Police service dog Isaac is a drug detection specialist with the Peterborough Police Service's canine unit. (Photo: Peterborough Police Service)
Peterborough police service dog Isaac sniffed out a small quantity of cocaine beside a public trail in Peterborough’s East City on Tuesday (January 14).
Two residents walking in the area of foot path near Maria Street had contacted police to report a suspicious item.
Peterborough police constable Bob Cowie and PSD Isaac arrived to search the area.
As a result of the search, PSD Isaac — a drug detection specialist — located out a small quantity of cocaine in the snow.
Police have thanked the two residents for reporting the suspicious item and have issued a reminder to report any suspicious activity by calling the Peterborough Police Service at 705-876-1122.
If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or visit www.stopcrimehere.ca.
Jack and Ila Crowe, the late founders of Kawartha Dairy in Bobcaygeon, beside one of their old delivery vehicles. (Photo: Kawartha Dairy)
Jack and Ila Crowe, the late founders of Kawartha Dairy, are among the 11 inductees of the inaugural Business Hall of Fame for the City of Kawartha Lakes.
Junior Achievement of Northern and Eastern Ontario (JA-NEO) announced the inductees at Launch Kawartha in Lindsay on Wednesday (January 25).
Jack and Ila Crowe founded their family business when they purchased a small dairy in Bobcaygeon in 1937. They expanded in 1942 by purchasing another Bobcaygeon dairy, but did not start producing ice cream — now Kawartha Dairy’s flagship product — until the mid-1950s. They expanded to Minden in the early 1960s and today Kawartha Dairy operates 10 retail stores and services and supplies ice cream, butter, and milk to retailers, restaurants, and large large grocery chains including Loblaws, Sobeys, and Wal-Mart, as well as providing custom production services to other food companies.
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The other nine inductees are Tania-Joy Bartlett of New Beginnings Contracting Services, the late Jim Bogar of Cameron Steel, Nicki and Dedes Costas of Olympia Restaurant, Liz Grimes of Cathy Allan Ladieswear, Ted Smith of TS Manufacturing, Jeff Strybosch of Kawartha Wholesale Bakery, and Jason and Karissa Ward of Ward Lawyers.
“JA-NEO is excited to unveil the inaugural class of inductees to the first ever JA Business Hall of Fame for the City of Kawartha Lakes,” saiad JA-NEO president and CEO John McNutt. “These exceptional business leaders are helping to inspire and show local youth that starting your own business can be rewarding and last multiple generations much like the business leaders being honored today.”
A formal induction ceremony will be held on May 11 at Mackey Celebrations in downtown Lindsay.
The inductees of Junior Achievement’s inaugural Business Hall of Fame for Kawartha Lakes. Clockwise from top left: Jim Bogar (posthumous), Jeff Strybosch, Tania Joy-Bartlett, Ted Smith, Jack and Ila Crowe (posthumous), Jason and Karissa Ward, Nicki and Dedes Costas, and Liz Grimes. (Graphic courtesy of JA-NEO)
Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for much of the Kawarthas region for Wednesday (January 25) into Thursday.
The snowfall warning is currently in effect for all of Peterborough County, southern Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Hastings Highlands. A winter weather travel advisory is in effect for northern Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County.
A Texas low tracking northeastward is expected to bring snow to the area early Wednesday afternoon until Thursday morning.
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In the snowfall warning areas, snowfall accumulations of 15 cm are expected, with locally higher amounts of up to 20 cm likely. In the winter weather travel advisory areas, local snowfall accumulations of 10 to 15 cm are expected.
Motorists should expect hazardous winter driving conditions and adjust travel plans accordingly. Prepare for quickly changing and deteriorating travel conditions. Take extra care when walking or driving in affected areas.
Rapidly accumulating snow will make travel difficult, and visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow.
This story has been updated with the latest forecast from Environment Canada.
Brendan, Lorrie, and Lou Neskovski, who own and operate The Lokal Hub and Eatery and The Lokal Market in Woodville, as well as The LunchBox seasonal food truck business, have acquired Kawartha Lakes Winery in Fenelon Falls. (Photo: Vicky Champagne / Champagne Photography Studio Inc.)
The Lokal, a family-owned and operated local vendors’ market and eatery in Woodville, is expanding into Fenelon Falls.
The Neskovski family — Lorrie, Lou, and Brendan — have acquired Kawartha Lakes Winery, which offers 230 different artisan wines as well as supplies for the home vintner.
The Neskovskis also own and operates The LunchBox, a seasonal food truck business, and opened The Lokal Hub and Eatery and The Lokal Market in Woodville last year.
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Brendan, who owned the restaurant Silver Spurs in Woodville over a decade ago, began working with his mom Lorrie in 2019.
“A lot of people don’t like the idea of mixing family with business,” he told kawarthaNOW when The Lokal opened in 2022. “I totally get it. However, mom and I are so similar and we’re both brutally honest with each other, which works out really well.”
Kawartha Lakes Winery will be rebranded as The Lokal Winery and is expected to open in a few weeks.
For more information about The Lokal, visit thelokal.ca.
Beautiful Canoe Collective members Mapu Graner, Kerry Bebee, and Urpi Pine will perform their play "Journey the Canoe" at Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space at Trent University on January 27 and 28, 2003. The 45-minute play reclaims traditional Indigenous birthing practices and explores the performers' own birth stories. (Photo courtesy of the Beautiful Canoe Collective)
Three Indigenous women have joined together to create and perform Journey the Canoe, a play that reclaims traditional birthing practices and explores the performers’ own birth stories. It premieres at Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space at Trent University at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday (January 27 and 28).
Urpi Pine (Mi’kmaq/Quechua), Kerry Bebee (Michi-Sagiig Anishinaabe), and Mapu Graner (Mapuche/Quechua) are performers, artists, mothers, aunts, midwives, or maternal/child health workers. They are members of the Beautiful Canoe Collective.
“The Beautiful Canoe Collective’s name is inspired by Mohawk midwife, Elder, and community activist Katsi Cook who speaks about how, in the Mohawk culture, there is a way of talking about the vulva as the ‘nice canoe’,” reads a media release. “The Collective explores this metaphorical ‘canoe’ as carrying seeds of creation (physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental) and as a ‘vessel’ that allows for the journey of a new life (birth).
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In Journey the Canoe, the Beautiful Canoe Collective uses Indigenous storytelling methods to reclaim birthing narratives, rediscover traditional birthing stories, practices, and ceremonies, and to educate Indigenous peoples and communities about reconnecting to traditional birthing practices. The 45-minute play includes themes of loss, colonization, trauma, adoption, medicalization, personal and spiritual power, motherhood, and radical love and healing.
Completed in 2021, Journey the Canoe was co-authored by Lena Recollet (Anishinaabe) with professional guidance from Ange Loft (Mohawk). For the Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space production, Jenn Cole (mixed ancestry Algonquin Anishinaabe) is artistic director and producer and William Kingfisher (Anishinaabe) is associate artistic producer.
The Beautiful Canoe Collective will perform Journey the Canoe at 7 p.m. on January 27 and 28 at Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space (Room 101, Enwayaang Building, 1 Gzowski Way, Peterborough). Admission is pay what you can (cash only) at the door.
To reserve a seat, visit eventbrite.ca/e/510879041967. Note that audience members are required to wear masks for each performance.
Trent University alumni Steve Robertson and Ashley Holmes, along with two other investor friends, are reopening The Pig's Ear Tavern in summer 2023. The historic pub closed in 2017 after former owners John and Lylie Punter retired and sold the building. (Photo: Trent University Alumni Association)
It only seems appropriate two Trent University alumni are going to reopen Peterborough’s iconic Pig’s Ear Tavern. Until it closed almost six year ago, the pub was a favourite hangout for Trent students among many others in the community.
According to a story published by the Trent University Alumni Association, Steve Robertson and Ashley Holmes — along with two other investor friends — purchased the vacant building and took possession on Friday (January 20).
On April 22, 2017, the Pig’s Ear Tavern at 144 Brock Street in downtown Peterborough — affectionately known to many as “The Piggy” — closed after 152 years. It opened in 1865 as the St. Maurice Saloon and subsequently saw 13 owners, the last being John and Lylie Punter, who had purchased the property in 2000. In 2017, they decided to retire and sold the three-storey building, which includes the pub and its two upper-floor apartments.
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The building, which does not have a heritage designation, was originally purchased by Peterborough-based developer Parkview Homes for a residential development. However, the property went back on the market in 2020.
“The loss of The Pig’s Ear was more than losing a bar,” Robertson told the Trent University Alumni Association. “To so many people, it was a part of their fondest memories. Dating back over 150 years, the city also lost a piece of history. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring back this long-cherished establishment, where people can once again meet to talk, laugh, sing, and form new memories over a tray of beer.”
Holmes said the timing of reopening The Pig’s Ear “feels right” now that some normalcy is returning after the pandemic.
The front of the Pig’s Ear Tavern in downtown Peterborough in 2009. The pub closed on April 22, 2017 after 152 years. (Photo: Esther Vincent, evmustang.ca)
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“Who knows if the bar would have been able to survive the last three years,” she said. “Taking trays to-go might not have worked out. It’s really exciting that we get to be a part of its history.”
According to the Trent University Alumni Association, former owners John and Lylie Punter issued a statement supporting the reopening.
“Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes,” they said. “Piggy 2.0: Better than ever!”
According to The Pig’s Ear Tavern website at www.pigseartavern.com, the reopening is expected in summer 2023.
Anne Overhoff, chief nursing executive and vice president clinical of Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay, is retiring on February 24, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Ross Memorial Hospital)
Anne Overhoff of Lindsay’s Ross Memorial Hospital, who served as chief nursing executive during the COVID-19 pandemic, is retiring after 14 years at the hospital.
Also the hospital’s vice president clinical, Overhoff implemented a COVID-19 ward on the surgical unit and oversaw the COVID-19 assessment centre and more than 60,000 vaccinations in the community.
Overhoff joined Ross Memorial Hospital in 2009, with 25 years of nursing experience, as director of clinical care and medical. She became the hospital’s vice president clinical and chief nursing executive in 2017.
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“I have always viewed my role as a privilege and an honour to serve the clinical staff,” Overhoff says in a media release. “One of my greatest achievements is helping develop a strong clinical leadership team that will continue the great work being done here at Ross Memorial. I am thankful for getting to work with so many wonderful, dedicated people.”
Overhoff’s other achievements during her time at Ross Memorial Hospital included overseeing the implementation of the Epic electronic health records system for the clinical care team, the largest digital clinical information system upgrade in the hospital’s history.
“Anne has had an exceptional career in healthcare that deserves to be celebrated,” says Ross Memorial Hospital president and CEO Kelly Isfan. “She holds a wealth of knowledge and is a dedicated healthcare professional, which has been displayed through her leadership and advocacy on behalf of Ross Memorial’s clinical care team. It has been a true pleasure working with Anne, both professionally and personally. I wish her the very best in her retirement.”
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During her time at the hospital, Overhoff also oversaw improved nurse-to-patient ratios, a reduction in the number of alternate level of care patients resulting in improved patient flow, and the introduction of nurse practitioners to work closely with hospitalists on acute and post-acute care.
“Anne’s leadership of our clinical care team over the years has been commendable,” says Wanda Percival, chair of the hospital’s board of governors. “She has helped continually improve the quality of care for all who visit Ross Memorial. Our entire Ross Memorial family and community are grateful for her significant contributions to the hospital.”
Overhoff, who will retire on February 24, says she is looking forward to being able to spend more time with her family, enjoy the outdoors, and travel.
Ross Memorial Hospital has already hired an interim vice president clinical and chief nursing executive, who will be announced in the near future.
A young reader explores a book during a previous Peterborough Family Literacy Day event at Peterborough Square. After a two-year absence because of the pandemic, the annual event returns for the morning of Saturday, January 28, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Peter Rellinger)
For the first time since January 2020, the Peterborough Family Literacy Day flagship event returns to Peterborough Square in downtown Peterborough from 9 a.m. until noon on Saturday, January 28th.
As you read this article, celebrate the simple fact that you can. There are many of all ages who can’t make rhyme or reason of these words, and all those that follow.
How many? According to ABC Life Literacy Canada, the literacy skills of 48 per cent of adult Canadians fall below high school level, with 17 per cent functioning at the lowest level literacy — not able, for example, to read the dosage instructions on a medicine bottle.
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While a number of local organizations such as the Trent Valley Literacy Association work toward putting a dent in these sobering numbers, the nine organizations that have again come together to present Peterborough Family Literacy Day actively advocate a get-to-them-while-they’re-young approach, doing so while celebrating the act of reading and all its inherent benefits.
First presented close to 25 years ago, the gathering has consistently seen hundreds of kids, and their parents or guardians, gather for a morning of reading-themed entertainment and activities.
Along with the always-popular Readers’ Theatre that sees local dignitaries read a children’s story from the stage, this year’s event — with the theme ‘Exploring Your Heritage’ — will feature the talents of longtime Durham Storytellers member Heather Whaley, Glen Caradus (Paddling Puppeteers founder, storyteller, and musician), and Anisinaabemowin language speaker Jonathan Taylor, who will read, in both Ojibwe and English, Robert Munsch’s book I Have To Go!.
Heather Whaley, Glen Caradus, and Jonathan Taylor are featured storytellers at the Peterborough Family Literacy Day on the morning of January 28, 2023 at Peterborough Square. (Collage: kawarthaNOW)
In addition, as has always been the case, every child in attendance will leave with a free book — something made possible via donated books and continued financial support from the Kinsmen Club of Peterborough.
The tie that binds the event’s nine organizing groups is a commitment not only to encourage parents reading to and with their children, but also to help ensure more of those same kids develop into adults with better-than-average literacy skills and associated benefits.
Among the organizing groups is the Peterborough Public Library, a natural fit considering the number of reading programs it offers for families with kids up to age 12. Karen Clysdale, the library’s community development librarian for children, says the Family Literacy Day event is “a celebration of reading, and learning to read, and enjoying reading.”
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“So much of our society celebrates and focuses on exceptional things,” says Clysdale. “We celebrate great athletes. We celebrate really talented singers and performers — people who are head and shoulders above the rest of us in terms of their skill sets. But it’s also important to celebrate wonderful things we all share and we can all do, such as reading.”
“I know there are some families that will come because it’s a free thing to do on a Saturday morning. That’s okay, that’s absolutely what we want. But some of those families don’t have books on their shelves. They might have toys, they might have all kinds of electronics, but they don’t have books. Children can go home (from the event) and have that (free book) and own it. It’s theirs.”
Clysdale adds the annual event “reminds us there’s value in reading. It reminds us that reading is something special and we all have the right to be able to do it. It’s something that we all deserve.”
One of the most popular draws of the annual Peterborough Family Literacy Day event is the free book giveaway. That will be the case again on Saturday, January 28, 2023 from 9 a.m. to noon at Peterborough Square. (Photo courtesy of Peter Rellinger)
kawarthaNOW writer Paul Rellinger, who has served as the honorary chair for Peterborough Family Literacy Day for a number of years, says he remains grateful for the opportunity. A voracious lifelong reader, he recalls reading his first non-school assigned book at age 8: a worn copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island gifted him by his father.
“I can’t recall my parents reading to me as a child, but I remember like it was yesterday walking to the library about a mile from our home and applying for my first library card after reading Treasure Island — I wanted more,” says Rellinger, noting his possession of his very own library card was a point of pride.
“The Family Literacy Day event rekindles that memory for me, also reminding me that the curiosity that reading stoked in me was no doubt key in doing what I ultimately did for a living. But more than that, seeing the smile on kids’ faces as they hear a riveting story from the stage or get hold of their free book, that’s the reward. Not only for myself but I’m sure for all the organizing committee members.”
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At the Peterborough Public Library, Clysdale gets to see that on a daily basis and she too says she is equally grateful and reminds parents that no child is too young to have a book shared with them. She notes putting aside 20 minutes a day to do a fun literacy-based activity helps families build better relationships, improves children’s academic performance, reduces stress, and increases happiness.
“I remind parents that by singing to your baby, by talking to your baby, by playing peek-a-boo, you’re telling your child that you love them and that you value them and that you’re building their knowledge of the world,” says Clysdale. “If you sit and cuddle with your baby or child when you’re reading a book, you’re giving them a sense of love for literature — that reading books and stories, and sharing them together, is a comforting and important thing.”
“Babies and young children learn by osmosis. If they’re hearing new words, if they’re hearing rhythms — there are some very lyrical picture books — they’re developing. They’re thinking. Studies have shown that babies that are read to tend to pick up a language much sooner, are more able to express themselves, and better understand themselves and the world around them.”
Hundreds of young readers came out to the 2017 Peterborough Family Literacy Day event at Peterborough Square. The event returns for the first time since the pandemic on Saturday, January 28, 2023 from 9 a.m. to noon at Peterborough Square. (Photo courtesy of Peter Rellinger)
Along with the library, the event organizing committee has representation from Trent Students For Literacy, the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington School Board, the Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre, Peterborough Child and Family Centres, the Peterborough Native Learning Centre, New Canadians Centre Peterborough, and Literacy Ontario Central South (LOCS).
Besides the Kinsmen Club, event sponsors are Compass Early Learning and Care, Peterborough Kawartha Rotary, Frontier College, Teachers For Kids, Dairy Farmers of Ontario, the New Canadians Centre, Peterborough Square, and LOCS.
For those who can’t get to the event, Clysdale says a variety of interactive reading programs are available at the library all year round. For more information, visit the Peterborough Public Library’s website at www.ptbolibrary.ca.
Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for the southern Kawarthas region for possible significant snowfall late Wednesday (January 25) into Thursday.
The special weather statement is currently in effect for Peterborough County, southern Kawartha Lakes, and Northumberland County.
A Texas low is bringing snow to southern Ontario late Wednesday into Thursday.
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Snowfall accumulations of 10 to 15 cm are possible, with locally higher amounts of up to 20 cm.
There can be reduced visibility in heavy snow, and rapidly accumulating snow can make travel difficult.
Further details will be provided when Environment Canada updates its forecast closer to the weather event.
Peterborough spoken word poet and performance artist Jon Hedderwick performs in his new play "Enkidu", named after one of the central figures in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written in ancient Mesopotamia between 2100 and 1200 BC and regarded as the world's oldest surviving piece of literature. Hedderwick will perform "Enkidu", an allegory for toxic masculinity, environmental destruction, and human exceptionalism, at The Theatre On King from January 25 to 28, 2023. (Photo: Andy Carroll)
What happens when we set ourselves apart from nature? What happens when we can’t let go of the things that we know destroy us?
Drawing upon the world’s oldest surviving piece of literature, Peterborough spoken word poet and performance artist Jon Hedderwick will examine these questions in his new play Enkidu, which premieres at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 25th at Peterborough’s The Theatre On King and runs until Saturday.
Enkidu is one of the central figures in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written in ancient Mesopotamia between 2100 and 1200 BC and regarded as a foundational work in religion and the tradition of heroic sagas. Created by the gods to stop the Urak king Gilgamesh from oppressing his people, Enkidu embodies the wild or natural world and is depicted as being part man and part bull. After the sacred prostitute Shamhat tames Enkidu, he travels to Uruk to challenge Gilgamesh to a contest of strength. While Gilgamesh wins, the two become friends and later kill the Bull of Heaven, after which the gods sentence Enkidu to death and kill him.
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In Hedderwick’s work, the once mighty Enkidu is trapped in the subterranean afterlife of ancient Sumer. He lingers between worlds, tethered to the past by failing memories and unable or unwilling to let go. If he can remember — if he can assemble the dream house and complete the ritual — perhaps the gods will send him a good dream and show him the way back to his life with Gilgamesh.
In Enkidu, Hedderwick touches on classic themes of balance, fate, memory, love, and control while also exploring toxic masculinity, environmental destruction, and human exceptionalism.
“It’s amazed me how many people have heard of the Epic of Gilgamesh and at the same time are completely unfamiliar with it,” Hedderwick says in a media release. “This story proceeds all the stories of the Abrahamic religions. Judaism, and later Christianity and Islam, all spring from the mythic space of this story. While ancient, this story is incredibly timely. It explores a world out of balance and encourages us to ask what happens to the natural world and to our own lives when humanity exploits nature to the point of driving it to catastrophe.”
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Peterborough spoken word poet and performance artist Jon Hedderwick will perform his new play “Enkidu” at The Theatre On King from January 25 to 28, 2023. Tickets are $20 or pay what you can. (Photo: Andy Carroll)
Directed by Ryan Kerr and Kate Story, Enkidu features an original score composed and performed by Peterborough musician garbageface (a.k.a. Karol Orzechowski), with local poets Niambi Tree and Elizabeth Jenkins supporting the show as outside eyes.
Hedderwick will perform Enkidu beginning at 8 p.m. from Wednesday, January 25th to Saturday, January 28th at The Theatre on King at 171 King Street in downtown Peterborough. Tickets at $20, with a pay-what-you-can option. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Advance tickets are available at eventbrite.ca/e/503000998527.
Content warning: Enkidu includes descriptions of violence, murder, death, and non-graphic discussions of sexual violence. The performance uses a sound system with a full soundtrack and sudden shifts in theatre lighting.
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