Haliburton’s Matt Duchene will be joining the Dallas Stars this coming National Hockey League season.

He’s committed to a one-year deal after the Nashvlle Predators bought out the remainder of his contract June 30.

“It was a shock to be leaving Nashville, because Nashville is home for my family,” Duchene said during his namesake charity golf tournament at Blairhampton Golf Course July 21.

Duchene had three years left on a sevenyear, $56 million, contract he signed with the Preds in July 2019. The rest of his contract will be paid out within the next three years

“Dallas was my first choice coming out of this, and fortunately, I was able to sign this deal with them,” Duchene said. His one-year deal is worth $3 million.

Duchene said he is “very optimistic” about the 2023-24 season with the Stars. Last season, Dallas lost to the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the western conference finals and the Knights went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Duchene, 32, started his NHL career with the Colorado Avalanche, before moving on to the Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets and then Nashville. Last year, he played 71 games with the Predators, notching 22 goals and 34 assists for 56 points.

He is approaching the 1,000 game milestone, with 976 under his belt. In that time, he has scored 316 goals, and 428 assists for 744 points..

The Eagle Lake Church and Community Centre celebrated its 85th year this past weekend.

Volunteers hosted a BBQ for the community. They also had 114 homemade pies for sale along with crafts and quilts.

A historical display was set up for trips down memory lane.

Most of the sale proceeds are headed back to the church.

Congregation member Russell Whetstone said, “this anniversary means a lot to me and a lot to all of the members of the church.

The church members are my family and I’m really happy we had this event for the community.”

For more information on The Eagle Lake Church, go to eaglelakecc.com.

One-hundred-and-fifty golfers raised more than $209,000 July 21 to help the Haliburton Highlands Health Services Foundation (HHHSF) with money to put towards diagnostic equipment.

HHHSF executive director, Melanie Klodt Wong, said that includes the recently approved CT scanner and mammography unit for Haliburton Highlands Health Services.

“We’re so happy to have all of this support from so many local businesses, sponsors, and Matt Duchene and his family,” she said.

Duchene added, “I’m very proud to be from this community. It’s always an honour to have this tournament in my name and this is going to be our biggest year yet.”

The Blairhampton Golf Club hosted the event this year. The full day of golfing included lunch, an opening ceremony at 12:15 p.m., auctions and prizes and a dinner.

Prior to the event, the tournament organizing committee said it had been working hard over the past few months to engage with previous sponsors and local businesses. Troy Austen, co-chair of the organizing committee and a HHHS Foundation board member, said he was pleased to announce that “over $1 million has now been raised by this long-standing tournament thanks to our friends, family and countywide community. We are beyond thrilled to bring this event to a new level, and to continue to invest in making health care better for all of us.”

This year’s charity event was presented by Ridgewood Ford Sales.

For more information on the HHHS Foundation and the Matt Duchene Charity Golf Classic: hhhs.ca/foundation/eventscampaigns/charity-golf-classic.

No strangers to the Haliburton Highlands, internationally-renowned Annette Blady and Al Van Mil’s collaboration, 2 Part Harmony, is residing in the Corner Gallery until Aug. 10.

Gallery manager, Val Wallin, said she is excited to have Blady and Van Mil showing their work in Haliburton.

“It is an amazing show, the collaboration between the two has produced something completely new.”

Both have been individually creating their own styles of art for a very long time, but for their 40th anniversary decided to do something together. “We didn’t know what it was going to be, so we decided to play and experiment and have fun,” said Blady. “We had some parameters, we wanted something that would be different, something we’ve never seen before.”

That was in 2020, and Blady explained that with so much craziness going on, politically, environmentally, and with COVID, that she and Van Mil thought people had to start, “looking at things in different ways, different angles, different viewpoints.”

Moulding and manipulating fabric, combined with collage work, they co-invented the moulage technique and created 40 pieces for the 40 years they’d been together.

Van Mil said when they decided on the collaboration, they had to think about who they were. “Which led to, we are our paintings. So, we decided, as an experiment, to take a couple of our paintings and cut them up.” Both agreed it was a bit scary, and panicky to begin with, but once they got started and it was going well, “it became somewhat cathartic.”

Blady is known for her style of using texture, fabrics, cut glass and metallic acrylic, as well as her 3D encaustic work that incorporates paper, fabric, and wax. Van Mil leans towards landscapes and portraits as abstracted expressions in acrylics and oils. The combination of such diverse mediums comes together in 2 Part Harmony.

The gallery is at 123 Maple Ave. in Haliburton. It showcases works that provide a new, modern and abstract way of looking at the world around us. Provocative and innovative, part of their mission is to lead the growing recognition of Haliburton village as a destination for fine art.

The Rails End Gallery in Haliburton currently Recto Verso: Stories Visible and Invisible, an exhibit by Bel Angeles, is on display until Aug. 26.

Angeles is a feminist artist who believes in equality, social justice and creativity. Angeles integrates her life experience, background, ethnicity, culture and passions to create powerful acrylic paintings and collage. Her studio is currently near Perth, Ontario and she is a member of the Global Art Project, curated by Carl Heyward. She is also a part of the Ottawa Mixed Media Artists Association.

Curator Laurie Jones said it’s quite different from most art that comes through the gallery.

“I call her an emerging artist, her philosophical views are very well formed. She’s worked all over the world on humanitarian projects.” Jones said.

Visitors are encouraged to interact with, and respond to, the artwork, some of which is presented “recto verso” and intended to be viewed front and back.

In an audio recording accessed by QR code, Angeles says, “Recto Verso is a style of creating art, extremely rarely used by artists around the world to portray images, feelings, and stories on both sides of the panel. I use this method to demonstrate the physical, emotional, and physic energies needed to discover stories hidden, untold, unasked, and unexplored.”

One of her strongest pieces, ‘Power of the normal’ features a white canvas on one side and a collage of photos and words on the other “It addresses a lot of the things that we view as normal,” Jones said.

She added she’s watched people come into the gallery and just sit with one or two pieces and really try to experience the full meaning. Many are conversation starters, such as the degree of privilege scale, which allows people to place a pin on a scale of one to 10 to rank their privilege, whether it be with education, housing, work, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, citizenship, religion, travel, accessibility, or family support.

Gallery hours are Tuesday – Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.. For more information on Bel Angeles and the Rails End Gallery visit railsendgallery.com/ exhibitions-6.

This August, Highlander Katie Woodward is aiming to ride her bicycle 500 kilometres around the County to raise money for SickKids cancer research.

It’s Woodward’s second fundraising summer, and she has increased her goal since last year. In 2022, she set out to pedal 200 kilometres and raise $2,500. This summer, she hopes to generate $6,500.

“I have had family members with cancer as adults. It’s such a horrible thing to go through when you’re older. I can’t imagine kids and their parents and their families having to deal with that,” Woodward said.

She will also be entering a race in September at Haliburton Forest.

She plans to continue her ride past August in hopes of being able to raise more money.

“This is something that anybody can do. I know kids who are actually doing this, and of course adults all the way up to seniors, and you don’t have to ride 500 kilometres. I’ve known people with a goal of 50 kilometres,” Woodward said.

For more information on how to donate to Woodward, and more information on the Great Cycle Challenge: greatcyclechallenge.ca/riders/katiewoodward.

The once vibrant and busy Hollow Valley Resort was left to be reclaimed by nature more than 10 years ago, but Shaun Pennell, and his partner Chris Skrzek, saw something in it, bought it in 2021, and have brought parts of it back to life.

“It has had a long and storied history,” said Skrzek. “It was built as a hunting lodge back in the 40s, and then the 80s and 90s was its heyday as a family campground with the lodge and a tavern at the front of the property.”

The tavern was built in the 30s and people remembered it, according to Pennell. “We hear all these wild stories about, back in the day, what a great place, and stuff like that.” However, the original tavern was slowly sinking into the ground and the previous owners had it torn down approximately five years ago. “Apparently it was a sad day for the community, but it was time for it to go. Our goal is to try and start something new, create new memories,” said Skrzek.

The 10-acre waterfront property is on the Gull River fed by Kawagama Lake that has access to the Lake of Bays at Dorset. “We have seven rooms in the lodge, available since May long weekend,” said Pennell. “Right now, we have cabins that came with the property that we are looking to renovate and/or replace over time. The end goal is to have 33 cabins, the lodge, a live music venue, and then, down the road, we have approvals to build a 20-room hotel with restaurant.”

Pennell and Skrzek are passionate about live music, and that was the shared goal when they became partners in the venture. “An environmentally-friendly, sustainable resort with a major focus on the arts, primarily live music,” explains Pennell. “We are building this in stages. We focused on the lodge first because we wanted to get it up and running as quickly as we could.”

There was an overwhelmingly positive response to the opening of the lounge and bar in February. “We wanted to get the snowmobiling crowd,” said Pennell. “In the 80s and 90s, this used to be a happening place – sleds, cars, music.”

There is live music, on Friday and Saturday nights, on Sunday an open jam night, which has become very popular. “People wondered, why Sunday?” said Pennell, “The locals, and local musicians are the ones that are enjoying that night the most. This room is full of musicians, both performing and in the audience. One night we had about 10 players on the stage having a great time,” said Pennell.

Pennell said that they are building things up slowly, hoping to work on a cabin or two per year. “It’s going to take us a long time to build this thing out to fully realize our dream. But that’s okay with us.”

Highland Hills United Church is making its space more accessible by putting a new elevator in the sanctuary.

“We have been looking into this for a few years. We actually had some plans, but then COVID happened and it put the brakes on everything,” Rev. Max Ward said.

Not everyone attends church services, however at some point in life people have walked through the doors, be it a wedding, a funeral, a concert, a community rental group,” the church’s Deanna Wruth said.

“So when you see people that have to go home because they don’t have enough energy to go back to their car, drive around to the lower level and come in there, well, it is going to be a great gift for them to be able to take part in the function.”

Since people have been coming back to the church, things have started moving forward again on the new elevator. A volunteer committee has been hard at work to put everything in place for the project to commence on Aug. 14. “We have hired a local contractor, James Baldry, to install the lift,” said Wruth. “And the fundraising started on Sunday, July 9.”

The goal for the fundraising campaign is $80,000, and there are several ways that the community can donate as explained by Wruth. “We are organizing a few fundraising opportunities.” She also went on to say that during the month of July, Molly’s BistroBakery has a special $20 meal ticket from which the church receives $8. “In the month of August Mulligans Pub & Patio is offering a $25 meal ticket from which we receive $10, and another in October for $40 and we receive $20.”

Both Rev. Ward and Wruth are pleased with the support they are receiving from the business community and individuals so far however, every little bit helps. “Shout out to everyone who is helping,” said Rev. Ward.

“It is nice to see people get involved,” said Wruth. “We have had one gentleman who has sold over 60 tickets for Molly’s. We also have the option to donate online by going to the church website and clicking on the Lift Us Up tab.”

The completion of the lift is slated for the end of November to mid-December. “We are crossing our fingers,” said Rev. Ward. “There is a lot of work to do, and the committee has been instrumental in moving this along.”

This new lift will ensure that all who visit the church, for whatever reason, have the ability to access both levels of the church for all the events and activities.

For more information, or to donate to the Lift Us Up campaign visit www. highlandhillspc.ca or call 705 286 1470.