138 Canoes & Kayaks Just Jammed Into Lift Lock On Record Breaking Historic Day
/
100% Peterborough, Canada Awesome
Read More
Peterborough Blogs
Government of Canada Invests Nearly $270 Million to Improve the Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site
/On Sunday (June 26th) on Lock N' Paddle day on the Trent-Severn, the Minister of Democratic Institutions and Member of Parliament for Peterborough–Kawartha, Maryam Monsef, announced a historic federal infrastructure investment of nearly $270 million to restore and improve the Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site.
This funding will be used to restore and repair bridges, dams, locks and historic masonry structures, as well as improve visitor safety thanks to new lighting, handrails and signage.
MP Monsef making the announcement on National Canoe Day. (Photo by Evan Holt)
The Trent-Severn Waterway is one of Canada’s most visited national historic sites, welcoming more than one million visitors every year. It is an integral piece of Canada’s history, and a crucial transportation and recreational link for the region. It also operates as an integrated system that mitigates flooding to ensure public safety.
Photo by Trent-Severn Waterway
As we near the 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017, the Government of Canada invites Canadians to experience and learn more about our environment and our heritage. As part of Budget 2016, the Government of Canada announced free lockage will also be free for boaters in 2017.
Canoers watching MP Monsef's historic announcement from the Trent-Severn (photo via Trent-Severn Waterway)
“This historic infrastructure investment from the Government of Canada will protect and preserve the Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site for residents and visitors alike," says MP Monsef. "From First Peoples to fur traders to lumber barons and steamship traffic, the Trent Severn has linked communities across Ontario for hundreds of years. Today’s investment will ensure Canadians can continue to work and play on its shores for generations to come.”
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Paper Coffee Cups Are Recyclable in Peterborough
/A City of Peterborough release below reminds the public that Peterborough does recycle coffee cups...
A recent article in the Toronto Star told Torontonians to stop recycling their paper coffee cups. City of Peterborough Waste Management officials want residents here to know they can still recycle coffee cups in Peterborough.
“Coffee cups can be put into your 'Container' blue box and they will definitely be recycled.” says Waste Diversion Section Manager Virginia Swinson. “As always, we remind people to first remove plastic lids and stir sticks, as these are contaminants.”
While not all coffee cups are making it into the blue boxes, the City’s most recent curbside audit suggest between 60% - 70% do. The material is hand sorted at the City’s recycling facility, and is marketed along with the cartons that milk, juice and other liquid products come in.
“We really want all your paper coffee cups Peterborough!” Swinson emphasizes that every municipality has different recycling programs, different ways of sorting, different priorities, and sometimes, different markets. Peterborough is not the same as Toronto.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Plant It Forward: A Class At Immaculate Conception Elementary School Created A Food Forest
/Lead by the folks at GrowHappy.ca, Immaculate Conception elementary school in Peterborough created a "food forest" as part of an amazing class project on Thursday (June 23rd). Mitch Champagne's Grade 6/7 class collaborated with Mim Devitt's Grade 1 class to create a permaculture food forest.
Permaculture is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered around simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems.
A Food Forest is a low maintenance sustainable plant-based food production and agroforestry system based on woodland ecosystems—incorporating fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines and perennial vegetables which have yields directly useful to humans.
Teacher Mitch Champagne, who live tweeted much of the day (see some below), says their School Based Food Forest Permaculture project focused on teaching students about food systems, habitat, environmentally sustainable farming practices, cooking, preserving, seed gathering and propagation, pollination and more.
Champagne says there is a great deal of research that links gardening in youth with positive mental health—something GrowHappy.ca espouses as part of their "Plant It Forward" approach—and the class explored these links.
"It was an incredible opportunity to create a sustainable Food Forest with our students," Champagne tells PTBOCanada of this memorable day. "The children brought so much energy, curiosity, and wonder to the whole experience. They really understood the links to positive physical and mental health and were very eager to 'Plant It Forward.'"
Lansdowne Place Has These Great Reminder Signs On All Their Doors
/For several years, Lansdowne Place has been putting up these signs at all their entrances in summer to remind people not to leave their pets or kids in the car.
"We get a great deal of positive response from having these notices up," Emily Dart, Marketing Director of Lansdowne Place, tells PTBOCanada.
The signs are a vital reminder not to risk your pet or child's safety, even if you're "just running into the mall to quickly grab something." The mall showed great initiative to put these notices up, taking a pro-active approach to an important issue that still occurs way too often.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Why A Peterborough Waving Jogger's Happiness Is Contagious
/
Jim McLean lives life to the fullest
Read More15 Neat Facts About The Construction Of The Peterborough Lift Lock
/1. The Peterborough Lift Lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway—aka Lock 21—was built between 1896 and 1904 in an era when the strength of people, horse and steam power was shaping the transportation systems of a growing nation.
Opening Day: July 9th, 1904
2. The Lift Lock was part of a larger construction project to canalize the Otonabee River—allowing the Kawartha Lakes to connect with Peterborough's commercial centre.
3. To establish the foundations for the Lift Lock at Armour Hill during construction, 76,000 cubic yards of sand, soil and gravel were excavated until the limestone bedrock was reached 40 feet down.
4. The presswells for the hydraulic rams were excavated a further 75 feet into the rock.
5. A foundation of granite blocks—some weighing a whopping ten tons—was lowered to the bottom to provide a footing for the rams.
6. When completed, over 26,000 cubic yards of Portland cement had been poured, without a single piece of *reinforcing steel.
7. The Lift Lock was at the time the largest structure ever built in the world with unreinforced Portland cement. To compress the Portland cement, Rogers employed hundreds of hand-held air driven compactors.
8. The installation of the steel chambers and hydraulic rams by Dominion Bridge Company of Montreal began in 1901 and was completed in 1904.
9. The original steelwork is still in use today, modified by zinc refinishing and welding on the boat chambers. (New aluminum gates were added during the mid-60s.)
10. Peterborough's Richard Birdsall Rogers (aka R.B. Rogers)—a civil and mechanical engineer from Peterborough who studied at McGill—oversaw the design and construction of the Lift Lock.
RB Rogers, pictured in the dark jacket near the centre, with his team of engineers.
11. As originally built, the Lift Lock could generate all the necessary compressed air and water pumping pressure to operate the gate pivot engine, gate water seals and control systems by opening a water penstock set in the lock's upper reach.
Lift Lock nearing completion, 1903
12. The natural gravity fall of water powered the lock's internal machinery. This included a Taylor hydraulic air compressor, water turbines, water driven gate-engines and pumps.
13. The dual lifts are the highest hydraulic boat lifts in the world, with a lift of 19.8 m (65 ft).
14. The Lift Lock opened July 9th, 1904 to a huge crowd (see photo at top of post).
15. The Lift Lock, which was designated a National Historic Site in 1979, took eight years to construct.
*In the era of construction, the use of reinforcing steel was only just beginning, and the technique was viewed with professional skepticism.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Photographer Captures These Beauty Pics Of Strawberry Moon On Summer Solstice Off Airport Road
/Peterborough photographer Niki Allday captured great pictures of the full moon during last night's Summer Solstice. This was the first strawberry moon to fall on the same day as the summer solstice since 1967.
Photo by Niki Allday
Allday tells PTBOCanada she captured the pics at 10 p.m. using a Nikon d7000.
"It was a once in a lifetime photograph, I was very excited to see the storms pass early so we could witness this," she tells PTBOCanada.
Photo by Niki Allday
PTBOCanada Interview: Axe Throwing Club Is Coming To Peterborough
/Looking for a fun night out or great time building day with your work colleagues? Doors will open at the Peterborough Axe Club on August 2nd on Perry St., and you can sign up for league nights and private events now.
Watch our interview with the founders Carlo Raponi and Kalen Davidson below...
Peterborough Axe Club will be demonstrating axe-throwing at Peterborough Pulse community event on July 16th.
—post by Evan Holt
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
2nd Annual Peterborough Yoga Festival Included Yoga Right On Little Lake
/It was an absolutely beautiful day at Del Crary Park on Saturday by Little Lake for the 2nd annual Peterborough Yoga Festival.
Our Scott Arnold—a yoga enthusiast himself—captured these contortionist pictures...
There was even a yoga class happening right on Little Lake...
See this Instagram photo by @scottarnold12 * 85 likes
