Anten Mills by Dennis Gannon
Sep. 23, 2024 – This Saturday, September 28 from 10AM until 2PM our community centre will be an extremely busy spot. Why? This is the day many wait year long for as the annual Anten Mills Artisan Craft and Food Fair takes place. This is no run of the mill craft show. All products are handmade and no commercial products are sold. A majority of the vendors are also local. When the first show was held, it was for Anten Mills crafters only. It was thought that this was a great way to showcase local talent. That was a success and has grown to show number four with over 30 vendors registered to participate. There will be handmade fishing lures, charcuterie boards, beauty and health products, various knitted items, honey, baked goods and almost anything else that you can imagine.
To start the day off there is the best pancake breakfast around. For 2 tonnies, you get 2 pancakes and 2 sausages plus the fixings. The great part of this is that all proceeds from this go to the Elmvale and District Food Bank to help them as they help the less fortunate.
An added event this year is a Chili Cook Off. Anten Mills is the home of some pretty good cooks. This year they are able to demonstrate their chili prowess with a contest that the public judges. Eight homemade chilies will be available and from Noon until 1:30 those wanting to have some lunch can try the different chili. There is a nominal cost associated with this of $5 and the proceeds from the lunch will go to support Anten Mills 150. It will be a great day and one not to miss.
Anten Mills 150 has been mentioned in past columns and now can be expanded on. In 1875 the first school house was built in our community. In 1891 the building which is now our community centre was constructed. With the establishment of a school, Anten Mills became a community. Several weeks ago a group of people gathered to discuss if and how we could celebrate being a community for 150 years. There was great enthusiasm from the group with many ideas discussed. All attending agreed we as a community need to celebrate our success, our heritage and our history. Get ready for an exciting first step in the journey to the 150! We’re launching a logo design contest, and we want YOU to be a part of it. The official announcement, complete with all the contest details and criteria, will go live on the Anten Mills Community Bulletin Facebook page this Friday, September 27th at 12 PM. Stay tuned and get your creative juices flowing! This will be a huge step and an opportunity for further actions. To continue the discussions another “brainstorming” meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 8 at the community centre beginning at 7:30 PM. This is open to all residents, current and past and if you have any idea on how we as a community can celebrate you are encouraged to attend.
For the past several years our community billboard sign on Wilson Drive has been in need of some assistance. Letters were falling off and there were holes in the structure. Our Ward 3 Councillor Brad Thompson arranged for some money to be available for the work to be done. Recently a former longtime resident returned to the community and immediately asked how he and his family could again become involved. After some discussion he undertook the task of refurbishing the sign to new condition. A huge thank you goes out to Dave Hawthorne who owns and operates the Glass Doctor for your assistance. The sign looks wonderful and will serve the community for many more years. The sign is available for your messages and the fee charged goes back to support our community events. To arrange for the sign the email contact is antenmillssign@gmail.com.
Regardless of where you live in the area, there is one thing that we all have, our life depends on it working properly and is often overlooked. That item is a smoke alarm. By law wherever anyone sleeps there must be a working smoke alarm. Smoke alarms have come a long way through cost and technology over the past 50 years. The one constant is that when working properly they can save a life. Last year 121 people perished as a result of a fire. Over the past few weeks 10 people or more have died with 4 dying last week in a single fire incident. Everyone gets upset when they hear about someone dying as a result of impaired driving. Yet when they hear about a fire casualty not much concern is raised and the thought of why it occurred doesn’t bring much to mind. The most common reason though is that there wasn’t a working smoke alarm. This Saturday, September 28 is “Saved by the Beep” day in Ontario. It’s the day the fire department wants you to test your smoke alarm. They then want you to pledge that you will do it every month. It’s not a huge task and is easy to do. Fire personnel are going to be at many community events this weekend and into October. They are more than happy to discuss smoke alarms with you and if you don’t have one, they may be able to assist you. Take the pledge and on Saturday, gather your family around, test your smoke alarm and ensure everyone knows what to do when it sounds.
On Saturday September 14 a new star was seen in the sky early in the morning over our community watching over us. That star came as a result of the passing of a community member who was well known, often seen on the rail trail and a valuable community volunteer. Lorie Adams who walked the trail daily with first George then Russel fought a courageous battle against cancer for many years. Unfortunately it was a battle that despite her determination and will won out. She will be greatly missed by everyone that knew her. To Doug, her husband, sons Luke and Joel and daughter Rachel, the community offers our most sincere condolences, Lorie will not be forgotten.
That’s it for this week. Looking forward to seeing people at the community centre on Saturday and at the meeting on October 8. Until then, THANKS for READING, STAY WELL and BE SAFE.
