There’s a new fluffy addition to the Haliburton Highlands Health Services Foundation (HHHSF) family – and executive director, Melanie Klodt Wong, says it’s one of the cutest arrivals yet.

Each year in the lead up to the holidays, the Foundation releases a stuffed animal for sale to the community, with proceeds topping up the annual ‘Believe in the Magic of Giving’ festive fundraiser. A tradition since 1998, the animals have brought in more than $165,000.

Not to be confused with a hedgehog – this year’s stuffy is an as-yet unnamed porcupine. Klodt Wong said an annual naming contest among HHHS staff will wrap up this week.

“We have lots of fun internally – staff throw out names and then whichever name is picked, that person receives a stuffed toy to take home,” Klodt Wong said. “We’ll be announcing the name next week.”

The animal will go on sale Nov. 29. The cost is $25.

Klodt Wong said they make for great stocking stuffers – so too do 50/50 lottery tickets, with sales for the usual big year-end draw already going well. The pot is currently sitting at almost $2,400 with an entire month to go – the deadline to buy is Dec. 30. Last year’s winner walked away with over $11,000, Klodt Wong said.

There are two early bird draws – Nov. 22 and Dec. 15, with winners getting $500. Tickets can be purchased online at hhhsf5050.ca.

Despite recently completing the monthslong ‘Here for You in the Highlands’ campaign to upgrade diagnostic imaging at the Haliburton hospital, an effort that brought in $6.225 million, Klodt Wong said the Christmas push will assist with more day-today things.

“‘Here for You’ was about getting specific equipment we needed to boost services at HHHS and move us forward. We needed CT, we needed these major changes and upgrades in diagnostics, but that’s only part of what we do. We’ve got community support services, long-term care, and hospital services that constantly require support. We can’t lose sight of that,” she said.

The Foundation typically receives a laundry list of ‘wants’ from hospital staff – this year, they will be focusing on specialist equipment for the emergency department in Haliburton, refurbishing rooms at Hyland Crest and Highland Wood long-term care homes and supporting Meals on Wheels and patient transportation.

During the last fiscal year, the Foundation subsidized 4,435 meals to seniors in the community and partially funded approximately 39,000 kilometres worth of trips for patients attending medical and mental health appointments outside of the County.

Klodt Wong said the Foundation is hoping to eclipse last year’s ‘Believe in the Magic of Giving’ total of $250,000.

“We know we need quite a bit to cover some of the equipment we need for the ER. Even basic, smaller things can run $15,000 to $30,000. So, we need to raise a lot more than that,” she said.

With the ‘Here for You in the Highlands’ campaign wrapped, Klodt Wong said all purchases have been made – a new x-ray will arrive in the ER in early 2025, mammography services should be online by the end of January, while a new ultrasound machine was delivered Nov. 18.

It’s been four decades of “utter chaos” at the helm of one of the County’s busiest construction firms, but Gary Burtch told The Highlander recently he wouldn’t have it any other way.

G.J. Burtch Construction Enterprises recently celebrated its 40th anniversary in the community. Whether managing highend custom cottage builds, fixing decks, or replacing a long-time customer’s door, Burtch said he’s approached every job the same way, embracing his “nothing is too much, or impossible” mantra.

“Respect is always top of mind – any time we’re doing a job for someone, it doesn’t matter if it’s a year-long multi-million-dollar project or a quick afternoon fix, people receive high-quality service with a smile,” Burtch said.

It’s the first thing he learned from his mentor, Grant Rae, when Burtch arrived in the County in 1977. An import from Long Branch, a neighbourhood in Etobicoke, he connected with Rae after dropping out of university and moving north. Rae, who had a hardware store in town, introduced Burtch to John Beachli, who took him on as a labourer.

Burtch started “at the end of a shovel” while working with Beachli, learning from various tradespeople in the area. Within a few years, Burtch had gotten to the point where Rae thought he was better off going on his own – so he did.

“I was 30 when I started the company – Grant basically told me ‘it’s time’. I was scared out of my mind, I had a wife and a three-year-old son and here I was giving up a stable job to start fresh,” Burtch said.

Rae helped him – offering a stable supply of jobs while Burtch got on his feet. He expanded quickly, earning his carpenters license in 1984. By the late 80s, the operation had grown to about 14 employees. It was tough going – Burtch sacrificed a lot to get his business off the ground, but looking back on the fruits of his labour, he says it was all worth it.

Today, the company is a turnkey home builder – managing projects from beginning to end. Burtch’s crew typically deals with framing new builds and dealing with all woodworking detail, hiring in specialists elsewhere. He regularly partners with many other County-based tradespeople – including on a custom chalet-style home Burtch built in 2023. The team was recently recognized by the Ontario Home Builders Association for a best-in-province custom 3,000 sq. ft. home completed south of Minden.

“The perfect way to celebrate 40 years – that is such a prestigious award. To beat out other bigger builders from the big cities is really meaningful. It shows me what I’ve been preaching for decades, that we have incredible talent here in Haliburton County,” Burtch said.

He’s done his best to spread that expertise across the province – Burtch was instrumental in updating guidelines in the Ontario Building Code for SG-7, improving safety practices for guardrail installations for housing and small buildings.

He served on Ontario’s Building Code Commission for 17 years, was on the board of directors for the Ontario Home Builders Association for 30 years, and was one of the founding members of the Haliburton County Home Builder Association when it launched in 1991. Burtch has also taught carpentry at Haliburton School of Art + Design.

Reflecting on some of the major jobs he’s been involved in, Burtch recalls constructing the Dysart fire hall some 30 years ago, and working alongside fellow contractor Shane Sisson to rebuild Sir Sam’s Inn following a fire in 1994. He remembers spending an entire summer cutting down trees and fixing roofs after a tornado touched down near Kennisis Lake in the late 90s.

That was a particularly challenging time – Burtch needed to be in constant contact with his office to find out where he was heading next, but cell phone service was non-existent in the County.

“I had to keep driving from the job site to Kennisis Lake Marina so I could use the pay phone to see where I was headed next. I’d do that multiple times a day,” Burtch said.

He’s seen a lot of change.

“My first cottage was 800 sq. ft. and built on piers. Indoor plumbing was an option back then, so was insulation. Now, we’re building 3,000 sq. ft. plus mega homes fitted with interior automation. We did one place recently where the owner can control everything in his property from his home office – that’s much, much different from when I started,” Burtch said.

While he doesn’t ever see himself completely retiring, Burtch has started to scale back. He sold the business to his son, Andrew, last December though retains a position as a director. He still gets to the office at 6:30 a.m. most days.

“It’s been one hell of a ride – my success is because of my employees. I’ve had lots who have worked with me for 15, 25, 35 years. We went through three recessions together, two of them brutal, but we always found a way to make it work. I’ve always felt we were a close-knit family,” Burtch said.

“The greatest joy I have is that I’m able to pass this on to my son. The company started at my kitchen table, transferred down to my basement, and now we’re on Mallard Road with 1,200 sq. ft. of office space and the biggest woodworking shop in the County,” Burtch said.

It’s been nearly 30 years since Haliburton County’s Carl Dixon and his band Coney Hatch last performed in Lindsay. And, yet, despite numerous gigs since, he still remembers it “vividly.

“We were at the Lindsay Fair outside in summer time, and it was a captive audience of the young people of Lindsay and surrounding towns who wanted to get out and do something on a Friday night, so there we were on the grandstand,” he recalled.

Dixon said this latest show, Nov. 29 at the Flato Academy Theatre, came about as an increasing number of requests do – via the internet. A person from a Bad Company tribute band got a hold of him and said he wanted to put on a show, and would Coney Hatch support the night. The other musician would open the show to get exposure and then Coney Hatch would take over.

“So many gigs these days come about in roundabout fashion,” Dixon said.

He anticipates an audience ranging from people in their 70s – friends of Dixon and his wife Helen Parker from the County – “thrilled I am finally doing a show within driving distance,” but also fans who grew up with the band. Their target audience was always people five to seven years younger than them.

“So, they’re now all appropriately well-heeled to go and do whatever they want; some of them are retired and then their children come along. We have a nice range of ages whenever we do a show.” Dixon believes quality music endures, and when the band gets back together, they have a lot of fun.

“We just laugh our heads off. We’ve been friends for so many years, though ups and downs, and breakups and reunions. Really, the only reason the band got back together again after years of not playing was because of my accident.”

Dixon was critically injured in a car accident in Australia in 2008, and is emotional as he adds, “the old gang said, ‘we have to do this for Carl’.” He refers to the “history, and long road of experiences together and there are things that only we’ll, as a unit, ever know.”

He recalled how in the early years, band members were competitive, but as time went by, they learned how to better co-exist and appreciate each others’ strengths.

Asked what else he is up to; Dixon had a show in Boston this week. He continues to do inspirational speaking, including an upcoming brain injury conference in Toronto. He’s at the Orillia Opera House in early December. Forty years on, the band, with three original members, are still rocking and touring. Coney Hatch has just returned from playing festivals in the UK and France and released a double vinyl album Postcard from Germany. His career does offer “immense variety” with individual gigs in the Highlands, too.

In his own songwriting, he is trying to xpress positivity and hope. He is also fine-tuning his inspirational talks for a postCOVID audience.

“I’m so grateful for this community and to have the life I have here and be embraced by the community the way [I have been].

“I’m just grateful that I’m still here to tell the tale, and have new experiences and also figure out how to go forward more strongly.”

Volunteers from the Haliburton County Master Gardeners (HCMG) have established a three-phase plan to beautify a new green burial section at St. Stephen’s Cemetery, with Algonquin Highlands council supporting the effort.

“HCMG are excited about this project and what it will do for the Highlands,” group member, Carolyn Langdon, told council Nov. 7. “This is a new opportunity for municipalities to further ‘green’ their assets and reduce their carbon footprint.

Volunteers have been working on the plan since last spring, Langdon said, with about 60 hours of donated time used to develop a site plan proposal. Workers also spent time on-site for in-person inspections and to test soil quality, which Langdon said is “very, very poor.

“It is sand and gravel with little organic matter – it is so poor it doesn’t support the growth of turf grass in many places,” Langdon said. “We can assume it hasn’t been top dressed or had any type of fertilizer in the entire history of the cemetery.”

She noted the presence of invasive weeds, such as hawk weed, is also an indicator of poor soil, lacking in texture and nutrients.

The plan includes a recommendation to bring in topsoil and woodchips to rebuild and nourish the soil, Langdon said.

The beautification will take part in three phases – the first around a recently-installed gazebo in the northern portion of the section, which HCMG hopes to complete next spring. They want to plant 150 small trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, with an estimated cost of $5,100. This is mostly for materials, with HCMG donating time to complete the work.

Phase two, proposed for 2026, will see 25 tree and shrub saplings and 50 native wild plants put in along a 15-foot setback near the eastern property line, away from any proposed grave sites. This carries an estimated cost of $2,600.

A third phase, slated for 2027 and beyond, will see another 25 tree and shrub saplings and 50 native wild plants dispersed throughout the 6,000 sq. ft. space that will house the 156 green burial grave plots. Langdon said the plants will be installed as row sections are completed, with 12 graves per row. All sites will be topped with four inches of wood chips, to further encourage soil regeneration.

HCMG has proposed 24 plant and tree types and species for the area, including: mountain ash, white spruce, white pine, eastern white cedar, burr oak, butternut, pagoda dogwood, highbush cranberry, nannyberry, common ninebark, American elderberry, snowberry, meadowsweet, spicebush, Virginia creeper, native bittersweet vine, liatris, New England aster, black eyed Susan, meadow sundrops, pale purple coneflower, lanceleaf coreopsis, pearly everlasting, and little bluestem grass.

Langdon said there would be a dense tree canopy covering the site within 10 years.

“Reduced mowing and increased woodland cover will create a more complex range of habitats, which will have the effect of sequestering carbon, providing a vegetative buffer from the noise and dust of Buckslide Road, and restoring degraded and compacted soil,” Langdon said.”

She added, “additionally, a treed space will provide visitors a place of tranquility and respite from exposure to the elements created by an open space cemetery.”

Mayor Liz Danielsen said she was shocked to see the scope of the proposed works, saying it far exceeded her expectations when council approved exploring beautification last winter. She acknowledged, with HCMG carrying out much of the work, there would need to be policies developed for planting on and donating to the site.

After HCMG recommended installing a pea gravel base around the gazebo, to improve accessibility, Danielsen said work in that area should be paused until public works staff has an opportunity to weigh in. There was also concern over leaving enough room for the potential establishment of a columbarium – a structure that houses urns containing cremated remains – and memorial stone.

Langdon noted new plants will need to be watered for a few weeks after being planted, necessitating a change to the township’s green burial bylaw, which stated no watering. She also recommended public works staff leave things like tree twigs and leaves alone while maintaining the site.

“That’s natural fertilizer for all the plants,” Langdon said.

Deputy mayor Jennifer Dailloux said she would be in favour of that, lauding HCMG for the work they’ve put in.

“I really love what’s being proposed. We’ve been talking about a wildflower meadow since we began this conversation – this is the Algonquin Highlands version of a naturalized burial space,” she said. “This is an excellent example of how natural burial could transpire for our region.”

St. Stephen’s is the only cemetery site in the County where green burials are permitted, with plots available to the public as of spring 2025.