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Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

Valdy, Shae-Lynn, fall fashions and our diverse community........

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Well, there was a bit of magic here in Wallaceburg Saturday evening when we hosted Canadian folksinging legend Valdy for a show at the Jeanne Gordon Theatre. This was, of course, another edition of the Glass Onion Folk Club, which is sponsored by the Wallaceburg and District Council for the Arts. And when I talk about magic, I'm talking about standing at the back of our little theatre in Wallaceburg and just soaking up the ambience that fills the room – it is simply a wonderful, warm feeling and I'm thrilled each time it happens. I am currently working on a sinister plan to create a Chatham-Kent wide Arts Council with membership from across the community. Over the past four years, while I've been travelling around Chatham-Kent, I've been meeting plenty of great community-minded people. I want us to work together to improve cultural life in Chatham-Kent. We have groups like the Two Creeks Association, the Boomtown Players, the Ridge Players, Blenheim Beautification Committee, Arts Enhancement Association and just a plethora of others – all out there working for the good of the community. We just need to work together a little better. I'm working on it!

And speaking of magic, how about the mood created inside Thames Campus Arena on Sunday for the Shae-Lynn Bourne and Friends Passion on Ice show. I was lucky enough to watch most of the 6:00 p.m. show and, wow, what a great event. This was a premier event in our community and I'm extremely proud of our own ice dancing champion, Shae Lyn. I know she doesn't need my approval, but I'm so thrilled that she has come home to make such a positive difference in her community. You could tell just watching her offering her thanks at the end of the show on Sunday how she feels about her hometown. I'd just like to publicly thank her for taking the time to care and to put together such a wonderful show. Brian Orser was amazing but all of the skaters, even our local skaters, did a tremendous job and you could tell by the audience reaction that people were really enjoying it. Great job by everyone involved!

And while I'm passing out kudos this week, another great event last week saw the Captiol Theatre and the Arts Enhancement Association join forces to present a fall fashion event. It was good to see the folks from the Capitol back out in the community and nice to see the AEA also making is presence felt in the community. This is exactly the type of partnership that can really work and help make some exciting things happen.

I must say again, also, what a great job the Wallaceburg Trails Association are doing up in this area. They've opened two new sections of trail in the last week and this is really important stuff. I see the whole trails initiative being part of the overall tourism and recreation thing we should be pushing in Chatham-Kent – trying to bring valuable tourist dollars to our community. It's tough sledding at the best of times but Chatham-Kent has all the tools to be a great tourist destination. I know I harp on it, but we've got so much diversity going for us here. We have great natural attractions like Mitchell's Bay, Rondeau Park, we've got great marinas, the docks in Wheatley – great stuff like Uncle Tom's and Buxton and the soon to be Glasshouse Gallery in Wallaceburg. We've got great golf, great boating and great natural areas. This is the place to be – that's what we've got to start telling people. I'm doing it here – how about you?

Now there's an upbeat column for you. I thought my farming friends might need that – harvest isn't going well – we need the rain to stop for a few weeks so the farming community can get on with its work.

Out of time for another week – thanks for tuning into cktimes.ca, Chatham-Kent's good news on the net. Take care 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.