The Theatre On King's artistic administrator Kate Story addresses Peterborough City Council on March 27, 2023 to appeal the decision to deny the arts organization a community investment grant for 2023 after providing them the maximum grant in 2022. (Photo: Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay)
The City of Peterborough has launched a survey to gather feedback about the city’s community grant program.
The survey is the result of a motion supported unanimously by Peterborough city council on March 27 that directed staff to review the grant funding application and approval process “to ensure the integrity and fairness of the community investment grant’s program, and report back to Council with any recommended changes.”
At that same meeting, councillors had voted 7-3 against providing funding for two community organizations — The Theatre On King and the Artisans Centre Peterborough — that had appeared before council to appeal an earlier decision by an assessment committee to deny the organizations’ applications for 2023 grants.
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In 2022, The Theatre On King had received the maximum grant of $15,000 and the Artisans Centre Peterborough had received $9,250. In 2023, neither organization received any grant funding.
For The Theatre On King, the change from a $15,000 grant to no funding at all from the city threatened their financial viability (the organization has since fundraised to cover its operating costs). Several delegations appearing before city council on March 27 raised concerns about the process used for determining grants for arts organizations.
“If your assessment process has led to the severing of funding for this essential part of our community, then your assessment process needs to change,” said Peterborough family physician Dr. Laura Lawson, speaking in support of The Theatre On King.
The Theatre On King’s artistic director Ryan Kerr addresses Peterborough City Council on March 27, 2023 to appeal the decision to deny the arts organization a community investment grant for 2023 after providing them the maximum grant in 2022. (Photo: Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay)
The city provides almost $250,000 each year to local not-for-profit and charitable organizations through the two grant streams, the community project grant and the community investment grant. For community project grants, the city provides $250 to $1,000 for specific projects. For community investment grants, the city provides $1,000 to $15,000 for projects, events, programs or operating budgets. Grant applications are reviewed by an assessment committee of two city councillors and 11 citizen appointees.
Concerns about how the city’s community grant program is delivered are not new. In 2017, former city councillor Dean Pappas had a motion passed to review the program, but no action was taken. The city’s arts and culture advisory committee, which includes members of the arts community, has also expressed concerns about how the city funds arts organizations.
In 2020, the Electric City Culture Council called on the city to align its processes for community grants for arts organizations with those of the federal government, most provincial governments, and many municipal governments.
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The survey is available online at connectptbo.ca/community-grants-engagement (hard copies are available by calling the city at 705-742-7777 ext. 1822) until midnight on Sunday, July 11th.
The 27-question survey includes 20 questions related to the community grants program, including how effective the program has been, the clarity and ease of the application process, transparency in the evaluation and selection progress, and more. The survey includes several open-ended questions about the program.
“The City will use the input from the consultation to inform recommendations that will be considered by City Council on the process and program for the Community Project Grant and Community Investment Grant streams,” reads a city media release.
The driver of this motorcycle was seriously injured following a a collision with a pickup truck on Highway 35 north of Ballyduff in Kawartha Lakes on June 20, 2023. (Police-supplied photo)
A motorcyclist has been seriously injured following a collision with a pickup truck on Tuesday night (June 20) on Highway 35 in Kawartha Lakes.
At around 7:45 p.m., Kawartha Lakes OPP and Kawartha Lakes fire and emergency services responded to the collision north of Ballyduff.
The driver of the motorcycle was airlifted to a Toronto hospital, where their injuries are reported as severe but not life threatening.
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Highway 35 was closed from Ballyduff Road to Twigg Road, including the intersection of Highway 7A, for around three hours while police investigated and documented the scene.
Kawartha Lakes OPP are reminding motorists that motorcyclists are more vulnerable than other drivers.
Motorcycles are tougher to see than other vehicles and, with no occupant restraint safety equipment, motorcyclists have virtually no protection in a crash.
Along with her partner Zack Cruise, KitCoffee owner Helen McCarthy recently opened Kit's Emporium, a thrift store located at 404 George Street North and connected on the inside to her Hunter Street café. (Photo: Bruce Head / kawarthaNOW)
After just four years in business, Peterborough’s KitCoffee has overcome more obstacles than many small businesses face in a lifetime. But despite its history of challenges, not only is the café now thriving, but owner Helen McCarthy has now opened a thrift store called Kit’s Emporium.
With a lifelong love of food and baked goods, the Vancouver-born McCarthy opened KitCoffee in the heart of downtown Peterborough in July 2019. Serving up Stereo Coffee Roasters and a rotating selection of baked goods, the café is best known for its delicious croissants baked fresh in-house every day.
Though KitCoffee is running smoothly now, the hardships began soon after McCarthy opened her business.
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Following the initial success of the café, McCarthy was just weeks away from opening a second location in the Alexander Medical Building in January 2020 when she slipped on ice while dropping her young daughter off at daycare. She broke her ankle and chose to recover from the resulting surgery with her family on the west coast.
She returned to Ontario in March 2020, right before pandemic restrictions hit and left KitCoffee closed until May of that year, when it re-opened to serve take-out only.
“I was lucky in the sense that my overhead for my business was, at the time, a lot smaller than a lot of other businesses,” McCarthy explains about those first few months of the lockdown. “My landlord was very generous and very understanding, which a lot of businesses didn’t have. So he was very happy to apply for the rent relief program for us and, on months we were locked down, he didn’t require me to pay full rent.”
Helen McCarthy first opened KitCoffee in July 2019. She had to overcome broken ankles, unpredictable pandemic restrictions, supply shortages, the derecho storm, and mental health struggles to get KitCoffee back to the comfortable position it’s in now. With her partner Zack Cruise, she has now opened Kit’s Emporium, an inclusive thrift store located adjacent to the café. (Photo courtesy of KitCoffee)
McCarthy decided to close KitCoffee’s second location in August 2020 when many of the offices in the medical building, which she originally anticipated would be a source of walk-in traffic for the café, started getting rented out by the hospital to meet the demands of COVID-19.
“Closing it ended up being a blessing in disguise, because we got to really focus on the main location and work more on fixing things there,” she says.
Around the same time, and not long after recovering from her broken ankle, McCarthy was visiting a friend’s cottage when she jumped off a dock into water that was not as deep as she believed.
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This time, McCarthy broke both her ankles. She now had to go through the healing process all over again, while still trying to juggle the unpredictability of pandemic restrictions.
“I was so lucky with the people I had working for me,” McCarthy recalls. “They really carried the café for basically the first two years, really. All those things were really unlucky, but I was really lucky to have an amazing team supporting the business during that time.”
Since McCarthy felt it important to carry only local goods, the next obstacle came towards the end of 2021 when the supply chain became increasingly inconsistent and unreliable. Since she refused to serve mass-produced pastries and croissants, she started making them in-house.
KitCoffee serves Stereo Coffee Roasters and a rotating selection of baked goods, including their very popular croissants, which owner Helen McCarthy started making in-house in 2021 following limitations of accessing local suppliers. (Photo courtesy of KitCoffee)
“For a while, leaning into the demand for croissants really saved us,” McCarthy says. “There weren’t really other businesses doing that.”
Then, with another lockdown in January 2022 and the derecho storm just four months later in May 2022 causing significant inventory loss and a week-long closure, the infrequently short periods of operation without interruption were too overwhelming for McCarthy.
“The storm put me over the edge, and I really started to struggle with my own mental health and with running the shop. Everything kind of started to spiral downwards that May.”
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McCarthy explains she was often unable to show up for work, often causing KitCoffee to remain closed unexpectedly.
“I was very close to giving up. I was really close to just saying ‘OK, we tried (but) it’s not going to happen.'”
But the fear of losing what she had worked so hard to build, as well as the immense show of support she received, kept her going. During her very low point after the derecho storm, McCarthy posted a very vulnerable caption to an image on the business’s Instagram page, explaining that she was unsure of the café’s future.
Inside Kit’s Emporium, a thrift store located at 404 George Street North and connected on the inside to KitCoffee at 144 Hunter Street West. KitCoffee owner Helen McCarthy recently opened Kit’s Emporium with her partner Zack Cruise. (Photo: Bruce Head / kawarthaNOW)
“I got just the most wonderful messages from people saying how much they loved the spot and how important the cafe has been to them,” says McCarthy. “In general, people in Peterborough have a very loyal following for downtown businesses and for small businesses.”
She first saw this support when a friend began a GoFundMe page to keep KitCoffee running in McCarthy’s absence after she broke her ankle the first time. The campaign raised $15,000. Again, after the storm closed the café for a week, another GoFundMe campaign raised an additional $7,000.
McCarthy explains that even competing business owners expressed support of KitCoffee’s struggles, and many reached out to tell her their own experiences being on the brink of closure or even bankruptcy.
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She recognizes she’s been very “privileged” in not having required a loan when she first opened KitCoffee, and that she was able to take out a second mortgage when times were tough.
“I definitely have worked hard, but I feel like I really just had help and luck too,” she explains. “I think with all the bad things that happened and the seemingly unfortunate things, my ability to access certain funds or credit has been able to solve cash flow issues that other businesses just might not have had access to.”
After recovering from three years of hardships, McCarthy says it’s unfortunate that owners feel such shame when their businesses are not doing well. Her best advice to struggling business owners is not to feel bad if it’s difficult or if it doesn’t work out.
KitCoffee is located at 144 Hunter Street West in downtown Peterborough. Patrons can access the new Kit’s Emporium thrift store either by entering through the café or from the storefront around the corner at 404 George Street North. (Photo courtesy of KitCoffee)
“You might feel like you’re alone in it and everyone else is fine,” she says. “But really, other people have been through this before and made it through. A lot of businesses owners feel really ashamed about it, but I think it happens to so many people and we shouldn’t feel ashamed about it because that’s what running the business is like right now.”
Though KitCoffee is “not completely out of the woods,” McCarthy says there’s been a lot of growth since they’ve been able to remain open more consistently and have hired more staff.
Now she’s taken on a new project with the help of her partner Zack Cruise. Together, they’ve rented a space adjoining KitCoffee where they’ve opened a thrift store called Kit’s Emporium.
The storefront for Kit’s Emporium is located on George Street (in the former location of Dodrio Bubble Tea, Anime Café & Game Lounge) just around the corner from KitCoffee’s Hunter Street location, but the two spaces are connected on the inside.
Alongside clothing, Kit’s Emporium provides other second-hand offerings including décor, furniture, books, and more. The space also offers a seating section for patrons of the café.
“We want to focus on having it be a really accessible space,” McCarthy explains, adding that a major focus will be put on providing extended size and gender-neutral clothing. “Providing an affordable thrifting experience is really important to us.”
Along with offering second-hand clothing, décor, furniture, books, and more, Kit’s Emporium also offers a casual seating section for patrons of the adjoining KitCoffee. (Photo: Bruce Head / kawarthaNOW)
Located at 404 George Street North, Kit’s Emporium is already open for business from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays but will be hosting an official grand opening on Saturday, July 15th. They are accepting donations of gently used items of all varieties (except beds or large furniture items).
For more information and updates, visit them on Instagram @kitsemporium.
KitCoffee is open seven days a week at 144 Hunter Street West in downtown Peterborough. For more information and to view the menu, visit www.kitcoffee.ca. You can also follow them on Instagram and Facebook.
KitCoffee owner Helen McCarthy’s partner Zack Cruise with some of the inventory at Kit’s Emporium, a new thrift store located at 404 George Street North and connected on the inside to KitCoffee at 144 Hunter Street West. (Photo: Bruce Head / kawarthaNOW)
Haliburton Highlands Health Services permanently closed Minden's emergency department on June 1, 2023. The Ontario government is providing funding to the Kawartha North Family Health Team to open an urgent care clinic at the same site to provide routine and urgent care to people in the community. The clinic will open on June 30 in time for the Canada Day long weekend. (Photo: Marit Stiles / Twitter)
It’s not a replacement for the now-closed emergency department, but Minden is going to have a new urgent care clinic as of the end of June.
The Ontario government announced on Tuesday (June 20) it will be providing funding to the Kawartha North Family Health Team to open an urgent care clinic to provide routine and urgent care to people in the community.
According to the Kawartha North Family Health Team, urgent care services are for people who have unexpected but non-life-threatening health issues that usually require same-day treatment.
The clinic will open in the former location of the Minden emergency department at 4575 Deep Bay Road, which Haliburton Highlands Health Services permanently closed on June 1 due to a lack of staffing after providing six weeks’ notice to the community.
Despite petitions and protests from Minden-area residents and local politicians urging a moratorium, the emergency department was closed, with all emergency services consolidated at the Haliburton hospital — located a minimum 25-minute drive away from Minden.
On May 31, the Kawartha North Family Health Team put forward an expression of interest to the Ministry of Health for funding to operate an urgent care clinic at the former Minden emergency department site.
“As a resident of Minden Hills myself, I realize the limitation of our resources and how stretched health care providers are, especially during the busy summer season,” wrote Kawartha North Family Health Team executive director Marina Hodson in a statement. “We hope that if this proposal is approved, we would be able to alleviate some of this burden.”
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Along with operating funding, the Ministry of Health will provide one-time funding to allow the Kawartha North Family Health Team to purchase equipment from the clinic. The clinic will be itself will be managed entirely by the non-profit Kawartha North Family Health Team and its board of directors, and will be staffed with the team’s nurse practitioners and registered practical nurses. Care will be provided through walk-ins and booked appointments.
“(The Kawartha North Family Health Team) has provided care to the Minden Hills community since 2007,” Hodson said on Tuesday. “We are very proud to be responding to a community need and continue our commitment to service by operating an urgent care clinic at the Minden site.”
The clinic will be supported by Haliburton Highlands Health Services, which continues to offer ultrasounds, x-rays, physiotherapy, and diabetes education at the Minden site.
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The clinic will open over the Canada Day long weekend, from 12 to 6 p.m. from Friday, June 30th until Monday, July 3rd.
After the long weekend, it will be open on weekends only, with planning underway to operate the clinic seven days a week once it is fully staffed.
Globus Theatre co-founders James Barrett and Sarah Quick in a rehearsal for Michele Riml's hit comedy "Sexy Laundry", running for 14 performances from June 21 to July 8, 2023 at the Lakeview Arts Barn in Bobcaygeon. The real-life couple first performed as Henry and Alice in the theatre company's 2013 production of the play. (Photo: R.A. Bloom Creations and Photography)
A decade after they first performed in Michele Riml’s hit comedy Sexy Laundry, Globus Theatre’s James Barrett and Sarah Quick are reprising their roles as a middle-aged couple seeking to rekindle their sex life when the play returns to the stage at Lakeview Arts Barn in Bobcaygeon for 14 performances from June 21 to July 8.
The play tells the story of Henry and Alice, who have been married for 25 years and have hit a physical plateau. With a copy of the book Sex for Dummies in hand, Alice convinces Henry they should check into a spa hotel for a weekend of alone time in an attempt to rejuvenate their relationship. While Alice hopes to unearth her inner vixen and seduce him, Henry prefers to keep things comfortable and easy. The result is a hilarious but compassionate exploration of the reasons why people stay together or drift apart.
Written by critically acclaimed Vancouver-based playwright Michele Riml, Sexy Laundry debuted at Vancouver Fringe in 2002. It has since become an international hit, playing at theatres across Canada, the U.S., Britain, Europe, and South Africa.
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In a 2022 interview with CBC, Riml described her motivation for writing Sexy Laundry.
“When I wrote it, which was quite a long time ago now, I was just newly married,” she recalled. “I’m not sure that I thought I was writing a play about middle-aged sex as much as I was writing a play about a marriage that had started to go stale 25 years in. My glib answer has always been I’d been married for a few years and I just projected forward after having an argument with my husband about something and I thought ‘Wow, this marriage thing is a long time’.”
“I also wanted to honour the idea that it’s a commitment and it’s hard work. Marriage is not just an upward trajectory of happily ever after. There are real hills and valleys, highs and lows. And even more than that, there’s just that flatlining that can happen which is just feeling like it’s very mundane and what else is out there. I wanted to investigate that kind of time in somebody’s life. Now that I am in my fifties and I’m actually coming up to my 25th wedding anniversary, I realize I’m right.”
Vancouver-based playwright Michele Riml wrote “Sexy Laundry” in 2002. It has since become an international hit, playing at theatres across Canada, the U.S., Britain, Europe, and South Africa. (Publicity photo)
Riml also commented on the reactions she’s observed when audiences watch the play.
“Apart from the comedy, the laughter, and the tears, I think there is a sense of relief that happens in the audience,” Riml said. “People go, ‘Oh my goodness, somebody else feels like I do, somebody else is struggling with the same problem.’ This thing that sometimes we don’t even want to talk about in our own marriage, but certainly we don’t want to talk about with other people. There’s a lot of shame around sex problems, or when people find distances happening in their relationship. There’s pressure to keep up a good, brave face.”
“What I’ve noticed when I watch the audiences, whether it’s in Canada or in Poland, is this thing happens with couples in the audience. They’ll come in, they’ll sit together, they laugh a bit and stuff, and then as it gets a little bit more heated, they separate — like, the man will lean over one way and the woman will lean over another way. You can see, they actually create distance between themselves. And then, as the play becomes more intimate and more is revealed, they start to lean back into each other. It’s such a great feeling to watch that, to know there’s that kind of connection and relationship happening between the people in the audience and the characters on stage, because ultimately for me that’s what I love about theatre. It’s about real-time, real human connection.”
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Performing as Henry is Globus Theatre co-founder and artistic producer James Barrett, who has appeared in many Globus productions over the past 19 seasons, most recently in May’s production of Mending Fences by Norm Foster, and has also numerous television and film credits including Missing Treasures and Welcome To Mooseport. Globus Theatre co-founder and artistic director Sarah Quick, performing as Alice, is an accomplished actor who has written and starred in numerous productions including Having Relations, Sunshine Express, The Men Commandments and Knickers!: A Brief Comedy.
The real-life couple are reprising their roles from Globus Theatre’s 2013 production of Sexy Laundry, which became one of the best-selling shows in the theatre company’s 20-year history.
“Sexy Laundry was so much fun to do the first time around that we ended up touring the production to the UK in 2013,” says Quick, Globus Theatre’s co-founder and artistic director, in a media release. “Now, 10 years later, we thought what better way to celebrate Globus’ 20th season than with a remount.”
In Globus Theatre’s production of Michele Riml’s hit comedy “Sexy Laundry”, Alice (Sarah Quick) convinces her husband of 25 years Henry (James Barrett) they should check into a spa hotel for a weekend of alone time in an attempt to rejuvenate their relationship. Things don’t quite go as Alice has planned. (Photo: R.A. Bloom Creations and Photography)
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“It’s a comedy about a middle-aged couple but I think its themes appeal to a wide demographic,” Quick adds. “I’d recommend it to anyone who has had sex, or is thinking about it.”
A full-length play with an intermission, Sexy Laundry runs for 14 performances at the Lakeview Arts Barn in Bobcaygeon at 8 p.m. from Wednesday, June 21st to Saturday, June 24th, from Tuesday, June 27th to Thursday, June 29th, and from Tuesday, July 4th to Saturday, July 8th, with additional 2 p.m. matinee performances on Thursday, June 29th and Saturday, July 8th.
An optional dinner is available before the evening performances at 6 p.m. Tickets are $45 for the show only, or $90 for dinner and the show, and are available by calling the Globus Theatre box office at 705-738-2037 or online at globustheatre.com.
James Barrett and Sarah Quick performing as Henry and Alice in Globus Theatre’s 2013 production of Michele Riml’s hit comedy “Sexy Laundry”. They are reprising their roles 10 years later for 14 performances from June 21 to July 8, 2023 at the Lakeview Arts Barn. (Photo courtesy of Globus Theatre)
Local photographer Kirk Doughty captured this shot of the 2018 Canada Day fireworks over Little Lake in Peterborough. (Photo: Kirk Doughty)
As part of its Canada Day celebrations, the City of Peterborough is planning a fireworks display over Little Lake for Saturday, July 1st.
The fireworks display will begin at 9:30 p.m. following the first Peterborough Musicfest free-admission concert of the season at Del Crary Park featuring Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy.
There will be a temporary road closure on Crescent Street in the vicinity of the t-wharf before and during the fireworks display. Access for local traffic will be maintained.
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Residents are reminded to follow all on-street parking regulations that may be in place in the area, including calendar parking where applicable.
Earlier in the day, there will be Canada Day festivities at Confederation Park from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., including face painting and henna tattoos, a birthday cake donated by Morello’s Your Independent Grocer, a children’s bicycle contest, and music by the Peterborough Pop Ensemble, followed by the Canada Day parade departing City Hall at noon and travelling south down George Street to Morrow Park.
More information about the city’s Canada Day celebrations is available at peterborough.ca/canadaday.
This dock valued at over $47,000 was stolen from a cottage on Crystal Lake in Trent Lakes in the early morning hours of June 17, 2023. (Police-supplied photo)
The Peterborough County detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is investigating the theft of a $47,000 dock from a cottage on Crystal Lake in Trent Lakes east of Kinmount early Saturday morning (June 17).
Officers received a call on Saturday from a cottage owner on Crystal Lake reporting a dock and tied-off boat has been removed from the shoreline of their property at around 1:30 a.m.
The dock and boat was then floated across the lake, where the boat was untied and the dock was taken apart and loaded on the back of a utility trailer before being taken away.
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A security camera captured an image of what appears to be a light-coloured SUV or pickup truck with a cap towing a trailer with the dock loaded on it shortly after 6 a.m. on June 17, 2023. (Police-supplied photo)
The value of the stolen dock is estimated at over $47,000. The boat has since been recovered. A local security camera captured an image of what appears to be a light-coloured SUV or pickup truck with a cap towing a trailer with the dock loaded on it shortly after 6 a.m.
Investigators are actively looking for information that may lead to the identification of the suspect or suspects involved in this theft.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Peterborough OPP at 705-742-0401 or the non-emergency line 1-888-310-1122. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can submit a tip to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at stopcrimehere.ca.
The New Canadians Centre's Canadian Multicultural Festival is a celebration of the diverse cultures that make up the country, with each of them bringing unique customs and heritage that contribute to a vibrant community. The free festival runs from June 23 to 30, 2023 in downtown Peterborough, and features dance, music, food, sports, crafts, and discussion. (Photo: New Canadians Centre)
From June 23 to 30, the New Canadians Centre in Peterborough is launching the second Canadian Multicultural Festival in celebration of Canadian Multiculturalism Day on Tuesday, June 27th.
The week-long festival is a celebration of the diverse cultures that make up the country, with each of them bringing unique customs and heritage that contribute to a vibrant community. A non-profit organization, the New Canadians Centre supports more than 1,000 newcomers every year from over 90 countries and speaking more than 60 different languages.
“The cultural landscape in Peterborough is rich and lively,” says Andy Cragg, executive director of the New Canadians Centre. “The festival gives us a wonderful opportunity to bring people together to learn, to share, and to celebrate.”
The Canadian Multicultural Festival kicks off from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, June 23rd with a Family Zumba Party at Quaker Foods City Square on Charlotte Street near Aylmer. Learn from Zumba instructors Victoria, Dianely, Cris, and Ana how to participate in this fitness program involving Latin-inspired dance founded in 2001 by Colombian dancer and choreographer Beto Pérez.
The Canadian Multicultural Festival kicks off with a Family Zumba Party from 5 to 7 p.m. on June 23, 2023 at Quaker Foods City Square in downtown Peterborough led by Zumba instructors Victoria, Dianely, Cris, and Ana. (Photo: Dianely Hernandez Alvarez)
Presented in partnership with the City of Peterborough, this free family-friendly event also offers free face-painting, henna tattoos, giveaways, and more. No registration is required and everyone is welcome to attend. In the case of rain, the party will move indoors to Peterborough Square on George Street at Simcoe.
On Saturday, June 24th from 12 to 7 p.m., head to downtown Peterborough to partake in Flavours of the World Sampling Day, where you can sample international dishes from 10 participating restaurants for free while supplies last.
The restaurants — Bhojan Indian Cuisine and Bar, Brothers Pizza, Curry Mantra, Dirty Burger, La Hacienda, La Mesita, Levantine Grill, Milk and Tea Shop, Naka Japanese, and Poco Burro / Poco Gelato — are taking part in the Multicultural Food Crawl, which is on now for entire the month of June.
Spending $10 or more at any of the participating restaurants earns you a stamp in your Multicultural Passport, which can be picked up at any of the restaurants or at the New Canadians Centre’s office at 221 Romaine Street in downtown Peterborough. Participants who collect six stamps or more will have a chance to win one of three $100 Boro gift cards that can be redeemed at downtown businesses.
Dirty Burger is one of 10 downtown Peterborough restaurants participating in the New Canadians Centre’s 2023 Multicultural Food Crawl during the month of June. For the free sampling day on June 24, Chef Om Patel will be serving up vadas, a potato patty fried in a chickpea batter and served with on chutney. (Photo courtesy of Dirty Burger)
From June 26 to 30, the festival is making it easy to try your hand at one of five activities from around the world with the “Try It” series, facilitated by community experts and newcomers eager to share their cultural traditions. All activities are family friendly and free.
On Monday, June 26th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the New Canadians Centre, you can join the Peterborough Cricket Club to learn about game of cricket, which is one of the most popular sports around the world, especially in the Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, as well as in England and Australia. After learning the basic rules of the game and how to bat, bowl, and field, you can put your newfound skills to the test with a little game among participants. This event is open to adults and children eight years and older, and all equipment will be provided. There is no fee to attend, but advance registration is required at bit.ly/TryIt-Cricket.
On Wednesday, June 28th from 6 to 8 p.m. at the New Canadians Centre, you can learn how how to make Vietnamese coffee, rice paper rolls, Vietnamese pizza, and pandan waffles — a popular street food in Vietnam made with coconut milk and pandan, a tropical plant that gives the waffles their distinctive spring green colour and sweet floral-nutty flavour. All ingredients will be provided. There is no fee to attend, but advance registration is required at bit.ly/TryIt-VietnameseCooking. Registrations are limited to two per family.
On Thursday, June 29th from 1 to 2 p.m. at the YMCA (123 Aylmer St. S.), you can join Anthony Nguyen for a K-pop dance workshop. Korean popular music has become a global phenomenon with its blend of addictive melodies and slick choreography, and Anthony will walk you through the choreography of a popular K-pop song. A second-generation Vietnamese Canadian, Anthony is passionate about learning and teaching K-pop choreography to promote an active lifestyle and to celebrate culture through dance, often posting his covers on TikTok. There is no fee to attend, but advance registration is required at bit.ly/TryIt-KPopDance.
On Friday, June 30th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., you can try your hand at multicultural crafts at the New Canadians Centre as a small group of volunteers shows you how to make Mexican paper flowers, pinwheels, Ukrainian vinok (wreath), folding origami, and more. There is no fee to attend, but advance registration is required at bit.ly/TryIt-MulticulturalCrafts.
Then, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Quaker Foods City Square Peterborough Square, experience an evening of salsa dancing led by Latin Express. First popularized in New York City in the 1960s, salsa is a mixture of Cuban dances, such as mambo, pachanga, and rumba, as well as American dances such as swing and tap. No registration is required and everyone is welcome to attend. In the case of rain, the event will move indoors to Peterborough Square on George Street at Simcoe. Note: due to poor air quality, the event is moving indoors to Peterborough Square (by the escalators).
From 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 27th at the Peterborough Public Library (345 Aylmer St. N.), the New Canadians Centre will be hosting a panel discussion called “Healing and Hope – Reflections on Refugee Experiences in Canada” to mark World Refugee Day on June 20. Moderated by journalist Jim Hendry, the discussion features four panellists exploring the challenges faced by displaced people, how they engage in the healing process, and the role of compassion and care in rebuilding lives.
The Canadian Multicultural Festival’s panel discussion called “Healing and Hope – Reflections on Refugee Experiences in Canada” from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 27, 2023 at the Peterborough Public Library features (left to right, top and bottom) panellists Dr. Madura Sundareswaran, Khadija Warsame, Momin Rahman, and Samar Sallam, with a special performance by poet Samantha Banton and with the discussion moderated by Jim Hendry. (kawarthaNOW collage of supplied photos)
The panellists are family physician Dr. Madura Sundareswaran (who founded the Peterborough Newcomer Health Clinic), Khadija Warsame (who fled war-torn Somalia with her children in 1994), Trent University sociology professor Momin Rahman, and New Canadians Centre case management worker Samar Sallam.
The event, which will also feature a special performance by poet Samantha Banton, is open to all and will provide a safe and inclusive space for learning, reflection, and connection. There’s no cost to attend, but advance registration is required bit.ly/PanelDiscussion-WorldRefugeeDay.
Finally, the Canadian Multicultural Festival features the online “Cultural Fusions Video Series”, which brings six dancers and musicians from different countries together in Peterborough to create unique pieces that showcase their craft and cultures.
South Korean native Dominique Oh performs classic Italian opera, Venezuelan native Rodney Fuentes performs on the cuatro (a four-stringed instrument similar to the ukulele), Steven Penagos (whose family heritage is Colombian) performs three classical pieces on the piano, Indian native Mintu Maria James performs a Bharatnatyam dance (an ancient classical Indian dance from Tamil Nadu), Luba Berzuk (whose family heritage is Ukrainian and Austrian) performs Ukrainian folk music on violin, and Shaoling Wang sings a Chinese opera with the Toronto Dragon Voice Peking Opera Troupe.
VIDEO: “Alaipayuthe Kanna” Bharatanatyam dance performed by Mintu Maria James
The Canadian Multicultural Festival is a “Celebrate Canada” event supported by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage, the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area, the United Way of Peterborough of District, the City of Peterborough, and kawarthaNOW.com.
On Saturday, July 1st, immediately following the Canadian Multicultural Festival, the New Canadians Centre is hosting “Lessons from the Land” for the third year. In previous years, the New Canadians Centre hosted Multicultural Canada Day on July 1st but, after reflecting on the work of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, has decided to use Canada Day as an opportunity to pause and reflect and build bridges towards Reconciliation.
A family-friendly event taking place from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the pavilion at Beavermead Park in Nogojiwanong-Peterborough, “Lessons from the Land” will both celebrate Indigenous culture and knowledge — with music and food, a guided medicine walk, a dance and drum circle, a beading circle, and more — and share stories of Reconciliation. Stay tuned to kawarthaNOW for a story about this important event.
The New Canadians Centre’s Canadian Multicultural Festival, running from June 23 to 30, 2023, celebrates the diverse cultures that make up Nogojiwanong-Peterborough. (Graphic courtesy of New Canadians Centre)
This branded editorial was created in partnership with the New Canadians Centre. If your organization or business is interested in a branded editorial, contact us.
Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for the southern Kawarthas region for the possibility of heavy rain in thunderstorms on Friday afternoon (June 16).
The special weather statement is in effect for southern Peterborough County, southern Kawartha Lakes, and Northumberland County.
Thunderstorms are expected to develop Friday afternoon into the evening.
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These showers and thunderstorms will be slow moving and could produce very localized heavy rainfall in the amounts of 30 to 50 mm if they remain in place over one area.
Heavy downpours can cause flash floods and water pooling on roads. If visibility is reduced while driving, turn on your lights and maintain a safe following distance.
Localized flooding in low-lying areas is possible. Heavy rainfall in combination with other weather factors, such as hail, wind, and lightning, will make outdoor activities unsafe.
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