On Oct. 7-8, more than 800 Grade 4-6 students, with their teachers and parent volunteers, gathered at the Kinark Outdoor Centre to take part in the 20th annual Haliburton-Muskoka-Kawartha Children’s Water Festival (HMKCWF).

Students engaged in hands-on fun at 37 activity-based learning stations set up across the site. Elementary schools from across the Trillium Lakelands District School Board and families of local homeschoolers were involved.

HMKCWF coordinator Kara Mitchell said more than 100 volunteers helped children explore the vital connections between water health, ecosystems, and personal and community well-being through motivational experiences.

The festival, a flagship program of the Haliburton-based charity FEEL (Friends of Ecological and Environmental Learning),is organized in partnership with U-Links Centre for Community-Based Research and Kinark. Significant volunteer support came from high school students in the Kawartha Youth Leadership in Sustainability (YLS)
program and Trent University students from the School of the Environment.

This year, 12 community partners including the Turtle Guardians, Kawartha Conservation, the Muskoka Watershed
Council and the Algonquin Highlands Fire Service enriched the programming through hands-on activities. Mitchell said, “students soaked in messages on water conservation, technology, protection and science and came to understand that their attitudes towards water matters and their actions can and will make a difference.”

With a milestone celebrated this year, many of the 90 parent volunteers said they were inspired through their initial
attendance as school children.

Mitchell added through the waterheroes. ca website, students can continue their water stewardship journey. Running until the end of April, students can enter the ‘big splash’ contest by sending in water friendly actions they pledge to do in the year ahead. Donated prizes will be awarded to individuals, classes and schools making inspiring positive impacts on local water systems through their actions.

Mitchell said the festival was possible thanks to support from a diversity of individual donors, local businesses and
service clubs. She added, “FEEL invites local businesses, organizations and individuals to consider donating at any
level to keep our impactful programming flowing.”

The festival will also recognize volunteerswith an event Nov. 1, noon to 3 p.m., at the Highland Hills United Church in Minden.

Mitchell said, “we’ll be acknowledging all supporters, including our groundwater volunteers and donors; those who have been consistent supporters for the past decade.” She said anyone curious about volunteering is welcome to attend.

FEEL says it is committed to advancing public awareness and appreciation of ecosystems through education. HMKCWF is their flagship program. Since the festival began in 2005, more than 16,000 children have benefited.

More information can be found at hmkchildrenswaterfestival@gmail.com, or www.ecoenvirolearn.org, hmkwaterfestival.ca or www.waterheroes.ca

Haliburton County Master Gardener (HCMG) Shelley Fellows said a free workshop being held in Minden later
this month will teach people new ways to beautify garden spaces at home and throughout the community.

The non-profit group is hosting a hands-on workshop for seniors aged 55 and up on Oct. 18. Beginning with
classroom instruction at the Minden Hills Cultural Centre in the morning, attendees will learn about sustainable
gardening practices before getting their hands dirty later in the day at Hyland Crest Long-Term Care – where HCMG is planting a new garden.

The project is being supported by a $10,000 seniors community grant through the Ontario government and can
accommodate up to 25 people.

“The reason we’re doing this as a two-parter is you can learn good things in a classroom setting, but if you really
want to remember them and build your skills, then getting some hands-on experience is important,” said Fellows, who will be leading instruction.

The training component will focus on how people can adjust their technique to account for physical limitations – ensuring anyone who wants to participate, regardless of condition, can do so.

Fellows will also offer tips on how to properly plant different species – from bulbs to shrubs to flowering
perennials. She noted all participants will receive a gift bag containing gardening supplies seniors may find helpful, such as an ergonomic trowel.

“No prior gardening experience or tools are necessary; the program will supply all of the skills development advice
and tools needed free of charge,” Fellows said.

The workshop begins at noon and includes a light lunch. Fellows expects to wrap things up at Hyland Crest by 3:30.

She noted the new garden will be called ‘Betty’s Place’, in honour of a former Hyland Crest resident who recently
passed away. A dedication ceremony will be held at 3:15 p.m.

“We heard Betty’s story when we sat down to meet with Hyland Crest staff about this project. She lived there for
four years and loved to garden – we all thought this would be a great way to honour her,” Fellows said.

The space will feature 150 daffodils, 160 crocus and 80 grape hyacinths, as well as elderberry shrubs, phlox and
peonies, cranesbill geraniums, false sunflower, coral bells, astilbes, ladies mantels, brunnera and some hostas and
ferns.

Fellows said there will be some native plants featured too, like bleeding heart cardinal flowers, creating a bright,
colourful display.

“There’s a lot of purples with pops of pink, yellow and red,” Fellows said. “Something nice for the residents and
visitors there to enjoy.”

Pre-registration is required. Anyone interested can sign-up online at haliburtonmastergardener.com or by calling 705
488-2613.

A quiet evening wasn’t on the cards for Mike and Cheryl Waller – or another resident on Loon Lake – this past Monday (Oct. 6) after a small section of brush along the waterfront ignited and quickly spread across five acres of forest.

The Wallers, who live across the lake from the blaze on Victor Neimi Lane, had just sat down on their deck to enjoy some time outside when Cheryl spotted a red glow across the bay.

“At first it looked like brake lights, but then I said ‘something strange is going on here’,” Cheryl told The Highlander.

Mike raced back to the house to grab his binoculars, but in the minute-or-so he was gone the little red flicker had exploded outwards. Mike called the fire in to the Dysart Fire Department at around 7:45 p.m.

The fire hall, located behind A.J. LaRue Arena, is always busy on Mondays – training night for the local department’s volunteers. Because many were already on-site, Fire Chief Dan Chumbley said 16 firefighters responded – they were on-scene approximately 12 kilometres away within 15 minutes. Six firefighters also arrived from the Highlands East department.

Mike said he was amazed by the quick response. By the time the first truck arrived, the fire had spread to more greenery surrounding a cottage, creating a horseshoe-like appearance across approximately five acres of land.

“I’m really surprised it didn’t get the house, that shocked me. The way it was spreading and how quickly the flames were moving, I thought for sure it was in trouble,” Mike said.

Chumbley said high winds quickly moved the fire past the home, causing superficial damage only. Once on-scene, firefighters worked to push the fire up the hill and away from the lake and other neighbouring properties. The fire was deemed under control late evening, when firefighters were pulled off for safety reasons.

They returned Tuesday morning and extinguished what was left. Chumbley said site clean-up would continue through the week.

In the aftermath, Mike said he’s happy he and his wife decided to go outside when they did.

“If we weren’t out there, we probably wouldn’t have noticed it and the whole area might have been engulfed before anybody else saw it,” Mike said. “It was really quick to spread – it was just like how you see it in the movies, but for it to happen in real life and to see how unpredictable the flames could be, it was an amazing thing to see.”

Cheryl reserved special praise for the responding firefighters, saying the situation “would definitely have been a lot worse” without their quick intervention.

“They were there all night pumping and were back again in the morning… it was amazing work,” she said.

Told they would have to come up with more than $30 million over 10 years to reduce homelessness in the Highlands, County councillors told City of Kawartha Lakes housing staff, and the consultant hired to do a ‘deeply affordable and supportive housing strategy,’ the buck stopped with them.

The County politicians did not approve the strategy and related asks during their Sept. 24 meeting. They want a more detailed look at financials before any action is taken.

After the presentation by Jesse Donaldson, of HelpSeeker Technologies, deputy warden Liz Danielsen commented, “at the risk of being a bit cheeky, I would say this is a deeply unaffordable project to put forward to us, and with an extremely tight timeline given how we would lay out financing for this project.”

In her report, Donaldson said the County would have to come up with the money for an estimated 86 mixed housing units, as well as rent supplements and prevention supports.

Donaldson did stress throughout her report that the County and its four lower-tier municipalities would have to leverage federal and provincial dollars to meet project goals, as well as potential private sector partners.

She said she spent a week in the County and CKL, finding rents to be higher than she would have thought, and acknowledging an affordability crisis.

Donaldson added the cost of inaction would be high. Countywide, she estimated there would be 309 homeless in 10 years, up from 113, if the status quo remained.

She presented three possible models: inaction, stabilization or reduction, focusing on reduction. In Haliburton, it would mean lowering the homeless number to 25 by 2037, down from 143. She added the cost of homelessness is high for emergency services and supportive housing.

Coun. Murray Fearrey said it was a “big problem” requiring getting at the “root cause.

“The big governments have to step up … they have to put the interest rate down so it’s almost zero. We can’t do this. We are going to create a whole other level of poverty by putting taxation up so high that people can’t stay in their modest homes.”

Danielsen added the community needs all types of housing, not just affordable. She said she could not agree to the strategy without seeing the financial projections first, particularly for the County, and the impact on ratepayers. She added she would want to know more about things such as water and sewer capacity in Minden and Haliburton.

CAO Gary Dyke agreed that auxiliary costs for supporting infrastructure were missing from the report.

Coun. Bob Carter added while the federal and provincial governments may chip in, “there is only one taxpayer, whether it’s the feds, province, or municipality. It’s all coming out of the same pocketbook.”

He added there are already 1,400 people on the housing waitlist so this is just part of a bigger picture.

Coun. Cec Ryall said he thought it would be key to attract private sector partners, and Danielsen said they needed to look at prefabricated and tiny homes.

Council accepted the report as information only, requesting financial modeling in 2026.