PTBOCanada's Top 10 Stories of 2021
/It has been an amazing year for PTBOCanada in 2021.
Editor David Tuan Bui (left), owner Kirtus Evoy (middle) and journalist Angela O’Grady (right) moved into the PTBOCanada office in September located in East City. Photo by Pete Dalliday.
Here are the top stories that were the most read, engaged and liked by the PTBOCanada community in chronological order.
Rob with the exhausted deer after its rescue. Photo Courtesy of Shelley Fine.
This story was still under Neil Morton’s watch but on Jan. 15, a Buckhorn man — who just wanted to be named “Rob” — saved a young deer from the freezing water.
His neighbour Shelley Fine got a shot of Rob saving the deer as he paddled out with his kayak to save the helpless animal from death.
Hudson Wells (pictured) typically gets to visit his grandfather two to three times a week. Photo Courtesy of Stephanie Wells.
My first published article for PTBOCanada already hit a soft spot for Peterborough and the Kawarthas.
Published on Feb. 26, Hudson Wells suffered from encephalitis since he was 13 months old resulting in his physical disabilities. He wanted to ride through the snowmobile trails and the community showed their generosity with $5,000 for a custom sled.
The GoFundMe was started on Feb. 11 where the goal was met in less than 24 hours.
We do not think the name “Little Lake” should be changed to “Big Lake.” Photo by David Tuan Bui.
Okay, we may have fooled a few people on this one. Morton came back to do a guest post for us and this is what he came up with.
Little Lake has always been an iconic part of Peterborough and tampering with its name would have been a fun April Fools’ Day joke.
Nonetheless, we love the name of Little Lake and saw how passionate Peterborough was about the name and its ongoing legacy.
The tooth (2.6 cm) is barely shorter than a loonie’s diameter (2.65 cm). Photo courtesy of Craig Boulton
Luke Boulton is currently the Guinness World Record holder for the longest milk tooth extracted at 2.6 cm. that was officially set on Sept. 17, 2019.
The application process for a Guinness record took intervals of 12 weeks and required multiple applications so the news was made official in April. Congrats Luke for giving Peterborough a world record holder.
You have to wonder how much the Tooth Fairy would give for that world-record milk tooth.
Deb Aben (left) receives the cheque of $6,360 from Evoy (middle) and Pete Dalliday (right). Photo by David Tuan Bui.
Peterborough and the Kawartha showed their lighter side for a week with the sign wars phenomenon that happened in April.
Businesses used their signs to tease and poke fun at other places and so many places got in on the action. PTBOCanada turned it into a fundraising effort for the Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Foundation selling “Meet me in Aisle 15” t-shirts towards the cause.
We “signed” off the campaign raising $6,360 and we had hundreds of picture submissions.
Helen McCarthy (left), KitCoffee owner with her employees and actress Anna Kendrick (Middle right) after the Hollywood star finished filming her scene in downtown Peterborough. Photo Courtesy of KitCoffee.
It is not often you see a Hollywood celebrity in Peterborough but Anna Kendrick was at the downtown café KitCoffee, filming a scene for her upcoming thriller movie, “Alice, Darling.”
Helen McCarthy, KitCoffee owner and her staff managed to snap a selfie of the star after the filming.
McCarthy gave permission for her café to be used as a film set ahead of time but had no idea it was going to be as big a star as Kendrick.
ECFC was officially announced on Aug. 9 at the Silver Bean Café. Photo by Angela O’Grady.
It is no secret that Peterborough is a sports town. We have witnessed the Peterborough Petes and Lakers win their respective championships. Hopefully, we can add a pro soccer title to our resumé with the announcement of the Electric City Football Club (ECFC) that was introduced on Aug. 9.
ECFC president Rob Jenkins brought the club to town and is now a part of the League1 Ontario men’s and women’s division.
The team will make its debut for the 2022 season.
Mitchell Stephens won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning in his first two NHL seasons. Photo Courtesy of Mitchell Stephens.
Speaking of things that do not appear in Peterborough often, Mitchell Stephens brought the Stanley Cup back to his hometown following his 2020-21 win with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Stephens spoke about how thrilled he was to bring the trophy back to Peterborough since he was unable to the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lord Stanley took a trip down the historic Lift Lock for the first time in a boat parade that ended in Del Crary Park.
All butter tarts are made from scratch at the Butter Tart Factory. Photo by Angela O’Grady.
Butter tarts have always been a Canadian staple in treats and The Kawartha Butter Tart Factory is opening a second location on Lansdowne Street next month.
The bakery has been serving up the delicious treat in Douro-Dummer since 2015 and is going to expand its services in Peterborough.
Skor, Rolo and pumpkin pie butter tarts are some of the PTBOCanada staff favourites.
Callan Perks signed a one-day contract as the Peterborough Petes Next Gen head coach on Nov 28. Photo by Jenish Odigski.
Coach Cal is amazing.
Also known as Callan Perks, the seven-year-old took the world by storm and went viral with a pre-game locker room speech for the Peterborough Petes.
Since the video’s release, Perks gained recognition from several media outlets such as ABC’s Good Morning America, TSN, CTVNews and Fox Los Angeles.
Perks was selected as one of 10 kids aged 5-12 for the Petes’ Next Gen game. The day allowed the children a chance to join the Petes hockey operations and entertainment staff and participate in their respective roles.
Watch out hockey world, Perks wants to be an NHL player when he grows up then a coach or NHL general manager following his playing career.
Prior to moving into the new office building, O’Grady, Evoy and Bui were working from home. Photo by Pete Dalliday.
