Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, Collingwood and Blue Mountain played host to the likes of Margaret Atwood, Dennis Lee and Irving Layton during the Great Canadian Poetry Festival.  This area has a rich cultural history that is quickly gaining new prominence.  We have become a mini-mecca for artists, poets, playwrights, actors and authors.  It’s another reason why the Collingwood area is such a great place in which to live.

Words have always held a certain fascination to me.  They are such powerful little things.  They can inspire awe or anger.  They record our history.  They can bring about conflict or they can bring understanding.  Dialects and accents tell us secrets.  Songs can move us to tears.

In celebration of WORDS, Collingwood will play host to WORDSTOCK; A Collingwood Literary Festival to be held on September 10-11, 2010.  The event will also celebrate and showcase the beautiful new Collingwood Public Library which is set to open in the next couple of months.  As the first LEED Gold standard library in Ontario (and second in Canada), the new facility is one that inspires pride and excitement.  At the same time, Collingwood is undertaking a $10 million revitalization project in our beautiful downtown; the first to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  There is much to celebrate.

WORDSTOCK is being organized by a steering committee made up of local people co-chaired by yours truly and, in partnership with Downtown Collingwood, The Town of Collingwood and the Collingwood Public Library.  The event will kick off on the Friday evening with a stunning show featuring a blend of story-telling, art, song, poetry and theatre.  On Saturday, there will be about 30 events including workshops, poetry, readings by national and local authors plus fun and creative events for children and teens.

What started out as a tiny idea has grown into a true celebration of Collingwood’s amenities and it’s cultural heritage.  In true Collingwood style, I’m sure this is destined to become a signature event in the years to come.

You have an opportunity this Sunday, January 24th to be part of something very special right here in Collingwood.

An exciting line-up of local musicians are donating their time to put on The Haitian Hearts Relief Concert at Fairways on Balsam St/Highway 26 (in the plaza opposite Canadian Tire) from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. as an event to raise funds for disaster relief in Haiti.

The event has very quickly been put together by Fran and Anna Lee Webster who are two of the most generous and positive people I know.  In such a short time, they, together with Frank McNulty of JBJ Productions, have secured at least seven local bands and I’ll bet that number grows by Sunday.  John Nichols from the Peak fm radio station has agreed to host and the folks at Fairways have generously agreed to donate the space.  The Rotary Club of Collingwood will be on hand to handle receipt of donations.

So far, the line-up includes Fran and Anna Lee, The Webster family, the Funky Truths, Wayne Buttery and the Groove project, Aaron Garner, the Fig Leaf Jazz band, Lemon Pepper Pickerel, Frankie and the Favourites and Georgia Fox.

Admission is just $10.00 with 100% of the proceeds going to the relief fund.  There may also be a silent auction and all donations will be gratefully accepted.  I’ve also just heard that profits from food and drink sales that day will also be donated.  Wow.  Collingwood has heart.

Come and enjoy.  Listen to the music, dance, feel the energy.  I’ll be there on Sunday and hope to see you too.

UPDATE:  The event was a HUGE success with over $20,000 raised!  Monies are being directed through the Rotary Club to Shelter Box  Check out the concert video on You Tube

Have you ever heard of a SUN DOG?

According to a wiki explanation I found, they are an atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of light in the sky, often on a luminous ring or halo on either side of the sun.  They are caused by ice crystals called diamond dust drifting in the air at low levels.

Here is a fantastic photo sent to me by my client (and now friend), E.H. Scott that he took yesterday morning from his back deck up on the mountain.

We are so lucky to live in this gorgeous area of Ontario.

Last year, November brought over 100 cms of snow.  This year?  Less than 1 cm.  Can we make up for lost time?

The snow finally arrived over night and as I type this (1:15 pm), the snow is still softly falling.  Here’s a quick snap I took this morning of Pine Street in Collingwood.

According to news reports, Blue Mountain is hoping to have both day and night skiing open by December 17th.  Snow conditions are currently limited but the runs are taking shape and form.  You can find up-to-the-minute ski condition reports anytime on Blue Mountain Resort’s website.

UPDATE (DEC 11th):  As a result of all the snow in the last few days, Blue will now open tomorrow from 9:00am till 4:30pm with Silver Bullet chair and Easy Rider magic carpet.

The power went out again a few days ago.  Apparently it was the result of a car hitting a pole.  Again.  Either we have the world’s worst drivers around here or, our infrastructure is ultra sensitive because really, the power seems to go out far too easily.

Don’t get me wrong.  I think our electricity provider in Collingwood and area, COLLUS, is doing an outstanding job on almost every level and of course, they can only work with the infrastructure they have.  So it was with interest that I stumbled across this notice  today.  It says that, “Hydro One will be investing approximately $8 million in infrastructure improvements between Blue Mountain and Stayner this fall, as part of its overall plan to increase capacity to the Southern Georgian Bay area. The upgrades will benefit the Towns of Collingwood and Blue Mountain, and expand capacity for the entire region, including the area’s ski areas.”

That sounds good to me. I’ve noticed in the last few years that more and more homes are installing back-up generators of one kind or another. One of the main reasons is to keep sump pumps operational and to avoid potential basement flooding when the power goes out which more often than not, coincides with heavy wet weather.  As the population continues to grow and as weather patterns become increasingly fierce, any infrastructure improvements are welcome indeed.

If you haven’t gotten your Blue Mountain ski pass yet, do it this month while they are still on sale.  You can order online and save a good chunk of change if you do it before the end of this month.

Is the snow really coming soon?  Sigh.

When you live in a growing community, there are SO many things happening SO fast that it’s hard to keep up.

Every day, something happens that I think, “Oh, blog readers would be interested in knowing about this” yet it’s impossible to well, keep up!  Lately, I’ve written a fair bit about happenings downtown and here we are yet again.  More news.

Recently, Collingwood council approved a $7.1 million dollar downtown revitalization plan with costs to be shared by the Federal , Provincial and Municipal levels of government ($2 million each) and the BIA ($1 million).  The project will involve upgrading the sidewalks, parking and curbing, new light standards and also amenities such as trees, planters and benches.  Work will commence shortly.

My first reaction to the news was that we have a beautiful downtown and really don’t need to spend that kind of money on this.  After viewing the presentation however, I changed my mind and see the merits and need for such a project.  Certain elements are overdue for replacement or repair and need to be done.  The cost of those alone likely come close to what we’ll pay for the entire project now thanks to the contributions being made by the other levels of government and the BIA.

Have a look at the slide presentation showing the plan and see if you feel the same way. 

I think Collingwood will cement its reputation as being one of the most beautiful downtowns in the country when this project is complete.

I got a notice the other day from the Environment Network in Collingwood that I think will be of interest to all rural property owners.  They are promoting the Well Aware Program  which is a project of Green Communities Canada that receives funding support from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

Well Aware home visits, conducted by trained Water Guides, help rural well owners identify priorities for action to protect their drinking water source. The visits, which are VOLUNTARY, CONFIDENTIAL, and NON-REGULATORY, guide well owners through a self-assessment to help identify and address potential risks to their well water.

This Includes:
• Well owners are guided through a self-assessment to help identify and address
potential risks to their well water
• Recommendations on well maintenance and upgrading
• Water Conservation Tips
• Information on sealing unused wells
• How to correctly take water samples
• Septic Safety Information
• A full written report for the well owner

To arrange well aware home visit for rural well and septic owners in Simcoe and Grey Counties, contact the Environment Network located at 44 St. Marie St. In Collingwood, 705.446.0551 or Toll Free: 866.377.0551 Email: info@environmentnetwork.org

Yes, even paradise can’t escape mother nature.

We had a tornado rip through the area yesterday. It seemed to come from the Kimberley/Markdale area, across the top of Blue and over to Georgian Peaks in Craigleith.

Everyone is abuzz today and we’ve had numerous enquiries from people wanting to know if we are okay. Of course we are and thanks for asking. It passed over in about 20 minutes and left us with blue skies.

Tornados are incredibly precise beasts that zero in on their targets. I know this because I’ve been in two of them (plus 4 hurricanes believe it or not). I drove out to Craigleith this afternoon to check on a couple of our unoccupied listings and thankfully, they are just fine.

Sadly, a number of chalets at Georgian Peaks were badly damaged with one home virtually destroyed and 5 others suffering serious damage. It’s amazing to see huge trees felled like match sticks. I also heard that a tourist bus was over turned into a ditch by the winds but have not heard any further details on that. To the best of my knowledge, nobody was hurt. Thank goodness for that and my heart goes out to those who have been affected across the province.

Back in September 2007, I told you about our foray into the world of real estate investment.  We purchased a condo in Collingwood that we rented to a fantastic family and, we are still very happy with our decision.  There’s more though.  One never knows where things can lead and many things have happened since then.

First, I was elected to the board of directors of the condominium corporation last year.  It’s been a tremendous learning curve but one I am so glad to have taken on.  Having book knowledge of the Condominium Act and all of the inner workings of a corporation is quite different than having practical knowledge as I do now.  Our little corporation may in fact be one of the more complex ones in the area for a variety of reasons and has therefore exposed me to a very wide range of issues from how parking is enforced to condo budgets, reserve studies, property maintenance and management.

When the condo development was first built, it had a playground for the children but over the years, it fell into disrepair and ultimately, it all but disappeared.  Residents have called for its refurbishment for a long time now but money was an obstacle.  This week, all that has changed.

At our last annual meeting, we put forward the idea of establishing a task force of residents to put together a business plan.  It was astounding to see almost every single person at the meeting step up and volunteer to be on the committee.  For the next two months, they worked together.  Our own tenant used his engineering skills to pull together a design.  The parents of one of our residents  donated a swing set and slide.  Other people donated time and equipment for land preparation and, a local company donated tires for edging and playing.  Before you know it, we had a very workable plan at a relatively minor cost.

This past week-end, we called for volunteers and the turnout was outstanding.  From 8 am to 6 pm, residents, property managers, owners and others worked side by side to build the playground.  It was accomplished in a day.  There was a BBQ.  There was lots of laughter.  The kids starting playing before the work was finished.  It was an amazing day.  More than building a playground, it was building a community.  Here are some photo’s: