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Helping others one kilometre at a time
Around Lake of Bays
By Judy Vanclieaf
Thanks to G8
f u n d i n g ,
Baysville’s facelift
should soon be
completed.
Along with the
new additions of
the public washrooms
and the
band shelter, new
street signs have
appeared. The old green finger signs
have been replaced with beautiful red
heritage street signs. It’s a stunning
addition, I must add.
The Baysville Friends of the Library
will be holding a Hawaiian Luau on
Saturday, May 22 at the Baysville
Arena. Along with dinner catered by
Tall Trees in Huntsville, there will be a
silent auction to help raise funds for
the Friends. Roger Abbott from the
popular TV show, the Royal Canadian
Air Farce will be the Master of Ceremonies
for this spectacular evening.
Over one hundred people came out
in support of the Baysville Autumn
Leaves “Drop in for Tea” which was
held in memory of Shirley Ellis, a dedicated
volunteer for the Canadian
Cancer Society. It was a huge success
bringing in over $2500. The Autumn
Leaves group would like to thank
everyone for their support.
Across the lake, the Dwight Friends
of the Library held their second annual
archery tournament on Sunday,
May 2, which was hosted by the Logging
Chain Lodge in Dwight. Last
year 80 people came out to participate
in the tournament. With three D targets
located throughout lanes in the
woods there were archery experts
available for those who needed assistance
with the arrow and bow choices.
The event was open to all ages and
abilities.
On May 1, Sherry Welsh from Scotland,
Ontario and her dog Scruffy,
were escorted through Dorset by the
Dorset Fire Department and the Corrections
Canada Beaver Creek Pipe
and Drum Band as she set out on her
600-kilometre walk from Lions Camp
Dorset to the Parliament buildings in
Ottawa. The walk will take her 37
days to complete.
Sherry is walking to raise money for
the Lions Camp Dorset, a resort that
caters to people wtih kidney disease.
Sherry’s late sister Karen suffered from
kidney disease and needed dialysis on a
regular basis. Thanks to the Lions
Camp Dorset, Karen, her husband and
two daughters were able to get away
from their everyday stresses and enjoy a
vacation together while Karen received
the treatment she needed. The disease
ultimately took her life 10 years ago.
Over the last two years, Sherry has
walked over 1,000 kilometres and has
raised $70,000 for Lions Camp
Dorset. For approximately 13 weeks
each summer, the camp is home to a
full medical staff and dialysis
equipment is on location.
The camp is especially in need
of money this year, as it will have to
replace 20 new dialysis machines
in the coming years. Each machine
can cost up to $25,000. The camp
has been in operation for 31 years and
maintenance on the buildings and
the pool is required. There is also a
wish list. If anyone would like
to donate materials, they are in need
of electric smoke detectors, new
pots and pans, new fleece blankets,
cleaning supplies etc. For a complete
list of items needed, or for
information on how to donate to
Karen’s Quest, visit Lions Camp
Dorset’s website www:// lionscampdorset.on.ca/wishlist.html
If you know of any happenings
going on in or around the villages of
Dwight, Dorset or Baysville,
call me at 705-767-1080 or e-mail
suite@surenet.net.
More than just tourism
The G8 Summit in Huntsville is
still more than a month away, but
Muskoka is already making a name
for itself on the world map during the
lead up to the event.
Sanjeev Chowdhury, director general
of the Summits Management
Office, was a guest speaker at the
Muskoka Tourism annual general
meeting on April 28.
The animated Chowdhury walked
around Deerhurst Resort’s Tom
Thomson Room as he provided information
and answered questions from
the floor. He touched on promoting
the region, upcoming events and the
success of various G8 related initiatives.
“Our view is that Muskoka is a lot
more than just tourism,” says Chowdhury.
“I always promote the fact that
there is an investment angle, a business
angle to this region as well . . .
We’d be damned fools if we didn’t
realize that tourism is important to
this region, but there is a lot more, in
my view, to Muskoka than just
tourism.”
Chowdhury updated the audience
on the Muskoka Corridor, which is
set to be part of the International
Media Centre in Toronto.
“Since we could not bring all 2,000
media members up here, we decided
to bring Muskoka to them,” says
Chowdhury. “
A 30,000-40,000 square foot structure
called the Invest In Canada Alley
is being built by Lord Cultural
Resources, which designed the
extremely popular Ontario House at
the Winter Olympics. The Muskoka
Corridor portion of the alley will be
roughly 10,000 square feet.
“People don’t want to be handed
out pamphlets anymore,” says
Chowdhury. “People want an experience.
They want to walk into somewhere
and be told a story.”
The hope is to continue to promote
our region and nation on a large-scale
to the media, much like the January
visit by the handful of international
reporters.
“Sixteen international articles and
pieces were done from the trip in January,
including one on the BBC,” says
Chowdhury, who mentioned an
upcoming visit from 23 more international
media on the Victoria Day
weekend.
Following the media visit, potential
clients from the U.S. will be visiting
Deerhurst Resort from June 6-8 to get
a behind the scenes look at how they
prepare for a big event.
“These are big players from the
United States,” says Chowdhury. “We
are going to expose these top convention
planners to this region.”
So far, so good in the lead-up to the
G8 Leader’s Summit and let’s hope
the good times keep on coming.
The continued promotion of
Muskoka as a world-class destination
will remain a top priority for Chowdhury.
“Every time we talk about (the
region) we focus on tourism and
investment,” he says.
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