The 17th annual Tour De Forest took place this past weekend, Aug. 5-6, with 25 artists at 12 studios.

Locations ranged all over Haliburton County, easily accessible via the map located on the Tour De Forest website.

This year, there were many new artists along with some veterans who have been participating in the tour for more than 15 years.

The Artbyhart Studio along Hwy. 21 showcased Barbara Hart, Heather Salzman and Lorne Hamilton. “Some of my paintings resemble ponds and lakes and I also have an art collection of ice huts and winter themes,” said Hart, who has been with the tour 11 years.

Glass Eagle Studios along Blairhampton Road, featured artwork by Tom Green, Fernando Diaz de Leon Rendon, James Goodliff and Donna Both. Goodliff said, “I focus on oil paintings mostly and my artwork is inspired by the area surrounding us (Haliburton County).” Goodliff has been with the tour 17 years.

At BGArtworks studio along Bethel Road, Benjamin Gerrooir said, “my art is inspired by colour and travelling. Whenever I travel anywhere, I take a ton of photos for reference. Recently, I’ve been very interested in the Arizona type of artwork.”

This was his first year with the tour and he talked about how he has been doing art for a very long time but has never shown it until now. A lot of his artwork is inspired by different landscapes out west, along with landscapes in and around the Highlands.

For more information on the 2023 Tour De Forest and all 25 artists: haliburtontourdeforest.com/

The Haliburton Highlands Land Trust (HHLT) has announced that Rick Whitteker will be its new Partners in Conservation (PIC) coordinator.

Whitteker’s role will support private landowners who have joined the PIC program, and raise the program’s profile in hopes of recruiting more conservation partners, the HHLT said in a recent media release.

Whitteker has lived in Haliburton County since 1997, originally working for Haliburton Forest as an outdoor educator. He followed that with 15 years at Fleming College as a faculty and coordinator of the Outdoor and Adventure Education program.

Whitteker said, “for many years, I have enjoyed the outdoors recreationally and as a guide, interpreter, writer, and educator. The PIC coordinator position is a great opportunity to give back to nature by supporting private landowner conservation efforts. I am especially excited to be involved in HHLT’s local conservation effort called the Highlands Corridor.”

Shelley Hunt, chair of HHLT, added, “we’re delighted to have Rick fulfill this important role. His experience and enthusiasm for the Highlands Corridor project will help attract further partners in conservation.”

The position will be funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Schad Foundation.

The corridor covers approximately 100,000 hectares and connects three provincial parks in Ontario: Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands, just south of Minden, Kawartha Highlands in northern Peterborough County, and Silent Lake in Highlands East.

The Land Trust says biodiversity is rich in the corridor, with 40 species at risk, 25 provincially-significant species and 43 regionally-rare species. Wetland representation is high at 17.9 per cent, including 4,800 hectares of provinciallysignificant wetlands.

The HHLT is seeking protection of the unceded Crown land within the corridor (60,000 ha.) as a conservation reserve, with the goal of protecting species at risk, providing a natural wildlife corridor, protecting wetland habitats, increasing biodiversity, and strengthening climate change resiliency.

The Land Trust added the PIC program targets landowners committed to landscape conservation with properties that strategically bridge gaps between fragmented Crown land within the corridor. The program provides a property tax incentive for a 10-year term through enrollment in Ontario’s Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program, assisting landowners in developing management plans with objectives of enhancing environmental protection and wildlife habitat.

“The PIC program has been very successful with a current portfolio of 1,740 ha of private land supporting the conservation effort,” the Land Trust said.

For more information on the Land Trust and the PIC program, go to haliburtonlandtrust.ca or email info@ haliburtonlandtrust.ca.

It’s a new era at Miner’s Bay Lodge, the historic 55-acre vacation site that has been welcoming guests to Haliburton County for more than a century.

Boasting 28 cottages, 85 trailer sites, a primary lodge building and several other structures, such as a store and dining room, the business is home to between 300 and 500 people during the peak summer months.

General manager, Darren Powers, said the unique space has been a return destination for families for generations.

“A lot of our business here comes from repeat guests – that probably accounts for 85 per cent of our bookings. We had some guests in July who are on their sixth generation vacationing here. This is very much somewhere people come, keep coming back, and then their children come, and their children’s children come,” Powers said.

Such is the connection guests feel to the property, and the area, a group of 26 repeat vacationers came together to purchase the lodge in 2018 from Russ and Dorothy Wunker. While it’s been a difficult few years, particularly during the pandemic, Powers, who joined the operation in 2021, said business is now booming.

A big reason for that, he said, is a recent change that has opened Miner’s Bay Lodge up to the Highlands community. Starting this year, locals can swing by the dining room, located along Hwy. 35, for meals prepared by a new, five-star chef. Powers said he hosted 104 people for a free dinner in May to launch the service.

“We’re trying to branch out and build relationships. This is such a unique place, we want to introduce as many people as possible to the things we’re doing. There’s always lots going on at the lodge,” he said, noting the store, and kitchen, also offer delivery to nearby cottagers and homeowners.

The kitchen is open seven days a week from noon until 8:30 p.m.

Powers said Miner’s Bay Lodge is also opening itself for private bookings, such as weddings, birthday parties, youth groups, and couples’ retreats.

The most significant change though, Powers notes, is to the lodge’s season. Typically open for 10 weeks during the summer, the facility will be open for 40 weeks starting this year.

“We opened on Jan. 1 and had people here until March break. Then we kicked off the summer season over the May 24 long weekend, and have bookings right through until Thanksgiving,” Powers said. “I have a five-year plan for this place, and the first step was opening it up for longer. It’s too good a spot to sit empty.”

In the name of giving back, Powers kickstarted a ‘Make a Wish’ style program this year that provided free holidays to two families from the London area. He wants to do more of that in the future.

“They were free, no strings attached vacations for families who never would have had the chance to do something like this. The first was for a 16-year-old girl who has cancer and needs to get a bone marrow transplant, so we wanted to do something nice for her and her family,” Powers said.

“This is a very special place to me – I’ve been coming here every year since I was two months old. Now, I work here because I believe in what it stands for, and the smiles we help put on people’s faces. I want to share the spirit of Miner’s Bay Lodge with as many people as possible,” he added.

Anyone who knows a family in need is encouraged to contact Powers at 705-2862978. For more information on the resort, visit minersbaylodge.com.

Owner Wayne Hooks has confirmed the Ethel Curry Gallery will be closing its Haliburton doors Oct. 20.

Hooks said he sent a letter to artists July 26 announcing the decision.

He told them, and The Highlander, he is doing so with a “heavy heart and deep personal and professional disappointment” he can no longer, single-handedly, finance the day-to-day operations.

This decision is excruciatingly hard for me to have to make,” he added.

The gallery was created by Ethel Curry’s nephew, Peter Curry, and his wife Jody, along with Hooks. They all saw the wild beauty inherent in the Highlands. Jody Curry was involved until 2008 when Hooks took it over. It has been a Haliburton institution for 28 years.

Hooks said his resources are depleted and the gallery “is apparently out of customers. The reason for the lack of sales and the decline in customers are numerous, relatively understandable, and entirely beyond my control.”

During a chat Aug. 6 with blues playing from his computer, Hooks said, “there’s nothing in here anyone has to have. We’re selling lots of earrings and snowflakes but you have to sell those (he points to a large painting on a wall) to keep the doors open.

“I think the general doom and gloom that’s descended over the planet for various reasons plays a big part in it.”

He talks about the economy and interest rates. “As everyone’s aware, every time you go to the grocery store, whatever it was last week is up a buck, and so people are just not comfortable buying what we have to sell.”

He emphasized they are a privately-owned, privately-run gallery so do not get council grants such as the Agnes Jamieson Gallery in Minden, or Rails End Gallery in Haliburton.

Hooks said the books made the decision for him in the spring.

“We had a poorer than average year last year, and a poorer than average summer, and the summer is when I have to build up the bank account for the winter and it didn’t happen. So, starting in January, I was paying all the bills myself and about March, when you could see that this cloud was not going to be lifting any time soon, I realized I couldn’t go on.”

Bittersweet

The pending closure is bittersweet, Hooks conceded.

Over the years, they’ve represented and helped more than 250 artists, which Hooks said is significant. The gallery started out local but expanded to mostly Ontario artists, with a few others from across Canada.

“Young artists, established artists, older artists who’ve retired and are trying their hand at it. And I would say we’ve never had a better group, never had better art, in our whole history,” he said.

He is particularly proud of the gallery’s relationship with A.J. VanDrie, recalling, “one of the staff walked in with A.J. in the middle of the summer about 15 years ago. He was standing there with a painting and I said, ‘you’re in.’ He’s a good friend of mine. When he comes up, he paints on my deck. He’s painted me personal paintings. And we’ve sold over 250 and I know people who have 10 of his. And he is one that I’m pretty proud of.”

He added, “if it wasn’t for Brian Atyeo, that whole wall is Brian Atyeo, this gallery wouldn’t be here. He’s internationally known. He used to live outside of Haliburton, with his wife Peggy. Peggy worked here.”

He’ll miss the relationships with artists and chin-wagging with people dropping in. “That is irreplaceable. That I’m going to miss. It has been a wonderful voyage. I don’t regret a minute of it.”

Hooks said over the years, visitors have told him the Ethel Curry is a destination. “Many people mention one of the reasons they come to Haliburton is to come to the gallery.” The public has reacted with “universal disappointment and sadness,” he said.

Hooks added about half of the artists had replied to his letter, and all had been very understanding.

“The quote I use with the reply is usually, ‘well, as Dylan wrote, The Times They Are A-Changin’.”

A pair of Haliburton cottagers are ticked off with Dysart et al township after a mandatory septic inspection earlier this summer mistakenly flagged an issue with their system.

John and Lori Sexton own property along Spruce Lake and had their septic checked by town staffers in May. They were surprised when, following the inspection, they received a notice stating their system didn’t meet municipal standards. The supposed problem was a missing inlet baffle – a device that helps wastewater flow smoothly throughout the septic system.

The Sextons said they questioned the inspectors, who insisted they couldn’t locate the baffle, which typically extends into the top area of the tank. So, they arranged to have someone come in to fix it.

“A contractor came out – he had a camera with him, which he used to find the baffle right away,” Lori said, noting town staffers didn’t use a camera while carrying out the earlier inspection.

The Sextons were billed $170 for the visit. They feel Dysart should cover the “unnecessary” tab.

“We’re out a good chunk of money now because of a mistake, which doesn’t seem right. I don’t know why the township isn’t using a camera for these inspections so they can avoid situations like this,” Lori said. “We are really supportive of these inspections… we just feel it’s not a very good process if the township is making people pay for things that are already there.”

Bri Quinn, supervisor of Dysart’s sewage system maintenance program, described the Sexton’s case as an “oddball” situation. She said a standard flow test, carried out on every system, raised some red flags.

“The effluent wasn’t coming from the inlet opening on the end of the tank, it was coming from somewhere else,” she said, noting she got on the ground and peered her head through the tank opening to see if she could spot the baffle. “We couldn’t see anything, and at that point it wasn’t clear to us [a baffle was installed] and it wasn’t safe for us to try and repel down anymore.”

Quinn said last year, staffers would use their iPhones to take photos inside the tank, but noted the town is moving away from that practice after several phones were dropped and lost. She added the department was looking into purchasing cameras to be used for inspections.

After reporting the issue to her superior, chief building official, Karl Korpela, Quinn said she was confident the Sextons’ case was being handled by the book.

“We’re not repairmen… I’m not comfortable asking [summer students] to go out and basically plunge into a septic tank to find someone’s baffle. So, if it’s not clear to us at the time then it’s something we’re going to ask for proof of,” Quinn said.

Cottager wants more thorough inspections

Gunars Vestfals had his Drag Lake property inspected in June and was told his system required a pump out after the technician found what they believed to be approximately two feet of sludge at the bottom of the tank. This was news to Vestfals, who had his tank drained just a few months earlier. He said his system typically needs pumping every four or five years.

After a contractor came out it was determined the tank had around two inches of actual sludge.

He said he’s out around $315, after going ahead with the second pump out, and is calling on the township to be more thorough in its testing.

“Dysart’s program appears to focus on what they call ‘sludge’. When the depth measurement of it is a third of the tank, being two feet, they insist on a pump out. In reality, most of [that] is suspended sewage, still decomposing,” Vestfals said, pointing out what he perceives to be a key flaw in the township’s testing.

Quinn admitted, “there’s always areas of improvement.” She said staff usually meet every other week to discuss the program, complaints, and any potential changes.

Wilberforce Service Centre co-owner Todd Watling told Highlands East council Aug. 8, the now years-long closure of the IB+O trail to snowmobilers due to a failing bridge has had a significant impact on his and other businesses.

Watling said winter is always slow, as cottagers are not around as much, but snowmobiling traditionally supplements their income.

He said co-owner, Lindsay, has estimated they were down more than $140,000 last year, which is “almost crippling to our business.” He said the winter snowmobile conditions were good, so they can attribute it to the trail closure. “Our numbers should have been up, not down.” He said it was so bad, they considered closing last winter and embarking on renovations earlier.

Watling said they are hearing similar stories from other Wilberforce businesses, including the restaurant. “We just simply get bypassed. They choose their rides elsewhere, other trails, other towns, so it’s been significant.”

The businessman added that as a snowmobiler, he gets at least a dozen inquiries every week about what is happening with the failed bridge that forced Highlands East to close the section of trail. He said he does not have any answers for them. He told council some communication or timeline would be welcome.

Jon Cumming, president of the Paudash Trailblazers Snowmobile Club, also spoke to council. He noted his club has more than 1,500 members, comprising ratepayers. He is also on the board of directors for district two of the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs.

“I want to impress upon council the importance of resolving the problem prior to this winter,” he said.

“Our purpose here today is to tell you about the impact this has had and to express the hope that we will see increased communication and transparency from Highlands East as this project unfolds.”

He noted the OFSC sells 100,000 trail permits annually, with the industry having an estimated economic impact of more than $3 billion in Ontario. He said snowmobilers use goods and services everywhere they go.

The closure of the bridge, and consequently the trail, means local riders cannot do loops and tourist are cut off from connecting trails.

“The loss of this bridge has created a break in our trail system affecting our club, Haliburton County Snowmobile Association and Buckhorn District Snowmobile Club,” he said. “Wilberforce is a hub, has services like restaurants, groceries, and fuel, and it’s been marooned.” He added the break makes it hard for them to groom the trail system. He noted it is affecting summer users too.

“This process has been ongoing for over two years and we still don’t have a really good sense that anything concrete is going to happen and time is ticking away.

“We are really concerned about the pace of which this project has proceeded and what appears to be large time gaps and occasional sidesteps to move this thing to completion.”

Cumming added with the trails committee being disbanded, it’s hard for people to find out what is going on. He said snowmobile clubs want to help but need information.

Mayor Dave Burton said Highlands East would be hosting a meeting Aug. 22 with user groups.

“We have some quotes, some prices on the bridge … we’ll just get together and we’ll have more answers, probably, for you then,” he said. Burton added his goal is to have the bridge in place by November at the latest.

Public works operations manager, Perry Kelly, added pricing had been submitted by two independent bridge supply companies and both prices had been broken out for comparison pricing. “I’m trying to get this bridge installed and opened up before the freeze up this fall,” he said.

Highlands East hired an engineer to assess the wooden bridge in April 2022. The firm, Greer Galloway, recommended the bridge be shut immediately due to structural issues. The inspectors said it was beyond saving. Councillors unanimously voted to close the bridge.

The province is one step closer to establishing a police services board for the County of Haliburton.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General wrote County CAO Mike Rutter July 19. Rutter had submitted the proposal for a detachment board on behalf of the townships.

The spokesperson said all proposals had to go through a thorough review process but confirmed the Haliburton County OPP detachment board proposal had been approved by the Solicitor General to the next step in finalizing the board compositions. That will involve posting to the Ontario Regulatory Registry (ORR).

The ministry is working on drafting the regulation, expected to be available on the ORR for public comment in the summer or fall, the spokesperson said.

“Posting of the regulation is one of the last steps before the regulation can be finalized in advance of bringing the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019 (CSPA) into force in early 2024,” the spokesperson added.

The suggested composition is a sevenperson board, with five councillors, one community representative and one provincial appointment.

On behalf of the Ministry of the Solicitor General, I would like to express my appreciation to all the communities involved in the proposal development process,” the spokesperson said.

“I acknowledge and value the significant efforts undertaken to create a proposal for a detachment board that addresses the unique needs of each community that receives OPP policing services in your detachment.”

The spokesperson added, “the ministry is planning to share more guidance as soon as possible on next steps, with the understanding that municipalities and First Nations require time to plan for the implementation of OPP detachment boards before the CSPA comes into force.”

The mayors used to meet with the Haliburton Highlands detachment commander as part of an informal Community Policing Advisory Committee (CPAC). However, following the CSPA in 2019, the province told municipalities they had until June 7, 2022 to apply for detachment boards.

It’s all part of the new community safety and well-being plan presented to County councillors at a Jan. 26, 2022 meeting.

The owners of the historic Rockcliffe Tavern in downtown Minden have nixed plans to rebuild the site, announcing this week they intend to put the property up for sale.

Friends Dan Gosselin, Kirsty Goodearle, and Mark and Lise Dracup purchased the old bar, located on Bobcaygeon Road, in February 2021 and unveiled grand plans to rebuild the once-popular site. Now, more than two years later, they’re getting ready to relist the property.

“Unfortunately, our discussions with the township of Minden Hills have not progressed the way we would’ve hoped… which is really disappointing, not only to us, but we’re sure many of you. After nearly three years of planning, we are now making the difficult decision to put the original Rockcliffe property back up for sale,” the group said in a post on Facebook.

They will focus their attentions on the Rockcliffe Moore Falls location, which opened in June 2022.

In a recent interview with The Highlander, Gosselin laid the blame for the downtown project failing at the feet of Minden Hills staff and council. He noted the Rockcliffe investors were interested in purchasing a parcel of municipal land beside the rundown building, which has been vacant since 2015, allowing them to rebuild a “bigger, better Rockcliffe.”

Mayor: ‘open for business’

Discussions with the town first took place in October 2021. Shortly after, Gosselin and co. appeared before the previous Minden council, which deemed the land to be surplus. They directed staff to source a survey and come up with a valuation. Months, then years, went by without any update

“We haven’t gotten anywhere – no responses from township staff, no activity, no information. We’ve been told for the past year this is a private council matter and couldn’t be discussed behind closed doors,” Gosselin said.

“When we brought this project on, we knew there would be challenges, but the lack of action has been ridiculous. Had you told me before that Minden is such a terrible place [for entrepreneurs] to get support, we probably wouldn’t have bought it.”

Minden Hills mayor Bob Carter said timelines for the survey were thrown off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said municipalities must go through “a very stringent process” when wanting to sell surplus land and that staff had done everything by the book.

That survey was completed earlier this year, with the land valued at approximately $125,000. Staff then retained a realtor and began the process to put it on the market.

“There were a couple of people who had expressed interest, so we went to them before it went onto the market,” Carter said. “It was always going to go on the market. We can’t just sell it to them, it’s a piece of municipal land. We have to make it available through a fair process, and that’s what we did.”

Carter said any notion that Minden Hills is anti-business, or anti-development is “categorically false.

“We’re totally open for business. Just because they [the Rockcliffe owners] weren’t successful in what they wanted to build doesn’t mean we’re not open for business,” the mayor said. “We can’t show favouritism. Whoever wins the bid may want to build something else. Not everybody has the same ideas.”

Carter noted a deal to sell the property has been agreed and will close later this month.

The group, in their post, say their focus is now entirely on building the Moore Falls location.

“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but we still think we’ve done an incredible thing for the community. We didn’t bring back the old Rockcliffe, but I think we brought something new and exciting,” Gosselin said. “We’re all in on this [Moore Falls] location.”

Editor’s note: The story has been corrected from an earlier edition, which said the township land along Bobcaygeon Road was valued at approximately $1.25 million. The actual value of the land was around $125,000.

Handmade quilt maker, Heather Poppe, is getting her studio ready for the 17th annual Haliburton County Tour De Forest, Aug 5-6.

Poppe hand stitches quilts, afghans, socks, pillows and more in her studio along Hwy. 118 east of Glamorgan Road.

She has been making quilts for more than 60 years.

“I started making quilts on the farm I grew up on in Wilberforce with my mother and grandmother” Poppe said.

She has been part of the Tour De Forest since 2006 and is looking forward to showcasing her work this coming weekend.

Poppe has spent the last three months working on a quilt with a blue heron in the center. She hand stitched each of the feathers and lily pads, which was “time consuming.” She has also spent many months working on several other pieces. One of her favorites is a quilt that showcases two bears and their cubs.

“It almost looks as if this quilt is a picture. I added the border onto it to give it that sort of look,” Poppe said..

For more information on Heather Poppe and the 17th annual Tour De Forest: haliburtontourdeforest.com.