Tag: Events

Council Approves Two New Events

John Draper

The first Northumberland Turkey Trot  was in 2012 (not in Cobourg) but it’s a first for Cobourg for the Ontario Town Crier Championship.  Both were approved at Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting on May 13.  The Turkey trot was previously held at the Cobourg Scout Reserve on County Rd 45, Harwood but in 2019, it will move to the Cobourg Conservation Area.  Held as a fundraiser for the YMCA, it is a family event with participants from toddlers to seniors. It will be on Thanksgiving Monday, October 14.   All the Town had to do was to agree – no funding was requested.  The Town Crier championship will be on June 1st on the Esplanade (that’s at the waterfront) and… Read complete articleCouncil Approves Two New Events

Girls Night Out 2019

John Draper

Billed as a chance for women to shop it was more of a party with balloons, goodies and a fashion show.   Organization of it was started by DBIA coordinator Jenna Leslie but she quit a few weeks ago to take a job in Kingston and her replacement, Aaron Wood, doesn’t start until Monday.  So Councillor Adam Bureau and Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin stepped in and with a number of volunteers, organized the fun event on Friday night.  There was a Jazz band on King Street and the old Sarby’s store was used to house some vendors and the Fashion show.  The original intent was for the fashion show to be outdoors in front of Victoria Hall but a threat of… Read complete articleGirls Night Out 2019

Northumberland Military Tattoo

John Draper

Chris Barker has a long history with the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets “Skeena” and with the ship that gave the cadets their name – HMCS Skeena.   The Canadian Navy destroyer was lost in a storm off Iceland during the Second World War (1944) with the loss of 15 crew members and 2019 is the 75th anniversary of this event. Chris and the other volunteers working with the cadets want to take 30 cadets to Iceland this Fall to participate in events that remember these Canadians who gave their lives.  Their fundraising activities included a “Military Tattoo” at the Baltimore Arena on Saturday, May 4.  A first of its kind in Northumberland (as far as I know), local Cadets and bands… Read complete articleNorthumberland Military Tattoo

Float your Fanny 2019

John Draper

It was a sunny Spring day and the crowd was big – no exact estimate but I’d say bigger than last year.  The Float your Fanny down the Ganny event was as entertaining as ever and by my count, more spills for canoes than previously and additional drama from the several paddle boards.  I had a good spot for taking videos up until most of the crazy craft came down – my 15 minute video is below.  Although there were lots of spills, the Port Hope Fire department had three pairs of officers who helped many – some needing help but others seemed OK just floating down the Ganny without their canoe or paddle (around 8:10 on the video).  The… Read complete articleFloat your Fanny 2019

Poutine Festival Coming to Cobourg

John Draper

Not too long ago, Labour Day weekend was when the Shelter Valley Folk Festival happened but with its shutdown, there is no major event scheduled for that weekend.  So it was an obvious time to stage a Poutine Feast.  At the Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, Council approved an application by Poutine Feast Ontario Inc. to hold their event in Victoria Park on that weekend.  It will involve ten to fifteen vendors with their food-trucks “each of them offering their own version of the iconic dish”.  Dessert trucks, a kid’s zone and entertainment will also be a part of the offerings.  It’s not licensed and will be free to enter – that presumably means no fence.  It will… Read complete articlePoutine Festival Coming to Cobourg

Winter Film Festival

John Draper

In November 2003, Ken Prue asked for interested people to join him in presenting first run Movies that were aimed at movie lovers yet not shown in the Northumberland Mall theatre.  Sourcing Films from the Toronto International Film Festival’s “Film Circuit”, the group called itself Northumberland Film Sundays (NFS) and showed five or six films each Spring and Fall.  In early 2012, Ken bought the Mall theatres but continued to lead NFS. In July 2014, Ken called an end to his venture at the Mall and passed the NFS reins to others. After a painful transition, he eventually re-opened at the Loft where he stages quality documentaries, occasional classics, Royal Opera movies and live shows. NFS continued with the new… Read complete articleWinter Film Festival

Highland Games wants Town’s Money

John Draper

On Monday (January 14 at 6:00 pm), the Town of Cobourg is holding a public Meeting to solicit input on the 2019 budget.  On the spot submissions will be accepted as well as written submissions in advance.  One of these is by Edgar Carman, President of the Cobourg Highland Games Society – he wants $9000 in a cash grant plus a $3984 in-kind grant.  It’s not clear to me why Edgar is going this route instead of the Community Grant process which required applications by October 31st.  He points to the big tourism benefit which brings “over 1,000 competitors and vendors plus the attendees from across Ontario and Northern United States. They fill the local hotels, motels. There is a… Read complete articleHighland Games wants Town’s Money

Christmas in 2018

John Draper

My thanks to everyone who has expressed appreciation for my work at this news source – it does help to keep me going.  Most of you are subscribers to my emails – that list is now about 960 – and some of you have heard about this service from the Northumberland Hub.  A group of journalists led by John Miller and Rob Washburn are trying to educate people in Northumberland about all the sites (like this one) who provide news. (More at Northumberland Hub – link below). A lot has happened locally in 2018 and there will be more interesting stuff happening in 2019 but in between we have Christmas which is a season where everyone (hopefully) chills out and stops worrying… Read complete articleChristmas in 2018