FOUR FAMILIES NOW HAVE THEIR FUNDS - AND IT FEELS GOOD TO HELP OUT

There shouldn’t be any one in this community, who helped out in any way, assisting the four families that were displaced by the mainstreet fire (Gravenhurst), last week, not feeling enormously inspired by what a collective of concerned citizens can do in the midst of crisis. From funds to food, clothes, and furniture, a really swell group of caring folks helped out some pretty scared and confused residents. Being unceremoniously dumped onto the street can do that to a person. While it wasn’t as many as the Huntsville fire last year, that destroyed the old Empire Hotel, it was still a test of endurance and willpower for all involved. What we found were four resilient families who are determined to get back on their feet.....and a citizenry that gives a damn about the welfare of neighbors.

On Thursday afternoon, we presented funds, from last Sunday’s benefit concert, to the last of the four families, and it was a really nice feeling for son Robert, one of the organizing musicians, to pass on this assistance. The four allotments came from you. We experienced so many acts of generosity over the past week, that it has imprinted very deeply indeed that we are a caring and stalwart hometown. When we get frustrated by bad news, and feel the weight of economic disadvantage, we sometimes forget how many disasters and economic downturns we’ve endured here since the 1860's. We’re not rookies at dealing with dilemmas. This is the reason historians having been hanging around for all these years......to remind you of the precedents of the past. If you’d ask them, they’d tell you about economic downturns that pounded the village, and about the terror of the war years, about fires big and small that altered the way we lived and did business. It’s all there. We’ve suffered before and we’ll suffer again. And the same goes for recovery and re-building.

I hope all the businesses, musicians, volunteers, and those who came out to enjoy the afternoon concert, will share this wonderful feeling, that we have, in a small way, helped out neighbors in need. While we were handing out the money, we did so on behalf of all those who joined us, up to and including Sunday’s event, and our handshake was from all of you. We provided the event, but you provided everything else. It’s something to be very proud of!

I think there is a need in this town, to recognize the perpetual good graces of co-operation and neighborliness throughout the year. Without question, there are times, when we have let ourselves down, because we have been less than rigorous with a response......finding a solution, or networking to make amends. Arguably, there are occasions when disputes have generated from misunderstanding, creating bruises that have never healed.....and continue to obstruct progress. It’s one thing to be critical, another to be constructive, and willing to work toward the restoration of purpose and fulfillment, despite differences of opinion. This town has a tremendous amount of potential that at times weighs too heavily on Gravenhurst Council to sort and resolve. On many occasions, over the past decade, we have stubbornly resisted coming together, on many issues, such as the main street’s economic woes, because it was only a business / government matter. From an historian’s perspective, I can tell you honestly, the burden is on us, as hometowners generally, to help where we can, and take an active interest, to advance mainstreet healing. Don’t believe for a moment that it’s just a matter of economics, and some municipal handiwork to leave to local government. It is a Gravenhurst matter, and that includes us!

When we could have pooled resources and knowledge, ideas and initiatives, bickering and political high-handedness instead, created a patina of blanketing negativity.

The well being of our community, evidence of our opinion of the future, in so many ways, is mirrored by activities on the main street. It is the heart of our hometown, not simply the interplay of economics...... but rather the show of respect for where our community was first rooted. An ignored and economically challenged main street is a detriment to the entire town; it remains a primary landmark we travel through so many times a day, a week, a month, a year. What is our opinion of it now? What would we like it to be instead? Are we inspired by what we see, or disillusioned and upset by visible failures? Instead of a location of inspiration, and a grounding place for all hometowners to be proud, we have, in many cases, turned our backs and cared not to look......and I dare say, went shopping some place else. A few will make justifications, and suggest that in a democracy, you can shop where you wish. You can argue that the merchants have brought it on themselves, and deserve the chagrin they’ve cultivated. There will be others who remember the heyday of this thriving town, and wish its vibrancy would return.

Maybe this month’s fire has brought, within its tragic circumstances, some attention to a number of important issues in this town, revolving around renewal and rejuvenation. Possibly it has helped create a focus on history.....as I have seen a number of local historians staring at the ruins.....I’m sure, wondering about the history to be made when these buildings are one day replaced, and this commercial corridor re-animated with new investment. And I’m sure that with the concert being held at the Opera House, on Sunday, only a block from the fire scene, that it inspired more than just a few of us, that we haven’t lost our hometown values......ones generated from the mainstreet outward since the days when Gravenhurst was a hamlet in a vast pine forest.

There is a need in this community for more hometown events, seasonal “fetes,” as they celebrate in England, just to promote neighborliness.....and social, cultural connectedness. And the Opera House and its main street square, seem such a perfect place to host regular get-togethers, to celebrate nothing in particular.....but celebrate none the less.

This is the last blog about the benefit concert. We are a happy and contented bunch. I hope you feel the same.

Ada Florence Kinton

The Artist’s Ontario sketches of 1883

By Ted Currie

“Wrote to Amy (in England). Wonder what is to become of me or what I am going to do in the future. Amy suggests Paris, to paint in the Louvre. Possibly it might be Toronto. Probably London. Hope so! Want to be up and doing.!” But it was the Village of Huntsville that became the most influential stop for the young artist. The place she wanted to spend the final moments of her storied life.

One hundred and twenty-eight years ago. This was the spring Ada Florence Kinton began her sketching trips, deep into the woodlands surrounding the pioneer village of Huntsville, in the northern climes of the District of Muskoka. Knowing the logging interests would soon pulverize the hauntingly beautiful forests, she wanted to capture the tranquil, life-full scenes before they were lost forever. She could see the destruction of the clear-cut already banding around the small settlement. The clack of the axe and thud of the felled giants resonated through many parts of Ontario at this time in history.

The young artist, recently transplanted from England, after the death of her father, was unsure what she would do with her life. Ada had been a well respected art instructor, at English schools, but she held some fascination with the work of the Salvation Army. In the year 1883 she spent time with her brothers, Mackie and Ed, both businessmen in the small Muskoka community.

Earlier this morning, I happened to be in Huntsville, on business, and stopped by for a few moments, to see the modest cemetery plot where Ada rests. After many years of dedication to Salvation Army mission work, and an accomplished period of her life as an artist and journalist, for “The War Cry,” she came home to Huntsville, still a young woman, and passed away watching out from the front porch, over the same bustling little town she had sketched almost 20 years earlier. Despite her illness and the pain she endured, Ada found solace and comfort here, just as she had experienced in the spring of 1883. Sketching the colorful, vibrant, enchanted woodlands.

The sunlight brings a cheerfulness to this solemn place, and I think she would have very much enjoyed the early buds of a robust May, and the evidence of soon-to-bloom lilacs. Ada Kinton discovered beauty in places, most of her contemporaries in art, found uninteresting, without any striking contrast of natural colors. She found inspiration watching the smallest life forms, crinkling the dry leaves along a forest path, or in the way a bird found a small puddle the perfect place to bathe. Most of all, she enjoyed watching the people, going about their business and recreation, taking an interest in their village interactions, the fetes, and social recognition of special occasions.

In 1883, Ada Kinton spent four months residing at her brother’s home. After a period of adjustment to rural life, simplified from her days spent in West London, England, she began to explore this area of north Muskoka. An artist of considerable competence and acclaim, she soon found inspiration in the picturesque qualities of the lakeland, increasing her appetite to paint more frequently. Following her father’s sudden death, and the move to Canada, she had found little reason to sketch or paint. The written descriptions of Muskoka, in this pioneer period, afford historians a glimpse of what the forests were like before the cut of the woodsman’s axe. She invites the journal-reader to join the hike along the thin, only partially visible paths, through some of the heaviest forest in the region.

In the text of the book, “Just One Blue Bonnet,” circa 1907, the artist offers these interesting observations. The entries, for the purpose of this column, begin on February 20th, 1883.

“Commenced to stump (stumping is a kind of drawing) Mr. Hooie’s premises. Hope I shall finish it. Snowing slightly all day. All the landscape is pure and clean.’ February 28th. “Up before seven. Early morning very nice. Snow sparkling like crushed diamonds for acre upon acre. Walked across two next fields, on top crust of the snow, to fetch some beech from the underbrush; but after going through the surface and floundering around for awhile, in an ungraceful fashion, thought it best to return. March 2. “Bit of dry earth in sight under the window. Troop of Canadian sparrows attracted by the sight. Not much like English sparrows - smaller, rounder, prettier, plump, black and white and brown in a sort of check pattern, with a spot of deep crimson on the head just above the beak. Male birds have pink breasts. Walk along Fairy Lake locks, past Beaver Meadow. Brush scenery entrancingly lovely. Forest primeval, giant trees, bearded with moss and in garments green. Now hoary, frosty bark, lichen covered, red willow, cerulean, and azure, sapphire sky.”

March 7th. “Fresh March wind, north-west. Newly fallen powdering of snow, swirling and coiling and eddying over the old snow, round and round, or resting in billowy drifts. Double play of surface lights, and constant movement. March 9th. Mrs Kinton and I took a walk into the bush along the North Road. Impossible to walk upright and steadily. Great quantity of spruce, cedar, balsam and hemlock - pine rarer - tamarack all clear green. Perky, strictly symmetrical little Christmas trees along the way - fallen trunks, branches covered soft and thick with moss, fungus, lichens on the underneath sides, on the top snow in solid circular or oblong blocks. Might be of marble, the purest marble delicately chiselled and carved - called ‘night caps’ when on stumps. Snags and half fallen trees grotesque and fantastic, gnarled and jagged trunk and boughs - limbs hanging creaking and broken by the wind, or lopped down by the wood cutter and lying on the snow in pathetic, helpless attitudes; tiny twigs and yellow and golden brown chips scattered all around.

“Red willow, smooth twigs, recent year’s growth, crimson red, brown, in the agreeable, dainty, tender, light brown beech, almost like a fairy tree beside the dusky, solemn, silent, towering evergreens, murmuring, creaking, and the summer leaves of the birch dried up and curled, fluttering and graceful, thin as poppy leaves, crisp and with crinkled edges, satiny light on the surfaces. Wonder one does not read of it. Met several sleighs drawn by oxen, with broad backs and self-satisfied air, rough, long-haired and tawny hide, and big rolling eyes. Sleighs, mere boards on runners, close above the snow.”

At times, reading through this journal, I will swear to hearing the wind wheezing through the evergreens, see so clearly the intricacies of the nature she studied, feel the warm breeze of May against my face. Hear the scratch of pencil against paper, as actuality of the scene, becomes a reality of art. Squirrels leap from branch to branch, and the chickadees chatter in the scruffy branches of a nameless bush. The leaves crunching beneath her feet, as she wanders along the path toward home again, looking back for one last memorable glance, on a most beautiful, inspiring place.

The series of 12 columns, on the life and art of Ada Florence Kinton, is dedicated to the Salvation Army Food Bank, in Gravenhurst, Ontario, a service to help the less fortunate, the artist would have surely approved. Please consider making a contribution to a food bank serving your community.

WHEN FUNDRAISING MEANS A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL - NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES WE DO IT.....WE’VE NEVER MISSED HAVING FUN

In the past few days, after the “For Our Friends” benefit concert, at the Opera House, (for the victims of the recent mainstreet fire in Gravenhurst), people have been remarking about how efficiently we worked in a matter of days to pull it off. Andrew and Robert aren’t too sure how to react but always brush off the suggestion that it was anything exceptional. It’s not too much different from many other fundraising events we’ve put on over the years. They’ve been brought up into this lifestyle, where efficiency and strict adherence to protocol is absolute.....no exceptions if we can help it!

As I’ve written about before, and not that we’re androids or anything, but there needs to be a wee explanation about our code of conduct, when it comes to event involvement. We’re not a cult but if we were, it would revolve around a mantra professing the nirvana of “extreme organization.” Try it. You’ll like it!

Suzanne and I respectively, have been involved in fundraising ventures for decades. Suzanne grew up in Windermere, and was tied into all types of village and church fundraisers. Her father was Lion Norm Stripp, and her mother Harriet was a mover and shaker with the Women’s Institute and the Windermere United Church. If Suzanne wasn’t offering some assistance on Lions Club projects, she was helping to put together quilts for W.I. raffles. She was a member of the 4-H Club as well, all organizations with a strong sense and commitment to community.

When I was editor of The Herald-Gazette, in Bracebridge, and President of the Historical Society, back in my live-for-the-moment twenties, I got involved in all sorts of fundraising events, from 10 kilometre fun runs, to blueberry and strawberry socials at Woodchester Villa and Museum. I was one of the founders of the Herald-Gazette Rink Rat Hockey Club (still an active recreational team), and the annual Lovable Losers Hockey Tournament (I came up with the name). As we assisted many community projects and programs, such as the Blades Precision Skating Team.....and even helped purchase a new arena ice-resurfacer, Suzanne and I jumped from one fundraiser to another. It could be to help the museum one week, and then assist local athletes needing funding, the next. We had a blast. It was a lot of work but when you see the outcome from the effort, and the continuation, such as with the Lovable Losers Hockey Tournament, still helping to fundraise after all these years, well, it’s a real nice feeling. There are so many, many folks who dedicate themselves to making our communities better......as fundraisers.

Our boys got their start in the fundraising enterprise, courtesy of Roger Crozier. When I started working with Roger, a former National Hockey League All-Star netminder, back in the mid 1990's, Andrew and Robert were eager to join with efforts to establish the Crozier Foundation for Youth. Andrew, a long time Detroit Red Wing fan, was absolutely dedicated to Roger, (an Original Six player) and was speechless when he asked both boys if they would join him for a mainstreet Bracebridge parade. He gave them bags of candy to hand out, and it was with great pleasure that they both donned Red Wing sweaters for the long trip down that crowded street. It was a milestone event in their young lives and one they haven’t forgotten whenever another project rolls around.......and someone they respect needs a helping hand.

When Roger died, our family stayed on and worked with the American chapter of the Crozier Foundation, which lasted 12 years; especially rewarding was our volunteer work with the Bracebridge Sports Hall of Fame. Andrew was the display co-ordinator for five of those 12 years. In that time he handled Ace Bailey artifacts and trophies as well as Roger’s stick, skates and mask. Talk about a kid with bragging rights.

We all worked as the food services providers for the annual summer skating and hockey school, which the foundation hosted at the Bracebridge Arena. We looked after the food needs of about a 75 to 100 kids and instructors over the week. We had to run a tight and healthy ship and there was no exceptions to the standards set by Suzanne, the head of the kitchen, and the Crozier Foundation protocols. We did this for quite a number of years, and it did impress standards of operation for everything else we’ve been involved in since.

Our biggest event was the New Year’s in August fundraiser, Roger hosted the summer before his passing. The Crozier Foundation turned the Bracebridge Centennial Centre into a ballroom, and a summer night, into New Years Eve. It was the most amazing event and transformation we’d ever witnessed, and although our role was minor in comparison to other tasks assumed by more accomplished fundraisers and decorators, we made well over a quarter of a million dollars in one night, to help fund the local chapter of the foundation. We had congestion at the Muskoka Airport that night, as corporate jets, belonging to MBNA, a financial institution where Roger was a chief executive, arrived in an hour-long frenzy from offices all over the United States. Executives brought cheques with them. But money came from many places that night, and Suzanne and I watched with gaping mouths, as the cheques kept on coming throughout the big band bash. It was something we had never seen before, and it brought the matter of fundraising to a sharper peak for us.

Our fundraisers now are somewhat less aggressive.....we’re a little older, and the boys a little busier now with their own mainstreet Gravenhurst business. But as we put together events for so many worthwhile causes over the years, we still operate on the same protocol as we did for New Years in August, the Crozier Skate Camp, the Loveable Losers Hockey Tournament......and we are always rewarded at the conclusion, by being able to offer some financial assistance to those who need it most. If we appear to be overly concerned about organization and scheduling, and put our heads down when we get in fundraising mode, forgive us our excesses......it’s a habit we’re not willing to kick.

Admittedly our soft spot is for the Salvation Army Food Bank. I’ve written a lengthy series, most recently, on the life and art career of Ada Florence Kinton, a well known Salvation Army mission worker, (who died in the early 1900's), and have re-published the articles (all dedicated to the Gravenhurst Food Bank) in this blog collection. You can find former columns on this site. Here is the May column. If it doesn’t raise funds, hopefully it will help raise awareness, about the importance of food banks today.

THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE - DON’T UNDERESTIMATE WHERE CHANGE COMES FROM - DON’T DISMISS THE POWER WE POSSESS TO FOSTER IMPROVEMENTS

Admittedly, we all, from time to time, become acutely frustrated by what we see as an erosion of democratic rights in Canada. More than just a few of us, getoutrightly angry, and lash out at the assorted levels of government that impose taxation burdens, without the slightest concern, about the destruction of personal economies. We stare at the latest news sources, and fold up the papers with resignation; government has become a monster empire. If we complain about government, it’s because we see it as a burden on the good graces of the last remnants of democracy. Of course we have a jaded opinion of government, because of the often irresponsible way we have been governed. Many Canadians simply refuse to vote, believing that elections simply determine the very next dictatorship to tax us for our own good.

In the past week, here in Gravenhurst, all we could think about, was the terrible main street fire that left four families without accommodation, a thriving business in ruins, and many folks wondering why we didn’t have our own aerial (ladder) fire truck,.......having to enlist the help of ones from Rama and Bracebridge. There was a letter questioning town on this issue, in this week’s Gravenhurst Banner. A good question and one that needs a response from mayor and council, considering there are a lot of multi-story buildings in this town.....apparently pretty vulnerable. A lot of questions are arising from the ruins of the fire scene, and the various levels of government here, are going to be getting lots of questions about emergency planning.......and why we should be demanding, as a population, far more accountability on spending matters. It takes an event of this magnitude to expose the flaws, in what the rhetoric tells us, is a well functioning, well appointed town. The fire department got a new fire hall without consultation with the public. The equipment and manpower “wish list,” is what we need to know more about, by insistence, to be invited into the democratic process.....not excluded as the nuisance lay-people, always getting under-foot.

If we have these serious shortfalls, the community needs to be made aware what it means to their long term well-being and safety. We don’t like finding out, in an emergency, that we’d have done better if there was newer or more adaptable equipment on hand. If a fatality had occurred, this would have been a far more acute issue. I was at the fire, and so were hundreds of other hobby-reporters, with camera perspectives, keenly aware of the visible difficulties fire fighters were having with this stubborn blaze. And they were making comments. Lots of them. Lots of questions. We all saw the big difference an aerial water assault, by the Rama equipment, made on the fire scene. Yup, it probably cost a million bucks. But it was worth every penny, seeing what it could do to save structure fires from spreading. The hometowners need to help finance better and more efficient fire fighting equipment, and if it means more benefit concerts.....we know where to find some musicians to help out.

The people of this community are a force to be reckoned with, and they need to know the power they can unfurl....they need to exercise it more. When we gather together, as we did during the recent benefit concert, on Sunday, it’s obvious people-power is the “stir” within......and clear evidence that government is only as strong and resilient as we are .......

Maybe it will take a massive community initiative to demand, and help finance, the fire equipment we need to help the department beef-up their emergency preparedness. We need to appreciate just how much burden, the aerial truck from Rama, took off emergency responders, by dumping a waterfall onto that burning building. It may have saved the block. Council needs to do a serious postmortem on the fire and the problems encountered trying to keep it from spreading. If we are willing to spend money on recreation centres and a new town hall, we can not afford to ignore a fundamental issue of fire protection, and emergency procedures. The buildings we are constructing now, and in the future, will substantially stress the fire department’s capabilities. This and a potential shortage of volunteer fire fighters, demands that we.....the citizens, be kept informed about what is needed.....not realities that only surface after the fact.

When the Thomas Company fire occurred in Bracebridge, a January fire that consumed a good chunk of a business block, back in the early 1980's, the “Tele-squirt” aerial truck, which may or may not have been on loan from the Fire College (don’t remember just where it came from) saved the business community. I was there. It was my first major fire as editor of the then, Herald-Gazette, our office just behind the huge fire scene. I took hundreds of photographs of the tele-squirt dumping water down onto that fire, and it stopped the fire from spreading further. It could have jumped across the road or further down the block, and become an even greater disaster. We have many other vulnerable buildings in our town. Just take a gad about. Many.

Council does need to take the lead on this one, and pay more attention to emergency capabilities.

We’ve had a number of very serious fires in this town, thankfully most being without loss of life.

We had a strong turn-out of community-minded, generous folks, for our fundraising concert, and what we found out, was that there is a will in this town to push for changes, and boldly address issues of concern with our elected officials. These concerns and ambitions didn’t just arise because of a fire. They’ve been simmering for decades. But coming together, to help families in need, and to show solidarity for our hometown, did remind us that we are the masters of our domain. We should never feel as if our opinions are worthless, our initiatives a waste of time, when it comes to dealing with town hall. Council was represented at the fundraiser, and we are pretty sure they witnessed, up close and personal, what a community can do when need arises. It wasn’t a political event. But it was a show of public support for home town values. All our elected officials need to appreciate that home town values aren’t determined by decry, amendment, bylaw or official plan. Possibly we have been a little standoffish in the past. Maybe we were all a little intimidated by previous councils, from getting involved with opinion seeding. I have a feeling things are changing, and it is a welcome sign of a new future.

As we stare at the ruins on our main street, and think about how quickly fate intervenes, how cruel reality can be, contemplate, at the same time, what milestones we can achieve despite adversity......as a result of adversity, when we set our goals high, and refuse any retreat.

Once again, thanks to everyone who helped out in any way, make the “For Our Neighbor’s” fundraiser a financial success. Neighbors helping neighbors. That’s the power of home town!

WE’RE GETTING BACK ON TRACK - BEHIND THE CONCERT SCENE IS TOUGH SLUGGING - COMING OFF A GOOD EVENT MAKES IT A LITTLE EASIER

We’ve done many, many concert fundraisers, even when the lads were in High School. Then it was the Pure Gold Variety Show, which Suzanne co-ordinated for a few years, and we did a Battle of the Bands, both putting money back into school music projects. Ever since, we’re felt right at home at the Opera House, and setting up for the main event is always well organized and fun. Take down! It sucks. For an old fart like me, staring at a two hundred pound chunk of sound equipment makes me cringe. We brought about eight of these suckers this time around, not to mention a wide assortment of other equally heavy and bulky equipment. While loading-in, the adrenaline is pumping through the old heart, with an outward smile.....load-out is just grinding work and lots of it.

But you know what? We had just handed out money to two of the four families, affected by last week’s fire (we’re still planning meetings with the other two families), so it wasn’t such a bad load-out this time. It was a good feeling to have been able to deposit so much money, donated by this wonderful community. As for the event being a success.....in every way we can think of.....it was a milestone for the Currie boys. And yes they do keep a record. A book is being planned. It was a nice coming-together, but we wish it had been under better circumstances. Sometimes however, the only true test of a community’s resolve, is to face such a crisis. I’m satisfied we’re up to challenges.

It will take a long time to thank everyone who helped us with the “For Our Friends Benefit Concert,” on Sunday. We we’re very pleased to have a show of solidarity from the Gravenhurst BIA members, and it was pleasing to see representatives of the executive in attendance. We were delighted to have town and provincial representation; Gravenhurst Mayor Paisley Donaldson, and Muskoka - Parry Sound MPP Norm Miller. We would like to acknowledge the kind donations from businesses such as Muskoka Bay Clothing, Triple Sick, Applause Toys, North, Papa Larry’s Pizza, Tim Hortons, Artstract, and personal donations from well known Team Canada hockeyist, Graham Murray, used to raise funds in the silent auction. The silent auction raised approximately $150, and was added to the day’s proceeds which was just shy of $5,000.

We owe a special debt of gratitude to Peter Swanick, of Gravenhurst’s newest entertainment venue, “Peter’s Players,” on Muskoka Road.....well on its way to becoming a legendary music landmark, on the Ontario entertainment scene. Peter donated $380, the proceeds of a draw at his Friday night concert, and he got up on our stage, Sunday, to officially recognize the musical talent in our hometown. From a guy bringing some of the finest international musicians, to Gravenhurst, this must have been a tremendous vote of confidence for the local music scene. Peter has been a sponsor of our fundraising events in the past.

When we discuss putting on a fundraiser, the first issue to be discussed is whether or not we can call up the same folks again, and expect they will be willing to volunteer a twentieth, thirtieth time! We know a few of them are a little weary of our phone enquiries.....but they never turn us down when we ask them to provide the entertainment, or help work back stage. Two of our volunteers keep the show running. Without them....we’d be lost. Our trusted, faithful friends Fred Schulz and Doug Chamberlain. Fred handles the master of ceremony duties and Doug is our pillar of strength as stage manager. We can’t imagine them not being part of our concert projects.

We are always glad to see Lori and Doug Wallace, and Kelly and Jane Duggan, as a battle-weary regiment, “us” ..... hopes the cavalry is coming soon. We can’t imagine doing these projects without the footfall of the cavalry, flags “a-waving,” coming through the Opera House doors. We have to extend our most sincere thanks to a talented local musician, and long-time advocate “for the sustaining legacy of music in our town,” who co-ordinated the Trillium Court acoustic entertainment, which drew a large and enthusiastic audience. Thanks to Wayne Hill, for doing this for us, and he fire victims....and so generously volunteering to work with the boys on other events within the community. They do appreciate your support.....and they have great respect for the efforts you’ve gone to, in order to promote the Red Lion musicians’ association, here in Gravenhurst / Muskoka.

As for the musicians and so many other volunteers, we want to hug them all.......because there is no way the Currie family could have taken one step to establishing the fundraiser, without co-operation of people like Ray Parsons, Gill and Jon O’Connor, their daughter, singer, Dani, her guitar accompaniest, Aaron Binder, Nothing Box, Steve Ambroise, Shane Squires, Isaac Boyes, Aiden Chamberlain, Mark Wigston (M.T. and The Toasters), Ginger Graham, Van Newell, Tim Norrie, Danny Cleveland, The Just 4 Kicks Dancers, James Lucibello (sound and everything else we asked), Luke Thompson (post event helper), Jennifer Jacques, Lisa Mitchell, John Henry (our longtime music buddy), David Pepper (of Bracebridge), the Opera House volunteer ushers and staff, Brad Rundle, Opera House Manager, who helped us with the booking and liaison with Town Council, and so many, many more who helped us at various times through the week. Just because your name hasn’t appeared in this blog, don’t think we’re going to miss giving you a hug when we see you again.

Take-down for this event, was more effervescent than post-event work in the past. We were all pleased about the way the event brought the community together. It was genuinely inspirational at a time when we needed it the most. It will take months, if not years, to straighten out, and restore what took less than a day to destroy.

As the Mayor noted, we will recover and rebuild. I might not agree with Town Council, on many other occasions, but I am profoundly impressed by the mayor’s willingness to confront the crisis head-on, in order to get first-hand actuality of all the events, and implications, affecting the lives and businesses, the result of the April fire. I’m a big fan of actuality......seeing is believing. I like what I see.

Thanks to all for a great day.

HELPING OUR NEIGHBORS CONCERT RAISED $4,942.00 - ON A FEW DAYS NOTICE

We’re off to clean up the Opera House. With a smile on our collective faces. Thanks to the good neighbor show of support, from our musician friends, so many kind volunteers, and a substantial crowd of well wishers, we helped raise $4,942, and it came from every corner of the community.

As usual with these fundraising events, it was a late night of tallying but Suzanne was able to sort out deposits for this morning......which gets the money, to be split between four families, into their hands sooner.

I will be setting out to blog a thank you to all our friends and supporters who helped us achieve this positive outcome.

We have a date at the Opera House, this morning, to clean up and haul equipment back to our shop. But there’ll be bells on the old shoes, as they say, because we’re a pretty happy lot after such an uplifting, enjoyable event.

A tradition with clan Currie, is to always beat ourselves up....just a little, about what went right, what didn’t go as smoothly as we would have liked, and planning for improvements the next time around. And seeing as none of us are planning to leave our hometown, any time soon, (well maybe for a brief Algonquin Park canoe outing) there’s more work to do to keep our musician friends keen and eager to go! We’re like the volunteer fire department.....only musical......and preparation and organization for the next fundraiser has already begun.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped out in so many ways, on stage and assisting with event services and public relations. There was a lot of emotion expended this week. But the clear message from the citizens......this is our town, and we never surrender.

OUTPOURING STILL BLOWING US AWAY - THANK YOU, THANK YOU

We have added many new names to our fundraising “supporter list, and it just goes to show, we are a scrappy, determined, ambitious and caring community. No matter how much criticism and chagrin cloud over this community, don’t ever underestimate the will of home town values.

Sometimes amidst the political and economic debates, and stubborn posturing, the rush of day to day living, and neighbor on neighbor squabbling, we forget just how aggressive we can get as a collective, when push comes to shove.....and we all of a sudden have to react to an emergency. Every time it happens in this community, we learn a little bit more about our stalwart resolve to defend home turf......and all the folks who dwell here.

We just want folks here to know about the many volunteers, and acts of kindness received over the past 48 hours particularly. We have been so generously supported by Metroland Media’s, “The Weekender,” publishing news of our fundraising concert (Friday’s issue), on Sunday, as well as offering a display advertisement; Pappa Larry’s, for offering us food for the volunteers, on Sunday, Tim Hortons, for their generous offer of coffee and treats, The Moose FM for their large scale promotion for us, which they started on Tuesday, Artstract, for printing the posters at their expense, and the Town of Gravenhurst for assisting us with concert location, and the Opera House for informing callers about the Sunday program.

Individuals who have joined us most recently, include our old friends, Peters Players, Shawn Letcher, Van Newell, Tim Norrie, Steve Ambroise, Aidan Chamberlain, Doug Chamberlain, Ryan & Dave, Isacc Boyes, John Henry, David Pepper, Ginger Graham, Gill and Jon O’Connor, Mark Wigston, Ray Parsons, Doug and Lori Wallace, and dozens more.......who we will let you know about in a coming blog.

This has been a great experience for our family, working with all the businesses, organizations, and individuals this week, who have such a positive outlook on the future......and what kindness they can bestow for the victims of the tragic fire. It restores faith in the values of home town, and should make us all aware how things get done when the chips are down. We’re a tough bunch in Gravenhurst. We’re proud to say that. We’ll give a complete overview of just “how tough,” when we report back to you on the funds we were able to raise during the concert. And by the way, we have already been receiving donations at the boys music shop, opposite the Opera House. From youngsters to those who are on fixed incomes, we have seen a wide spectrum of deeply affected citizens, who feel it is their responsibility to help neighbors in need.

When a crusty old fart like me gets a tear in his eye.....seeing someone who has little to spare, offering a donation, I know this is the town for all seasons. Bless you all!