Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Editorial

In the wake of a major structure fire on Thursday evening that saw a local auto repair shop destroyed, and caused concern for the potential for contamination of our municipal water system, this community, from first responders, to municipal staff, to local business owners and residents have responded in...

Meaford is Open For Summer

With the Victoria Day long weekend, often referred to as the 'unofficial start of summer', now behind us, Meaford is open for summer. Memorial Park is now open to campers, and the marina has filled up with boats ready for another season. Last week we saw outdoor patios returning to restaurant row on Sykes Street. Those patios have become popular...

Council Makes the Best of a Bad Situation, Allowing the Blue Dolphin Pool to Open This Season

When I was a child in the 1970s, on a hot summer day I would roller skate to the local swimming pool with my beach towel draped around my neck. Once at the pool I would pay the quarter, or whatever the minimal cost was, and I would enjoy some time splashing, swimming, and cooling off. Most of us...

Funding Requests From Community Well-being Bursary Program Far Exceed What’s Available

Over the course of two sessions held on Monday and Tuesday of this week, members of council heard from nearly 30 local organizations hoping to secure funding from the municipal Community Well-being Bursary Program, which has replaced the previous community grant program. The annual funding for this program is $40,000, while the 29 applications submitted seek some $83,350 in...

Farmers’ Market Season Will Soon Be Upon Us

Though it has felt slow in coming, we have arrived at the month of May. The damp and chilly April we have experienced is shifting to what many of us hope will be warmer and sunnier weather, and one of the things I get excited about as May moves toward June, is the start of a new farmers' market...

Popular this week

Will We Know What to Believe in the Future?

Last week a media outlet in India unveiled its first full-time artificial intelligence (AI) news anchor. German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) reported that the bot, named Sana, appears as human as the news anchors to which we are accustomed, and presents news updates on the India Today Group's Aaj Tak news channel several times each day. "She is bright, gorgeous,...

Good Ideas, Bad Ideas, Council Must Entertain Them All

It is not uncommon for me to hear from frustrated residents, often unfamiliar with council procedure, who are angered that council would consider a proposal for which the resident, or a group of residents, is wildly opposed. 'How dare council consider this proposal that I/we don't like?' I have heard folks say. 'Why in the world would council entertain such...

Why Are Some of Us So Easily Offended?

Recent news articles about some Florida parents who were offended by Michelangelo's famous statue of David, so offended that the Tallahassee Classical School fired their principal, has gotten me thinking about, and talking to folks about why some are so easily offended these days. The Florida story seemed crazy to me. A sixth grade art-history class was shown a photo...

Has Spring Finally Sprung?

The season of spring officially arrived two weeks ago, but even just a week ago we were hit with a snowstorm that made the roads slick, and reminded us that winter wasn't done with us yet. This week however we have seen lots of bright sunshine along with warmer air, and I think we might finally be free of...

Next Year is Meaford’s Sesquicentennial

Sesquicentennial, not exactly a word we use regularly, but it is a word that Meafordites will be hearing much in the months to come, as the former Town of Meaford approaches its 150th birthday. During Monday's council meeting, Councillor Harley Greenfield introduced a motion that will jump-start the organization of celebrations for the big anniversary, and that motion as you...

Moving Beyond the Three Rs

Reduce, reuse, recycle. We have heard it for decades now, and for most of us, it has become our standard approach to managing waste, but in the years to come, the focus will change. Our three Rs will expand to Prevent, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover, and Dispose, as municipalities everywhere continue to grapple with waste management. The 'prevent' aspect of the...

We Will Have a Scarecrow Invasion in 2023 After All

Many in this community were saddened upon hearing the news back in November that the Scarecrow Invasion & Family Festival was put on pause for this year due to a lack of members on the event's executive board. On Monday afternoon we learned that the 2023 edition of the event has been saved, and we will indeed have an...

Spring is in the Air

We are just 11 days from the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Not that we'll necessarily notice a difference, as this strange winter has felt much like a harsh spring for much of the time, but spring is indeed nearly here. As spring arrived a year ago I was thankful that nearly all of the restrictions we...

We’re Engaged but Divided… And That’s Okay

Monday's council meeting was expected to be heavily attended, and it was. In anticipation of much larger than normal attendance, municipal staff moved the meeting from the cramped council chamber on the 7th Line to the spacious opera house at Meaford Hall, which allowed some 200 residents to attend the meeting in which the Deputy Mayor brought forward a...

Changes to Come as We Grow

The coming wave of development in this municipality has been a hot topic over the past couple of years. In the past we have been teased with the potential for a development boom, but it never seemed to actually happen, but brace yourselves, residents of the Municipality of Meaford, as new development is indeed in our future, and it...