LOCAL HEADLINES

The Juravinski Cancer Centre Pumpkin Patch, now called Austin’s Pumpkin Patch, is back and as busy as ever. Now in its third year at their new location, 2587 Cockshutt Road, it is hosted by the Sloot and Smith families at Austin’s Pick-Your-Own and Farm Market. You can stop by and get all of your outdoor decorating needs. They offer pumpkins, gourds, corn stalks, straw bales, porch packages, scarecrows and flowers… all for a set donation. All items are donated by generous l

The sun was shining for the 135th Langton Fair on Sept. 17, as it does most years. It lifted spirits as people browsed their exhibits, pounded nails, tied tobacco, bounced on inflatables, or enjoyed the fair food at the Langton Lions Community Sports Complex and the Langton community centre.

With October officially here, it is time to start the countdown to Waterford Pumpkinfest! The 2025 edition of the yearly festival, which marks its 43rd anniversary, will be held Friday, Oct. 17th to Sunday, Oct. 19th. On Saturday, Sept. 27, it was ‘all hands on deck’ at the Foodland parking lot in Waterford for the opening of this year’s Pumpkinfest clothing sales and it was busy!

The idea behind the first Grow and Gather – From Farms to Families event on Sept. 27 was simple – give back to the community. The work involved during harvest season, enormous.

Go big or go home? Norfolk County Championship Wrestling promoter Adam Martin is going BIG in Port Dover with the first Clash on the Coast, Oct. 25 at the Port Dover Community Centre. Clash on the Coast is actually a double-header -two pro wrestling events in one day, along with a value-added meet the legends (free meet and greet) in the morning, vendors all day, an afternoon Q&A session with The Mountie – Jacques Rougeau, and also a private training seminar with Dijak in a

When we think of nature’s beauty, our minds might turn to birds in spring plumage, butterflies sipping nectar from flowers, or deciduous trees in their fall splendour. But as the Sept. 27 Norfolk Field Naturalists’ Mushroom Hike demonstrated, mushrooms are also magnificent in their own way. As local mushroom enthusiast and hike leader Inga Hinnerichsen pointed out, there’s more to mushrooms than meets the eye. Mushrooms are the visible part of many fungi, serving as fruiting

For Mick Gillings, nothing beats the feel of a record in your hands and now he’s bringing that experience to town with his first hosted record show in Simcoe. After participating in multiple shows as a vendor in the United Kingdom and Ontario, Gillings is hosting his first 16-vendor Record Show on Oct. 25 at the Royal Canadian Legion, Simcoe, 200 West Street, running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  $2 entry (donation to Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge). “There will be some CDs but it’s

Catching a 40-plus inch pike in the first night is a good indicator of a good fishing spot.  This was a surprise beginning to a trip to Moose Basin Vacations. I won the trip at the Ruffed Grouse Society dinner in Courtland the year prior, and was looking forward to it for a year. Renovations at the cabin on Allan Lake, west of Kapuskasing, Ont. were recently completed.

The 2025 Norfolk-Oxford Kidney Walk on Sept. 21 did more than surpass its fundraising goals, it knocked it out of the park raising more than $7,650.

Downtown Simcoe Business Improvement Area (BIA) promised – and delivered - ‘everything apple’ for its annual Applefest on Saturday, Sept. 20. “It was a good day,” said Les Anderson, Simcoe BIA coordinator, noting some of the key vendors at the Argyle Street festival included The Apple Place, with their apple donuts and apples; and Riversyde 83 with apple pies and juice.

Gerard Demaiter, 94, had a lot of tobacco experience under his belt going into the 135th Langton Fair tobacco tying competition. “We tied by hand,” said Demaiter, who started tying tobacco when he was 14-15 years old. “Then I got too old to tie and went to the field,” he joked. “Actually, I wasn’t too old, but… by then my sisters were old enough to tie.”

I do enjoy cooking and love to bake but I will admit I have never tackled a meal for hundreds! One local woman has done this not just once but several times… and is busy preparing for her next cooking frenzy.

Makkink’s Flower Farm and Bakery Café has come a long way from its humble roots – a flower table near road. “My business has grown ‘over the years,’ it’s nothing that I planned out,” said Hilde Makkink, noting when she added the cut-your-own flowers service it was a dream come true. “I didn’t say, ‘This is what it has to look like in 10 years or so.’”

Stained glass, metalwork, pottery, and paintings. These are just samples of the kinds of work available for viewing at the 2025 Lynnwood Arts Norfolk Studio Tour Exhibition, currently on display at Lynnwood Arts in Simcoe.

Snapping, compelling photos of wildlife is no easy task as birds, butterflies, deer, and other creatures are not always cooperative subjects.

Jacob Detmar, 22, from Brantford, discovered blind golf almost by accident while volunteering for high school hours. What started as a simple task quickly became a place where he felt at home. Detmar was born with a visual impairment that limits his peripheral vision. His challenge didn’t stop him from joining as a volunteer which kickstarted him into becoming a golf player at Simcoe’s Greens at Renton’s Blind Golf Tournament back in 2022.

While staff, supporters and the community will have to wait another two-plus years for the opening of the Norfolk Haldimand Community Hospice, those in need will continue receiving the help they require.

Renewable energy projects could power more than just people’s homes in the future. At the Sept. 9 council-in-committee meeting, Norfolk councillors approved a staff recommendation to create a community vibrancy fund in light of several alternative energy companies having approached county officials recently about locating a project within Norfolk.

A mobile cancer screening coach, parked at the Norfolk Family Health Team in Simcoe, will return on Nov. 13, followed by every other month, to offer free breast, cervix and colorectal screenings. Dr. Meghan Davis, Regional Primary Care Lead for the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Regional Cancer Program, said the main purpose of the mobile coach is to remove barriers for people who wish to get tested for cancer - even if they’re not experiencing symptoms. 

Norfolk County officials are hoping a new communications strategy will help combat misinformation in the community.