Was NOTL the busiest small town in Canada last weekend?
Along with the regular summer weekend activities in our wonderful sports parks and playgrounds, I finally gave up on the idea of trying to keep up with the various special “once-a-year” offerings.
Forgive me if I miss a few, but here’s what I remember: Wednesday evening at the Irish Harp, musicians speaking with Brazilian accents and wearing Scottish kilts, played their high energy non-stop music as a packed house drummed on the tables and applauded.
Banda Taverna, a Celtic band, was a definite hit with the locals, and the Guinness was thick, creamy and cold. Great fun and so very cultural.
Another big step outside of my musical comfort zone. Whadda town …
Friday during the day, really expensive and shiny sports cars took over part of Queen Street, parking on both sides of our main street and restricting access to retail shops and restaurants.
I’m not judgmental, but who are these young people with way too much money to spend on their rides?
Even our normally hard-to-rattle lord mayor seemed a bit tentative as he drove a very, very expensive and shiny car west on Queen Street, looking for his designated parking spot. Fancy schmancy, eh?
Saturday was proof that perfect weather makes the marketing people and event staff look like geniuses.
Local farmers and merchants were all in for the Peach Festival this year, with Cheese Secrets having to run out for more pumpernickel bread four times in a determined attempt to keep ahead of lined-up visitors hoping to bite into the “World’s Best Grilled Cheese Sandwich.”
Their sandwiches were expensive, but fairly priced, and definitely the world’s best.
Gyros on the Lake, a true gem tucked neatly onto Queen Street a couple of doors down from the LCBO, had all hands on deck, and deftly enjoyed a record revenue day.
Their Greek flag flew all day and it was “Greek street food at its best.” Fairly priced, too. I love their spanokopita, better than you can find on the Plaka in Athens.
Allow me to ramble down the street to the architecturally bland post office, where the very noisy corn on the cob machines were delighting visitors.
I love fresh corn and don’t mind paying top dollar for authentic local food. Maybe $3 a cob would have been fair, but don’t gouge me at $5 a cob. I have my inviable purchasing principles.
Sunday, during the day, St. Vincent de Paul Church outdid itself with this year’s Peach Festival.
It really is easy to get confused, isn’t it?
All the while, the Kinsmen Show and Shine was in full macho swing over by the Kinsmen Scout Hall and, again, perfect weather made Ray Hobbs and his dedicated team look like event planning whiz kids. Attaboys!
Between people in town for our many special events, and people enjoying my historical and hysterical free walking tours, I kibbitz and chat with a lot of people every week.
My most thought-provoking conversation of the weekend was with Prof. Keith Martin and his wife, Rebecca Cairns, all the way from Boone in the beautiful Appalachian state of North Carolina.
They were celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary, dining in several winery and downtown restaurants and taking so many pictures of our Queen Street and private residence flower gardens.
They had quickly fallen in love with our town and were intuitive in their observations. True culture buffs, they were due to enjoy eight Shaw performances.
Yes, they called us friendly and helpful, but they were flummoxed by the street signs on George Manor and Royal Albion Place.
They have chosen not to live in gated communities in the American south and had been made to feel uncomfortable as they drove and walked on NOTL’s “private streets.” On private roads, in a private residential community?
I had asked about these weird situations a few years ago, but still haven’t received a good response from anyone at the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. Do our town employees use our two trucks to shovel the snow?
Is this not pretentious and exclusionary in our wonderful little semi-socialist country?
What’s up?
