The Peterborough community is mourning well-known local businessman and dedicated volunteer Carl Oake, who passed away Thursday (January 2) at the age of 79.

News of Oake’s passing comes a few days before the media launch for the 39th annual Carl Oake Rotary Swim, which he founded in 1987. The annual swimathon, which takes place on February 28, has raised more than $1.4 million to support Easter Seals Ontario and local Rotary projects, including Camp Kawartha, Habitat for Humanity, the Rotary Greenway Trail, and community food programs.

Oake originally did all the swimming himself — 120 laps — before the event was expanded in the early 1990s to include teams, many dressed in wacky outfits. He continued to participate in every swimathon until 2016, when he was unable to for the first time because of hernia surgery. He last swam in the event in 2017.

Along with his annual swim, Oake was well known in the community for his lifelong career in real estate, which he began in Peterborough as a sales representative in 1968. After five successful years in sales, he and fellow agent Bernie Wannamaker opened their first real estate brokerage, Oake Wannamaker Limited, on Water Street.

In 1978, Oake established Century 21 Carl Oake Realty Ltd. and, with partner Robert Howe, purchased Century 21 Cooper Crowley Realty Ltd. in 1981. In 1999, Century 21 Carl Oake Realty Ltd. and Century 21 Gray-Munro Realty Inc. merged to form Century 21 United Realty Inc. Brokerage.

In 2016, Oake announced his plans to gradually retire and transition the business to his oldest daughter, Vanessa Oake Hogan, who had been working at the company as a sales representative for over three years.

At that time, Oake also announced Vanessa and his other two daughters, Renee and Lesley, would be taking over the reins of the swimathon along with other volunteers. After his retirement, Oake focused on the family Christmas tree farm and on his golf game.

Oake has been president of the Peterborough Real Estate Board and the Men’s Sales and Advertising Club, director of the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, the YMCA, and the Peterborough Golf and Country Club, and was on the strategic planning committee for the Peterborough Regional Health Centre.

Oake, who joined the Rotary Club of Peterborough in 1983, was named a Paul Harris Fellow, one of Rotary’s highest honours.

In 2002, the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce selected Oake as its Business Citizen of the Year. In 2014, he was inducted into the Peterborough Pathway of Fame and, in 2016, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for volunteerism at the Peterborough Civic Awards. In 2018, he was inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame. Oake has also been presented with the Easter Seals Helping Hand Award.

With the support of Oake’s family, the already planned media launch for the 39th annual Carl Oake Rotary Swim will proceed on Monday (January 6). Stay tuned to kawarthaNOW for our coverage of the event.

A celebration of life service will be held at noon on Sunday, January 12th at Highland Park Funeral Centre in Peterborough, with a reception to follow.

In Oake’s memory, his family requests that donations can be made to the Carl Oake Rotary Swim at www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/2025-carl-oake-rotary-swim/ or by dropping cheques off to Century 21 United Realty at 387 George St. South. Donations to Peterborough Regional Health Centre and Hospice Peterborough would also be appreciated. Online condolences can be made at www.highlandparkfuneralcentre.com/obituary/Carl-Oake.

This story has been updated with information about donations in Oake’s memory and a link to his official obituary.

The Peterborough Field Naturalists (PFN) is celebrating its 85th anniversary in 2025, and will be kicking off the year-long celebration with a meeting at The Canadian Canoe Museum on Thursday (January 9).

Open to PFN members only, the meeting will feature exhibits from the club’s archives, a slideshow of club activities, a presentation from The Canadian Canoe Museum’s exhibits project coordinator MaryJane Proulx, and special guest Janet McCue, an Elder from Curve Lake First Nation Elder and lead vocalist and drummer of the Wshkiigamong Women’s Hand Drum Group.

“We are proud of the role the Peterborough Field Naturalists have played in fostering a love of nature over the past 85 years,” says PFN president Sue Paradisis in a media release. “Looking to the future, we hope to instill in our members and the broader community, the fundamental importance and value of the natural environment.”

The origins of PFN go back to the mid-1930s, when a group of Peterborough-area nature enthusiasts began hosting field outings with members of the provincial Federation of Ontario Naturalists (now Ontario Nature). Although the local group was neither an organized club nor officially associated with the provincial group, the field outings continued to be held every year.

Follow the fifth such outing on May 18, 1940, the local group met in the Burleigh Falls home of Gordon Fraser, who had earlier that year been elected as MP for what was then Peterborough West riding.

At that meeting, a new organization called the Peterborough Nature Club was founded, with 32 adult members and four junior members and a membership fee of $1.

Now a volunteer-run registered charity supported by membership fees and donations, PFN has remained dedicated to fostering a deeper connection to nature for the past 85 years.

In the late 1940s, the club began publishing a bulletin which was renamed “The Orchid” in 1956 and is currently published nine times a year. Edited by club member Kathryn Sheridan and featuring 50 contributors each year, The Orchid features articles documenting the natural history of the region, trip reports, upcoming events, and numerous photographs submitted by members. Records of local bird sightings in “The Orchid Diary” are also a regular feature of each edition.

PFN members are also regularly involved in annual citizen science initiatives including the Christmas Bird Count, the Petroglyphs Butterfly Count and, more recently, the Peterborough City Nature Challenge. In the early 1990s, PFN erected three bird feeders along the trails in GreenUP’s Ecology Park near Beavermead Park. Each year from November to March, volunteers fill the feeders with black oil sunflower seeds to attract a variety of bird species for the enjoyment of visitors to Ecology Park.

Although birdwatching is the main interest of many of its members, the club also offers other activities and events related to nature, as well as the Junior Field Naturalists group which is geared for children and youth ages 5 to 12.

An annual membership in PFN costs $40 for families, $30 for adults, or $15 for students. For more information or to join, visit peterboroughnature.org.

PFN will be announcing additional events planned throughout 2025 to mark the club’s 85th anniversary.

At its first meeting of the new year, Peterborough city council will be asked to consider a staff report seeking approval to expand the modular bridge housing community at Wolfe Street by up to 16 more cabins, if the city is successful in applying for two newly announced provincial programs intended to address homelessness and expand housing capacity.

The report from community services commissioner Sheldon Laidman will be presented to council meeting as general committee at 6 p.m. on Monday (January 6), and will be followed by a special city council meeting to provide final approval of the decision should general committee endorse the report.

The staff report and the special council meeting come after city staff received information on December 13 from the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing about two newly announced funding programs — the Encampment Response Initiative and the Last Mile Funding Program — which have business case submission deadlines of January 3 and January 10 respectively.

Given the tight deadline for the business case submissions, city staff will be submitting a business case for the Encampment Response Initiative on January 3 and, if council approves the staff report, will submit a second business case for the Last Mile Funding Program on January 10. If council does not approve the staff report, city staff will inform the ministry to withdraw the Encampment Response initiative application and will not proceed with the business case for the Last Mile Funding Program.

The two new programs followed Premier Doug Ford’s announcement on December 12 that the Ontario government was introducing a suite of measures to help municipalities “address and dismantle” homeless encampments around the province, including steep fines for people who use drugs in public spaces. As part of the announcement, Ford announced the province would be investing $75.5 million to further support homelessness prevention and provide people living in encampments with access to reasonable alternative accommodation.

According to the staff report, the Encampment Response Initiative will provide municipalities with funding to expand shelter capacity and develop temporary accommodations for people living in encampments. Eligible uses of the funding include constructing temporary structures such as tiny cabins, covering operational costs for shelters, and remediating encampment sites.

The Last Mile Funding Program will accelerate the completion of near-ready affordable housing projects, with a priority on projects that demonstrate value for money and align with the Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative (COCHI) guidelines. To qualify, projects must be commitment and shovel-ready with construction to begin within 120 days of the signing of the agreement.

On September 16, city staff had presented a report to general committee that, in part, had requested that up to $1.12 million be drawn from the city’s social services reserve to expand the modular bridge housing community by up to 16 more cabins.

While general committee approved several elements of the report, including that the modular bridge housing community be extended past its original November 2025 timeframe and remain at the Wolfe Street location, council deferred a decision on spending additional funds to expand the site.

Given the potential of funding under the two new provincial programs, city staff are asking council to reconsider its earlier decision to defer expanding the modular bridge housing community and provide approval to proceed if the additional provincial funding is secured.

Each business case submitted to the province will include a request for the funding to install and set up up to 16 modular housing units at Wolfe Street, with the business case for Encampment Response Initiative also including costs related to the cleanup of encampments and transportation for people leaving encampments. The total funding request to the province will be $1,343,450, which must be used by March 31.

The staff report notes that the additional funding “comes with enhanced reporting and accountability requirements,” including municipalities demonstrating how the funds have been used to meet provincial objectives.

“The City of Peterborough’s participation in the Encampment Response Initiative and the Last Mile Funding Program represents an opportunity to address homelessness and expedite affordable housing projects,” the staff report states. “These programs align with provincial priorities to provide safe, stable housing and providing alternative options for individuals who are in encampments.”

“By leveraging targeted funding for temporary accommodations, site remediation, and affordable housing options, such as the modular housing units at 210 Wolfe Street, the city can address urgent needs and support long-term solutions. With these proactive business case submissions and council’s approval to pursue this funding, the city demonstrates its commitment to achieving sustainable outcomes for residents experiencing homelessness.”

Almost 15 months after losing its home at Morrow Park and then failing to meet the requirements for a $500,000 buy-out payment from the City of Peterborough, the Peterborough Agricultural Society will be holding a meeting early in the new year that will determine whether the 180-year-old organization will continue.

At its annual general meeting that takes place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 15 at the Peterborough Legion, the society will be seeking new volunteers to join its board of directors.

According to a media release, the current board has announced its decision to step down at the end of the current term and, without new board members, the society will begin the process of permanently ceasing operations.

“This is a critical moment for the Peterborough Agricultural Society,” says general manager Louise Dobbin in the release. “The current board has faced numerous challenges, and we are calling on the community to rally behind us. Without enough committed individuals to lead, the organization cannot continue, and we risk losing this historic society for good.”

The board is seeking volunteers with skills in governance, finance, strategic planning, event management, communications, and agriculture to help guide the organization forward. Board members must reside within the city or county of Peterborough and commit to attending 10 meetings per year.

Those interested in volunteering can email Louise Dobbin at generalmanager@peterboroughag.ca.

Founded in 1844, the Peterborough Agricultural Society ran the four-day Peterborough Exhibition at the 27-acre Morrow Park property annually from 1845 until 2019. In 1938, the Morrow family gifted the Morrow Park property to the City of Peterborough, with a condition of the Morrow Trust that the property remain available for the use of the society, which was reaffirmed in the Peterborough Act of 1984.

In 2011, the society and the city began negotiating the future of Morrow Park, with the society insisting the park should always be available for the August Peterborough Exhibition and the city seeking the ability to develop the park, which was unused by the society for most of the year. In 2015, the city and the society reached an interim agreement that would allow the city to develop 60 per cent of Morrow Park for “parks and recreation purposes” as per the Morrow Trust, with 40 per cent of the park remaining available for the society’s use.

In 2017, the city and the society reached a seven-year agreement that would allow for the gradual redevelopment in Morrow Park, with the city agreeing to build two new horse barns, storage space, office space, and public washrooms for the society’s use at an estimated cost of $7 million. The agreement also included a buy-out clause where, if the city decided to end the agreement, it would provide the society with a $500,000 payment to assist with relocation.

In 2021, the city approved the construction of the new $62-million sports complex in Morrow Park. The society, which had already cancelled the Peterborough Exhibition in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, cancelled it for a third time in 2022 due to a dispute with the city about the portion of Morrow Park that would be available for the society’s use as per the 2017 agreement.

In 2023, the city invoked its buy-out clause in its agreement with the society, meaning the society needed to find a new home.

According to a story by Mike Davies in the Peterborough Examiner, the society later reached a five-year memorandum of understanding with Trent University to use its agricultural property as the society’s new home. To receive the $500,000 buy-out payment from the city, the society was required to provide the city with documentation from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs that it still met the requirements of an agricultural society in good standing, and also to demonstrate to the city that it had purchased or leased another location.

Not only did the society miss the deadline to provide the city with the required documentation by three days, the Examiner story states, but the city did not consider the memorandum of understanding with Trent University as meeting the requirements for the buy-out clause, and advised the society it would not be providing the $500,000 payment.