Letter to the Editor
Editor,
It is interesting how the apple branding issue is warming up the presses and some peoples’ minds.
I’ve always thought of Meaford as apple country through the seventies and eighties when I came here to visit. I remember hearing the gospel or blues like singing of the apple pickers in the orchards back then and that kind of made it romantic like how we think of tobacco, grape, sugar cane or cotton fields of the past. Not always romantic as there is a lot of work going on there.
I see the family apple businesses before I come into the town and it seems they have evolved over the years and lost the apple identity with the town. I hope the apples and some of the apple products are from Meaford orchards (correct me if I’m wrong). In the grocery stores or restaurants, are local apples to be seen?
The only Big Apple I see now is the one sitting neglected every winter beside Meaford Hall (with a for sale sign on it). During the summers, it was one of the first destinations for me to check out the maps and events around the area. Now that I am a resident of Meaford, it is nice to pop in to see what’s new and see all the people that are inquisitive about the town. This is a good landmark for sure, only if it is supported properly by cooperative participants.
All the talk of renaming the Municipality, as if that will really solve anything. OK, my suggestion is to assign the municipality a number, or incorporate the names of the three towns (St. Sydford, or Vince, Sid and Me for example). While we’re at it, perhaps urban Meaford can be called the GMA (Greater Meaford Area).
“The Other Big Apple” doesn’t really concern apples at all. Meaford ain’t no New York, baby. And I’ll go to New York City if I want to be in the Big Apple.
Gordon Lowe, Meaford
