This past May 4-5th weekend was filled with activities for families and adults to enjoy. From the Jane’s Walk to an Art Show and fundraisers for books and CHEO – your choices were plenty to keep you occupied each day.
The Jane’s Walk, led by Councillor Glen Glower, gathered a huge crowd to explore and discover our community. A number of people who participated were visitors to our fine town and many said they have plans to return. It will be interesting to see what Glen Gower uncovers in next year’s Jane’s Walk.
(Photos by Barry Gray)
Stittsville’e inaugural Art Show took place at the Legion Hall. Co-organizers were Richard Gagne and Kevin Dodds. Both are artists from Arnprior. You may know the work of Kevin Dodds as he has produced many calendars for Lang Calendars Canada. They are both talented artists and their artwork expresses their individual personalities. When speaking with Richard, he was, “surprised to hear from many locals who attended that an art show had never taken place in Stittsville previously”. When asked how the art show was being received, he said “that on the Friday night alone, 8 pieces of art had been sold – incredible – and felt that the weekend would prove to be a success for the artists”. Some attendees were attending on Saturday for their second time. From the proceeds of the show, $1,000.00 is being donated to the Stittsville Legion to be put towards their building fund to replace the current, but tired, building.
(Photos by Stittsville Central)
The Villanova Dental Studios were busy on Saturday as well. The line-up at 7:30 am was quite lengthy, but all waiting were able to have their dental situations looked at either at the Main Street or Hazeldean Road locations. This was a caring and heartfelt opportunity provided by the dental team for local residents to get some Free needed oral care. Because of privacy issues, we did not take photos, but wanted to ensure that Villanova were commended for their kindness.
The International Order of Daughters of the Empire (IODE) Walter Baker Chapter held their fundraiser on Saturday at the Giant Tiger on Hazeldean Road. They had a BBQ with hotdogs and drinks for a donation to their charitable endeavour – ‘Own a Book, Share a Book’. The program is set-up to purchase books for schools where the need is evident. They added a bake sale this year where tables were filled with homemade baked goods. We enjoyed their lemonade cookies and our pups are thoroughly enjoying their parmesan cheese cookies. Goldie Gharmari, MPP for Carleton, also dropped in to thank for the group for their dedicated work. Ann Dyer, the President of the IODE Walter Baker Chapter told us “working with the Ottawa-Carleton Board of Education, they have chosen Pinecrest Public School as a recipient for the books”. She said that “the Chapter is awaiting word from the Catholic School Board as to what school will be chosen to receive the books in their Board”. The IODE is a community of women dedicated to a better Canada. If you wish to learn more, www.iodeontario.ca.
(Photos by Stittsville Central)
Pong’s Poutine on Carp Road were, for the fifth year, donating all of the proceeds from their poutine sales on May 4 to CHEO. They had four specialty varieties to choose from – General Tao, Bacon Cheeseburger, Chili and Popcorn Chicken. Councillor Gower anted up too, as we met he and his family leaving as we were arriving. The chili and popcorn chicken poutines were enjoyed as we watched the large number of customers ordering and making it count for the fundraiser. Pong holds this annual fundraiser to give back to CHEO. His twin daughters were born 13 weeks premature, resulting in a one-year stay for one of the girls and a six-month stay for the other. Since their birth five years ago, the girls have had many follow-up appointments at CHEO. Their parents, Stephanie and Pong (Ata) “feel blessed that the twins have been through so much, but are healthy and thanks to CHEO are able to enjoy life”. Pong took some time to get a snapshot of his family, along with his great team of staff.
Love the photo of “downtown” Stittsville ~~~