Haliburton County Echo

By Emily Stonehouse It all started with an accordion. Local musician Ryan Van Lee found his passion for music at a young age, watching his grandfather play the accordion. Before long, he was right up there with him. “I started playing around at church and Midnight Madness,” recalled Van Lee, “then I started playing at talent shows, started making a little name for myself with the accordion.” Van Lee was born and raised in Haliburton.

By Emily Stonehouse I spent the past week out of town. While I will be the first to fly the flag of the Haliburton Highlands, my husband and I realized it had been years since we had taken any trips across the borders. And no, I don’t mean hopping and skipping between Minden and Haliburton. We landed on P.E.I. as our destination of choice. A first major vacation for this blended and chosen family, and it was truly beautiful. Life changing in all the right ways.

By Thomas Smith Anyone who drives in Haliburton County has experienced people who drive too fast. You can hear it every day through Haliburton, as wheels rip down the main drag only to be stopped by the red light at the high school. Residents of Halbiem Crescent sit at a unique position with Haliburton.

By Thomas Smith It has become part of my summertime routine to go for a swim on Monday evenings. After the hustle and bustle of our weekly production meetings, I like to unwind and get a swim in at a local lake. It was during these trips to the lake that I learned about Bingo Kitty Marv. With a high pitched, almost alien voice, Bingo Kitty Marv always calls in to Penny Randall-Mowbray’s show Locally Sourced on Canoe FM to chat after the first song on Monday evenings.

By Emily Stonehouse This is a story about nothing. Normally, we choose to write stories about updates and events, new businesses and recent developments. But this is a story about nothing. Because there are no updates. And perhaps, that’s a whole story unto itself. In September of last year, we wrote an article about the Loon Lake community seeking a speed reduction along their highway. The stretch of road is a hotspot for vehicular accidents, with the most recent occurring a few short weeks ago.

By Thomas Smith Stepping into Irondale’s St. John’s Church, you are teleported back 120 years in time. Looking outside through the church’s original windows, the trees are distorted with swirls and ripples, showing you exactly what the congregation saw a century ago. As its namesake suggests, Irondale has origins connected to the iron ore industry.

By Thomas Smith There needs to be action taken to cease the spread of invasive species in Haliburton County. Meagan Shier and Vidhushi Hatwal, students from Trent University have recently completed a project in Algonquin Highlands doing precisely that.

By Emily Stonehouse While life ticked on this week, a heavy cloud loomed over the County of Haliburton. Quite literally. Rolling in on Wednesday, July 15, smoke from northwestern forest fires seeped into the communities, forcing air quality warnings from Lakelands Public Health. The alerts came on the heels of an extreme heat warning, prompting cooling centres to open up where possible, while temperatures lingered around 34 degrees Celsius.

By Emily Stonehouse I am going to say something that I doubt will win me many friends: I think we need to slow down on housing. Whoa whoa, keep reading. I promise I will explain this. To begin, I adamantly, wholly believe that housing is a human right. That every individual – regardless of background or financial status – is deserving of a roof over their head. Full stop. But that said, as someone who has waded many waters in this community, I think the term “housing” has become a bit of a buzz word.

By Emily Stonehouse It’s been a hotly discussed topic at Dysart council, but questions around an amendment to the zoning bylaw that would allow for additional dwelling units (ADUs) to be used as short term rentals (STRs) has come to an end.