 By Pepper Parr
April 10th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The public gets to see what the newly formed Arts and Cultural Council of Burlington (ACCOB) wants to look like and what they would like to achieve.
The Board of the organization announced that the organization will be formally launched at a free public event at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday April 18th, 2017 at 5:30pm.
The Arts and Culture Council is a private initiative formed by the arts community; it has been a long time in development. In 2013 Trevor Copp appeared before city council saying he wanted to be able to work in the city he lived in. Council agreed with him – and that was when the ball began to roll.
 The cultural community wanted to be in on the ground floor of any decision making – they made their voices heard – then waited to see if city council will fund culture in a meaningful way. That was in 2013. Sometime after that a number of Burlington artists came together to form the Arts and Culture Collective of Burlington (ACCOB), in an effort to provide support for the many artists and artistic organizations that call Burlington home. This first ACCOB grew to include over 600 members on its Facebook page.
It became clear to the group that a more formal organization should be created; that resulted in the creation of a not-for-profit corporation.
 Robert Missen with his Hall of Fame award, Former Performing Arts Centre president Suzanne Haines on the left and PAC chair Ilene Elkaim on the right. Robert Missen, the 2016 recipient of the Performing Arts Centre Hall of Fame award, said ACCOB joins the community of arts councils that has existed across Canada for many years. “The fact that it has taken some time to make this happen has meant that our Council is unique in Canada in representing the concerns of the various multicultural communities in our city.”
“ACCOB invites all artists and all Burlingtonians that are passionate about arts and culture to gather in the Lobby of the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday April 18. Representatives of the ACCOB Board of Directors will provide a brief introduction to the organization and it’s Board. They will outline some of the initiatives they plan to undertake over the next few years, services they plan to provide to the city’s artists and artistic and cultural organizations, and benefits that will accrue to members of the organization. Attendees will be encouraged to become members of the organization.” No mention was made of any membership fee.
The occasion will include brief performances featuring several city performers. These include singer-songwriter Andy Griffiths, violin prodigy Yoanna Jang and the children’s choir Enchorus, conducted by Catherine Richardson. Hors d-oeuvres will be served, catered by Ampersand, and there will be a cash bar.
BURLINGTON PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE LOBBY; TUESDAY APRIL 18TH, 2018 5:30-7:00pm
With decent wine swilled to augment the swallowing of those hors d-oeuvres – then what?
 City Culture manager Angela Papariza chats up Trevor Copp during the unveiling of the Spiral Stella outside the Performing Arts Centre. Part of the mandate will be to influence city council and where it puts the several million dollars that go into the operation of the Art Gallery, the Performing Arts Centre and the museums along with the money being pumped into public art.
Chances of getting new money into the city’s budget might be a bit of a stretch – but there is an election in 2018 and that usually tends to loosen the purse strings.
 The Artists Collective was very clear – they wanted the Parks. It has taken more than four years to get to the point where the arts community has its own formal organization – now they have to fund it. Arts and culture have always had a hard time finding place where real roots can be put down. Thy were always stuffed into Parks and Recreation where things just didn’t work out. Splash pads and swimming pools dominated.
Former city manager Jeff Fielding found a way to keep the cultural manager on staff and former General Manager Scott Stewart had that role reporting to a General Manager.
When Mary Lou Tanner was made the Director of Planning she brought Culture into her department where it has at least been kept alive.
Quite how the Manager of Culture will fit into ACCOB is something that only time will tell – they will want funding the Culture manager will want to keep.
By Staff
April 5, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The Art Gallery of Burlington wants artists to participate in the creation of a Garden of Chimes; an outdoor installation celebrating Canada’s Sesquicentennial.
 The exhibition will be installed in the AGB outdoor courtyard from July 1st to October 31st. Successful entries will be available for pickup first week of November.
This invitation is open to all AGB Guilds, the Potters Guild of Hamilton and Region and the Brantford Potters Guild.
Specifications:
• Maximum size is 12” diameter and 36” length.
• The chimes should emit a pleasing sound and be weather proof/waterproof.
• As the chimes will be hung from wires, consideration should be given for total hanging weight.
The proposal has to include a sketched image with description of materials and include an estimate of weight.
Please submit your proposal by APRIL 17, 2017 via email to kai@agb.life .
Charming idea – why limit it to just Potters Guild members?
 By Staff
April 4th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The Bayview Park Leash-Free Area will be closed on Thursday, April 6 to allow for construction within the fenced area.
Thank you for your cooperation during construction.
 By Staff
April 4, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The weather doesn’t look all that promising but the Tyandaga Golf Course will officially open for the 2017 golf season on Saturday, April 8.
The course is located 1265 Tyandaga Park Dr. Players wishing to book a tee time can do so online at www.tyandagagolf.com.
 An 18-hole course with 4,852 meters of scenic terrain. Tyandaga, a city owned and operated golf course, offers memberships, tournaments, clinics, private lessons, men’s and women’s league play, and in-season and off-season rentals.
Tyandaga Golf Course is an 18-hole course with 4,852 meters of scenic terrain characterized by its natural waterways and broadleaf woods.
Spring specials on green fees include $45 to ride in a golf cart and $30 for golfers that are walking.
For more information about golfing at Tyandaga, call 905-336-0005 or visit www.tyandagagolf.com.
 By Pepper Parr
April 1st, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Having sprinkled federal dollars – close to half a million of them, earlier in the day around 14 projects in Burlington, our Member of Parliament and Minister of Democratic Institutions, Karina Gould and her staff headed for the Royal Canadian Legion where there were even more dollars to distribute.
The time the cheque was for $74,988.00 that was to be distributed between the Legion, St. Johns Anglican Church and St. Luke’s Anglican Church.
The Legion got $24,988 finding for a new stove in the kitchen and funds to upgrade the Legion Museum that has a treasure of historical memorabilia.
 Karina Gould with the cook for the evening in the kitchen of the Royal Canadian Legion The Legion holds a Fish and Chips night on Friday which meant an occasion for the Member of Parliament to enjoy both a local tradition and some time in the kitchen. Had she arrived an hour earlier she would have been able to help with the cooking.
Gould spent more than an hour working the tables with the several hundred people who were enjoying dinner, playing pool or dancing to some genuine Canadian east coast “hurtin” music.
There was something quite incredible to watch this not yet 30 year old woman move from table to table to talk to people.
Sometime she sat with people for far more than the “howdya do”.
 Gerry the senior giving Burlington’s MP Karina Gould a quizzical eye as they talk about the state of the Dominion at a Legion Friday night fish fry. The Father and Son team of Gerry and Gerry were enjoying the Goodness of Guinness when the Minister sat down for a conversation.
Before Gould made herself comfortable Gerry, the senior, had opined that the first Trudeau had come close to “ruining the country” and Gerry the Senior, wasn’t all that sure the son wasn’t going to do the same thing.
When Karina got up to talk other people, Gerry the senior seemed to have gotten himself to the point where he was going to give the young fellow a chance.
When the cheque presentation was being performed mention was made of Matt MacPherson, President- Royal Canadian Legion Branch 60 Burlington, who, during the days when the first Trudeau was running the country, had served as the Prime Minister’s personal body guard.
“Each time he was in Burlington my job was to be beside him all the time. He was no problem at all” remarked McPherson “but it wasn’t the same with Diefenbaker” he added.
The funds handed out were part of a federal government’s New Horizons for Seniors Program that has distributed approximately $35 million in New Horizons for Seniors Program funding for close to 1,850 community-based projects approved through the NHSP 2016–2017 Call for Proposals.
 Delighted members of Burlington’s clergy and the Royal Canadian Legion pose for a presentation photograph. Tucked away in the back row, third from the right, is Legion president Matt MacPherson who did the same thing for former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau when he served as his personal body guard – stood in the background ensuring the man was always safe. Since 2004, the NHSP has funded close to 19,700 projects in hundreds of communities across Canada, with a total Government of Canada investment of approximately $417 million.
Gould was filling in for the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.
Investing in Canada’s communities is not only about creating good jobs and encouraging clean economic growth. It is also about building stronger communities. Partnerships with local governments, institutions and organizations are vital to deliver change and improve the lives of seniors.
St. John’s Anglican Church, and St. Luke’s Anglican Church each received $25,000 for fundamental renovations will take place to better support Burlington seniors in creating and serving healthy meals, providing inclusive and accessible social spaces and updating audio-visual systems with improved hearing and visual assistance.
 By Staff
April 1st, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
This is not an April 1st story. It is absolutely true – every word of it.
Burlington’s Members of Parliament could hardly keep up with the pace.
They were scooting from place to place during the day, in the rain, handing out cheques right and left.
The Gazette caught up with Karina Gould the MP for Burlington and Minister of Democratic Institutions and Pam Damoff the MP for Oakville North Burlington at the Mainway arena,where they jointly announced federal funding for an impressive number of Burlington projects.
The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario had approved up to $598,430 for 14 projects in Burlington under Intake Two of the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program:
 The dunes in the Beachway are environmentally sensitive. Burlington Green has been plating trees to stabilize the land. Some of the federal government money is going to be used to build a dune crossing. 1. Improvement of Bayview Park – $123,000
2. Ireland Park Washroom Improvements – $13,320
3. Lowville Park Washroom Accessibility – $23,310
4. Millcroft Park Washroom Accessibility – $14,985
5. Orchard Park Washroom Improvements – $16,650
6. Dune Crossing at Beachway Park – $73,000
7. Mainway Arena Accessibility – $100,000
8. Appleby Ice Resurfacing – $25,000
9. Mainway Ice Resurfacing – $12,500
10. Mainway Rink Lighting – $41,666
11. Appleby Ice Sub-Metering – $8,333
12. Mainway Sub-Metering System – $5,000
13. Multi-Use Pathway at John Street – $135,000
14. Tansley Woods Sub-Metering – $6,666
These projects are planned for completion by March 31, 2018 and are part of the Canada 150 celebrations for what will be our Sesquicentennial.
Mayor Goldring has set a personal goal for the city and the Love My Hood program where he wants to see at least 150 small neighbourhood projects taking place in the city.
The Parks and Recreation people have come up with a neat program that wants to see small hand coloured Canadian flags in, ideally, every window in the city.
The Mayor and the other assembled dignitaries were give blank forms and a box of crayons to create their own flags.
 Chris Glenn, Director of Parks and Recreation hands out blank forms with an outline of a maple leaf along with a package of crayons that MP’s Pam Damoff and Karina Gould along with Mayor Goldring can use to make flags for the windows in their homes. Mayor Goldring advised a disappointed looking of Parks and Recreation Director Chris Glenn that he had been kicked out of the grade 8 art class. Fortunately the Mayor had his wife with him – Cheryl, an accomplished artist in her own right, will probably be given the crayons and asked to produce a more than acceptable flag.
 Burlington Taxi is changing the colour scheme o three of its cabs and calling them Ambassador Taxis to recognize the 150 year of Canada’s birth. The getting into a Sesquicentennial mode was made a little easier with the appearance of two Burlington Taxis, done up in a bright red and white theme. Scott Wallace said that he had changed the colour theme of three of his cabs that he is calling Ambassador Taxis that will be available to people who need transportation to high profile Love my Hood events.
Pam Damoff wasn’t happy with the standard photo ops that were taking place and wanted everyone to step into the ice rink for some picture. The Mainway arena is in her Oakville North Burlington riding. One photographer wanted her out on the ice. “I’m not going out on the ice” said Damoff. She rides a bike rather well – but I guess she doesn’t skate.
By Staff
March 31st, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
June 10th to the 18th – Sound of Music Festival’s 38th year takes place.
Every year in June, Burlington comes alive with the largest music event of the year. Well over 200,000 people come to enjoy concerts spanning all genres. Through the generosity and support of sponsors and the dedication of volunteers, the event continues to be free on Father’s Day Weekend for music lovers of all ages. The sponsors this year include: Burlington Downtown Business Association, Burlington Hyundai, Cogeco, Investors Group Burlington, TD Canada Trust, Terrapure, Mill Street Brewery, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation
 Marianas Trench performing at the SoM this June. The number of ticketed events is growing but the free part of the Festival is stable. Marianas Trench, Smash Mouth, Spin Doctors, and Sumo Cyco, will join The Offspring and Live on June 10, 2017, along with special guests, Randy and Mr. Lahey from Trailer Park Boys.
Details on the free part of the festival will be made available – April 27th.
 By Staff
March 30th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The Toronto-Dominion Friends of the Environment Foundation is sending the city a cheque for $20,000 to enhance the construction of a new community garden in Ireland Park. Construction of the new garden will begin this fall and will open in spring 2018. The garden will include 36 ground based plots and 3 raised accessible plots.
The city has come a long way since June of 2011 when Amy Schnurr of Burlington Green and Michelle Bennett stood as a tag team before city council trying to convince them to put up 15% of the cost of opening the first city based community garden.
 Amy Schnurr at the opening of the first community Garden. Former city general manager Scott Stewart on the left and Rob Peachy realizing that it was Schnurr and Burlington Green that got the city into community gardens. Council wasn’t all that keen on the idea but they couldn’t get away from the two women; they were relentless.
They prevailed and the community garden opened to some fanfare and has grown to the point where there are now four such gardens.
Construction of the new garden will begin this fall and will open in spring 2018. The garden will include 36 ground based plots and 3 raised accessible plots.
Funding will be used to expand accessible garden plots and accessible pathways throughout half of the community garden. These pathways will use wild thyme—a drought-tolerant, pollinator-friendly ground-cover with reinforced turf mesh—rather than wood chips. This will result in an even, stable, accessible surface, allowing people with limited mobility equal opportunity to visit more areas of the community garden and interact with the other gardeners.
The grant will contribute to the cost of an accessible garden shed, an accessible picnic table and three raised, accessible garden plots.
A perennial garden will be planted around a one-metre border outside the garden fence to attract bees and add flowers to the area. TD FEF staff will be asked to help plant the perennial garden as part of TD’s staff volunteer program.
 Michelle Bennett – talked the city out of $11,000 + and created a network of community gardens. The city has four community gardens with 126 plots in total for 2017:
• Amherst Park
• Central Park
• Francis Road Bikeway
• Maple Park.
This year’s planting season will run from May 1 to Oct. 22, 2017. All plots have been assigned for this season.
The cost to rent a plot for the season is $50. Water, soil and compost are supplied and all plots have full sun.
Community garden applications are available online at www.burlington.ca/communitygardens, the Burlington Seniors’ Centre, or City Hall, 426 Brant St., at the Service Burlington counter. Completed applications are accepted until Nov. 30, 2017 for the 2018 planting season. Plots at all five gardens will be allocated by lottery at the close of the application period.
 By Staff
March 29th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington is a city, Oakville and Milton are towns.
The way people interact with each other in Burlington is more like a Village.
 The award given each Burlington BEST recipient was designed and crafted by Teresa Seaton. The city released the names of the nominees for Burlington’s BEST awards. Two of the people nominated for the Arts Award cannot stand each other; they are like oil and water. It is going to be interesting to see how that plays out in May.
At a public meeting Tuesday evening the Carriage Gate people told their story about the 27 storey tower they want to build across the street from city hall.
 Robert Molinaro on the left – Nick Carnacelli on the right – their projects were compared at the public viewing of the Carriage Gate development Carnacelli wants to build opposite city hall. Nick Carnacelli, top dog at Carriage Gate, was sitting beside Robert Molinaro while the Carriage Gate people were talking up their project.
The Molinaro’s are well into the construction of their five tower Paradigm development on Fairview next to the GO station and a decent jump away from Walmart.
The Molinaro’s are very proud of their project – it must have been dismaying for Robert Molinaro to hear the Carriage Gate people say that Paradigm is not a place where people are going to live – “they will just sleep there and take the GO train into work.”
The 183 unit Carriage Gate project will feature two and three bedroom units – a place where families will live – on Brant Street
We are a village.
 By Jim Young
March 29th, 2017
BURLINGTON,ON
I attended the “Getting to Know You” session for Burlington Seniors Community Incorporated (BSCInc.) on Tuesday at Central Library. For those of you who do not know, BSCInc was, until recently, the organization that helped run some parts of Burlington Seniors Centre. They and the city parted company last year.
 The Bistro, the heart of the Seniors’ Centre and the focal point for many of the administrative problems. Their separation from the city has left BSCInc with a lot of time on their hands, a lot of money, apparently, and in search of something to do with both. Their experience in running the Bistro and the Events Programs at Seniors Centre has given BSCInc lots of organising skills and some really good ideas but a lot of residual bad blood between Seniors Centre Members, former Seniors Centre Committee Members, City Recreation Staffs and the newly reincarnated BSCInc still exists as was obvious at the end of Monday’s meeting .
Essentially BSCInc is an incorporated company with a big bag of cash left over from their Seniors Centre days, some good ideas on promoting seniors issues but sadly with so much baggage from the fallout with the Seniors Centre it may be difficult for them to recover the trust of a large number of seniors in a way that will let them carry out their big plans.
The first half of Monday’s meeting went reasonably well as various BSCInc committee members outlined plans for their new seniors’ advocacy group. A more experience eye might have foreseen the coming debacle at the end over voting rights and the BSCInc balance sheet. The qualifications for voting suggest that only BSCInc committee and former committee get real votes. Some volunteers will be eligible for voting rights but only after a six month qualifying period which will be well beyond the next AGM.
 There is nothing fancy about the place. It’s simple, serves the purpose with a bus stop almost outside the door and plenty of parking. The city abruptly took over running the Bistro and programming when there were staffing problems. That left many questioning the openness or democratic nature of the organization. The subject of finances was only vaguely hinted at with a promise to reveal all at the AGM in the fall. The amount BSCInc inherited from their Seniors Centre departure is rumoured to be between $180,000.00 and $200,000.00 but we will not know how much or its purpose until the AGM. This vagueness did not sit well with many of the audience.
This was the elephant in the room that consumed almost all of the question and answer period. The fuzziness of BSCInc answers did nothing to ameliorate the anger felt by some Seniors Centre Members and former Seniors Committee Volunteers. The meeting ended in disarray when, unable to continue fielding questions with non-answers, the Chairman, Fred Hendriks abandoned question time and adjourned the meeting.
It is entirely possible that the money and the plans for its use are in good hands and intended for good works; but unless BSCInc can be more forthcoming about why the break-up with the city occurred, how much money there actually is, where it came from, how they intend to use it and how open and democratic they will be in electing the guardians of that money, I fear they will find it difficult to regain the trust of many seniors groups.
At the end of the day, BSCInc is an incorporated entity with no legal obligation to open their books or their membership and voting criteria to the public. But unless they do so, and do so soon, many Burlington Seniors will continue to have reservations about the group.
Meanwhile Burlington Seniors Centre continues to flourish, The Bistro still sells great lunches and the vast majority of seniors living in Burlington are blissfully unaware that BSCInc exists, why it does or who they are supposed to represent. The answers rest with them.
 Jim Young is an Aldershot resident who is passionate about the rights of the people being recognized and the man with some of the best ideas on better transit for seniors than most people in th city. He is an occasional opinion writer for the Gazette.
.
By Staff
March 28th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
 MPP Eleanor McMahon includes Burlington in grant spree. Burlington MPP and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport Eleanor McMahon announced yesterday that 45 communities across the province would benefit from provincial funding.
The home town was included in that list.
 Burlington’s own – The Spoons – will be in town for part of the summer. In June there will be a Citizenship Reaffirmation Ceremony & Concert Programming that will include: an indigenous smudging ceremony; a citizenship ceremony for new Canadian citizens followed by reaffirmation ceremony for previous new Canadian citizens and naturalized Canadians; and five musical acts including Freedom Train, Killin’ Time Band, The Spoons, Tebey, and the headliner, Walk off the Earth.
The city received a grant of $45,000
 City council and the Downtown Business Association had difficulty with Food Trucks but the public loves the things. There will be 30 of them at Spencer Smith Park in June. This photo is of Food Trucks at a Joseph Brant day event. In July the Canadian Food Truck Festival will line up 30 food trucks in Spencer Smith Park featuring a wide array of international cuisine; and a main stage for live music including Wanderlust and The Crooked Zebras
The Food Truck Festival was given a grant of $20,000
 Ceramist Anton Reijnders wil be at the AGB in August In August the Art Gallery of Burlington in collaboration with Craft Ontario, will host several events including a solo exhibit of recent work by ceramist Anton Reijnders; a master craft exhibition including the work of approximately 70 Canadian makers; “Nothing is Newer than Tradition”, an exhibition of emerging Ontario craft makers; “Once Upon a Time”, an exhibit exploring the evolution of the work of 22 Ontario ceramists; and a two-day conference.
The AGB will get a grant of $35,000 for this event.
By Staff
March 28th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The 2016 nominees for a Burlington’s Best Award were released by city hall this morning.
A total of 24 nominations were received in eight categories, including a new Accessibility Award. Nominations opened on December 1st and closed February 28, 2017.
Burlington’s Best Awards is an awards program that honours Burlington’s most outstanding citizens. The winners in all categories will be revealed at a gala celebration on Thursday, May 11, 2017 at the Royal Botanical Gardens.
Tickets to this event are $35 per person or $280 for a table of eight. The event includes a light buffet and cocktail reception. Tickets can be purchased at the Service Burlington counter at City Hall, 426 Brant St., or by contacting Wanda Tolone at 905-335-7600, ext. 7458 or wanda.tolone@burlington.ca.
One winner will be selected in each of the eight award categories. This year’s nominees are:
Citizen of the Year
•Dorothy Borovich
•Don Crossley
•Fareen Samji
Junior Citizen of the Year
•Michelle Fornasier
•Mehr Mahmood
•Brianna Moore
•Alexandra Todd
•Leah Verral
•Michael Williams
Senior Person of the Year
•Dave Page
•Susan Stasiuk
Environmental Award
•Kale Black
Arts Person of the Year Award
•Margaret Lindsay Holton
•Jim Riley
•Erica Villabroza
•Henry Ward
Community Service Award
•Marion Goard
•David McKay
•David Vandenberg
•Matt Walker
Heritage Award
•Jim Clemens
Accessibility Award
•Learning Disabilities Association of Halton
•Sodexo Canada
•Tetra Society
Mary Kay Aird, Chair of Burlington’s Best Committee commented that ““There are so many people in Burlington doing great things. Each year, the committee looks forward to reviewing the nominations and meeting those who strive to make our community the best it can be.”
 By Staff
March 21st, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Spring skiing can be really nice. It’s a chance to get an early start on your tan.
Not much left to the season though and for those in Halton, know that – Glen Eden will reopen for one last weekend of skiing and snowboarding for the 2016/17 season from Friday, March 24 until Sunday, March 26.
 One weekend left in the season. A combination of some recent natural snow, the remaining man made snow and some cooler seasonal temperatures mean the skiing and snowboarding season will continue for a few more days.
Glen Eden is closed this week Monday through Thursday, and is reopening Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Lifts will be running from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Lift tickets will be $22 this weekend (rather than $38 for adults and $33 for teens), and all season passes are valid (Super Value, 5×7 and All Access). Glen Eden opened for the 2016-17 season on December 17, 2016.
“We would like to thank all the skiers, snowboarders and lesson participants who visited Glen Eden during the 2016/17 season,” said Gene Matthews, Director, Operations, Conservation Halton. “Glen Eden enjoyed a successful season this past year with visitation returning to typical levels. Our grooming and snowmaking team did a fantastic job with temperatures which were above seasonal, particularly in February.”
The Glen Eden season typically starts before Christmas and Boxing Day and is usually concluded by the end of March Break. Last season, Glen Eden didn’t open until January 8, 2016, the latest start to a season in ten years, and closed on March 12, 2016, the earliest closing in the same time frame. Recognizing the varying winter conditions Southern Ontario receives each year, Glen Eden depends on making its own snow and continuous investments in snowmaking infrastructure
If you want to hit the hills next season there is an Early Bird special for the 2017/18 season on Season Passes and for the first time ever all the Snow School programs. You can register now for the Snow School programs now for next season.
The Early Bird features the best available pricing of the year on all Season Pass and Snow School programs. It closes on April 12, 2017.
 By Pepper Parr
March 20, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
She was born in Burlington, graduated from Lester B. Pearson High School and went on to the University of Guelph where she earned an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts and a second degree in Landscape Architecture..
Tamara Kwapich then realized that unless she learned to drive a cab she wasn’t going to make much in the way of a living and took a course in Computer Aided drafting at Mohawk College, then toiled for a number of years and put oil on canvas while developing her art style.
 Tamara Kwapich She married her high school sweetheart (set her eyes on him when she was 14) and got to know him much better when she was 18.
Upon graduation Tamara and her husband spent eight months in Poland teaching English.
Now an established artist with two grown boys Tamara looks around her and wonders – “what’s next”?
She has been part of the Art In Action tours and was selected as one of six people to do a mural in a specific ward of the city.
Tamara chose Ward 5, the Orchard and, in a light almost whimsical way, she caught what the Orchard once was; acre upon acre of fruit trees that made Burlington the produce capital of the country.
The Orchard mural is on a field house beside Alexander’s public school on Sutton Drive. You can’t miss it.
When one stands back from the mural and glances to the left and the right you can imagine what those fields of fruit trees used to look like.
 The Orchard. If you are in he area pull over and take a close look at the faces down into most of the apples. The community wasn’t called the Orchard because someone liked the name – that is what it once was. The day we took the photographs it was cold, blustery with the few people that were out walking quickly to keep warm. One wonders if the earth did not ask – what did you do with the trees that used to be here?
 The Owl and the Pussy Cat. Kwapich currently has an exhibit of her work on display in the Fireside Room and the Art Gallery of Burlington. The style she used in those painting is considerably different than the orchard mural. Her “The Owl and the Pussy Cat is one the best we have seen.
Big art however seems to have gotten a grip on Kwapich; she has entered the competition for public art on sports facilities in the city. She wants to paint large air balloons and have them floating along the side of the Mainway arena.
Kwapich wants to paint big – “I want more physicality in my work”, she said and dreams of being hoisted up on a lift and so she can paint away at a large picture that will be seen by thousands of people
The big big murals are not the only thing that interest Kwapich – she is thinking about doing paintings of older people, portraits that show the wrinkles and the character in people’s faces.
Kwapich doesn’t have much interest in the photo-shopped look that is sought by people who want to control what an artist creates.
 Boy on a roof near a cherry tree – the boy happens to be one of Tamara Kwapich’s sons Making art in Burlington is not an easy row to hoe. Kwapich is aware of the city’s cultural stagnation and also very aware of how difficult it is to find affordable studio space. Burlington didn’t have very many factories that could be converted into loft for artists and musicians. Imagine what could have been done with the Aylmer canning factory that used to sit at the bottom of Brant Street – what an artist colony that could have become.
The saving grace for the arts community in Burlington is the amount of money the city is prepared to spend on public art.
There are murals, there is a nice piece of sculpture that was unfortunately out in the wrong place but that doesn’t take way from the quality of the art.
 Tamara Kwapich’s submission for the art competition to celebrate what sports has done for the city. There are plans to put murals on the sides or th grounds of sports facilities around the city. The Spiral Stella outside the Performing Arts Centre is a treasure that doesn’t seem to get the public exposure it deserves
 Is the boy the prey? Or is the fox wondering why he is there? And what does the owl have to say about what is taking place? There was a bit of a hope at one point that space would be available in the Beachway Park that is still in the design stage but it looks as if the plan is to ‘Disneyfy’ that part of the city and make it a destination of some sort. Artists done grow in that kind of environment and while there is a segment of every population that will always buy Elvis on velvet – it isn’t what Kwapich sees herself doing in the years ahead.
The city is still groping and trying to find the artist in itself; no clear direction yet.
Kwapich sees artistic growth for herself in those large murals the city is putting real coin on the table to have done – and she kind of likes the idea of doing portraits that are different, something that is more interested in capturing the character rather than the look of the person.
Certainly something well worth trying – is Burlington ready for that level of art?
The Kwapich art is on exhibit at the AGB until the end of the month.
By Staff
March 17th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The Lowville Festival will again be presenting artistic experiences for audiences old and young in north Burlington’s Escarpment country May 26th to May 28th.
This year’s Festival, the third annual, will a couple of stellar headline attractions, including legendary Canadian guitarist Liona Boyd and the celebrated Toronto comedy troupe Second City.
 What are the sounds of the Escarpment? The Lowville Festival defines itself as “a festival of all the arts for the artist in all of us”. The ultimate aim is not only to feature all of the performing, visual and literary arts, but also to provide opportunities for attendees to participate in the creative process. To that end, local singers are again invited to join the Lowville Festival Choir, which will appear in the opening concert. And budding visual artists will have an opportunity to participate in demonstrations in Saturday’s Sights and Sounds in the Escarpment, the Festival’s first collaboration with the Art Gallery of Burlington.
Kudo’s to both Bob Missen and Robert Stephen, president of the AGB, for getting in bed together and making this happen.
For the third annual festival, the trio that puts the program together has changed the festival dates to late May to avoid the torrid heat that they experienced during the past couple of summers, and also to set themselves apart from the huge number of festivals that take place in July.
And the country will be going gaga celebrating Canada’s Sesquicentennial.
 In addition to the two venues on the Guelph Line that the Festival has been utilizing since the it’s inception, Lowville United Church and St. George’s Anglican Parish Hall, Missen is going to erect a large tent in Lowville Park where both Second City and Motus O will perform.
The tent idea hearkens back to the days when the Stratford Festival fist performed under canvas. Bronte creek is a much more natural backdrop than the Avon River in Stratford will ever be.
 The 2017 festival will be launched on Friday May 26th with a concert at St. George’s Hall entitled To Canada with love. Famed Canadian guitarist Liona Boyd, one of the finest guitar players this country has produced will headline a celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday along with her new guitar partner Andrew Dolson. A highlight will be the appearance by the Lowville Festival Choir under the direction of Hamilton-born Wayne Strongman , former conductor of Hamilton’s Bach-Elgar Choir.
Saturday’s daytime activities, Sights and Sounds in the Escarpment, will take place at Lowville United Church, a Victorian jewel located at the south end of the hamlet of Lowville. Attendees will have an opportunity to take in demonstrations from some of Burlington’s finest artists and artisans, and also to make art themselves. During the afternoon they will also be serenaded in the church sanctuary by some of the region’s finest young performers under the direction of acclaimed music director Michael Mulrooney.
The Lowville Festival Tent will play host on Saturday night to Second City. The celebrated sketch/improv company, which gave birth to the legendary SCTV television series, will be presenting what Festival promoter Bob Missen calls “a devilishly satirical show” entitled Canada, the thinking man’s America.
The festival finale will be a presentation of MOTUS O’s production of Alice. A tour de force for the entire family featuring music, dance and theatre, inspired by both Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice will also be presented in the Lowville Festival Tent on Sunday afternoon May 28th.
 Bob Missen and Loretta Bailey performing during the inaugural Lowville Festival. The Lowville Festival is the vision of an artistic/management team of three. Two are Burlington performing artists: Lorretta Bailey, a Lowville resident, who has performed in musical theatre productions across Canada, including the original Toronto production of Les Miserables; and Robert Missen, proprietor of the Bobolink Agency, an artist management company that handles some of the bigger names in the Canadian arts field.
Missen was the 2016 inductee into the Burlington Performing Arts Centre Hall of Fame. Barbara Anderson-Huget, former Arts and Culture Manager for the Town of Gravenhurst and Executive Director of CARFAC Ontario, the association of visual artists, rounds out this trio.
Friday, May 26
7:30 pm
St. George’s Parish Hall
To Canada with Love: Celebrating Canada 150, featuring Liona Boyd and the Lowville Festival Choir
Saturday, May 27
1pm to 4pm
Lowville United Church
Free Event!
Sights and Sounds in the Escarpment in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Burlington
Sponsored by: Ontario Trillium Foundation
7:30pm
Lowville Park – Festival Tent
Second City Comedy Troupe
Canada: The Thinking Man’s America
Sunday, May 28
2pm
Lowville Park- Festival Tent
Motus O Dance Theatre’s Alice
Tickets will be available through Snapd after April 15th.
 By Ray Rivers
March 17, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Globe and Mail journalist John Ibbitson sees little daylight between the foreign policies of Justin Trudeau and former Prime Minister Harper. Ibbitson should have an inside track on something like this given his extensive record as a journalist and someone who recently completed a biography on Mr. Harper.
 A Canadian soldier explains the conduct of a patrolling raid to a Ukrainian platoon during small team training at the International Peacekeeping and Security Centre in Starychi, Ukraine. And the proof. Canada hasn’t yet reopened the embassy in Iran, which Harper had closed. The Liberals have extended Harper’s military mission in Ukraine, and like the former government are providing training but no serious defensive hardware. The European and other free trade deals are moving ahead as if Mr. Harper were still in charge. And Harper’s pet Keystone XL has been blessed with the go-ahead by the new US president.
But seriously, Harper would never have supported the recent UN motion condemning Israel’s ongoing settlements on Palestinian territory. Nor would the former PM have been seen signing onto the Paris climate change accord with such determination. Our immigration and refugee policies are at a significant distance from where Harper was taking Canada. And Trudeau has now granted our NAFTA cousins in Mexico visa-free entry.
 Justin Trudeau campaigned on Real Change – the exact definition of what that meant wasn’t clear – what we are getting may not have been what we thought we were being given. Trudeau was the candidate of change, so one should expect to see some daylight between him and the others. He out-flanked the NDP on the left and he turned conventional thinking on its head promising to run deficits, legalize pot, open the nation’s gates to Syrian refugees, do something serious about climate change, reform Canada’s indigenous policy and change the way MP’s get elected.
But some folks are losing their religion, getting anxious, frustrated, disillusioned, or worse. Time has a habit of eroding promises and dreams – like sand on a hillside on a windy day – or the brash and bold promises made on a campaign pulpit on election eve.
And a year later, there are business folk still waiting for that massive deficit-funded stimulus to kick-in. Aboriginal leaders are wondering when they’ll see real change in their lives and their place in Canada. Environmentalists, enthused with the declaration of a nation-wide carbon tax, are licking their wounds after the rash of pipeline announcements, and worrying about how the dinosaur leading the lemmings south of the border, might affect environmental policy in the Great White North.
 Federal Ministers Jane Phillpot; Health and Jody Wilson-Raybould, Justice And then there is that marijuana wannabe crowd. They know that pot is the biggest cash crop in the United States. So they’ve got the business munchies – eager to start making money by selling dope. But Mr. Trudeau has made it clear that legalization is mainly about keeping weed out of the hands of children. So he has smoked the wannabe vendors by sicking the cops on them – telling the police to enforce the law, even though everybody knows the law is slated to change sometime soon.
Well it is slated to change unless that particular promise gets deferred or cancelled. Folks are nervous after the PM dumped his promise on electoral reform into the trash bin of good intentions. We may recall that his father had commissioned a study back in 1969, the Le Dain Commission, which recommended removing criminal penalties for simple possession and allowing the cultivation of marijuana for personal use.
There may not have been broad consensus on pot then. Decriminalization may not have been the highest priority for the government of the late Pierre Trudeau at that time. And perhaps Nixon got in the way with his ‘war on drugs’. Still, decriminalizing Mary Jane would have kept a lot of harmless people out of jail, and would perhaps do more for the economy today than the billions Mr. Trudeau is pumping into infrastructure,
 Marijuana – the new cash crop  Canola – an existing cash crop. which of the two is healthier? Stephen Harper used to argue that the best way to keep narcotics out of the hands of young people was to just do what his government had been doing – throwing people in jail. But nothing could be further from the truth if the experience in US jurisdictions holds up.
Marijuana use among America’s youth has fallen dramatically since states started legalizing the substance. And that would put Trudeau definitely on the right track to meet his objective. And that, Mr. Ibbitson, would be a lot of daylight between him and Mr. Harper – at least on this file.
 Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington in 1995. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background links:
John Ibbitson – Trudeau’s Foreign Policy – Enforcing the Law – Electoral Reform –
Indigenous Policy – Cannabis in Colorado – Legalized MJ – Le Dain Commission –
Youth Trends – USA Drug History –
By Pepper Parr
March 16th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
They want to write a book about us; well not just us – they want to include us in a book to be titled Passion over Pay – which certainly applies to the Burlington Gazette and its publisher.
The people taking on this task did their initial funding through Indigogo – they did better than the Gazette did when they went looking for financial support.
The purpose of the book – which will be in a coffee table format and sold on line – is to tell the story of those people who put their passion over pay for projects that exist for the benefit of others.
They will do interviews and we will make certain that we tell the world that Burlington is the best mid-size city in Canada and that the city sold a chunk of the land along the edge of the lake for a pittance – ending forever the chance to create a Waterfront Trail that would be really complete.
There will be something about the trials and tribulations about publishing in this city and taking on the challenge of drawing an audience away from print to the web site where we are able to publish instantly and do not have much in the way of space limitations.
We will look for a way to tell the really marvellous story about the citizens group that are behind the Terry Fox monument in Spencer Smith Park and tell the story about the park itself as well.
Someone recommend the Gazette as a Passion over Pay possibility and we said sure, why not.
The they, is a couple of buddies from back in college. Ben Firn and Mark Bennett are the driving force behind this initiative;
 Ben Firn and Mark Bennett; one is a New Zealander and the other collects trivia. Which does which? Since College both found homes in the start-up world. They kept in touch and partly because of their shared affinity for part-time projects and side hustles they came up with this idea.
The original press run isn’t going to get them on the New York Times list of Best Sellers unless the Gazette buys a couple of cartons and hands them out to all those bureaucrats we write about – city council for sure – right?
We will keep you posted.
By Staff
March 14th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The City of Burlington has begun construction on an exciting new project. “The Knot” (or Elgin Promenade) is the name of an urban pathway connecting the downtown to the Centennial Multi-Use Pathway. It might have been called “Shortcut to the Poacher” but that would have been too exciting for Burlington, the town the late Jane Irwin, the city’s best advocate for keeping our heritage once referred to as ‘Borington’ when she delegated to city council.
 The Knot – no idea why that name was chosen – will create a pathway linking the Centennial Trail in the east to streets that will get a bike rider as far west as the canal – basically the city limits. This multi-use pathway will service more than 10,000 people every year and provide public space for a wide range of leisure activities, community events and easy access to shops and restaurants. It will also ensure that public space is preserved and celebrated for years to come.
 Al the property inside those yellow lines once belonged to the city. Ownership of the middle section was shared with an Ontario Ministry. The property was sold for a pittance. The two pieces at either end were turned into Windows on the Lake. Many would have loved to see the same approach taken to some of the most precious land the city once owned – that stretch of property between Market and St. Paul Streets on the south side of Lakeshore Road.
The location of this new pathway is where the city’s transit terminal was once located
The design of the new park will be led by a team of architects – yet to be named – who will work with the city’s Capital Works Department and provide input into the overall design of the pathway with specific attention paid to core place-making elements.
 Preliminary design of the pathway will begin in early April 2017 with construction expected to be complete by March of 2018. This project is on an accelerated timeline due to Federal Canada 150 funding. The selected artist(s) must be available to attend regular meetings in Burlington, Ontario from late April – August 2017.
Deadline for Expressions of Interest is March 31st.
The project has a budget of $20,000
Click HERE to download the Request for Expressions of Interest.
Related news story.
By Staff
March 14, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The City of Burlington invites artists to submit Expressions of Interest to create a permanent public artwork for a traffic island located at Plains Road (QEW Ramp, West of Plains Road QEW Overpass) in the Aldershot community of Burlington, Ontario.
The deadline for submissions is April 28th, budget for the project is $25,000
 Plains Road – no longer just the highway to Hamilton but now a Main Street in a part of the city with an identity of its own Plains Road has undergone significant revitalization and growth in recent years. The City of Burlington undertook a Functional Design and Implementation Strategy in 2011 for the Plains Road Corridor.
 Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven, at a stone marker identifying the participants of the Plans Road Village Vision. This process resulted in a number of suggestions including widening bike lanes, beautifying the area, roadway improvements, and increasing the number of pedestrian crossings and islands.
A significant portion of this work has been completed and additional improvements will continue over the next 10 – 20 years, with the goal of transforming Plains Road from a thoroughfare into a main-street corridor.
 Engineering drawing of the location of the public art. Public art will play an important role in this transformation. The median project will add to the street’s public art collection and will be used as a pilot project to consider the integration of future public artworks into additional medians on Plains Road.
 Civic officials and politicians gather around the $100,000 piece of public art on Upper Middle Road. Locating public art is an art in itself. About five years ago the city commissioned a work of art that was interesting enough – but located the work on Upper Middle Road in a median just before a railway underpass. There isn’t much time for drivers to see the art and there is next to nothing in the way of pedestrian traffic.
This competition is open to all professional Canadian artists. An artwork proposal is not requested at this time. Artist applications will be reviewed on the basis of artistic merit, professional qualifications and experience. Short-listed artists will be paid an honorarium of $750 to develop a preliminary design concept.
 Google view of the Plains Road location for public art. Download the Request for Expressions of Interest (pdf)
By Staff
March 13th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The Burlington Performing Arts Centre is accepting nominations for its 2017 Hall of Fame Inductee.
 Bob Missen, 2016 inductee into the Performing Arts Centre Hall of Fame. Missen joined Gordie Tapp (2013), Rainer Noack (2014), Lawrence Bonanno and Stewart Laughton (2015) Established in 2013, The Burlington Performing Arts Centre’s Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the performing arts in Burlington. Recipients of this award demonstrate the diversity of artistic accomplishment that comprises the rich cultural tapestry of the City of Burlington. The Hall of Fame Inductee will be announced at the 2017/2018 Season Launch event held at The Centre on Tuesday, May 17.
Nomination applications must be submitted by noon on Monday, April 10th, 2017. The nomination form can be downloaded from The Centre’s website.
The Burlington Performing Arts Centre recognizes individual and group artists contribution to Burlington’s reputation as a city with a strong, long-term commitment to the development of cultural excellence.
The Centre’s Interim Executive Director, Brian McCurdy notes, “Year after year, we receive so many nominations for individuals who have made an impact through their work within or for the performing arts in our Community. It is a statement about the community as a whole and the overall commitment to Arts & Culture that we receive so many quality nominations.”
McCurdy went on to say, “This is a meaningful way to recognize those who have distinguished themselves by making the performing arts a part of our lives in a significant way.”
Hall of Fame Inductees include Gordie Tapp (2013), Rainer Noack (2014), Lawrence Bonanno (2015) and Stewart Laughton (2015) and Bob Missen (2016)
|
|
By Pepper Parr
