Zack Williams purchases a $10 token from the cash at The Red Door Store at Haliburton School of Art + Design. He walks to a 1970s era cigarette vending machine, drops the token in a slot, and pulls a knob. And out drops – not cigarettes – but a cigarette packsized box containing a miniature piece of art.

Meet The Great Canadian Art Machine at Fleming College in Haliburton.

Partners, John Ducker, a shop tech at the school, and full-time artist Lori-Anne Crittenden, came up with the local concept.

“A friend saw a very similar idea on vacation and sent me a video and John and I, in separate parts of the house, started looking for machines online,” Crittenden says. “John found some in the United States, got a trailer and his kid and they ventured off to pick them up.”

John picks up the story, saying “this machine came out of Walt’s Inn in Baltimore, Maryland; literally right out of the bar. We had to pick it up on a certain date or they were going to have to pay next year’s cigarette tax on it.”

He said it still had cigarette packages inside. Crittenden, a lapsed smoker, joked, “it had menthols – we haven’t been able to buy in Canada for years. So that struck me as funny.”

That was February 2020. COVID. The couple had a hard time getting parts. Nor could they meet face-to-face with artists they wanted to create the miniatures to put in the boxes in the machine.

“The brake went on hard,” Crittenden said. “We were sitting with a few thousand dollars’ worth of boxes.”

The machine needed cleaning.

They had to adapt it to take tokens, rather than coins. They had to have custom-made tokens. They even required a robotics expert. “As simple a system as it is, it’s rather complicated when you get into the guts,” Ducker said. “He (the robotics expert) was the second largest investment next to boxes, so it wasn’t without stress, but the machine itself, they’re just a lot of fun”

All up, the couple have three machines; one at HSAD, one in Beaverton and one roams for Christmas shows. The Xmas model had its maiden voyage last November at a craft shop. The one at the college is “very popular,” says dean Xavier Massé.

Ducker said it “is really to promote the work of the artists.” And Crittenden said many of those artists are from the HSAD family, either students or past students, or teachers. Scott Walling did the logo.

The machine can hold 800 boxes when fully loaded, and weigh 600-700 pounds.

“It’s funny because everybody wants to be so gentle with it, and I’ve told people ‘you’ve got to pull on the knobs; this thing has been in more bar fights than you can ever imagine. It’s been pounded upon’,” Ducker said.

Crittendon shows some examples of the works. The medium is eclectic, from fused glass to acrylic original paintings and digital work in between. There is fibre and blacksmithing.

It’s a challenge, she said. “Artists, blacksmiths in particular, who are so used to thinking big, shrunk their brains to create ornaments that fit in these boxes.”

Monika Boyd is the community outreach & recruitment officer for HSAD.

She said a lot of people walk the sculpture forest, then pop into the college and its shop, “and this really catches their attention. It’s a great word of mouth thing, but it’s a great way for us to showcase local talent, local artistry, and bring more people in. It’s been a great draw for us.”

The Red Door Store is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You can find the Great Canadian Art Machine on Facebook and Instagram.

Camp Kandalore in Algonquin Highlands will serve as the backdrop of an upcoming major Hollywood feature, by Blumhouse Productions, with filming to begin later this month.

Catherine Crawford, location manager for the movie, appeared before Algonquin Highlands council Nov. 7 seeking permission for crews to park cars along Kanawa Lane, Partridge Lake Road, and at the Stanhope Firefighters Community Centre, while also detailing plans for filming on township property.

Blumhouse is known mainly for producing horror films and while Crawford didn’t reveal any details surrounding the plot or who will be featured, she confirmed filming will mostly take place at night on the campgrounds.

The movie is slated for theatrical release and has the working title ‘Mysterium’. American filmmaker Scott Derrickson, known for his work on horror flicks Sinister, The Black Phone, Deliver Us from Evil, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, as well as Marvel’s Doctor Strange, will direct, with Jason Blum and Robert Cargill serving as producers.

Crews arrived in the County Nov. 7 to prepare the location for filming. Shooting is set to begin Nov. 26 and wrap Dec. 12. All activities in the area will be concluded by Dec. 20, Crawford said.

She estimated the crew to be around 150 people, though not all will be on-site in the Highlands. Due to the large number of people, Crawford said there’s a need for additional parking on top of what’s available at the camp.

“It’s a complicated request – it sounds like you have an awful lot of vehicles to support,” said mayor Liz Danielsen, who expressed concern about cars being parked along the side of municipal roads in the event of a snowfall. “How would the vehicles impact our ability to plow?”

Public works manager Adam Thorn said he had no concerns – saying the roads in question are wide and plows will be able to maneuver around vehicles. Crawford also said workers would move their cars before the road is plowed.

She noted the film crew works long hours – for daytime shoots, staff will be on-site from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m., and for late shoots arriving around 11 a.m. and leaving at 1 a.m. Thorn noted there are no residential properties in the immediate vicinity – though there is a private road leading to cottages on Kushog Lake. Danielsen said she’d like those residents to be notified of the filming, which Crawford agreed to.

The proposal to shoot on municipal land is for the corner of Kandalore Road and Kanawa Lane Nov. 29 from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Crawford said the scene will focus on characters arriving at camp during a blizzard. Kanawa Lane will play as a road off of a highway where actors have to get out of the car to see where the road is. They will drive along Kanawa Lane to the entrance of Camp Kandalore, where they will be greeted by a fictional camp employee on horseback.

She said crews will use a combination of visual and special effects to create artificial snow, which will be blown by large fans.

An application has been submitted to the Ministry of Transportation to close one lane on Hwy. 35 Nov. 29 so a lighting crane can be placed. Crawford said an OPP officer will be on-site to manage traffic.

Council approved the requests on condition a $10,000 damage deposit be submitted to the township, to cover any costs associated with clean-up, which Crawford agreed to.

“We brought [Blumhouse] to Canada rather than New York state, so this is very good [news] for the province and for the township,” Crawford said.

The Haliburton Remembrance Day parade Nov. 11 made its way from the Legion to the Cenotaph on Highland Street for the ceremony.

During the sombre and wet ceremony, veterans and current serving members of the military, were honoured and thanked, some for the ultimate sacrifice for freedom from tyranny.

From First World War through to Afghanistan, Canada has assisted its allies, or been on peacekeeping missions.

The street was lined with families, young children to elders, taking part in remembering why Canadians enjoy the freedom they have today.

Around 100 people gathered around the Minden Cenotaph Nov. 11 to pay their respects to veterans during a rain-soaked Remembrance Day ceremony.

The colour party from the Minden Legion marched along Newcastle Street to begin the service, which was led by Rev. Canon Joan Cavanaugh-Clark from St. Paul’s Church.

There was a scare during the proceedings – a member of the colour party collapsed shortly after the playing of The Last Post, though he was treated by paramedics.

A large crowd, including students and staff from Wilberforce Elementary School, attended the Remembrance Day ceremony in Highlands East Nov. 11.

They gathered in rain at the Cenotaph. Father Ted Morris spoke about modern-day wars and how society has not learned its lesson.

The annual event is organized by the Wilberforce Royal Canadian Legion branch 624, and its ladies’ auxiliary welcomed attendees to lunch after the service.

The Minden and District Horticultural Society hosted more than 120 gardeners from 17 Ontario horticultural societies to conduct business and talk plants Oct. 19 in Minden.

Long-time member Elinor Kernohan said, “this is only the second time in 45 years the Minden group has hosted this event. The last time was about 25 years ago.”

Delegates from as far away as Cobourg and Port Hope were able to take in the fall colours on their drive north and enjoy a locally-catered lunch.

Society president Connie Walker from Carnarvon said, “volunteers had been working for months to organize this important event for people in the gardening community and our efforts were well received.” Walker singled out Carolyn Perks for her contributions to the success of the event.

In addition to the camaraderie, many came to hear keynote speaker, Paul Zammit. Zammit is a professor of horticulture and environmental studies at Niagara College, and well-known garden expert on CBC Radio One.

He challenged his audience to learn to work with the garden by rethinking what is beautiful.

“People come to gardens for more than just pretty plants. They come to relax, to meditate, to photograph insects, and to engage in lifelong learning,” he said.

To support wildlife and the food web that all life requires, he encouraged his audience to stop tidying up their gardens. He asked them to rethink some of their garden practices such as deadheading, bagging leaves, and growing for size and bloom.

“Deadheading your flowers gives you more blooms, but don’t forget your garden also feeds the birds and insects,” he said. He urged his audience to do their best to grow more native plants and avoid invasive species.

He added, “not to worry what the neighbours think and practise chop and drop composting where organic matter is left where it is pruned, rake whole leaves onto garden beds because shredding your leaves kills beneficial caterpillars and other life forms.”

The Minden and District Horticultural Society meets monthly to conduct business and hear from guest speakers. With more than 70 members, the society puts on a well-attended monthly speaker series in the County. Its meetings are open to nonmembers for $5 and new members are welcome. No experience required. The Youth Garden Club organizes fun and educational events for very young gardeners. Volunteers put in most of the plantings in Minden village and along the Riverwalk with support from the Township of Minden Hills. They also redid garden beds at the Minden Legion.