What's Up Bracebridge Gravenhurst June 2010 - Whatsupmuskoka ...

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Train cars equipped with racks will transport bicycles to Muskoka.Bike Train stops in MuskokaBy James WatermanThe Bike Train is coming to Muskokathis summer. During one weekend in lateAugust and a second weekend in September,the Ontario Northland trainfrom Toronto to North Bay will be makingits usual stops in Bracebridge andHuntsville, but on these occasions it willbe equipped with a baggage car fittedwith bike racks and cyclists will be disembarkingat those stations to exploreMuskoka on two wheels.This is just the latest addition to a BikeTrain Initiative program that began inthe summer of 2007 after its creator, avidcyclist Justin Lafontaine, first approachedVIA Rail Canada about including bikeracks in the baggage cars of their passengertrains running from Toronto to Niagaraand now includes trips to North Bayand Windsor.“We were up a couple weeks agochecking out some of the routes,” saysPeter Lipscombe, project manager withthe Bike Train Initiative, discussingpreparations for its inaugural visit to theregion. “There’s some great spots inMuskoka.”Lipscombe is still working with localcyclists and bicycle shops to identify thekey routes that they will recommend tothe Bike Train passengers, but anticipatesthey will highlight attractionssuch as High Falls, the newly renovatedMuskoka Wharf in Gravenhurst, andchallenging rides along the shores ofMuskoka’s lakes.“I think the attraction for the BikeTrain passengers is really going to be theMuskoka scenery and the waterfrontsand some of the historic, older centres ofthe towns,” he adds.“When these cyclists are coming upour way from Toronto,” says MichealLawley of Muskoka Tourism, a key contactpoint between the district and theBike Train Initiative, “we would like toengage local cycle clubs in a meet andgreet, so that we could then, as a largergroup, do some touring throughoutMuskoka.”The focus of the project is promotingcycle tourism and sustainabletransportation.“This Bike Train is a cool concept inthat it combines two of the mostsustainable modes of transportation,”says Lipscombe, noting that rail travelproduces approximately 50 per cent lesscarbon emissions per passenger thantravelling by car.Lawley agrees with Lipscombe’s assessmentof the environmental benefits ofthe project.“When we use mass transportation tomove people from Toronto to Muskoka,we’re reducing carbon footprints, asopposed to having individual travellersarrive by car,” he says,Lawley also feels the Bike Train is aperfect fit in terms of emphasizing ahealthy lifestyle and Muskoka’s status as adestination for those seeking physicalactivity. He suggests the popularity of theproject could also influence the district’sactive transportation committee when itconsiders new initiatives to go along withits Share the Road sign program.“We’re working with the communitiesto look at how we can improve the destinationfor cycling,” says Lipscombe.The Bike Train’s Toronto to Niagararoute is proof that the project can have apositive impact along those lines. Thissummer GO Transit is offering servicefrom Toronto to Niagara every weekend,complete with newly designed carsequipped with bike racks.“The Bike Train isn’t necessarily goingto be a project that happens indefinitely,”Lipscombe says. “It’s more like a kind ofseed to show the business case for cycletourism and to promote intermodaltransportation.”8 June 2010 www.whatsupmuskoka.com
Author shares tale of torture in TehranBy Maria Duncalf-BarberAudience members at the Rene M.Caisse Memorial Theatre in Bracebridgelistened in stunned silence as MarinaNemat shared electric moments of herlife from her best selling memoir Prisonerof Tehran during a visit on May 28.The Canadian Federation of UniversityWomen – Muskoka invited Nemat toits 12th Annual Author’s Night. Proceedsfrom the evening supported the foundation’scharitable trust, which providesscholarships and bursaries to students atMuskoka’s high schools, Georgian Collegeand Nipissing University.Working without notes, Nemat toldthe spellbound audience, “I will speakfrom my heart.”Marina Nemat was born in 1965 inTehran, Iran and was raised in a RussianOrthodox Christian family. Her fatherworked as a dance teacher, her mother ahairdresser.She was a high school student whenthe secularizing monarchy of MohammadReza Pahlavi was overthrown byAyatollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution.Marina opposed the oppressivepolicies of the new Islamic government,attended demonstrations and wrote antirevolutionaryarticles in a student newspaper.On January 15, 1982, at age 16 shewas arrested and imprisoned for herMarina Nemat spoke at the Rene M. Caisse Memorial Theatre on May 28.views against the revolution. She was torturedin the notorious Evin prison, wellknown for atrocities against politicalinmates.She was sentenced to death, but survivedbecause one of the guards, AliMoosavi, whose family was connected tothe Khomeini regime, pleaded for herlife. The price was Nemat would have tomarry him after being forced to convertto Islam. Later a rival faction of prisonguards assassinated him. After two years,two months and 12 days of imprisonment,Moosavi’s family secured herrelease.In 1985, she secretly married AndreNemat, her teenage love and an electricalengineer. They married in a ChristianPhotograph: Courtesy of Marina Nematchurch and escaped to Canada in 1991and had two sons together. She worked atthe Aurora franchise of the Swiss Chaletrestaurant chain, and wrote her life storyof survival in 78,000 words.In 2005, she was a finalist in the CBCLiterary Awards in the creative non-fictioncategory. The following year she produceda documentary, Walls like Snakes,for CBC Radio.Nemat’s book has been published in23 countries, is an international bestsellerand has been nominated for severalawards.In 2007 Nemat received the inauguralHuman Dignity Award from the EuropeanParliament, and the Grinzane BookAward in Italy in 2008. The Human DignityPrize celebrates organizations andindividuals working for a world free fromintolerance and social injustice, a worldwhere fundamental human rights arerespected. The committee said Nematwas chosen “because of her strength ofcharacter despite her life experiences.”During a question and answer periodshe said she is a devout Catholic. Despitedeath threats on her life she still speaksout about oppression. She has done over5,000 interviews. She speaks her truthknowing atrocities are still occurring toprisoners in Iran. She wants to be one ofthe voices that help make change bybringing justice in peacefully.Bracebridge hasa wide variety ofbusinesses thatcan cater to yourdaily needs.visit: www.theHeartofMuskoka.comfor a full list of shopping and dining locationswww.whatsupmuskoka.com June 2010 9
Page 1 and 2: WHAT’S UPJune 2010MUSKOKA’S NEW
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Page 5 and 6: Security rolls into HuntsvillePhoto
Page 7: Muskoka books initiative launchedBy
Page 11 and 12: Breakfast Television draws hundreds
Page 13 and 14: Sculpture connects past and present
Page 15 and 16: Enjoyed a busy month of literary ev
Page 17 and 18: Advertising FeatureGord Smith, Jami
Page 19 and 20: Advertising FeatureDuncan Anderson,
Page 21 and 22: The Muskoka Awards are an opportuni
Page 23 and 24: Advertising FeatureIt’s about tre
Page 25 and 26: Bala Habitat home well underwayArou
Page 27 and 28: SUN VOLTSS UNLIMIT- TMSolar and Win
Page 29 and 30: RunningacrossMuskokaCharmaine Broug
Page 31 and 32: Blind athletes tackle triathlonBy A
Page 33 and 34: Art challenge revisits the pastBy S
Page 35 and 36: WHAT’S UP MUSKOKASOCIAL SCENE312P
Page 37 and 38: YOUR MUSKOKA GROWERSSpecializing in
Page 39 and 40: Define Your Space with...Superior C

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