Peterborough Blogs
Watch: Our "We Are PTBO" In Conversation With Reptile Enthusiast Jordan Leal From House Of Scales
/PTBOCanada.com in collaboration with our spinoff agency StudioPTBO have launched a new Docu-Series called "We Are PTBO". The series spotlights ordinary citizens in the community who help make this city extraordinary.
Jordan Leal at House of Scales
The series is produced by Rob "Electric City" James from StudioPTBO. In this show, we chat with local business owner and reptile enthusiast, Jordan Leal, about all things community and reptilian.
Watch the episode below…
-> Watch the first episode here in conversation with Amino Yusuf.
-> Watch the second episode here in conversation with Wayne Ferguson.
Know someone that you think should be spotlighted in the series? Email Rob here.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here. Watch our PTBOCanada Love video here.
PTBOCanada Reaches 10,000 Fans On Instagram, Now 54,000+ Combined Between Our Social Media Channels
/Exciting news for the team here at PTBOCanada, as our Instagram channel highlighting great photos, video and stories of Peterborough & the Kawartha has reached 10,000 fans.
This is an awesome milestone for us on Instagram, and means that all three of our social media platforms now have at least 10,000+ fans—we have 19,500+ on our Twitter page and 24,750+ on our Facebook page.
Combined, we have now reached 54,000+ fans between our social media channels…
Thank you Peterborough & the Kawarthas and to all our fans from across the country and around the world! We are grateful!
Follow us on Instagram here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
Follow us on Facebook here.
Contact our Brand Strategist Aaron Elliott at aaron@ptbocanada.com to learn more about how we can get the word out about your local business.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here. Watch our PTBOCanada Love video here.
15 Fun Facts About The History Of Quaker Oats Plant In Peterborough
/The Quaker plant on the shores of the Otonabee River doesn’t just smell great with its wonderful aromas that emanate throughout East City and the downtown on many days depending on the wind’s direction. It also has a storied history, having been first established on the shores of the Otonabee in 1902 (it was rebuilt after the devastating fire of 1916).
The plant is an institution in Peterborough, a vital employer and part of the fabric of the community, standing tall next to the Hunter Street Bridge. We teamed up with the plant’s parent PepsiCo Foods Canada, the plant’s local resident historian Henry Clarke and Trent Valley Archives to compile the below fun facts and photos/postcards…
1. The day the plant opened for business to begin hiring back in 1900, there were lineups at the door of the hiring office and a huge shortage of sales clerks in the downtown stores—they had flocked to Quaker for the better wages.
2. The plant had a huge steam whistle that for years called everyone to work at 8 a.m., for lunch at 12 noon, back to work at 1 p.m., and then signal the end of the work day at 5 p.m. It also was used to signal the start and end of the two minutes of silence on Remembrance day.
3. Yummy aromas: The smell of warm oatmeal is always in the air and is often supplemented by maple brown when the plant is making maple squares, and strawberries when making one kind of chewy bar.
4. The occasional burnt smell will alert employees—and the rest of us who smell it—that something hasn’t gone quite right.
5. It takes an area of about 100 square miles to grow the oats to run the plant for a year.
6. It would take a hopper car train 11 miles long to bring the oats to the plant.
7. When it was still a flour mill (until the 1960s), flour for Africa was packed in a special flour sack of a particular shade of blue and was the right width and length to be cut into a pair of men’s pants. The blue was a favourite of the area where the flour was sold.
8. Muffet shredded wheat has been a favourite for a hundred years. The box board dividers that separated the layers of muffets in each box was a staple in most houses for recipes, grocery lists and notes.
9. Quaker at one time sponsored Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, a radio and early TV program about a Mountie in the Yukon. A premium was given away that provided one square inch of land in the Yukon to the redeemer. Some folks assembled thousands of coupons to actually claim the land but were refused when they could not prove title to adjoining squares.
10. Quaker packed rolled oats in calico bags up until the 1980s to be sold at Hudson Bay trading posts in the far north. The labels could be removed and the cloth used for curtains and other purposes.
11. During the Second World War, when so many were away with the armed forces, the city jail just up the hill from the plant would become a source of labour, with prisoners being sent to work each day and returned to the cells each night.
12. At one time, the great grandson of the founder of Quaker worked at the plant. He had the first $.25 shinplaster that the company had ever earned.
13. The father, uncle and sister of the hockey legend Bob Gainey all worked at the Peterborough Plant.
14. Bill Plager of NHL fame worked at the plant.
15. At one time it was possible to collect sets of china for home use, the china having been packed in boxes of rolled oats.
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Watch: PTBOCanada Speaks With Entomo Farms Co-Founder Darren Goldin On How His Norwood Insect Farm Is Becoming Global Brand
/On Episode 33 of PTBOCanada, we sit down with Entomo Farms Co-Founder Darren Goldin to talk about how his insect—yes insect—farm in Norwood, Ontario near Peterborough has become a global leader in the cultivation of cricket powder and insect protein, and how it might play a huge part in the future of food consumption and the sustainability of our planet.
Entomo Farms Co-Founder Darren Goldin
Entomo Farms has emerged as one of the largest cricket farms in the world, and produces insect protein as a viable and altruistic response to the global crises (food, water, natural resources) that is imminently upon us.
Watch the interview with Darren below…
Check Out The Bicycle Museum Pop-Up Documenting City's Storied Cycling History
/The public is invited to see a collection of a dozen historical photos from the late 1800s and early 1900s alongside a replica Penny Farthing bicycle at the Peterborough Public Library starting on December 3rd at noon. The free exhibit showcases Peterborough’s rich cycling history and will run until the New Year.
Photo courtesy Peterborough Museum and Archives
Peterborough was at the centre of the cycling craze in the 1890s and held the first ever Canadian Wheelmen’s Association provincial meet on July 1, 1898, where big wheel—or Penny Farthing—bikes raced around the track at Morrow Park to the delight of almost 7,000 onlookers.
Photo courtesy of Peggy Brownscombe
“Peterborough has a long tradition of cycling excellence and that tradition needs to be acknowledged—and it needs to continue,” says Tammy Thorne, the creator of TheBicycleMuseum.ca and the pop-up exhibits here in Peterborough, which first launched last month.
“There’s so much heritage that needs to be preserved in Peterborough, and it’s not just buildings. There are many great stories from this city’s illustrious industrial past that need to be told, and cycling is just one part of that,” adds Thorne.
Photo courtesy Peterborough Museum and Archives
The images in this must-see collection are largely from the Peterborough Museum and Archives but part of the collection comes from Peggy Brownscombe, the daughter of the former owner of one of the city’s earliest bike shops, White’s Cycle and Sporting Goods.
“Many of the images have stories behind them that are yet to be discovered,” says Thorne. “For example, we have this lovely photo of Alex Gibson with his high wheel bike and medals. He was a member of the Peterborough Cycling Club, even the treasurer for a time, and his father was likely a watchmaker.”
Photo courtesy Peterborough Museum & Archives
“Cycling is a large part of the Peterborough community and has been for some time,” says Jennifer Jones, Peterborough Public Library CEO. “This pop-up exhibit gives us the opportunity to glimpse into the rich history of bicycles in our neighbourhoods. The Library is thrilled to be able to provide the space to bring some of that history to light."
There will be a book to sign at the library where you can add your bicycling history story and contact information. You can also email thebicyclemuseumptbo@gmail.com if you have information about this exhibit or historic bicycling artifacts you would like to share for a future exhibit.
TheBicycleMuseum.ca will produce new exhibits in 2019 featuring CCM artifacts and bicycles, and another exhibit featuring service bicycles and stories.
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The Top 10 Win This Space Contestants Announced
/The Top 10 Win This Space finalists have been selected for a chance to win a free downtown storefront for a year.
Judges and sponsors met Tuesday, November 27th at Providence at 131 Hunter Street West to go through all the application videos submitted. Contestants were asked to submit a 1 to 3 minute video pitch (watch them below) which the judges would use to help select the finalists.
Guests at Providence where the Top 10 finalists were announced
The 10 finalists will go through a series of workshops on building business plans, creating marketing plans and financial forecasting.
WHAT THE WINNER GETS
-> The winner will be announced March 5th at The Venue and will then choose which downtown space they would like to open in.
-> The prize package includes not only a free lease to a downtown storefront for a year, but also thousands of dollars in donated prizes including office and computer supplies, marketing and financial services, and advertising and promotion.
-> This year’s grand prize is valued at more than $40,000.
Mr. Downtown Terry Guiel speaking at Providence at Win This Space event
The Win This Space competition is a Peterborough DBIA initiative in partnership with Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development, Community Futures Peterborough and Shorelines Casino Peterborough.
“Every year there are so many interesting submissions for some really innovative businesses,” says Terry Guiel, Executive Director of the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area. “It’s encouraging to see so much excitement from the next generation of entrepreneurs to open a business here in downtown Peterborough.”
THE 10 FINALISTS (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER) ARE…
MINK MAGIC
KNOOK AND CRANNY
THE RABBIT HOLE
COZY HOME: DESIGNS BY LACEY
THE FOOD SHOP
STATEMENT HOUSE
SUSTAIN
SWEAT HAPPY WELLNESS
MOLOKO
STUDIO PINEO
Great Stocking Stuffer Idea: 2019 Peterborough Musicfest Diner's Cards Are Available Now
/Peterborough Musicfest has announced the return of the very popular Musicfest Diner’s Cards.
This year, with 47 delicious restaurants (see poster below for participants) to enjoy for only $25, the 2019 Diner’s Cards allow the user to “buy one entrée, get the second half price.”
Back by popular demand just in time for Christmas—a great stocking stuffer idea that gives back free music to the community—you can buy three Diner’s Card booklets and get the 4th absolutely free.
Diner’s Cards can be purchased for $25 each at the customer service desk at Lansdowne Place; at City Hall in Peterborough; at the Kawarthas Tourism office on George Street; or online here.
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The Peterborough Police Service And Lansdowne Place Mall Team Up For 12th Annual Cop Shop
/The Peterborough Police Service and Lansdowne Place Mall are excited for the 12th Annual Cop Shop, a cherished holiday tradition for officers, mall staff and local children.
Started in 2006 by Peterborough Police Constable Leanda LeVasseur, Cop Shop partners a Peterborough Police Service officer with a local child based on good school citizenship, volunteer or academic achievement. The schools select the children that participate in the program.
2016 Cop Shop at Lansdowne Place Mall
HOW COP SHOP DAY WORKS
-> The children arrive at the mall in a limousine and are provided breakfast courtesy of Tim Hortons.
-> They are also generously provided with a $200 gift certificate from Lansdowne Place to spend on holiday shopping for family and friends.
-> The officer becomes the child’s personal shopper for the day and a bond is quickly formed. (All of the officers that participate in the program are volunteering during their off-duty time.)
-> Mall shops provide the kids with additional discounts and treats.
-> Purchases are wrapped and tagged by mall staff, and by volunteers from the community and the police service. Lunch caps off the event followed by a complimentary photo with Santa and their officer friend.
-> The students then enjoy a limousine ride back to their school courtesy of Welsh Limousine and Ulimate Limousine.
2016 Cop Shop at Lansdowne Place Mall
This year’s Cop Shop takes place on Wednesday, December 5th. The children will be arriving at the mall at approximately 9:30 a.m. and the event takes place until about 1:30 p.m.
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Trent University Student Among 100 Rhodes Scholars Selected Worldwide
/Trent University international student Joshua (Yee Aung) Low has been selected as a 2019 Oxford University Rhodes Scholar—the oldest and most celebrated international fellowship award in the world.
A 4th-year International Development Studies (IDS) and International Political Economy student, Low attributes part of his success as a recipient of the coveted scholarship to the personalized learning environment at Trent, the academic rigour of the IDS program, and the incredible support and mentorship from his professors and the Trent International team.
“At Trent, professors care about you both personally and intellectually,” says Low. “Studying International Development, I have loved the intellectual challenge and the tight-knit community of the program. Starting with Trent International as soon as I arrived from Malaysia and continuing through the last four years, my time at Trent has been very meaningful for me and full of many key experiences and cherished friendships.”
Joshua Low
