It’s no coincidence that registration for the 18th annual Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival opened today (March 8) — International Women’s Day.

Experts predict that one in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetimes, and the festival has raised $3.1 million over the past 17 years to help improve breast cancer treatment.

Organizers encourage everyone to ‘Get in the Boat’ (#getintheboat on social media) and register now for the 2018 festival, which takes place on Saturday, June 9th at Del Crary Park, at www.ptbodragonboat.ca.

This year’s event has some new features for participants and visitors. While the luxury ‘Dragon’s Lair’ for the top fundraising team returns, there will also the slightly less luxurious ‘Dragon’s Loft’ and ‘Dragon’s Nest’ for the second and third place fundraising teams.

The minimum age to register has been lowered to 13, so that even more young people and families can take part. There’s also a new ‘Paddler’s Pool’, where people can register online as individuals if they’d like to participate in the festival but don’t have a team.

“The 2018 festival is about even more people having even more fun while raising money for a really important cause,” says festival chair Michelle Thornton. “There’s going to be so much for paddlers and visitors to do between races. We’ve got the new Vendor’s Village partnership with Modern Makers Market featuring local artisans and food vendors, and we’re adding a family-friendly Fun Zone complete with a pop-up skate park, axe-throwing, Zumba and tumbling, face-painting and crafts, and much more.”

For anyone who wants to learn about the event in advance, festival organizers are also hosting an “open house” for Thursday, March 22nd from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Trent University Athletics Centre. Visitors can even join Survivors Abreast team members in the tank and give paddling a try.

Funds raised through this year’s Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival will help the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) Foundation invest in new laboratory automation technology to ensure PRHC’s lab technologists can provide pathologists with the materials they need to make accurate breast cancer diagnoses even sooner.

“Wwe want to make sure that the tests and treatment that can save lives are available right here in our community, at our hospital,” Thornton says “That’s why we’re encouraging everybody to get in the boat with us because, if we keep paddling together, we can continue to have an incredible impact on the lives of those women and men in our region who are facing this terrible disease.”

Lesley Heighway, PRHC Foundation President and CEO, explains that without the lab, there would be no cancer care at PRHC.

“For a cancer patient and their loved ones, two of the hardest things to deal with are waiting and uncertainty,” Heighway says. “Doctors rely on lab results to determine and confirm 100 per cent of cancer diagnoses and treatment decisions. So we’re investing in new laboratory automation technology that supports efficient processing of tissue and cytological samples taken during cancer biopsies and surgeries.”

For the 17th year, Kawartha Credit Union is also returning in 2018 as the festival’s Platinum sponsor, continuing their commitment to the community and the cause.

“We’re passionate about supporting the well-being of the communities we serve,” says Rob Wellstood, CEO of Kawartha Credit Union. “Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival is a wonderful example of the impact we can have when we come together as a community to make life better for our friends and neighbours. Kawartha Credit Union is very proud to continue our support of an event that unites our community in common purpose and spirit year after year.”

Two new registration rates at www.ptbodragonboat.ca allow team captains to take advantage of savings and help raise awareness about the festival: “The First 18” (18 spots only, available until March 18th or until the spots are gone) followed by the “18th Anniversary Rate” (18 spots only, available until March 28th or until spots are gone).

Regular registration continues into the month of May.

Somebody had best tell Kaydance Lane that her role as 2018 Easter Seals Ambassador isn’t a job for life — she’s having just too much fun with it, and melting hearts in the process.

On Thursday (March 8) at Lansdowne Place, the nine year old stole the show as details of this year’s local Easter Seals Telethon were announced. As her mom April watched on proudly, Kaydance, who’s reprising her 2017 Ambassador role, related her summer 2017 five-day experience at Camp Merrywood near Perth, a summer activity oasis operated by Easter Seals for children with physical challenges.

For the record, sailing was Kaydance’s favourite camp activity, leaving her very much excited in anticipation of this summer’s 10-day stay.

It was back in the early 1970s that the Ontario Easter Seal Society — it was known then as the Ontario Society for Crippled Children — held its first fundraising telethon. That event has been an annual tradition since with this year’s local telethon — the theme is ‘Helping Kids Be Kids’ — takes place on Sunday, April 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Cogeco YourTV studios on Goodfellow Road in Peterborough. It will be broadcast live on YourTV and CHEX TV.

According to Easter Seals Ontario Senior Development Officer Coralie Jacobs, the telethon goal of $80,000 is unchanged from last year’s target. That said, the 2017 telethon brought in $113,000.

“When I started six years ago, the telethon goal was $45,000 and we met that goal by the hair of our chinny-chin-chin,” noted Jacobs.

“Peterborough is engaged. We keep people informed. We help them understand what is we’re doing and they continue to embrace what we’re doing, so the goal has continued to grow.”

Jacobs notes the majority of the dollars raised “helps families with mobility-assisted devices, anything that helps children move through the world, literally and physically … wheelchairs, walkers, van lifts, ramps, braces, that sort of thing. Another huge segment sends kids to camp. We have two fully accessible camps the kids can go with their families.”

Returning for a 35th year to the telethon broadcast is Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Stuart Harrison.

“You kind of get drawn in instantly because the stories are essentially the same. It’s about acceptance, it’s about ability not disability … that’s really compelling stuff,” said Harrison, who will be joined this year by local media personalities Graham Hart, Mike Melnik, Teresa Kaszuba, Catherine Hanrahan.

“Kaydance said she’s proud of her disability. I just thought ‘Oh my God, I’ve never heard that before.’ Out of the mouths of small children, right? How could you phrase it any better? That’s what we try to project every year. They’re just kids with physical challenges that we can all help them and their families overcome. That’s what we’re there for.”

On telethon day, interviews with Easter Seals families and sponsors will be held. As well, wheelchair challenges will be issued, corporate donation matches will be sought and video clips of kids enjoying camp will be shown.

During the telethon, donations can be phoned in at 705-874-2121 or 855-239-3972. As well, donations can be made online before, during and after the telethon at www.eastersealstelethon.org/peterborough.

“Peterborough continues to impress me … it steps up to the bar and rises above,” says Jacobs.

“Online is a growing element of fundraising but mostly it’s the individuals who come the day of and encourage people to support them. The phones are very busy. That’s the real deal. We really do count on atrocious weather on April 8 so everyone can stay in, watch a little bit of The Masters (golf tournament) and then watch a little bit of the telethon and give some money. It really does get down to the nitty-gritty of the day and letting people know what we’re up to.”

While complacency isn’t an issue, Jacobs notes that it’s important that the public be reminded every year of the ongoing need.

“We’re engaging people and helping them understand what it is we’re doing, reminding them that we’re helping families in this region. What the money they’re given us is for: that it’s not being wasted on overhead expenses and that sort of thing. Getting them excited and introducing them to new families.

“Last year we met Kaydance. She had never been to camp and she needed equipment. Easter Seals stepped in and helped. She has excellent equipment to meet her needs. She went to camp by herself. I can tell you all day long about what it is we do but I can’t do that anywhere near as good as the kids can.”

To that end, new at this year’s telethon will by the inclusion of “junior reporter” Ty Young. He’ll “turn the tables” on the telethon hosts and interview them.

“I think he’s going to get the phones ringing,” Jacobs says. “He’s got a great story too.”

As part of Thursday’s announcement, Peterborough Mayor Daryl Bennett brought greetings from the City, declaring March as Easter Seals Month.

For more information about Easter Seals’ mandate and its long history, visit www.easterseals.org.

The family of Dr. Judith Buys, the founder of Cornerstone Family Dentistry in Peterborough who died in 2016 after suffering burns to most of her body, has launched a $12-million negligence lawsuit against the manufacturer of an ethanol-fuelled lamp.

“It is the hope of the family of Dr. Judith Buys that this lawsuit will draw attention to the serious and recognized hazard of ethanol-fuelled lamps,” says Toronto critical injury lawyer John McLeish, partner with McLeish Orlando LLP, who is representing the Buys family.

“The manufacturer Brasa Europe GmbH and distributer Brasa Fire Inc. should have known that their product could cause serious harm,” McLeish says.

The statement of claim, filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, alleges that the Brasa companies “designed, manufactured, packaged, and sold an unsafe ethanol-fuelled lamp and open refuelling container,” which “they failed to adequately test” before distribution.

The August 13, 2016 tragedy occurred at a Burnt River cottage, where neighbours Dr. Buys and her husband Dr. James McGorman, an ER doctor in Peterborough, were visiting during a power outage, says the claim.

According to the claim, the lamp was placed on a porch table as a light source. Later, when the flame began to fade, one of the hosts, “after waiting what she thought to be sufficient time,” got the open refuelling container in order to pour ethanol into the lamp.

“Because there was no flame arrester installed on the open refuelling container,” as the host poured the ethanol, “a flash fire started, causing flames and ethanol to jet out of the open refuelling container in the direction of Judith Buys,” the claim states.

The flames and ethanol struck Dr. Buys, a 55-year-old mother of two, “causing her to suffer burn injuries to most of her body,” says the claim, adding the ethanol “continued to burn, causing her to suffer further injuries. She was rushed to hospital, but lived only for approximately two and a half days, before passing away on August 16, 2016.”

“My wife’s death was entirely preventable,” says Dr. McGorman. “We have launched this suit to bring the needed attention to the danger of ethanol-fuelled lamps. It is outrageous that these products are still being sold.”

The Brasa companies “knew or should have known that the flame on the ethanol-fuelled lamp was sometimes invisible or very difficult to see and that some consumers would think the flame was extinguished, when it, in fact, was not,” it is further alleged.

The claim states that representatives of the Brasa companies “should have known that when some consumers could not see a flame on the ethanol-fuelled lamp, these same consumers would attempt to add ethanol from the open refuelling container to the ethanol-fuelled lamp.”

Representatives of the Brasa companies “should have known that any flame visible or invisible in the ethanol-fuelled lamp was an ignition source, and that vapours from the open refuelling container could act like an invisible wick, leading to combustion of the remaining ethanol in the open refuelling container,” alleges the statement of claim.

Notwithstanding this knowledge, the Brasa companies “did not provide barrier protection or a flame arrester on the open refuelling container, to prevent combustion of the ethanol in the open refuelling container, triggered by the flame, visible or invisible, remaining in the ethanol-fuelled lamp,” the claim alleges.

The statement of claim further alleges that the Brasa companies “did not provide any or sufficient warning that the design and manufacture of the ethanol-fuelled lamp and open refuelling container presented a serious and recognized hazard, and proceeded to package and deliver both the ethanol-fuelled lamp and open refuelling container” for distribution throughout North America.

“This suit is a chance to prevent other tragedies,” McLeish says.

Ever spring, students in Fleming College’s Museum Management and Curatorship program create an exhibit at the Peterborough Museum & Archives (PMA).

This year’s exhibit will be called “If the Shoe Fits: Fashion, Function, Footwear” and the 29 students in the program have launched a modest crowdfunding campaign so they can enhance the exhibit.

While the students receive a designated budget to create the exhibit, they are seeking $500 in additional funding to create a large map to display key footwear-related places in Peterborough. They also hope to use the funding for other elements of the exhibit, including interactive components, a kid’s space, and the exhibit opening.

“This is our first exhibit as Museum Professionals and we want to make it one of the best student-made exhibits that the PMA has ever seen,” the students write on their Indiegogo page.

The Peterborough Museum & Archives is the only museum in Canada that also serves as a college campus. The museum hosts the Museum Management and Curatorship program — the only one-year postgraduate certificate program offered at the college level in Canada — and offers students an intensive immersion experience with applied training for careers in the museum, gallery, or heritage sectors.

Last year, students in the program created an exhibit called “Ebb and Flow: The Stories of a River City”. This year’s exhibit opens on Thursday, April 26th.

If you would like to support the students and their exhibit, visit www.indiegogo.com/projects/if-the-shoe-fits-fashion-function-footwear-community-education/. As of the date of this story, the students have raised $325 of their $500 goal.