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Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

Community spirit in Blenheim, saving the Renaissance Art Gallery and a word of encouragement for our elected officials

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

I had a great night this past Saturday evening when our new blues band rocked the Blenheim Golf Course, along with four other bands. Wow! What a line-up of local talent! And all of the bands were local outfits or had a local flavour which made it really special. The blues band I'm playing with right now is sort of a Chatham-Kent affair – we have members from Wallaceburg, Ridgetown, Blenheim, Chatham and Ounga – quite a line-up! But you know more than the music, there was something that really struck me during the evening and that was a conversation with the guitar player in our band, Alex Polovick, who lives in Blenheim and operates a couple of businesses there. I listened intently as an enthusiastic Alex told me about the amount of spirit the town of Blenheim has and how it really rallies around for a good cause or even just a good party. Alex said other communities often make fun of Blenheim – call it Blemish and such – but that there is no better place to live. The reason I mention this is because I think this is the way we all feel about our home communities. I know the folks in Wallaceburg, where I've lived for the past 21 years, are absolutely convinced that surrounding communities all look down their noses at us. Perhaps there's a similar feeling in Ridgetown and Tilbury. And what I don't think people understand is that community spirit is what makes each of our communities tick – it's what makes each of us unique within Chatham-Kent. Still, I think we need to retain that spirit but work together as the community of Chatham-Kent if we want to be noticed in the big, wide world. In the new global economy, our tiny communities like Ridgetown, Blenheim, Wallaceburg and even Chatham are totally overwhelmed by the larger centres that surround us – London, Windsor, Sarnia-Lambton. And while I think there are many things about amalgamation that were poorly planned and are still not done very well, I do think we need to push Chatham-Kent as a single economic unit – that way we have a chance of being noticed and actually attracting some new business or immigrants to our area. Wow! What a long rant!

Important meeting in Ridgetown on Wednesday, August 2 at the Renaissance Art Gallery. If sufficient support isn't forthcoming, the Gallery will be gone – and we're talking about the only cooperatively operated art gallery in Chatham-Kent. What a loss for the local arts community! I know the Gallery has had problems but new manager, Mary Morris, is trying to sort things out and get them working again. But she needs the help of every artist in the community to make it happen. The Renaissance Art Gallery belongs to every artist in Chatham-Kent and I'm afraid it's just going to slip away on us. If you can't be at the meeting, get in touch with Mary and let her know you're interested in helping out – buy a membership. See what you can do to help. Get involved! This is important stuff.

You know, I might as well continue with this Chatham-Kent theme this week. Part of the problem we have in Chatham-Kent is that most of our elected representatives are invisible outside their own wards – that's a problem because they're voting on issues that affect the whole municipality. In fact, when this amalgamation thing came down the pipe, everyone, everywhere suggested there would be meetings in outlying areas and the rural parts of Chatham-Kent wold be made to feel as if they were part of the larger whole community. That simply hasn't happened. I travel this community from end to end probably more than anyone else – I talk to people in every community and I've been doing it for four years. Here's the story – people in the rural areas resent Chatham because it seems to get everything and is the centre of the universe. People in Chatham generally ignore the rest of the community, glancing around only when they're driving to London or Windsor. Our elected officials (who get paid a whack of money for doing their jobs) need to get off their butts and explore the entire community – they need to know how people in wards other than their own are feeling about things. The only councillor I've seen in every ward and at nearly every major event in Chatham-Kent is Wallaceburg's Chip Gordon. How about some council meetings in other areas besides the "Chatham' Civic Centre? We've got a great facility in Wallaceburg and I'm sure there are other great spots around Chatham-Kent. And I know it's a lot of extra work to move council around from place to place, but it just might make the rest of us feel like we're in the loop for a change. Time to start working together – and the example for that should be set at the top – and not just the mayor! Remember, you read it here first!

Well, there are a few rants for you this week. Hope you're having a good week and have figured out some way to beat the heat – think January! And remember......."Hew to the line; let the chips fall where they may."



John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.