The Highlands Christmas Shindig is returning for its 10th anniversary show later this month.

Taking place at the Haliburton Legion Nov. 24, the annual fundraiser will have a different look this year. Drew Allen has come on board as lead organizer, pivoting from the variety show format that has been in place since the Shindig’s inception to something, he says, will allow for greater audience participation.

Ten-piece blues band Adverse Conditions will be the feature act, performing a variety of hits from popular acts like Abba, Shania Twain, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin. There will be several other musical guests appearing throughout the night.

“I was a part of the show last year when there were 10 acts on the stage. Most people did one or two songs, and it was great, but there was very little audience participation. We want it to be completely different this year,” Allen said. “Because we’re dealing with one act, the audience is going to be very much encouraged to get up, dance, and be part of the show.”

Amy Brohm and Victoria Bingham will be back as hosts, recreating their popular Marple Syrup and Patsy Pine characters.

The change in venue – from the Northern Lights Performing Arts Centre to the Legion – was done to keep costs down and ensure as much money as possible can be directed towards Fuel for Warmth, the Shindig’s primary beneficiary. The event has raised in the ballpark of $30,000 annually since its inception in 2014.

After founder, Mike Jaycock, moved out of the County and several other long-term committee members decided to pursue other things, Allen said the Shindig was in real danger this year. That’s why he decided to step into more of an organizational role.

“The committee was going to disband, people were saying they didn’t think the Shindig was going to happen this year,” Allen said. “I thought to myself, I’d hate to see this really successful thing, that helps so many people, die… so I stepped in. Now we have a refreshed committee of 12 or 13 people, and we’re really excited about this new direction.”

Tickets go on sale this Friday, Nov. 10 and can be purchased at Up River Trading in Haliburton and Minden. The show will begin at 8:30 p.m. – giving people lots of time to get in the door after attending the Haliburton Santa Claus Parade, which is happening the same night. Allen expects there to be between 150 and 200 people in attendance.

“We’re really hoping for a sellout. Last year’s Shindig, ticket sales weren’t as strong as was hoped. Now that things are back to normal after COVID, we expect this will be a popular event,” he said.

The show will also be livestreamed online, with the Shindig partnering with local videographer Tammy Rea. Allen said he hopes this will assist with fundraising efforts, as people will be able to donate from the comfort of their living room.

He’s set a fundraising target of between $35,000 and $40,000.

“I didn’t understand the importance of Shindig until last year, when I was able to speak to some of the people in attendance, and people from Fuel for Warmth. I didn’t realize how many families in Haliburton need help buying things like propane, fuel oil, or firewood,” Allen said. “Fuel for Warmth helps close to 1,000 families every year, so this is a really good cause.”

Brohm, who works with the Haliburton County Paramedic Service, added, “So many people in this community are struggling in silence. People don’t know how, or where to ask for help, so they’ll go without. We’ve referred a lot of people to places like Fuel for Warmth just from responding to calls and seeing they’re living in a home without any heating. People would be shocked if they really knew how many people in this community were struggling.”

For more information on Fuel for Warmth, or to donate, visit fuelforwarmth.com.

Todd Byers spent years working for the automotive industry in Alliston, Ontario.

Meanwhile, his wife, Franca, worked as a legal secretary before switching to homeschooling the couple’s son and daughter.

While both passionate about art, the two prioritized making a living and raising their children, squeezing in art where they could.

Until now.

Todd and Franca sold their farm in Cookstown a couple of years ago. They were planning to retire to Nicaragua, when COVID hit. Plan B saw them find some land in Tory Hill, where they are building a log home and have now opened the Cabin Art Studio.

Todd offers custom illustrations, caricatures and cartoons, while Franca specializes in handmade greeting cards.

“It’s a nice arts community up here in the Haliburton area,” says Todd as he and Franca show their art on a table at their home.

Todd studied illustration at Sheridan College, then he and Franca got married and had kids, and it was more lucrative for him to work in the automotive industry, although he concedes, “doing repetitive shift work on an assembly line is soul crushing for an artist.

“I always loved art and did it freelance on the side. I taught in Mexico with another company, Comix35 Media.” He instructed in cartooning, character design and comic book page layout and will be offering upcoming workshops locally and a week-long intensive course in Quebec this spring.

Todd draws and paints in both digital and traditional media.

Franca, meanwhile, did art all through school and studied graphic design in college. But without a lot of jobs at the time, she ended up working at a law firm, married Todd and they had their children. While homeschooling, a friend introduced her to card-making and as she had always been into arts and crafts, it took.

“I started making birthday cards or Christmas cards for family members. I enjoy creating different cards and having something handmade is always more special.”

Todd adds, “we were always artsy kids and then we just ended up doing life.”

They are now coming full circle, being able to make art a priority. They are also finding Haliburton County to be an inspiring location. “Very much so,” says Todd. “I’m a big fan of, especially, the surrounding lakes and the Birch trees. I like the texture and look of Birch trees and often incorporate them into my paintings.”

As for the studio, Todd said he is doing special orders and commissions for illustrations and caricatures. He also looks forward to teaching a cartooning and character design course in the spring of 2024, “for kids to get out, and keep it affordable, for families up here whose kids are interested in the Sheridan Animation and Illustration programs.” He said he helps students from about age 12 and up with their application portfolios.

Todd said many of us stop drawing when we are five years old. “I actually really prefer kids’ drawings over adults because they’ve broken all the rules because they haven’t learned any. They’re very engaging pieces of art.”

From drawing at home after night shift, to being able to do his own art, accept commissions and teach, Todd said it’s shaping up to be a nice lifestyle change. And with no legal secretary work or homeschooling to be done, the craft table is now permanently set up in Franca’s world.

You can reach Todd and Franca at thecabinartstudio@yahoo.com.

While he might have recently sold his business’ long-time home along County Road 21, Patient News co-founder and CEO, Wayne Lavery, said he’s never been more invested in Haliburton County.

Launched originally as a publishing company in 1993, Patient News has grown substantially in the decades since, boasting almost 4,000 clients in the dental industry, distributing millions of newsletters to practises across the continent bi-weekly, and “changing the game” with revolutionary new software that Lavery says tracks data dentists can use to streamline, and improve, their business.

Reflecting on his 30 years in business in the Highlands, Lavery said it’s been quite the ride.

“Patient News is a little bit different than most businesses in Haliburton, being that we’re located in the community but we do almost all of our business outside the County. We have clients across North America, employees working remotely in the GTA, in the Philippines, Romania, and India,” Lavery said. “It’s a long way from the single skew print company we started out with.” In fact, printing, at least locally, isn’t part of the company’s ethos at all anymore. Lavery said he was forced into the difficult decision of shutting down the printing press, which was located inside Patient News’ home hub, in March 2020. When COVID hit, not only was Lavery forced to close his office – 75 per cent of his clients were also shuttered. That made for a “a tough few months,” Lavery admitted.

The company pivoted, focusing more on its digital software, which Lavery said paid off in a big way. Last year, the company got back on track, posting pre-pandemic levels of profit. This year is shaping up to be a record breaking one, Lavery said.

Asked for his recipe for success, Lavery chuckles – crediting what he calls the world’s most valuable resource.

“It’s the people. Our service differentiates us – I hear it all the time,” Lavery said. “We represent Ben Winters, who has the largest social media presence in the world among dentists, with 20 million followers. When I talk to Ben, he never says ‘I love the website you built for me’, he’s going to say ‘I love working with your company. I love my account manager, my sales executive’. It’s the relationships people gravitate to.”

The company currently employees 34 people full-time, with another 15 or so part-time, and contract workers.

Lavery has fully embraced the work from home lifestyle, which is why people may have noticed a lesser presence at the Patient News Building located beside Haliburton Timber Mart. Lavery said he sold the 16,000 sq. ft. building last year, but rents about 5,500 sq. ft. of floor space for those who like working in an office environment. The rest of the building houses the Haliburton County Development Corporation and a selection of other partners under ‘The Link’ umbrella.

That shouldn’t be seen as a sign that Lavery is looking to get out of the printing and digital management business – far from it. He believes Patient News will continue to grow long into the future, and serve as a beacon for how businesses can maintain a local feel even after going global.

“The digital side is going to fuel our growth – print will still be a strong division for us, but we’re adapting our technologies every day on behalf of our clients. There’s lots of room for growth. Dentistry as a whole is a growing area,” Lavery said.

“Patient News is thriving in Haliburton – we’re very fortunate to call this community home, and with the advancements in internet, I can only see more businesses setting up here. Haliburton draws people in and makes them stick around. I think there’s such potential here now to foster and develop a vibrant business community, full of all different kinds of business,” he added.

For more information, visit patientnews. com.

Gayle Crosmaz says she had an “extremely violent” childhood that left her with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

She eventually went through five years of cognitive behavioural training, and says she earned ‘the courage to come back award’ from PTSD from the Canadian Mental Health Association.

A recent transplant to the Highlands, Crosmaz is offering therapeutic drumming for veterans experiencing PTSD at the Haliburton Legion.

“I understand and honour the veterans from across time,” Crosmaz says. “These people didn’t volunteer, most of the time, to go to war. Sometimes they were forced, or conned or coerced into it, so the blame is certainly not on them. They’re innocent bystanders in a manner of speaking.”

But from her own trauma, she says, “I understand the pain, I understand the suffering, I understand the war and the energies of the soldiers.”

She has offered two circles to date but without a lot of registrations. She added she would like to continue but more veterans need to register. She is also happy for them to bring their partners.

“It’s a group therapy circle,” she explains. “We don’t just drum. We share. Each drum vibration and intention we set will trigger an emotion. Then we share; did anybody feel anything? Do you feel comfortable talking about it?”

Crosmaz said former members of the military are often in a mode of fight or flight.

“Their bodies don’t remember how to feel joy… it doesn’t remember how to feel peace because it’s always in survival mode. With the drumming and the sharing, I had two participants say, ‘this isn’t going to work’ and within the hour, they were both grinning from ear to ear and felt peace for the first time in a long time. And it might have only been a microsecond of peace, but once the body starts to remember, we build on that. Just get a microsecond of peace and then the body remembers what that feels like and wants more of that.”

Crosmaz said the key is often finding the right drum, and beat, that resonates with the person’s vibration. This goes hand-in-hand with the setting of healing intentions.

In some cases, the veterans will work with other veterans, drumming for each other.

Haliburton Legion president Mike Waller took part in one of the sessions. He said he was leery at first, but by the end found the experience “amazing”

“There’s different therapeutic drum beats she uses with the rhythm of your body, your heartbeat. It was amazing to feel the vibration. I’ve done drum circle at the Rails End and that’s amazing too, but this was amazing because it was a different feeling. The way it made your body feel, made my body feel, the way it took you. It’s like a meditation, where you let your mind float too. Where it takes you is kind of really interesting. It was really good.”

Crosmaz offers her therapeutic drumming in seven countries. She’s already booking up from February to midMay of next year.

The Haliburton Legion sessions are free and held on Sundays. People interested in registering should contact the Haliburton Legion.

County of Haliburton physician recruitment coordinator Wendy Welch said her goal is to hire two to three family doctors in 2024.

However, she acknowledged that would still leave the Haliburton Highlands Family Health Team (HHFHT) – which is not accepting new patients – short-staffed.

“For the family medical centre, we are now five physicians short. We have eight on staff and we have openings for five,” Welch said. She was responding to a question from coun. Bob Carter.

He asked her for her goal, noting it did not include the need for emergency room staff, which he said is “obviously a big deal here.”

Carter estimated 50 per cent of the population has a family doctor “and we’re growing” so estimated six to 10 doctors are needed at the HHFHT.

Reporting to council on her work over the past few months, Welch said having two rental properties is helping. There is one on Anson Street in Minden, with a lease in place until June. She said two physicians are staying there, providing relief to the Urgent Care Clinic in Minden. The County also has a rental on Deer Point Lane, Haliburton, for another year. Welch said they have reservations there.

“We’ve had some doctors that are coming back because they’ve enjoyed the stay, the experience of being in town,” Welch said. She added she had feedback from a doctor staying in Minden that ‘you guys make this easy. You make us want to come here.’ “I really think these properties make a big difference.”

That being said, Welch said recruitment is highly competitive. For example, she attended an event for McMaster University with 40 student residents and 38 communities vying for doctors. In addition, “the physicians seem more interested in locum opportunities rather than settling anywhere full-time, unfortunately.”

Welch said their marketing is grabbing attention, in particular posters depicting kayaks parked on a beach as staff parking. She said residents vacationing in the Highlands thought the accompanying billboards were “great”.

She and Haliburton Highlands Health Services acting CEO Veronica Nelson were attending a University of Ottawa recruitment event last week and Welch will be heading to others in the fall and winter.

She told council she has had some success getting temporary staff for inpatient services at the hospital, ER and HHFHT.

She is working with HHHS to try to recruit a medical director for Highland Wood long-term care home.

Welch said one “exciting” development is Queen’s University now has a teaching site at Lakeridge Hospital in Oshawa, “and there is a potential of Haliburton County being exposed to more learners through this program.”

She said she had also run ads in the British Medical Journal. She noted the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) had loosened requirements for doctors from Australia, the UK, the U.S. and Ireland.

She said 22 physicians reached out to her. “Three are very strong leads.”

However, she said it takes about seven weeks to go through the process with the CPSO to get confirmation that the candidates are eligible.”

Welch said she is also looking into the federal government’s Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), a document an employer in Canada may need to get before hiring a foreign worker.

Going forward, Welch said her plan is to attend more recruitment events; identify and create a streamline process or checklist when dealing with international clients; more overseas marketing and engaging directly with med students.

County council wants staff from all four municipalities to look into the possibility of a garbage incinerator for the Highlands.

Coun. Walt McKechnie raised the issue, as he has in the past, during a discussion about expanding the Countywide FoodCycler program, aimed at reducing the amount of organic waste going into landfills.

He said Dysart et al council had a report Oct. 24 on its landfills, “and we have a lot of concerns.

“The amount of money that we’re spending trucking to Peterborough, to Leamington or Chatham or Michigan. How do you think those trucks are running down the highways? To me, we’re hypocrites.” He added he had a “crazy vision” of Haliburton County having a central incinerator “which we all feed and generate some energy.” He said he checks the incinerators in Durham Region and Dysart’s director of public works has told him there is nothing bad going in the air. “All over the world, they’re doing it.

“I just can’t get my head around how we’re just kicking a bad can down the road. Our landfill sites are costing us a lot of money and I think they’re doing a lot of harm to the environment, too, not just with the issues we have at the landfill sites but what’s going in the air.”

Warden Liz Danielsen said McKechnie’s comments “were not out of order” and there had been discussions for a long time about the possibility of incineration. She recalled that when she worked as a reporter, she covered a Dysart et al discussion about a partnership for an incinerator but at the time it was deemed to be unaffordable.

However, she said it was something the service delivery review’s waste management working group could look into. “What’s the feasibility? What would it cost us all if we were to partner on an incinerator?”

Coun. Lisa Schell recalled a study done 12-15 years ago determined the County did not generate enough garbage for an incinerator. “So, we’d actually have garbage trucked into the County.” Since, she said there had probably been new techniques and smaller incinerators “so, it’s definitely something that maybe we should consider.” She noted they also have a greater population than 10 years ago.

McKechnie agreed, saying the cost of operating landfill sites is just going up. “I’d love us all to be, whether it’s the next council, it’s not going to happen overnight in my part of the world, that Haliburton County took the initiative in rural Ontario to generate a proper incinerator and make sure it’s not [putting] anything into the air…”

Coun. Cec Ryall said the service delivery review is dynamic, and issues surrounding aging landfills are not going to go away. “It’s going to get worse and if technology, as we believe, is going to assist in the possibility of coming up with a solution, then we certainly should be investigating it. And if the solution isn’t on the table today, where is it in terms of time?”

Danielsen suggested a motion that the waste management working group look into the possibility of incineration. Coun. Bob Carter moved the motion, suggesting if economies of scale are required, they could talk to the City of Kawartha Lakes. He added incineration could also entail using the heat from the process to heat buildings or produce power. “I think the technology has changed from 12-15 years ago and I think it’s a viable alternative.”

Foodcycler program expanded

During the debate, council gave budget pre-approval to climate change coordinator Korey McKay to expand the Foodcycler program.

She was seeking $83,000 for 2024 expansion. She said staff plan to leverage the funds in a grant application to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Even without a grant, she said they’d like to offer an additional 500 units at the same price as 2023. While she will provide a more fulsome report to a future council meeting, McKay said, “early results indicate the program was extremely successful.” She added comments from users had been “overwhelmingly positive.”

She said it is reducing greenhouse gas emissions from landfills and estimated savings of $166,500 to $222,000 in landfill costs every year.

County coun. Walt McKechnie has wanted an incinerator for some time now,

Eels Lake cottager Sandy Kilgour is calling on the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) to re-evaluate proposed changes to winter ice fishing regulations in the region.

As reported by The Highlander last November, the ministry is looking to implement new legislation that would outlaw ice fishing of brook trout and lake trout on all lakes in Fisheries Management Zone (FMZ) 15, which encompasses Haliburton County, considered to have low natural populations.

In its plan, the MNRF says the zone is experiencing high pressure from a wide range of users, including commercial tourist operators, resident and non-resident anglers, and Indigenous subsistence fishers. Natural Coldwater fish populations have been in decline in the area for years, leading to the ministry proposing new, condensed seasons.

While the plan appears to support the regeneration of fish populations in lakes, it could have the opposite effect on Eels Lake, Kilgour contends. The plan proposes the elimination of all existing winter fish sanctuaries, with the exception of Lake Joseph in Muskoka.

“Eels Lake has been a designated winter fish sanctuary for many, many years – after the exploitation and overharvesting of lake trout, primarily through ice fishing in the 80s and 90s,” he said. “That means there’s no winter fishing for any species at all, it’s closed.”

The new plan introduces a 30-day window for ice fishing on any lake, beginning Jan. 1, 2025.

The Eels Lake Cottagers Association, where Kilgour is a director, launched a petition in June calling on the ministry to maintain Eels Lake’s winter sanctuary designation. To date, it has been signed by 635 people.

The ELCA is worried about the implications of opening Eels Lake up for ice fishing again. He notes a lake trout rehabilitation program, in operation since 2011, has led to a re-emergence of the species in recent years.

Garnet Nelson, a resident of Eels Lake since 1968 and avid angler, agrees.

The program is going really well – there are some natural lake trout coming to the lake, spawning here and thriving here,” Nelson said.

Kilgour said he recently discussed the issue with two resident anglers who have fished on Eels Lake for decades.

They said it takes about 10 years before lake trout begin to spawn themselves and become mature. We’re at that point now, where we’re seeing some positive results,” Kilgour said. “The anglers said of about 200 catches in 2022, 70 of them were natural lake trout that reproduced here. That’s in part because of the winter sanctuary designation.”

The ministry states the 30-day window would allow anglers to fish for attractive species such as walleye, which they contend has a presence in Eels Lake. Nelson doesn’t agree.

“I can assure you there’s no walleye here – they’ve all died out. If we could get the ministry to do a new krill census here, they’d find that out,” Nelson said. He notes the last census was completed 13 years ago. “The data they’re using today and posting online is the same [as back in 2010]. There’s no way those numbers are true or accurate, it’s impossible.”

Kilgour said if ice fishing is permitted on the lake following the implementation of the new plan without modification, it could result in the devastation of the natural lake trout population that has built up over the past decade.

“We’ll be right back at square one,” he said.

“The ministry is saying fishermen will have to put any trout caught back into the water, but even if you come across a responsible angler who would do that… the survival rate of a trout after it’s been pulled from the water is about 50 per cent.”

Another permanent resident of Eels Lake stated to Kilgour over the summer, he remembered looking out at the lake years ago, when there would be 30 or 40 fishing huts out there in the winter.

“I just don’t want to see us get back to that,” Kilgour said. “I want to know what the downside is to allowing Eels Lake to maintain its designation, to continue the lake trout rehabilitation program and really giving it a chance to succeed.”

Nelson added, “Nobody likes fishing more than me and my family, but we realize the sanctuary is in place for a reason. We’re trying to look after the lake as best we can. The stance the ministry is taking is wrong.”

The Highlander was unable to secure an interview with ministry officials, while questions submitted went unanswered.

Ministry spokesperson Sarah Figueiredo said the plan had not yet been finalized.

“MNRF is reviewing and considering the many comments received on the draft plan. Once all comments are considered and feedback is obtained from the FMZ 15 advisory council, it will be posted on the environmental registry of Ontario, along with a summary of the types of comments received and any updates made to the plan,” Figueiredo wrote in an email.

“The implementation of the proposed regulation changes for FMZ 15 requires approval of the draft fisheries management plan. The plan will be implemented following approval,” she added.

It was noted the earliest any changes would come into effect is Jan. 1, 2025.

Mike Waller admits to being “conflicted” about the Commissioner’s Citation for Lifesaving he received at an OPP Central Region awards ceremony Oct. 26.

Waller, who is the president of the Haliburton Legion, shares that the woman he tried to save May 12, 2022 did not make it. She took her own life. Although she was from out-of-County, he feels for her family as well as the people for whom she was staying with when the tragic incident occurred.

However, OPP felt his knowledge, and use of First Aid, attempting to save a life in Dysart et al was deserving of being honoured. Waller and another local, Doug Austin, were recognized during the awards ceremony in Orillia.

Waller recalls that when the ice went out on Loon Lake that day, the water was rough and cold.

“I was sitting in my sunroom and I noticed a person out on the lake, which was strange because of the weather.

He said the person was standing up in a paddleboat and, it appeared, was trying to fill it with water.

His wife, Cheryl came in and asked, “what’s that person doing out on the lake? and I said ‘I think she’s trying to commit suicide’.”

Cheryl said, “you have to go out and help her and I said ‘I’m not going out.”

However, he went down to the shoreline and got into his boat with a blanket that Cheryl had given him. She worked at Whitby Mental Health Centre for 41 years (now called Ontario Shores for Mental Health Sciences), which is why Mike had an idea of what might be going on.

“I went out, got to her, was talking to her for quite a bit. I was able to talk her into my boat. I tied a rope to the paddle boat to pull it with us.”

They began boating towards where the woman was staying. He said the woman stood up once and he told her to sit down because he didn’t want the boat to tip in the two-foot waves. She sat back down.

“Then all of a sudden, she stood up and said ‘I want to die’ and she dove in the water.” Waller untied the paddle boat and went over to try to throw her the rope a few times but she wouldn’t grab it.

Waller went to Austin’s dock, and asked him to get in the boat because he needed help.

By the time they got back out in the water, the woman was facedown. They pulled her into the boat and Waller started CPR. Meanwhile, Austin’s wife called 911.

They went to Austin’s dock with the woman and continued CPR while waiting for EMS. However, the woman passed away.

Austin said when Waller called out to him, “you don’t give it a second thought.” However, “it was a sad, sad, day.”

Waller said he takes some solace in the fact the body was recovered, and not lost on the lake. In that way, there would have been some closure for the family and friends. He added it puts a spotlight on mental health issues.

The fact he went from an initial instinct of not going out, to doing what he did, “that’s what you should do, right?” Waller says.

“But I do feel conflicted because it wasn’t a Hollywood ending.”

Waller added being honoured for what they did hasn’t phased him much. “I’d have been more satisfied if she had survived. That’s where it’s sad. I’ll always think about it now when I’m out there.”