Peterborough Blogs
39 Signs You Went To Trent U #TrentU
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Image via @MitchChampagne
Trent alumni might well feel nostalgia when they read this list of signs they went to this awesome U...
1. You know the joys of two reading weeks
2. ISW week means something to you
3. You partied hard at the Commoner, then stumbled home across the bridge to Champlain or LEC, or tried to find your house at Otonabee—er, was it G or H or...?
4. You've taken part in the Great Race
5. You've totally rocked HOTT
6. Harvest Weekend was a much needed break
7. You played ultimate frisbee—whether or not you were good
Our Aaron Elliott (far left) during his (all-star?) Trent Ultimate Frisbee Days
8. Bata library became your second home
9. You listened to "Closer to Fine". A lot.
10. You accidently got on the George St N. bus at least once or twice instead of the East Bank one
11. You listened to Trent Radio. Or were on it. Or hosted a show
12. You had existential, philosophical conversations at the Only Cafe, and solved many of the world's problems there
13. You pulled an "all nighter" at the Piggy/Trash instead of studying
14. You've won a peanut race
15. You were at Bacchus
16. You've fallen asleep, and maybe snored loudly, during a early morning lecture at Wenjack theatre (after a late night out)
17. You jumped in the Otonabee
18. You know what the love shack is at Club Vibe (and hopefully you avoided participating in it!)
19. You styled with your headband, wristbands and high socks playing squash at the AC
20. You dreaded walking across the bridge in the dead of winter
21. Your name was somewhere on a desk at SC 137
22. You ate at the Great Hall at Champlain College
23. You attended a Stop Light Ceilie
24. You welcomed turning onto the 115 to head back to Trent
25. The bookstore became the bane of your existence
26. You played hacky sack. Lots
27. You played at Justin Chiu stadium
28. You attempted to walk the drumlin
29. You've reenacted the scene (in your head, at least) from The Sword in the Stone with the Trent Sword sculpture
30. You've earned your Pig's Ear Diploma (below, Prof. Symons getting his)
31. You knew a guy named Cowboy
32. You had Birkenstocks before they were cool
33. You fell in love—both with Peterborough and maybe with that someone special
34. You knew Paul Wilson
35. You were on a first name basis with all your profs
36. You were in a band, or knew someone forming a band in your hallway dorm
37. You wore plaid and had a beard
38. Getting your class schedule and realizing you had to be on the main campus, then a class at Traill College, then a class at Peter Robinson. Doh
39. You ordered greasy pizza late at night, hung out with your dorm mates, and watched David Letterman.
***Add to our list here!
—by Aaron Elliott and Neil Morton
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Look At This Awesome "Wanted: Boyfriend" Poster In Downtown Peterborough
/Ryan Lalonde spotted this gem on a signboard in downtown Peterborough. Too funny.
(A love of bacon appears to be an important prerequisite.)
So yea, you just never know what you're going to spot on Peterborough signboards.
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Look At This New Super Slide The Otters Have At Riverview Park & Zoo
/The zoo animal care staff have constructed some amazing new fun for the otters in the form of a terrific water slide. Take a look at these...
photo by Emma Whitehouse
Here's A Woodpecker In Bridgenorth Dealing With Its Youngster Having A Temper Tantrum
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All parents out there have to contend with children who sometimes lose their cool and have temper tantrums—especially around meal times.
Well the same thing happens in the bird world, gauging from video Barry Mortin shot of Pileated Woodpeckers on his balcony in Bridgenorth, Ont., near Peterborough.
"We love watching these pileated woodpeckers come to feed," Mortin tells PTBOCanada. "They are quite comical to watch—especially when this giant bird mounts our small suet feeder. The parent started bringing the youngster a couple of weeks ago and I became a little obsessed with getting some decent footage of the feedings. I set up a blind that allowed me to get up close and personal with the birds without scaring them off. They come several times a day and the baby always whines impatiently while the parent loads its beak."
There is a lot of pecking between parent and child in the video and the delinquent pecker also vandalizes Mortin's deck, but "fortunately the youngster has left the rail of our deck alone since when this was shot" Mortin tells PTBOCanada.
Watch the amazing footage for yourself of the tantrum....
Peterborough's Bud Fisher Has A Fun Social Media Fishing Show
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Bud Fisher
Bud Fisher
Born and raised in Peterborough, and now living in Ottawa, Bud has always had a love for fishing and has taken his passion and expertise and turned it into this social media series—bringing viewers hilarious yet practical advice.
Check out some of Fisher's fishing episodes below...
For more, check out the vids on his Instagram and YouTube pages, and follow him on Twitter.
—By Aaron Elliott
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People Around Town Are Noticing This Hilarious "Cult" Poster
/People have been noticing this poster around town and posting to their social media channels.
Have you seen it around? Have you considered joining this, er, cult? There are already a few takers gauging from this below...
via Kemi Akapo on Facebook
Here Are Headlines About Peterborough From The 1920s and 1930s
/Trent Valley Archives gave the Peterborough Chamber a really interesting gift recently—a Word document called the "Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Scrap Book". The scrapbook is a list of some of the events, speeches, elections and advocacy issues between the years 1928 and 1937 in Peterborough.
HIstorical photo of Peterborough (we do not know the year but it's cool)
The community of the late '20s, early '30s was concerned with bringing people and business to the area, along with brainstorming ways to showcase Peterborough to the world—in other words, very similar to today.
Roy Studio photo from late '20s/early '30s
Here are some of the fascinating headlines/issues of that time frame from the scrapbook...
"Central Ontario Communities encourage highway extension"
"Boat builders make protest against luxury tax"
"Give a man a job campaign"
"Canadian tourist trade worth promoting, and should punish hotels that hurt our image"
"CNR planning to close railway lines from Port Hope"
"Board of Trade not opposed to building of Severn Locks"
"Editorial: Complete the Canal"
"US Tourists spent $517,706 in District"
"Downtown shopping promotion being deferred; idea liked, but too short lead time for Christmas"
"Boatmakers complain the depth of the Trent Canal is sometimes less than six feet that is advertised"
"Business men think it a good idea to promote Kawartha’s through big US sports shows"
"Water supply on Trent holding strong; can operate large factories"
"Parking time on George Street to be limited to 20 minutes"
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—written by Sandra Dueck, Policy Analyst/Communications Specialist, Peterborough Chamber
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The Backstory On The Hilarious Citiots Improv Troupe
/The Citiots Improv have become a fixture in Peterborough, playing monthly sold-out shows at the Gordon Best Theatre on Hunter Street —and more and more private gigs around Ontario as they grow in popularity. They provide, as renowned Canadian improv comedian Adam Cawley describes, "hilarious, fast paced, unforgettable improv." (Cawley himself has performed with them on several occasions.)
How did this awesome, influential troupe come to be? One of its original founders, Ray Henderson, explains...
2009
"Ray! Can you get some of the gang together and do a show at the Bethany Hills Ski Resort this weekend? I’ve called you guys 'The Citiots’!'" That phone call from the legendary Paul O’Sullivan in February 2009 changed the lives of myself, Dan Smith, Luke Foster, and everyone who followed.
Up until that point, Paul and I had been the producers of the successful “Impros vs Joes” series at the Gordon Best, which began in 2008. "Improvs vs Joes" was an evening of improv that included some of Paul’s famous friends (Jack Mosshammer, Patrick McKenna, Lisa Merchant, Colin Mochrie, and, of course, his wife, Linda Kash, to a name a few) as well as local “Joes”, including students from his classes as well as Dan Smith and Luke Foster. The latter had already achieved some success with their former troupe, “The Shrimps”, years earlier.
ALWAYS PICK UP THE PHONE
Back to the phone call from Paul O'Sullivan…I immediately called Dan Smith and asked if he would do the show with me, and who else he thought we should ask. Fast forward to that night in February 2009 in Bethany Hills, as five very nervous improvisers sat around a dinner table at the resort, pouring over the games list, hoping we remembered how to play each game. Hoping our mouths wouldn’t fail us and allow for noise to exit in some cohesive and entertaining fashion.
That first ever Citiot crew consisted of myself, Dan and Luke, as well as Phil Oakley and Emily Doyle—a performer that had been a part of my shows with Arbor Theatre since she was 8 years old in 1999. The ski resort must have liked us, because “The Citiots” were hired for 2 more shows that spring (Megan Murphy made her debut at the second show).
Dan Smith with special guest Adam Cawley at a show
We did well in Bethany, but Dan and I didn’t think that a Peterborough audience would be ready for a Citiots show. Afterall, they knew us. Why would they pay to see us? And Peterborough already had the Impros vs Joes Show.
Flash forward to November, 2010. The week of an Impros show, Paul called me to let me know that he and Linda were double booked and couldn’t make the Friday gig. I called Dan. We already had the sponsorship in place. The room was booked. Should we make it a Citiots show?
NERVES: THE FIRST SHOW AT GORDON BEST THEATRE
As people climbed the stairs of the Gordon Best that November 2010 night, they were greeted at the door by a familiar face, me, who explained to them that it was no longer an Impros show, but a “Citiots” show. Same people…ish would perform, I told them, minus the “celebrity” element, and that it was up to them if they wanted to stay. They did.
The night was a success, with Luke, Dan, Phil and now Paul Nabuurs and I, along with Danny Bronson on the keys.
THIS THING IS GETTING REAL
May 2011. The same situation arises with Impros. Cancellations. But we improvise again with the same plan. We make it a Citiots show. Ray, Luke, Dan, Paul, Danny and Megan—and now with 17-year-old Kate Ethier as a guest. Result: Same happy audience.
June 2011. Why not actually PROMOTE an actual Citiots Show? Why not see if people want to come and see us? Ray, Dan, Kate, Danny, and now Kenn Gibb and Pat Maitland joined the fray. And people came. And people laughed. It was beautiful.
MOMENTUM BUILDS
Over the years now, we have performed (almost) every month at our homebase, the Gordon Best, as well as many other venues, private parties, fundraisers and corporate events. We have secured sponsorships from industry juggernauts, Steam Whistle Brewery and PTBOCanada.com. We have an official photographer, Jess Latone of J.Lee Photography. We received the Wire Award for “Best Performance Artist”, as voted by fans.
We have shared the stage with some of the Improv industry’s best, including Patrick McKenna, Linda Kash, Peter Wildman, and Mantown Improv (Canadian Comedy Award Winners for best Improv Troupe). We have brought local icons up on stage with us, including Paul Rellinger, Catherine Hanrahan, Caley Bedore, The Jobless boys, and Mike Judson.
Our current lineup of Ray, Dan, Luke, Kenn, Paul, Kate, Mike, Danny and Andrew Root have been a unit since January 2014. We know that we owe it all to this amazing and incredibly supportive community who continually come out and share laughter and love with them.
Oh, and Paul O'Sullivan, thanks for your phone call. You changed our lives forever.
—written by Ray Henderson
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The Citiots next show is Friday, April 21st at 8 pm at Gordon Best Theatre. Learn more about them on their website.
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