It’s easy to find out what is on the minds of people in Peterborough today. Just a quick hop onto Twitter will reveal stories about elections and The Parkway and music festivals and theatre performances — all preserved in cyberspace in 140 characters or less. These stories make up the social landscape of our city and contribute to our modern culture.

But what were people talking about a century ago? What were the news items of our often-forgotten past?

There’s no doubt that Peterborough has a colourful history, one that’s created a sense of pride in our community. You can find a lot of information online describing Peterborough’s unique heritage. But to understand the full scope of our past, we need to dig a lot deeper than a handful of random facts found on the internet. Thankfully, local writer and historian Patrick Conway is doing the research for us.

PARN – Your Community AIDS Resource Network is asking the people of Peterborough to take to the streets on Sunday, September 14th to raise much-needed funds to support local responses to the HIV epidemic. PARN is marking its 25th anniversary this year.

I recently heard someone describe the 2014 summer season as “the summer that wasn’t”.

With cool temperatures, lots of rain, and little in the way of humidity, that moniker is quite fitting. While other areas of the country have seen a typical hot summer, that just hasn’t been the case in southern Ontario.

As we move toward the end of August and into September, like it or not, we need to start thinking about the cold months ahead. While it may seem a long way off, we’ll be turning on the heat in our homes before we know it.

Now is the perfect time to prepare our homes for the cold and snowy months ahead. A free program offered by Enbridge Gas Distribution for the past few years has been helping gas customers save energy by making their homes more efficient.

One of the downsides of owning a car is the steep operating cost associated with it. Insurance alone can cost well over $1,000 per year for many, often putting car ownership out of reach. While biking, walking and taking the bus around town are all viable options, for some trips, sometimes a car is necessary.

About a year ago, Student Car Share set up shop in Peterborough and has proven to be very successful. Not long after the first car was unveiled at Trent University, a second car was added at the downtown transit terminal on Simcoe Street.