thresher and Hobby
Reunion this past weekend.
Thousands of campers packed into
the Blyth fairgrounds to set up camp
and enjoy the many events.
“It was a very good weekend,”
Marian Hallahan, Thresher
Association secretary said. “People
came out from all over.”
Hallahan said there were visitors
from as far away as Texas, British
Columbia, Nova Scotia and West
Virginia.
Attendance this year was up on
Friday and Saturday and went down
on Sunday from last year. Exact
numbers were not available at press
time.
“There certainly was interest
there,” Hallahan said of all of the
campers. “It’s really just a big
reunion,” she said.
This year featured several new
events that were a great success.
Peter Mogensen carved sculptures
out of logs. “We provide the logs and
he makes it into a bear,” president
Paul Josling said at the opening
events on Friday afternoon.
Clowns, face painting and
balloons were available for the
children on Saturday and Sunday.
Children were able to dance and play
games with Prof. Bugg and Snippity.
Trickle Creek Acres from Bayfield
brought donkeys, miniature ponies
and chickens to the grounds. It was a
big hit with children and adults alike.
Dreamweavers dog training drew
in a crowd as talented pups raced
around an obstacle course, showing
off their talent and jumping through
hoops.
The machines seemed to take the
spotlight as crowds of people
watched tractors, steam engines,
threshing machines and antique cars
with fascination.
The young people got to partake in
the fun with a kids’ tractor pull on
Saturday and Sunday.
Vendors were kept busy all
weekend as thousands stuffed into
the Blyth arena to peruse the
homemade goods and crafts at
hundreds of tables.
“The food groups did really well,”
Hallahan said. Hot meals were
served upstairs in the arena all
weekend and hotdogs, hamburgers,
ice cream, corn, fresh produce,
chocolate, fudge and so much more
were available at what seemed like
every turn.
The Blyth Minor Hockey tent
served up steak dinners Thursday
night, while the Shriners held their
ever popular fish fry on Friday night.
Many felt the music was what
made the weekend special.
Fiddlers, singers and anyone
carrying an instrument had the
opportunity to make music.
Strangers gathered together to chime
in on a familiar song and one band
stage was designated to impromptu
performances.
There were ongoing competitions
all weekend.
Don Reaman and Shag Campbell
won the men’s log sawing
competition at 9.7 seconds. Marg
Geisbrecht and Jean Pentland won
the women’s at 19.8 seconds and
Joan Beattie and Shag Campbell
took the mixed competition at 12.9
seconds.
In nail driving Don Machan and
Meriam Woods were the winners in
the men’s and women’s competitions
at three seconds and 4.4.seconds
respectively.
Don Reaman at 36.6 seconds and
Jean Hedley at 48.7 seconds won in
the men’s and women’s bag tying
events.
The winners for the belt setting
with a tractor were Jamieson and
Walter Ribey at one minute 15
seconds.
On Sunday, Shag Campbell and
Don Reaman won the log sawing
competition at 9.2 seconds. Jean
Pentland and Marg Giesbrecht won
for the ladies at 23 seconds. Joan
Beattie and Shag Campbell won for
the mixed event at 12.2 seconds.
Nail driving winners were Jim
Bosman at 3.33 seconds and Deb
Machan at 8.18 seconds.
Bag tying went to Don Reaman at
35.2 seconds and Joan Beattie at
49.5 seconds.
Belt setting with a steam engine
went to Mike Searson of Sarnia and
Jason Searson of Watford at one
minute 26 seconds. They won the
John Hallahan Memorial Trophy for
the best time in belt setting with a
steam engine.
“There was lots to do and lots of
people to see,” Hallahan said.
Gas
prices
impact
business
By Heather Crawford
Citizen staff
Could there be some reasoning to
the recent hike in gas prices?
According to Economics professor
Dave Burges at the University of
Western Ontario, since Hurricane
Katrina damaged refineries south of
the border, approximately 10 per cent
of oil resources were gone.
“They have to make up for that
somewhere,” Burges said. He
suggested that high gas prices were a
way of decreasing the demand.
“The Bank of Canada is committed
to keeping inflation at a two per cent
increase each year,” Burges said.
Despite the increase in gas prices, he
doesn’t think this rate will change.
Burges said he thinks high gas
prices are only temporary.
“It feeds into everything else (in
the economy),” Burges said. “But I
don’t think this is a permanent
jump.”
The drastic hike in the price of gas
has sent a ripple effect to local
businesses however, whose rates are
expected to rise to coincide with cost
of transportation.
Luann Taylor of Luann’s Country
Flowers and Gifts in Blyth said her
rates of delivery will go up. “They
have to in order to keep up,” she said.
Out of town deliveries use to be
free with an order of $30 or more.
Now that-fee is waived only on
orders of $50 or more. Taylor also
expects to see the price of flowers
from her supplier rise because of
delivery costs.
Transport companies seem to be
feeling the sting of oil prices as well.
J and H Campbell Transport said
their rates will be going up. “There
are no options if we want to survive,"
said a representative of the company,
Maitland Transport Systems felt
the same way stating that transport
companies make a four per cent
profit on a good year making it
impossible to keep up if rates do not
increase.
The Avon Maitland School Board
expressed concern over the latest gas
prices.
The school board has an annual
contract with bus operators that has a
fuel escalator clause in it. However,
the estimated rate of clear diesel fuel
was set at 70 cents at the time of the
contract and the rate increased
quickly to over 82 cents per litre.
This leaves the school board
having to pay the difference to the
bus lines unless there is help from the
government.
Currently, a representative from
the transportation department of the
school board said they are trying to
pressure local MPPs to bring the
issue to the Ontario government to
help out.
Continued on page 8