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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 17 ,2 02 2 | 20 www.concretetrimmings.com CONCRETE FREE ESTIMATES 905-844-5518 1-888-944-5518 uality At Its Best! Call Fernando 1-888-944-5518 www 1-888-944-5518 • DRIVEWAYS • FRENCH CURBS • PATIOS • STEPS • WALKWAYS • GARAGE FLOORS ExposEd aggrEgatE (pebble) SAVING YOU MORE ON NOW AT THE BRICK! SAVING YOU MORE For more details shop instore or online at thebrick.com Oakville's St. Patrick's Day walker Eddie Williams will undertake a 40-km journey on Thursday, March 17 to honour the 100th anniversary of a local tradition. One hundred years ago, in 1922, a group of prohibi- tion-weary Irishmen sup- posedly walked from down- town Toronto to Oakville on St. Patrick's Day in search of bootlegged alco- hol. That adventure turned into an annual walk, which Williams has completed for the last 45 years. This St. Patrick's Day will be walk number 46 for the 70-year-old Williams. "I'm feeling pretty good," he said. "My body is a year older. My knees are bothering me a little bit, but other than that I'm great and ready to give it another shot." Williams is hard to miss during the walk, dressed from head to toe in green, including his signature To- ronto St. Pats hockey jer- sey. His dedication to the tra- dition has not gone unno- ticed with residents honk- ing in support as they drive by or wishing him well from their front yards dur- ing previous walks. Williams continues a tradition of St. Patrick's Day walkers. Charlie Priestman kept the walk going for years and then passed the respon- sibility on to Barney Heard who did the walk for 20 years before collapsing during a St. Patrick's Day snowstorm in 1976 in Mis- sissauga. Heard was driven to Oakville that year but com- pleted the walk the next year for the final time. Williams, who was 25 at the time, joined Heard for that walk and promised to keep the tradition going. "It will be 46 years ago this March 17 that I got on that GO train and headed down to Toronto not know- ing what to expect," said Williams. "It's a long walk ... I don't know who has the advan- tage when it comes to walk- ing this thing. Someone who has never done it be- fore or someone like myself who has done it many, many times and knows how much pain there is and when the pain is going to hit along the way." Despite having a small troop of walking buddies who make the trip to Oak- ville with him, Williams says it's important that he continues the trek. "I do it for the people of Oakville," he said. "People expect me to do it. They're phoning me up and stopping me in the gro- cery store and getting pret- ty excited about it." The St. Patrick's Day walker said he's also under- taking this walk to raise awareness of the impor- tance of Canada's legions and the need to keep them going, particularly after the hardship they have ex- perienced by being shut down during much of the pandemic. "That's a charity that tugs at my heart because my grandfather was a First World War veteran," said Williams. The walk will be- gin outside Toronto City Hall at 9 a.m. Williams said the jour- ney usually takes him sev- en or eight hours and ends at 4 p.m. or 5 p.m., when he reaches Oakville via Lake- shore Road. He would previously end his walk at Mo's Kitchen & Tavern at 234 Lakeshore Rd. W., but since this loca- tion is now closed Williams said he will be taking a car from Lakeshore Road to Mo's Kitchen & Tavern's second location at 467 Speers Rd. for a celebratory drink (usually orange juice). ST. PATRICK'S DAY WALKER TO HONOUR 100 YEARS OF TRADITION Oakville's St. Patrick's Day walker Eddie Williams. Graham Paine/Metroland DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS EDDIE WILLIAMS TO UNDERTAKE 40-KM JOURNEY MARCH 17