Downtown Is Blooming Thanks To Volunteers And Peterborough's New Green Team

Peterborough’s new Green Team has kicked off another season of beautifying the downtown with planters full of colourful flowers.

Hillary Flood (DBIA) with Dawn Pond (DBIA) admiring flowers to be used in downtown planters. Photo by Angela O’Grady.

This year, the downtown is slated to be brimming with plants with over 100 planters and green spaces for the Green Team gardening crew to tend to.

“Having green space, having plants and flowers - that impacts how people perceive our town,” said Dawn Pond, DBIA Placemaking Project Manager. “These edible planters will help businesses, they’re also great for the environment as they offer food and shelter for pollinators.”

@ptbo_canada Downtown PTBO is about to be bloomin! #Flowers #Annuals #Planters #Volunteers #Downtown #SummerTime #PTBOCanada ♬ Chiquita x Tounge Tied - Bloomin’ Acres Farm

Restaurants and businesses that have planters in front were given the opportunity to chose between an ‘edible’ planter with herbs and greens, a flower planter, or a mix of both. Many restaurants chose the edible option and will be using these greens in their dishes.

On Tuesday, volunteers and members of the Green Team met at Peterborough Square to put together planters and learn about gardening.

The Green Team is run through One City Peterborough and offers employment to those who otherwise may have a difficult time applying to or having a job.

According to Jenny Kennedy-Bloom, Employment Facilitator at One City, employees of the Green Team are trained in horticulture, offered support and given the opportunity to gain valuable, employable skills.

“This is a supportive employment program,” she said. “We know that there is a gap between people wanting to work and the jobs that are available sometimes being to big of a jump for people.”

Planters and gardens in the downtown area will be maintained throughout the season by the green Team.

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Lions Club Shoe Drive Collects Over 1,400 Pairs of Footwear For Third-World Countries

The second annual Peterborough Lions Club Shoe Drive saw continued success as 1,402 pairs of shoes were collected to be given to third-world countries announced on Tuesday.

MPP Dave Smith (right) donated three pairs of shoes to contribute to the final total. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Gently-used or brand-new footwear of all kinds was accepted at the drive from the month-long campaign from May 14 to Tuesday. Community members could drop off their donations at the club at 347 Burnham St. or at designated locations around the area.

The shoes will go to Soles4Souls which are given to women in third-world countries to help them get out of poverty according to Judy Jenkins, Lions service chair.

“They clean them, they sell them in the market where they give them to kids who don't have shoes because in the third-world countries, the kids have to have shoes in order to go to school,” she said.

MPP Dave Smith remained involved with the drive, donating three pairs of shoes as the last official tallied donation. The inaugural drive last year yielded 2,549 pairs but Smith says this year’s number is misleading and is still an impressive feat given the circumstances.

“When they started the drive, it was just before the beginning of May and we had that storm that just came through,” said Smith. “They lost about 10 or 12 days of activity going out into the community to try and raise awareness.”

The club’s goal was 1,000 pairs and almost did not meet it until a surge of donations came through out of nowhere.

“The Peterborough community, they're outstanding when it comes to generosity," said Jenkins. "All of a sudden in the last week, we went from 540 a week out and now we're over 1,400."

The community can still contribute to the cause by donating to Bioped Footcare at 655 The Queensway, Unit 6.

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Rotary Club of Peterborough Holds Gala To Celebrate Centennial Anniversary

The champagne bottles were popping for the Rotary Club of Peterborough as they celebrated their 100th anniversary with a gala at the Fleming College Ballroom on Saturday night.

Rotary Club of Peterborough president Wayne Harding (pictured) pops out of a wood cake to mark the club’s 100th anniversary at Fleming College. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The group is known for connecting leaders, exchanging ideas, sharing interests and taking action on several social challenges with donations turned into grants that fund community improvements according to their website’s mandate.

"Rotary has its own inertia. It's not about one person or the leader, we do service and we always have projects,” said Atul Swarup, former Rotary president. "Members bring projects to the table so that keeps our club fresh and new and keeps our members invigorated."

The club honoured members and presidents (both past and present) during the ceremony with a presentation and speeches while reflecting on the 100 years of service to the local community.

Mayor Diane Therrien commemorated the occasion with the City officially recognizing the club’s accomplishments and milestones.

The Rotary Club was first founded on Apr. 1, 1921. They wanted to host the gala last year but had to pivot and reschedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When we started planning it, we had all these wonderful events planned and basically we had to cancel pretty much everything,” said Wayne Harding, club president. “Getting to the gala after having to reschedule it three times, having to change the venue, it's just been great to see everyone tonight and thoroughly enjoy the community.”

The gala featured dinner (made by Fleming culinary students), live music from The Dreamboats, a DJ and dancing.

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Equestrian Community Rallies Around Kildare Stables After Fire Destroys Keene Barn

A building that housed Kildare Stables South in Keene went up in flames last Saturday. Now in the aftermath, the equestrian community is rallying around Kildare members to provide much needed supplies and funding for horses.

Photos courtesy of Thomas Zischler.

Morgan Dedato, who works part time at Kildare Stables and boards her horse there, says if not for the few that were at the stable on Saturday this disaster could have been a lot worse.

Kristen Buchanon Goff had just finished riding in the indoor arena with her son as the fire started. She took her son to safety then ran back in to help.

When Ashley Rylski noticed the fire she immediately started throwing burning hay bales outside, in hopes to stop the fire from spreading to other bales - then used a fire extinguisher and hose. When she realized she would not be able to contain the fire she ran to move horses away from the barn. Rylski was bruised and suffered from smoke inhalation, says Dedato, but is ok.

Megan, who owns a horse at Kildare was also there helping to move horses and was treated for smoke inhalation, but is ok says Dedato.

The three women helped to get approximately 16 horses away from the building, when firefighters from Otonabee South Monaghan arrived to fight the fire.

“Step one was getting the horses as far away from the fire as they could,” said Dedato. “The fire began to spread to the surrounding fields and no one really knew where it was going.”

She says that other stables from the area began showing up with empty trailers, ready to transport horses off the property.

“The community - no questions asked started showing up to the farm and loading our horses onto their trailers.”

According to a social media post by Kildare Stables, trailers from Stillbrook Riding Stables, Endless Journeys Farm and individuals arrived and brought horses to Saddlewood Equestrian Centre where they will stay until further notice.

Once the horses were safe, Dedato says people began coming to Saddlewood with hay and food.

“The rest can all come, the horses just needed to get somewhere safe and have food and water.”

While no people or horses were seriously harmed, Dedato says they lost everything in the fire.

Saddles, reigns, feed, medications, blankets, and so much more was gone in one afternoon.

“It’s taken a few days to get our thoughts organized,” she said. “People have already started donating those things that you don’t even think about. A lot of our horses left Kildare covered in ash and smoke but we didn’t even have any shampoo. It’s those little things that people immediately thought to bring us, it’s been incredible.”

While it will be hard to regain the physical items lost, Dedato says most importantly the Kildare family lost their home on Saturday.

“This isn’t just some structure, this is our home. When I’m not at work I’m at the barn. I spend more time at that barn than I do at home,” she said. “I think for all of us, we lost our safe space - where we all get along and you can show up at anytime and know that people you love are there and the animals you love are there. That’s been the hardest part - losing our second home.”

Riders and trainers at Kildare Stables were just gearing up for the beginning of busy season for horse shows.

“When it first happened we all thought ‘we’re done, our home is gone’, but Kevin and Lindsay (head trainer and barn owner/manager) are so strong. They said ‘we worked all year for this. There’s no point in losing our whole home and then everything we’ve worked towards.’ With pure resilience everyone pushed through and we’re going to keep riding.”

The team will continue training at Saddlewood Equestrian Centre.

Various drop off locations have been set up in the area for those wishing to drop off donations.

The items that are most needed at this time are bell boots, blankets for the horses, fly masks, and poultice, and can be dropped at Greenhawk Peterborough, or at Kildare Stables North (1590 5th Smith Line, Selwyn) at any time.

Those wishing to send a monetary donation can etransfer ridekildarestables@gmail.com. Cash donations will also be accepted at Greenhawk Peterborough.

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Anti-Islamophobic Vigil Commemorated Anniversary of Family's Death In London

It was an incident that shook Muslims and the rest of the province as Stephanie Benn with New Canadians Centre (NCC) held a vigil outside city hall commemorating the lives lost from an attack last year in London, Ont. on Monday afternoon.

Hassan Mohamad, Kawartha Muslim Religious Association president, reflects on the Afzaal family killed on a Sunday walk in London, Ont. one year ago in an act of Islamophobia during a vigil. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Roughly 30 people with signs and flowers gathered to honour the sudden deaths of the Afzaal family (Yunmah Afzaal, Madiha Salman, Talat Afzall and Salman Afzaal).

Their lives were lost by a car that deliberately jumped a curb and struck them. Yunmah’s nine-year-old brother at the time was the only survivor of the incident.

The attack was considered ‘hate-motivated’ according to the London police.

"I was pretty shocked but I wasn't surprised because of the incidents that happened priors to those,” said Hassan Mohamad, Kawartha Muslim Religious Association president. “The Quebec incident and the Mosque here in Peterborough that the community helped us support and bring it back to life."

Members of the NCC detailed the lives of each member that was lost during the ceremony and preached how Islamophobia needed to be curbed.

“I think it's important to recognize the issue and the hate that Muslims have encountered, not only in Peterborough but across the province and across Canada," said Mohamad. "I think education is important and they need to understand what Islam is and how Islam is peace and the clothes you wear are a manifestation of that peace.”

Mohamad says the incident should create more awareness and education for everyone to help bring down any stigma of being Islamic.

“It's not just the clothes that make a Muslim,” he said. “It's the faith, it's the teachings and the practices so I think it's important that people understand those ideas.”

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Local Creamery Holds First "Bigfoot Day" As Family-Friendly Event

It might be the closest sighting Selwyn and Peterborough may get of the legendary creature as Central Smith Creamery held its first ‘Bigfoot Day’ as a family-friendly event on Friday afternoon.

"‘Bigfoot’ (left) with Isabelle Greer, 6 (right) in a photo op. All visitors were welcome to interact and have their picture taken with the mythic figure. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The Bigfoot is a nod to one of the creamery’s flavours that consists of vanilla ice cream, peanut butter cups and chocolate ripple.

“Bigfoot ice cream has been a staple around Central Smith for about 25 years and we just felt it was time to really highlight the flavour,” said Jenn Scates, Central Smith Creamery co-owner.

@ptbo_canada It’s Bigfoot Day at @central_smith Creamery! See the big man, get a photo and $1 Bigfoot kiddie cones! #ptbo #ptbocanada #icecream #summer #bigfoot #delicious #food #foodie #foodtiktok #sweet #sweets #icecreamday ♬ Ice Cream - BLACKPINK & Selena Gomez

The event features ‘Bigfoot’ as a costume, one dollar kiddie cones of the respective flavour, a search for 10 hidden ice cream vouchers and children’s activities.

Visitors were allowed to have their photos taken with Bigfoot and interact with him while getting ice cream.

The event is the creamery’s first that doubles as a playful joke towards Trent University.

"There's apparently a group at Trent University who's been looking for Bigfoot so we wanted to tell them that we 'found' him," said Scates.

The event was originally scheduled for last Friday but was postponed due to the weather. Central Smith has over 60 flavours of ice cream that are in regular rotation.

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Peterborough Public Library is Yarn Bombed For National Deafblind Awareness Month

Roughly 130 squares crocheted together is the newest art piece for Peterborough Public Library as they were ‘yarn bombed’ for National Deafblind Awareness Month on Thursday.

Sarah Grimbly, Deafblind communications coordinator (left) with Mayor Diane Therrien (right) with the roughly 130 crocheted squares hanging on the left side of the Peterborough Public Library upon walking in the main entrance. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Yarn bombing (also known as knitfiti) is a form of street art where yarn is knit, crocheted or wrapped and is displayed in a public space.

The yarn squares were made by people serviced by Deaf Blind Ontario Services (a company that provides services to deaf and/or blind), knitting groups and volunteers. The company’s campaign is in its second year to celebrate those who are blind and/or deaf.

“The individuals we support have both hearing and vision loss and heavily rely on their tactile senses,” said Sarah Grimbly, DeafBlind communications coordinator. “Knitting, crocheting, the feeling of the yarn, that's all very tactile and so it was a great way to get them participating in the initiative as well.”

Mayor Diane Therrien says it is an initiative that Peterborough is happy to get behind and will be effective in helping create dialogue and awareness for deaf and blind people.

“The Peterborough Library is a community hub, there's a lot of people that come through here so the more awareness we can bring to it, the better,” she said. “It's a great conversation piece that people will talk about and spread the word to friends and family.”

Several crocheted projects have yarn-bombed cities all over the province. They exist in parks, downtown spaces, public buildings and more. Participating cities include London, Innisfil and Ottawa alongside Peterborough.

The knitted project remains on the library wall for the month of June.

National Deafblind Awareness Month happens every June since it is the birth month of famed author Helen Keller, known for having vision and hearing loss.

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Local Man Jumped Into Action To Feed Residents In Apartment Building Left Days Without Power

When last weeks storm left many without power, local man Matty Hiltz took it upon himself to grill up a meal for those without power at the Brooklawn apartments.

Photo courtesy of Lori Forsyth.

Hiltz, an in home care giver who previously worked for VON before starting his own business, had many clients that lived in the Brooklawn apartments.

“That was the main building I worked at for about three years, I got to know my clients and the others in the building very closely,” he said.

Hiltz says he still visits his clients in the building to visit and to offer haircuts to those that aren’t able to leave the building for appointments easily.

He says he visited the building on Thursday, five days after the storm, and it was still without power. Many residents have mobility issues or diabetes and they weren’t able to leave the building or eat properly.

“It really broke my heart so I leaped into action. I knew something had to be done.”

He spoke with his clients for the day and arranged to finished work early. They also offered to help Hiltz with his mission.

Hiltz bought burgers and hotdogs, brought his own barbeque to Brooklawn and invited residents to enjoy a warm meal.

Tina Clarke, who works for VON, was there to help too. She delivered meals to those on upper floors with mobility issues that were unable to make it downstairs to the barbeque.

“The smiles on their faces, were so touching,” he said. “They were so appreciative. One gentleman told me he hadn’t had a hot meal since Saturday which broke my heart.”

He noted that, as horrible as the storm was, it brought people together.

“There’s always good that comes out of something bad. I don’t think my smile could have gotten any bigger that day.”

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