Minden Times

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 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 Thomas Smith Bella. The Italian word for beauty. For Shukri Middleton, bella is the mantra and word of inspiration behind her newly opened cafe in Kinmount. Walking into her cafe, you are greeted with a bright shop and one word to describe it – pink. From her sign that hangs above the door, to the chandelier on the ceiling, to the faux turf wall, every square inch of the cafe is Instagrammable and inviting. “My vibe is happy and fun,” said Middleton.

By Emily Stonehouse I have watched a lot of council meetings in my day. Between working for a municipality and then jumping into local media, the meetings tend to be regular happenings. And truthfully, I’ve always liked them. While some may snooze through the agenda, I personally find the ebbs and flows of local government to be captivating. A small representation of us, gathered around a table, making decisions that impact our everyday lives, whether we like it or not.

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 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 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 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 If there’s one singular reason for amalgamation, please let it be fewer meetings. It’s a sticky topic. I get that. Over the course of five meetings as well as multiple conversations with township staff and members of the public this week, I am starting to understand more and more that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. When I worked as a senior staffer at the Township of Minden Hills, I was adamantly in support of merging our municipalities.

By Emily Stonehouse A local cottage-owner has found a way to keep his happy place accessible through the years. Roger Karam and his wife, Nayla, have been coming to their cottage on Blue Hawk Lake since 2008. In a little cottage built in the early 2000s, the owners have been mindfully renovating to accommodate accessibility challenges. With a motor neuron disorder that makes walking difficult, Karam was faced with the challenge of how to get from the cottage to the water.