Icon Gordon Lightfoot To Play Memorial Centre November 23rd

Iconic Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, who recently donated the yellow canoe featured in his song "Canary Yellow Canoe" to the Canoe Museum in town, returns to Peterborough for a performance at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Friday, November 23rd at 8 p.m.
 
Beloved by music fans around the world, Lightfoot holds international recognition as a singer and songwriter. In 1971, he earned his first Top Ten hit when "If You Could Read My Mind" became an international sensation.

Photo courtesy The Canoe Museum

Lightfoot has won 15 JUNO Awards and has been nominated for five Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. In May 2003, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 16th at 10 a.m. They range from $45.50 to $99.50, plus applicable taxes and service fees. Tickets are available at the box office at the PMC, by phone 705.743.3561 and online at memorialcentre.ca.

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Help Peterborough's Mark Steel Get A New Prosthetic Leg

On October 4th 2017, Peterborough's Mark Steel was diagnosed with Osteogenic Sarcoma, the same type of bone cancer that Terry Fox (his hero) had.

Due to the size, aggression and location of the tumour, Mark, 21, had his right leg amputated and now requires a prosthetic leg. Even though he's getting some help from the government to pay for it, there's still a long way to go to cover that cost.

Mark Steel

So Mark has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise funds for a new leg. His older sister, Jamie, tweeted about it here...

My little brother needs a new leg. Can you help? If you can’t donate, Mark asks that you do what you can to honour #TerryFox, who lived with the same cancer. https://t.co/pB15RZYtIb

— Jamie Steel (@jamiecsteel) February 8, 2018

Mark used to love running in Terry Fox runs as a kid, and now hopes to run across Peterborough some day—and perhaps further—with a new leg and do his part to raise awareness for cancer research.

Watch his heartfelt plea below in a video he posted to YouTube, and please give what you can here... 

Hey! I've been put in a slightly compromising position where I need money to pay for a prosthetic leg. I really only care about getting a functional leg, nothing super special where it's mind controlled or something, but I'm still in need of financial aid. So I decided to make a GoFundMe for it.

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A Local Company Wants To Build A Water Park On Little Lake

Peterborough couple Jason and Niki Pulchinski have a dream: to construct a water park on Little Lake in this city they love.

Their Peterborough-based company At The Lake Distributing Inc.—which sells water toys and docks, and has installed water parks across the country—wants to construct a quarter million dollar inflatable water park on Little Lake.

Here is a 3D rendering ATL Distributing provided to PTBOCanada of a possible location on Little Lake...

Little Lake rendering

The Pulchinski's company has a proven track record: They have installed water parks (see pics below) at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario; Camp Qwanoes in Crofton, British Columbia; Clevelands House Resort in Minett, Ontario; Sunshine House Boats in Cranbrook, British Columbia and an upcoming one at Railyard Wake Park in Mount Albert, Ontario this summer.

Deerhurst Resort Splash Zone

Camp Qwanoes Park

Clevelands House Resort

These parks really add a wow factor to any place that installs one, and this is what ATL Distributing wants to bring to Peterborough—thinking it could be great for locals but also an awesome tourist attraction being near the Trent Severn Waterway and Lift Lock for boaters coming through from all parts.

It could help put Peterborough on the map even more.

Rendering of Rail Yard Aquapark

ATL want to pay the city to put up this water park (they are open to different locations but suggested one near Del Crary Park and the Art Gallery of Peterborough—see rendering at top of post), and incur all the costs associated with running it (insurance, security, and everything else involved in the running of this park).

It would be run by ATL and it would create at least six well paid jobs, the company tells PTBOCanada. Safety is top of mind: There would be lifeguards, and lifejackets would be required wear. They also would partner with local businesses, kids camps and kids charities to get people downtown.

Water park 3D rendering courtesy ATL Distributing

"Bringing a water park to Peterborough is really for the attraction of people to our beautiful downtown and Del Crary Park by Little Lake," ATL says.
 
Jason has reached out to the City of Peterborough and is hoping to get a meeting to present an elaborate proposal to them of how their company can work with the muncipality on the project. Without their blessing, the water park will not happen.

In the meantime, Jason and Niki will continue to dream big, believing this project could create a huge splash here. They hope to someday see kids and adults from Peterborough and beyond creating family memories at this water park on Little Lake in the Kawarthas.

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Just A Snow Couple On A Bench Overlooking The Otonabee River

Some artist(s) created a beautiful snow couple in Newhall Park. The composition is extremely detailed and was captured by Peterborough City Councillor Lesley Parnell, who tweeted out this image..

Some creative people built a lovely snow couple. They are enjoying the view of the Otonabee River from Newhall Park. Very cool (pun intended lol). @CityPtbo pic.twitter.com/cFD9GogXfK

— Lesley Parnell (@LesleyParnell) February 6, 2018

We reached out to Parnell, who sent us these other pictures she captured as well of The Snow Couple...

Photo courtesy Lesley Parnell (PTBOCanada)

Photo courtesy Lesley Parnell (PTBOCanada)

Photo courtesy Lesley Parnell (PTBOCanada)

Hopefully the couple won't melt before Valentine's Day. ;)

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New Little Lake Cemetery Web Mapping Application Identifies Monuments From Mid-1800s To 2000

The City of Peterborough Geomatics/Mapping Division, the Heritage Preservation Office and Little Lake Cemetery Co. announced on Tuesday (February 6th) the re-launch of an Interactive Web Mapping Genealogy tool highlighting the history of Little Lake Cemetery.

Created in conjunction with students from Fleming College’s Geographic Information Systems program, monuments and markers from the mid-1800’s to 2000 have been identified, photographed and mapped for the public interest.

Users can search the grave marker inventory by surname and/or death date. The search results include records containing family names, the oldest date on the monument and an image of the marker. At any point, the user can freely search the map and click on any grave marker to view corresponding information.

It is recognized that this is not a complete record of interments at the cemetery, but is limited in scope to the task assigned to the students at time of the project. It is the hope of the City of Peterborough and Little Lake Cemetery that future projects will be able to expand and enhance this valuable history tool, building towards a more encompassing historical record of the residents interred and the commemorative artifacts that reside at the cemetery.  

Little Lake Cemetery, established in 1850, is a not-for-profit public trust owned by all who have purchased plots at the cemetery. It is governed by a volunteer board of directors and a professional staff. 

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Olympic Hopeful Grace VandenBroek Chooses Trent University Over Other Schools

Peterborough Grade 12 student Grace VandenBroek had Stanford, Harvard, Princeton and many other top-tier American and Canadian universities actively pursuing her after an impressive showing at the world junior rowing championships this past summer. 

But the young rower has chosen her postsecondary home, and it's right here in her hometown: Trent University. As one of Canada’s top young rowers, VandenBroek was inspired by and drawn to the opportunity to remain in the city, and to continue training with Carol Love—Rowing Canada’s NextGen Hub lead coach and one of the best rowing coaches in the country.

Photo courtesy Trent University

“I really like the idea of having Carol as my coach as I continue to develop and hone my rowing skills and experience,” says the 17-year-old, who has been training with her since Grade 9. “With the one-on-one coaching, Trent’s varsity program really focuses on the whole athlete. I like Trent’s size, the close proximity to home, and Trent offers a nice balance of rowing and academics. I love the feeling of the campus.”
 
“Trent will give Grace the rich environment a small and outstanding university experience can offer,” says Coach Love. “The supports and balance of home, the community and the University will enable her to excel in the goals she has set for herself.”
 

Photo courtesy Trent University

She's only rowed for about three years, but VandenBroek has had amazing success with the sport to date: Last summer, in her first international competition, she took home a bronze medal in the women's double at the World Junior Rowing Championships in Trakai, Lithuania. VandenBroek was also named Rowing Canada Aviron 2017 Junior Athlete of the Year.
 
Future Olympians like VandenBroek will benefit from the magnificent Otonabee River rowing setting and state-of-the-art training facilities at the Trent Athletics Centre.

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The Spades Reunited For This Awesome Jam Session

Peterborough rockers The Spades last played together in public August 10th, 2013 at their goodbye Hootenanny on Hunter Street show in front of thousands of adoring fans.

The Spades, August 13th, 2013 (Photo by Michael Hurcomb)

Late last summer, they reunited for a special jam session that was captured by the Peterborough music show Bandwagon.

"I don't know if there's more to to come from the band," Bandwagon's Ryan Lalonde tells PTBOCanada. "But if there's one thing I've learned from them, it's to never count them out. They've been incredibly missed on the local scene."

The Spades in Bandwagon

After watching this set below they performed on Episode 1/Season 7 of Bandwagon—one song from each of their official album releases—even more of their fans will hope the band reunites for good...

Episode 1 for Season 7 is a special 3 songs Bangwagon featuring an amazing reunion performance from The Spades performing at Quality Service Recording.

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These Guys Put Together A 14 Foot 7 Inch Snowman On Super Bowl Sunday

In the warmup to Super Bowl Sunday, Darryl Robertson and a bunch of his buddies in Peterborough played some snow football, just like they do every year before the big game.

#snow #football #superbowlsunday @ptbo_canada

A post shared by Darryl Robertson (@drrobertson14) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:35pm PST

This year was a little different, with all that amazing 20 centimetres of white stuff that fell. When they got back from playing, they saw that the neighbours had constructed a 8 foot snowman. "All us adults decided we could do better," Robertson tells PTBOCanada.

So they got out some ladders and went to work on him...

Ninety minutes later, the guys had made the snowman on Laing Court into an epic dude that now stands 14 feet, 7 inches high.

The guys definitely scored a touchdown with neighbours and onlookers building this snowman. Well played.

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When Peterborough Was Peterboro & Peterboro'

Ever noticed the spelling "Peterboro" and "Peterboro'" on old postcards and letters and such?

We reached out to local historian Elwood Jones at Trent Valley Archives, who tells PTBOCanada the spelling has offically been Peterborough since 1825, though there was some ambiguity after that. "Newspapers sometimes used the shorter spelling, particularly in the period from the 1880s to the 1910s. Also, the railways preferred the shorter form on timetables and the signs when approaching the city limits or railway station."

Photo courtesy Niki AllDay

Jones collaborated with Healther Aiton Landry at Trent Valley Archives to provide this sampling below to PTBOCanada of how the spellings were often used interchangeably over the decades.

The mixed use of Peterborough and Peterboro in 1863 is caught in the 1863 Peterborough Examiner below. The Port Hope and Peterborough Railway posted the times for trains to and from Peterboro. The American Hotel is in Peterborough, but the small ads (all on the front page then) give their address as Peterboro or Peterborough.

Still in the 1860s, notice Port Hope & Peterboro’ Railway with the apostrophe added below. The newspaper, on the other hand, was sticking to the proper spelling of the time, "Peterborough".

Also, check out The Peterboro’ Review below and notice the mixed uses in the column to the left of the Review ad. Confusing, yes!

This sample from 1864 below shows the County using Peterboro’ officially, but it is still Peterborough Street in Norwood. Notice that Alex McNeil has his auction rooms in the Town of Peterboro’ and is selling property adjacent to park lots in the Town of Peterboro’, and in the County of Peterboro’, but one lot is “fronting on the old Peterborough Road.”

In the early 1900s, "Peterboro" was popular on postcards, and the local post office even used Peterboro seen here in 1909...

Curiously, Peterborough is used in the title for this postcard circa 1905, and for the Roy Studio logo, but the spelling on the train station is PETERBORO.

However, in this postcard below, Roy is signing as from Peterboro (see far left), and the Lift Lock is described as being in Peterboro (far right).

Even in this fairly recent photo from the 1970s, the Railway station has a new sign but is spelling Peterboro...

The newspapers and postcards in this post are from collections at the Trent Valley Archives.

The long and the short: Next time you spell Peterborough "Peterboro", just tell your friends you're going all old school cool. 

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It Was A Marvelous Ride For A Moondance

It's the end of an era for an iconic downtown Peterborough music store. Moondance, which generations of vinyl lovers have been going to (it opened in 1972) is closing.

After surviving all the changes that have taken place in the music industry, the owner of the independent music store Mike Taveroff announced on a Facebook post that he is retiring, and the store will close for good Saturday, April 28th.

Moondance, whose About Us page on Facebook jokes that, "We're so old that we have music that isn't even on the internet!", was known as the place where you could track down any obscure recording—and if they didn't have it Mike would special order it for you.

"We hope that you’ll come in and check out the great deals to be had and have a blast from your past in this iconic place," he writes in the Facebook post.

Make sure to take a trip down memory lane and visit before it closes.

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