Councillors here are looking forward to a celebration of local culture from Sept. 27 to 29.
On Sept. 16, council accepted a report from the township’s municipal cultural planning coordinator Elizabeth Bender on the Centre Wellington’s Culture Days 2013.
Prior to that report Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj commented briefly on the township’s Cultural Action Plan.
“The plan notes that culture supports a thriving economy, enhances quality of life, defines the character of a community and encourages social cohesion.”
That, she said, tied in neatly with events of the past weekend, including the local Terry Fox Run, the Stait Park opening, the Fergus Fall Fair and the tarot card exhibit opening night at the Wellington County Museum.
Ross-Zuj said Chris Mulligan put on another well organized Terry Fox run.
“It was a lot of fun and this year and we actually had a Tom Selleck team,” said Ross-Zuj. “I thought we were going to have a special guest in town. I was wrong, they only wanted his mustache. The whole team was wearing Tom Selleck mustaches.”
She estimated that since 1986 the local group has raised close to $200,000 for cancer research.
Ross-Zuj was equally pleased with the turnout and participation in the official opening of Stait Park in Fergus.
“It was community coming together in partnership to create such a beautiful spot and to bring such joy to the parents of these young people.”
Ross-Zuj commented that she also saw one little guy who wasn’t walking, just crawling. And he was able to crawl and get into a swing with no help whatsoever.
“The plan of Andy Speers came together and we were all part of it,” she said.
Councillor Mary Lloyd also considered the event very exciting, especially with Patrick Anderson returning for the event to dedicate the inspiration board and the recognition that there is a four-time Paralympian from the community.
She noted that Anderson said there used to be a little bit of rivalry between Fergus and Elora in hockey and how that has all come together now.
Lloyd said the humour was noted in that a former Elora person had started the campaign to build a park in Fergus.
As to the opening night of the Elora Tarot Project exhibit, Ross-Zuj said “Friday night, the museum was packed. You couldn’t get another person in the museum to see Shelley Carter’s show on tarot cards.
“I don’t know anything about tarot cards, but I started to read about them and it is absolutely fascinating that this card game from the 1400s and 65 local artists all had an assignment to create one of those cards.”
The mayor said she intends to return to the museum to read about all the cards and the people involved.
“It’s a great show out at the museum.”
Giant Passport needed
for 2013 event
Bender explained that Culture Days is a national movement started in 2010 to acknowledge the importance of culture to local communities.
Bender said that nationally last year, there were 1,500-plus events in 850 communities across Canada.
“We hosted our first event last year as part of our cultural action plan,” she said.
At that time, the cultural passport was very successful and the feedback was amazing, Bender said.
Following that success of last year’s Culture Days Passport event, the township is preparing to host its second annual Culture Days Passport next week – Sept. 27, 28 and 29.
The concept of the Culture Passport is simple – pick up a passport; visit participating locations and events; experience what there is to see, hear and do; and collect passport stamps. With four or more stamps a person can submit their passport for a chance to win great prizes from local cultural groups and organizations. All passport activities are free or two for one specials.
In the first year, the idea was that the township would have to come up with an event, but after a quick review, the passport became a way to highlight the many things which were already happening.
“This year our passport has expanded significantly and we are calling it Our Giant Passport. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t keep it down to the size of a regular passport.”
Bender said the passport includes 29 events and include 26 different partners.
“It’s a real showcase of what is happening across Centre Wellington,” she said.
For a detailed list of events check out http://www.centrewellington.ca/departments/parksandrecreation/culturalproject/Pages/default.aspx.
