61 Awesome Things About Peterborough In 2012

There was so much awesome about this city this year. In no particular order really, here's 61 of them (we had to cut if off somewhere)...

1. Peterborough Lakers winning the Mann Cup. Best in Canada baby!

2. Red Pashminas, which empower women locally and globally.

3. Trent's LipDub video, a great showcase for the university.

4. Doug Tilley's comedy, whether it's his "singing" or tweeting or... what's next Tilley?

5. Bandwagon episodes. Now in its 2nd season, which launched with Sloan.

6. Wild Rock celebrating 20 years in the downtown. And making the decision to stay in the downtown when they could have moved.

7. PMZ, Peterborough's TMZ celebrating local "celebrities".

8. I'd Rather Be In Peterborough tees. Community spirit.

9. Spanky's annual ping pong tourney for Movember. Spanky's offering a place to play ping pong in town.

"Call Me Maybe" 10. The city rallying behind a teenager's right to play basketball on his own driveway.

11. Philanthropy month in Peterborough showcasing all the people doing good in the community. #bethechangeptbo

12. The new downtown nightclub ARIA, which rivals Toronto's finest.

13. St. Peter's high school students dressing as superheroes during Head of the Trent regatta.

14. Peterborough Cycling Summit. Bike this city. Let's make it as bike friendly as possible.

15. Elton John concert, the one where he actually played Peterborough—not his cancelled one.

GPA EDC's Dan Taylor at Creative Cocktail16. The Peterborough Calendar Girls naked truth campaign raising awareness about the affordable housing shortage here.

17. Breakfast Television broadcasting live from Peterborough. Great coup for our city.

18. Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher at Gerti's. (We don't believe they had the polo sandwich, but it's excellent.)

19. Carly Rae Jepsen at Musicfest. Peterborough singing "Call Me Maybe".

20. Final photo of PCVS students and staff together. This city will never forget the impact this school had, and its legacy.

21. A canoe portage in downtown Peterborough.

22. The Taste of Downtown. So much great food down there. And great folk.

23. The Dragon Boat festival.

24. The Hootenanny on Hunter. It's a hoot.Mike Watt

25. The Gilmour Street Garage Sale. Epic as always.

26. Hunter Street, one of the best streets anywhere for food, drink, shops, live music, theatre, festivals, hot dogs, great vibe.

Rick Mercer at PCVS27. Maryam's Monsef's story about how a city and school saved her life.

28. Peterborough dog pictures.

29. Rick Mercer's Rant on PCVS.

30. Rick Mercer's visit to PCVS, in video and pictures.

31. Noah Leslie—aka @pennyboynoah, who raises money for the Salvation Army Toy Drive each year.

32. Pete Dalliday's unbelievable shot. Believe it.

33. Someone canoeing on a Peterborough street. Canoe Peterborough.

34. Koski.

35. The PeterTweeter awards. Twitter's where it's at. Amazing Twitter community in town. (Follow us here.)

36. Mike Watt's how-to plaid video. Hilarious.

37. Creative Cocktails—here's the one from Market Hall.

St. Peter's superheroes38. Jonny Trash DJing at Spanky's. Best DJ around.

39. The Peterborough web series Grimwell.

40. Petes Insider, giving us the inside goods on the Petes organization.

41. The excellent Canadian Canoe Museum. We're lucky to have it. And let's move it downtown by the waterfront.

42. Electric City Live, which covers the local music scene in Peterborough. Great name, great site.

43. The Art School of Peterborough. Creativity. Imagination.

44. Mike Judson, who went homeless on the streets of Peterborough for 48 hours to raise awareness about the problem here.

Silver Bean45. Peterborough Police for serving and protecting this community, and embracing social media by joining Twitter this year.

46. Rachel Seaman and Ashley Brzozowicz, who competed in the Olympics this summer (Ashley won a silver in her sport, rowing). The tees

47. Downtown Peterborough. Embrace it. Vital. Make it sustainable. Build a city from its core.

48. Silver Bean Café, beauty spot on the river.

49. Our friends at The Wolf and Kruz FM, huge supporters of Peterborough and us. And the always smiling Carol Edwards there, who lets us in through the out door.

50. Three Loonies, for Kawartha Food Share.

51. The return of the Wire Awards. Special night at Market Hall putting spotlight on amazing music scene in Peterborough—one of the best anywhere in Canada.

52. Gallery in the truck. A moving gallery. Great concept. Love it.

53. PtboFinds and PtboProps.

54. Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre.

55. The DBIA's new website by BrandHealth. Excellent.

56. Lois Tuffin, the news diva of Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Never shy about expressing her opinion.

57. Fleming's Student Volunteering Club, students with a sense of community pride.

58. Funny hashtags. E.g. 6,000 people went without power for a couple hours, and #ptboblackout began trending on Twitter in Peterborough. Sample tweet: "I wonder how many babies will be conceived during this blackout #ptboblackout" 

59. John Leacy's mural art around town. Gabby's wall, Spanky's wall and more.

60. Natas Cafe, the epicentre for Peterborough's amazing people.

61. All our readers and followers on Twitter and Facebook. You rock.

Here's to a great 2013!

---------------

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.

Why Moving The Canadian Canoe Museum To A Waterfront Location Downtown Would Rock

The Canadian Canoe Museum announced today (November 21st) that a feasibility study is being undertaken starting in January to determine in part what it would take to move to a waterfront location downtown from their current location for the past 15 years at 910 Monaghan Road.

It's never made much sense to be where it is (more than one person has remarked as such), and moving this excellent museum right down by the water in the core of Peterborough seems like an entirely logical thing to do. It would drive many more tourists and cottagers—and even locals—into the downtown area to visit the museum.

Imagine touring the Canoe Museum, then stepping outside it and going canoeing and kayaking on the Otonabee River and Little Lake. And afterwards, tourists and the like can eat and shop and take in some theatre downtown. Brilliant.

"During the years that we've been operating on Monaghan Road, it has become apparent to us that we will need to redevelop the Museum in order to achieve these goals, and so we are commissioning a feasibility study as the first step," says the museum's director James Raffan in a PR release.

Funding for the study comes from private donors and a grant from the Peterborough Community Futures Development Corporation.

Where do you think a great place for a new site would be for construction of a facility near the downtown?

------------

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.

2nd Annual Purple Onion Festival September 23rd At Millennium Park

The 2nd Annual Purple Onion Festival, celebrating local food and culture, will be held on September 23th at Millennium Park from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hosted by Transition Town Peterborough, it features local restaurants, farmers and businesses.

[YouTube]

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.

A 5:15 Video That Captures Much Of What Peterborough Has To Offer

Justin Schofield spent about four hours driving around Peterborough, filming the architecture, landmarks and beauty of Peterborough—and included some footage from prior filming experiences here—to capture the essence of what this city has to offer. Nicely done.

[YouTube]

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.

The Impact Of The Baskin Robbins Closure On The City & Downtown

The Peterborough and District Labour Council says this closure is part of a disturbing trend in Peterborough, where the unemployment rate is hovering around 10 percent...

[Chex Newswatch]

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.

100 Mile Dinner To Support Local Farmers Held On July 22nd At Morrow Building

The 2nd Community 100 Mile Dinner will be held on Sunday, July 22nd at 6 p.m. at the Morrow Building. Tickets sold out fast last year so be sure to pick yours up soon (see locations to purchase tickets on poster above) to guarantee a spot for this delicious dinner to support the Agricultural Society and our local farmers.

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook. 

How To Land A Summer Job In Peterborough

Fleming student Victoria Forbes teaches dance lessons and runs a photography business to make summer earningsFor the hundreds of students who call Peterborough home, the daunting task of searching for a summer job often feels like an uphill battle. However, students losing hope shouldn’t give up because when armed with a little bit of creativity, knowledge of local resources, and a lot of effort, it becomes possible to win this battle and successfully gain a job.

What’s impressive about Peterborough is the large number of resources that exist to help students living in the city. Websites such as Employment Planning and Counselling and Peterborough Careers list a broad range of positions, many of which are temporary student jobs.

Yet with so many students living in the city, sometimes it takes more than just this knowledge to land an interview. Over the course of my own job search, I discovered that social media is a great tool for connecting locally and receiving leads on jobs. I sent out over ten tweets in which I tagged locals who specialize in the area I was looking for work (Communications), and I couldn’t be happier with the number of responses I received. No one had jobs available with their organizations, but many tweeters went out of their way to direct me to others companies and job postings that I may find helpful. Social media also helped me learn that tourism is extremely important to Peterborough and therefore businesses that benefit from tourism are extremely likely to hire seasonal help.

Another way I’ve learned to make local connections is through volunteer opportunities. I think many students (myself included!) expect to see job postings that are an exact match to their interests, skills, and education—oh how rare that is! While some people aren’t picky about summer opportunities, those that are hoping to eventually find work in their field should highly consider volunteering for organizations that interest them.

The beautiful thing about smaller cities like Peterborough is they have a great community feel, and local professionals are often more than happy to help a keen student looking for opportunities to grow. I’ve had many friends tell me that they’ve called and emailed people they would like to work for, and that as long as you demonstrate you’re passionate and carry yourself with courtesy and respect, you can gain some great advice and unpaid experience from these organizations.

Of course the ultimate goal is to gain employment with the organization, and maybe that will come the following summer, upon graduation, or maybe never. But the references, networking skills, and experience that can be gained through volunteering are greatly rewarding.

Occasionally, individuals try all the above strategies and are still stuck. It’s at this point that some students take matters into their own hands and use their education and passions to create their own job. This is what I’ve done for the past three summers. Having received a certificate in music from Humber College, I realized I’d be hard-pressed to find a summer job relative to my field in Peterborough, so I started teaching saxophone and piano lessons. While this has only been a side job for me, I’ve spoken to several other students over the years who rely on their entrepreneurial skills to make all of their summer earnings. Examples range from photography businesses to dance and music lessons.

The key takeaway is that living in a smaller city is not always a bad thing when it comes to the summer job hunt. Being able to get your name out relatively easily and talk to a variety of resources on a regular basis is a unique opportunity that Peterborough students should be proud to say they have.

------------

Beth McClelland is a public relations student and music certificate graduate of Humber College in Toronto. She grew up in Peterborough and enjoys spending summers here with her family. Beth is passionate about innovations in social media, music performance and marketing, and community service opportunities.

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.

Job Fair This Weekend For New Restaurant Being Started By Reggie's Owners

As seen on their Facebook page, Reg Maranda and Cameron Green, owners of Reggie's and El Camino's, will be running a job fair this weekend.

The job fair is in search of a new team for their latest venture—a new sit-down restaurant to open up later in June at the corner of Hunter and Aylmer Streets. 

Here's the info below from their Facebook page:

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.