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SE a Sm Rows U0 TL RE RA A Sh a Editorial Comments Western Weekend I" Initial calculations show a good slice of profit for the Scugog Chamber of Comerce's Western Weekend extravaganza last week. The success should put a happy smile on the faces of rot only Chamber members, but supporters of the new Scugog Arena. "A good chunk of the'net profit will be going to that fund as part of the Chamber of Commerce's committment to raise $10,000. over the next three years of the $200,000. that must be collected in the community. init Only those who have been in contact with other Chambers in other communities would realize just how unique the event is. That this community can come up with a popular event, like Western Weekend, considering. competition from the huge southern communities, is unique in itself. SS : That the local Chamber has led the way is even more unique, : In many other communities, the chamber functions as a local lobby for local business interests, and while what's good for business is usually good for the community, you get the impression here, that it is the community that comes first....and not the business. It is sad but true, however, that the per centage of talkers and doers is the same in the business community as it is anywhere else. There were a surprising number of downtown businesses that didn't provide as much as a smile for those who took in the festivities. ' : On the presumption that business is brisk with the extra people in the downtown section for the event, we consider the non-participants, freeloaders. It doesn't take much to take part; after all. Some of _ the most practical things were perhaps the simplest. Like the local hardware store that lined up all their lawn chairs for passers-by to use. Probably set-up in no more than 10 minutes, the "'exhibit"' was well "received by more than a few weary shoppers. September election Happy days are here again! Anyone in newspapers will tell you there just isn't a thing that stirs the blood of the average newshound like a\good. election. promote answers Politicians, officials and ho spend most of their public lives eluding d generally avoiding comments suddenly . turn on the media with mountains of press releases, news items and announcements. : a ue he / + AND JO THE HONORABLE MEMBERS IN THE OPPOS/JION BENCHES - - - Remember When..? "50 YEARS AGO Thursday, August 13, 1925 Here is a couple of examples of real estate prices 50 years ago: 8 roomed frame house, 1% acre of land, good stable, some fruit, good water, in village of " Manchester, beautiful shade "trees. All for $2,000.00 with 5 Bill Smiley $1,000.. cash. Priced for quick sale, new cottage at Caesarea, large rooms, screened-in Veran- dah, well, lot fenced, $1,400. A by-law was introduced in Reach Township council, read three times and passed to raise the assessment $37,531.79 for county, school purposes 'requiring following rates: For county 9 mills; township 4 mills, gen- _eral schools 4,74 mills. Brock Bros. & Co. adver- tised Ginghams 19¢ a yard, Men's fine straw hats $1 and $1.59, heavy work boo $3.85, ladies' strap shoes $3.75. . : the ---2.8 mills. 25 YEARS AGO ~ Thursday, August 17, 1950 Quite a number of local talent were featured in a simulated broadcast from the Fair Grounds titled "Hill Billy Jamboree". Among the many patticipating were: Jack Whitby, Ted Griffen, Grant Tease, Norma Hock- ley, Marie Taylor, John _ Christie, Wm. Beacock, Ken and Joan Hallett, Jim Ryder and a number of others. By-law No. 918 was passed in Cartwright council setting the mill rates: County gen- eral 12.8 mills, County con. and. High School mainten- ance 1.7; Roads and Bridges 6.5; municipal grant to school 4.7; Township general rate 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, August 11, 1960 The Ayreshire Breeders Association of Canada has announced that the Ann Brae Herd, owned by G. M. Brawley of Ashburn, ranked second in Canada in Group D for herds with over 40 cows. Mr. Merrill Van Camp was appointed Cartwright's representative to the Com- munity Memorial Hospital Board at the regular council meeting. A grant of $250. was approved for Blackstock - Agricultural Fair Board. Miss Betty Noble, R. R. 2, Uxbridge was chosen Ontario County Dairy Princess at the Holstein Twilight meeting in July. Runner-up was Carol Smith, R. R. 2, Uxbridge. 10 YEARS AGO Thursday, August 12, 1965 _ Twenty-four Port Perry" and Scugog Guides under the leadership of Mrs. Audrey Hall, Mrs. Eileen Hodgins, Mrs. Georgeen Carnegie and Miss Jane Carnegie, left for a weeks camping at Camp A Sunday of contrast Miss Carol Ann'Tidey, will visit Blackstock Fair this year. See 'Hope's 1.G.A. Pee Wee's won the Consolation Trophy at the North York Pee Wee tournament for the second straight year. Pitchers were - » v - o ~ > : Ck pA ® Adelaide, a Girl Guild Camp at Haliburton." Mrs. Dorothy Nelson, was the Administra- tor at the camp this summer and reports a very busy summer with 100 Guides camping at one time for most of the summer months. - Miss Dominion of Canada, . 'Ken Irvine and Laurie ® Williams. Utica people travelling this. summer were Mrs. Mervin Storie on a trip to California, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Bailey, Mr. and Mrs, H. Kerry to Prince Edward Island and. _eastern parts. "Two new homes were buil{ this year in Utica, one by Mr Langille and Mr. M. Storie. It wasn't quite the ridiculous and the sublime, but near enough. A good, contrast- ing picture of Canada on a Sunday in summer. We'd gone back to the village to join Grandad in the celebration of the 100th "anniversary of the little white church by the bay. = Sunday morning, breakfast over, off for a drive with the city-lawyer brother-in-law, while the wives were doing Thre dishes. Poked around the neighborhood, shaking our heads over the property developments, where entrepreneurs were getting as much for asinglelot as their grandfathers had for a 150-acre farm with house. and barn. Commiserated with each other over the fact that we'd both be millionaires if we'd bought some of this shore property 20 years ago, when it was dirt cheap. Conveniently forgot that neither of us had enough money to buy one lot 20 years ago, let alone a mile of shoreline. * ~~ re ar. Driving along the shore road, spotted a lot of activity.. Naturally, stopped for a look, as one always does in the country. It was a scuba diving expedition, complete with 'vans, tanks, goggles, snorkels, and man-from-Mars suits. . - Hung around to watch, and asked some . casual questions from one of the "divers". He was soreticentyou'd have thought he was just about to climb into a Moon-bound capsule, instead of into about 12 inches of water, : _ He finally admitted grimly that the group had just finished its training, and this™'dive" they were about to make was the 'real thing". There were about 20in the group. We stood around and watched as they struggled and wiggled and squirmed into their skin-tight suits and heavy tanks, and sprayed their goggles and checked their air-lines "and adjusted their flippers. This was the real thing, no question about - it, and the tension mounted steadily as they - spent half an hour getting fitted out forthe dangers of the depths: octopi, sunken wrecks, sharks. ~ There was only one female in the group, an extremely chubby one, and she had so much trouble squeezing into her suit and getting it zipped over the bulges that I was mighty glad I wasn't out there, trapped in a wreck, + waiting for her to rescue me. Finally, purple in the face, she was ready. Then their leader appeared. He had been -out-there,; fearlessly probing the possible dangers of the sunken wreck. = "He stood there, barking orders, making them recheck their gear, dividing them into teams, ensuring that their boot-knives were available for a swift slash of a tangled ° life-line. Finally, the big dive was on. They waded for 10 feet, since it was too shallow to lie down. Then they flopped and snorkeled out, - inabout two feet of water, to the wreck, every nerve keyed, every sense alerted to the perils ahead. The assistant instructor, who wasn't making the dive, sighed with relief, pulled a beer out of his van, and chatted cheerfully with us. ' *_ "What do they do out there?" he was "asked. "Not a helluva lot," he replied. "When you've swum over the thing about three times, that's about it." - - We silently concurred. We knew the "sunken wreck" was an old barge, towed there years before to serve as a-dock for a boat-owner. 'Three years ago, when the water was lower, it sat three feet out of the water. The only sunken treasure would have to be the old car motor which anchored it. I know that diving must be fun, and is dangerous, but this operation made me giggle. It was like watching a lot of six-year-old boys get fitted out in their space uniforms, do a ritual countdown, and then run around the backyard yelling: "Zoom! Zoom!" Couldn't help pondering on why 20-odd people would drive a round trip of 300 miles from the city and get dressed in Hallowe'én costumes to paddle around in three feet of water '"'exploring" an.old barge. - Three hours later, we were sitting in the church, for the anniversary service, just 100 yards down the road from the big dive. There was a simple dignity here which underlined the silliness of the other oper- - ation. Iguess we were as inappropriately dressed for a hot summer day as the divers - shirts and ties and suits and summer dresses. Most of the people were middle-aged to old, with a sprinkling of children. : But there was a sense of drawing together, of closeness, of continuity. z Reading the brief history of this little, frame, 100-year-old building, one was aware, however dimly, of the fierce determination of the first families, when erected it, on a donated lot, at a cost:of $500, that their "children would be God-fearing,: God-loving Christians. { And there was a little sadness in the , knowledge that the Sunday School had been forced to close, and that the church is now open only in summer, and that many of the ° children, and the children's children and so on, are neither God-fearing nor God-loving. And there was some pride when Grandad, 'sitting next to me, was singled out as having been associated with that church for 75 years. © But the children and the children's child- eo ren had rallied around for the occasion. And * after the service, there was the get-together in the community hall for the coffee and sandwiches, and the hundreds. of hand- shakes, and the sometimes desperate trying to put together of names and faces not seen for years, and the presentation of grand- children, and the hard. realization that everyone is growing older. . . The new and the old. The silliness and the simplicity. The plump young city men - struggling into their skin-suits, and the weather-beaten farmer in their strangling collars and ties. . A summer Sunday in Canada. The Argyle Syndicate Ltd. a. a pT Tat i : ETA p y 4 SE 2) ~ A SRO Fi A 2 00 yf wa ; fs 1 TER AW PTY 0 & Fig