December 16, 2016

This is it, ladies and gentlemen - the shortest day of the year is this Wednesday! Soon we’ll be able to leave the house in the morning without a headlamp and return in the evening without tripping over the neighbour’s black dog. Sorry, Sheba.

If you were one of the roughly 100 attendees at the annual Kagawong community Christmas concert then you already know that the talent around here is off the charts. The performers’ talents are off the top of the charts; Mike’s comedic talents were off the chart in a … different way. Not only are the people of Billings talented, but they are also very generous, and we managed to raise nearly $400 and collected several boxes of food to donate to Manitoulin Family Resources! If you missed the show, stop by www.Facebook.com/Kagawong1 to view videos of the concert.

It’s never too cold for a movie! Come on by the Billings Library tomorrow night (December 17) to see Florence Foster Jenkins. Show starts at 7pm. Bring the family! Free admission as always. Upcoming titles for January 2017 include Keeping Up With The Joneses and Trolls! Check out the Facebook page for dates and trailers.

There has been plenty of Christmas music filling the air of late. But if you haven’t had quite enough falala’ing, stop by the Main Street Café tomorrow (December 17) from 11:30am until 1pm to join in a community carol sing-a-long! Jamie Ward, local carol devotee, was overheard singing “Fa la la la la, la la la yo.”

The happiest of happy birthday wishes goes out to Hailey who, although she has the sarcasm of an adult, is not actually turning 29 this week, but is about a third of the way there.

Another reminder that the hours at the Kagawong Mall have changed for the winter. Saturday and Sunday stay the same (10am-6pm and 1pm-6pm respectively), but the opening hours for Tuesdays and Thursdays have switched and are now 2:30pm - 6:30pm in order to take advantage of as much daylight as possible.

There’s still time for some last minute shopping! Out of ideas? Team Fergmeijer to the rescue! Here are some unusual gift ideas for that someone special in your life:

• Flowers wilt, candlelight fades, but cockroaches are forever. Have a cockroach at the Bronx Zoo named after your loved one. Show that your love can survive anything, even nuclear fallout.
• Funeral pre-arrangements. Together to the end. Not recommended until at least the second date.
• For those with commitment issues, why not go for the diamond key ring. All the bling, none of the obligation.
• Bacon flowers. Yes, you read that right - flowers made out of bacon. Surely there’s no further explanation necessary for this one.

December 9, 2016

The snow has finally arrived and the town looks so festive with the dusting of the white stuff. Though Team Fergmeijer already misses friction. Remember when that was a thing?

Tomorrow is the community Christmas concert! Bring your whole family out to the Park Centre for 7pm. Admission is by donation with all proceeds going to Manitoulin Family Resources. Don’t miss this annual tradition; rumour has it Santa has RSVP’d!

The west end lost a special soul last week with the passing of Marion Turner. She touched many members of our community, including half of Team Fergmeijer who was lucky enough to have her as a teacher in grade one. Our deepest condolences go out to her family and friends.

John Buie has been keeping busy flirting with nurses off-island this past week. We wish him all the best as Mary drags him home to complete his recovery.

The next movie night is on Saturday, December 17th when the library will be showing Florence Foster Jenkins. Show starts at 7pm. Bring the family! Free admission as always. Check out the Facebook page for trailers!

Students from across Manitoulin performed in the annual Christmas concert at MSS on Tuesday night. We have such dedicated and talented young people. Well done to all the performers!

Another reminder that the hours at the Kagawong Mall have changed for the winter. Saturday and Sunday stay the same (10am-6pm and 1pm-6pm respectively), but the opening hours for Tuesdays and Thursdays have switched and are now 2:30pm - 6:30pm in order to take advantage of as much daylight as possible.

The happiest of happy birthday wishes goes out to loyal reader Laurie who turned 29 last weekend. We’ve had some people question our fact-checking on birthdays since so many people seem to be turning 29. Our stance is people shouldn’t get too worked up about it all. After all, age is just a number. Well, technically, age is a word, but you get the point.

December 2, 2016

Team Fergmeijer had so many people ask us about our exercise regimen of doing diddly-squats, we wanted to be able to share the rest of our workout with you. Our top five exercises include: Jumping to conclusions, Flying off the handle, Carrying things too far, Dodging responsibilities, and Pushing our luck. Let us know how these work out for you!

If you are on Facebook and follow the Kagawong page (www.facebook.com/kagawong1), you will be seeing some memories of Christmas concerts past. Like the time MBB wore a dress and danced across the stage with his ‘sisters.’ The memories will continue to be posted periodically in the lead up to this year’s concert on Saturday, December 10th. The family-friendly event will start at 7pm; admission is by donations with all proceeds going to Manitoulin Family Resources. If you are interested in taking part on-stage, email Team Fergmeijer, make contact through Facebook, or call Mike at 282-8355. As always, talent is completely optional.

The next movie night is on Saturday, December 17th when the library will be showing Florence Foster Jenkins. Show starts at 7pm. Bring the family! Free admission as always. Check out the Facebook page for trailers!

Alles gute zum geburtstag to Nora who turned neunundzwanzig last week. Emma Morano isn’t from Kagawong, but she is an inspiration, having turned 29 eighty-eight times, and Team Fergmeijer thought she deserved a mention!

Have you heard about the new sculpture installations that will be going up throughout the township over the next year? The artists have been selected by community jury and will be here in town for a meet and greet on Thursday Dec. 8th. Pop into the Park Centre between 6:30pm and 8pm to chat with the artists, and to see short presentations on their work in general and their ideas for sculpture in Billings specifically. Contact 4elements for more information (www.facebook.com/4elementslivingart).

We are a bit late in notifying you about this next bit, but we were saving it for a slow news week. Turns out, slow news weeks don’t happen very often in Billings and it’s taken us awhile to get to this one. Without further ado, we would like to remind you that the Kagawong Mall has switched to winter hours. Saturday and Sunday stay the same (10am-6pm and 1pm-6pm respectively), but the opening hours for Tuesdays and Thursdays have switched and are now 2:30pm - 6:30pm in order to take advantage of as much daylight as possible.

Greg and Margaret Lloyd welcomed their first grandchild this week. Congratulations to them, new dad Gavin, and great-grandparents Helen and Clark. We aren’t sure about the specifics of whether the baby is a girl or a boy yet, but would like to point out that ‘Fergmeijer’ is a lovely, gender-neutral name that could work either way.