July 28, 2021

You know, growing up Team Fergmeijer didn’t have a lot of money. We had to use a hand-me-down calculator with no multiplication symbol on it. Times were hard. But these days we’ve started investing in stocks. First chicken, then beef, and now vegetable. It might be risky, but one day it’ll pay off and we’ll be boullionaires!

​​Mayor Anderson and Council intend to pass the 2021 Budget at the August 3rd regular meeting of Billings Town Council. If you would like an invitation to the virtual meeting please email Todd Gordon tgordon@billingstwp.ca before 3pm on the day of the meeting. A computer/tablet/mobile phone and internet connection, or a telephone, are required.

There’s a whole lotta summer left, which means there’s still a whole lotta market! Come on by the pavilion in the lower village from 10am - 3pm every Wednesday for the Kagawong Market. There are over 40 vendors to peruse, and you’ll be sure to find lots of delicious treats, local produce, and one-of-a-kind crafts. Please remember to wear your masks, use the provided hand sanitizer, and social distance where possible.

Very happy birthday wishes go out to Meredith C-N who turned 29 this week. Former Kagawongian and current Calgarian MBB is also celebrating this week. He travelled all the way back to Billings just to ensure he turned 29 this year! Last, but not least, Beth G, another former Kagawongian, is celebrating 29 this week. To all those celebrating, may your day be as special as a unicorn farting rainbows! 

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the Kagawong market and picked up a blind date with a book! The Friends of Billings Library quickly sold out of the mystery books (that came with free coffee and chocolate care of Sugar Bush Coffee House and Manitoulin Chocolate Works) resulting in a great fundraiser for the library. Happy reading!

H&R Noble will be starting work at the outdoor rink at the Park Centre in the near future. Advertising along the new boards is available if you would like to be part of the fundraising efforts for this project. Contact the township office for more information or to donate. Charitable tax receipts are available for donations of $20 or more. 

Got big ideas? Have a vision for Billings Township? The Township will be engaged in the next strategic planning cycle (2022-2025) during 2021. Watch for strategic planning surveys and have your say! The more people who contribute ideas and comments, the better the process and the stronger the plan for the next planning cycle.

Team Fergmeijer isn’t the only team in the township these days - Team Aelick is fundraising for Canadian Liver Foundation "STROLL FOR LIVER". They have raised $500 so far, and good to his word, Wayne dyed his hair green! He’s now asking for help reaching $1000 so he can do the second challenge - shave his hair completely off! To participate in the fun and donate to a great cause, contact awaelick@hotmail.com.  

Lastly, we would like to remind everyone of how lucky we are to live in this part of the world, and to stop complaining about the local wildlife.Racoons are RESOURCEFUL. Skunks are INTELLIGENT. Squirrels are GOOD CLIMBERS.Owls are AGILE. Geese. Deer are GENTLE. Have a good week! 

July 21, 2021

If you have been down to the marina in the last week, you’ll have seen the giant metal pilings that will soon be put in place to shore up the waterline around the marina parking area and church. You may also have seen the large pile driver on the shore, too. Better a pile driver than a bodyslam or a suplex, in our opinion. In any case, the workers unloaded everything in one day without any fuss. Now, we can’t speak for all Mankind, but we haven’t been hearing any Randy Savage comments about the crew doing the work. They haven’t been all Mean Gene or anything; no one acted like Mr. Perfect or made a Big Show about it. They just got the job done, and then simply parted with a Jeff Hardy handshake. We hope these puns aren’t making you wince McMahon or feel like you can’t Paul Bearer any more. Perhaps it is time for us to steer this week’s column at a different Kurt Angle.

The province has entered step 3 of the reopening plan, however there is no real change for most municipal services from step 2. The Municipal Office in the Old Mill is open to the public, but council meetings are still to be attended virtually. Contact tmills@billingstwp.ca by 3:00pm on the day of the council meeting for an invitation. A computer/tablet/mobile phone and internet connection, or a telephone, are required.

One big change with the move to step 3 is that the Old Mill Heritage Centre was finally able to open its doors for the 2021 season last weekend! They are now open 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm. Visit their new Empress of Ireland exhibit. You won’t want to miss it!

Team Fergmeijer went out to a lovely dinner last weekend. At the end, the waiter approached the table and asked if we wanted a box for our leftovers. We said, “No, but we’ll wrestle you for them.” 

Come on by the pavilion in the lower village from 10am - 3pm every Wednesday for the Kagawong Market. There are over 40 vendors to peruse, and you’ll be sure to find lots of delicious treats, local produce, and one-of-a-kind crafts. Please remember to wear your masks, use the provided hand sanitizer, and social distance where possible.

Happy birthday to a couple of Theijsmeijers who are BOTH celebrating today! One is turning 29, but the other isn’t quite there yet. May your guitars be in tune, and your veranda dust-free! Jen C (a former Kagawongian) also turns 29 this week. We hope you drink wine and eat sheet cake until you want to barf! There were also two Fergusons celebrating on Monday! Jen is actually in Billings this week and as such turned 29. Craig was not in the township, so there’s no telling how old he turned… 35?...47?....92? How do the other townships handle the chaos?!

H&R Noble will be starting work at the outdoor rink at the Park Centre in the near future (some unavoidable delays due to the road construction has pushed the schedule back a bit). Advertising along the new boards is available if you would like to be part of the fundraising efforts for this project. Contact the township office for more information or to donate. Charitable tax receipts are available for donations of $20 or more. 

Got big ideas? Have a vision for Billings Township? The Township will be engaged in the next strategic planning cycle (2022-2025) during 2021. Watch for strategic planning surveys and have your say! The more people who contribute ideas and comments, the better the process and the stronger the plan for the next planning cycle.

Arguing with strangers online is like wrestling sharks. Even if you win, it was a really stupid thing to do. Have a great week!

July 14, 2021

Groundbreaking news! Team Fergmeijer heard earlier this week that the road and sidewalk construction through Kagawong is nearing completion! Of course, we haven’t any concrete evidence yet.  We tried talking to the steamroller operator (we hear he’s quite the flatterer!) but couldn’t flag him down. Weirdly, one day while we were watching the workers fasten some steel supports together (it was riveting!), we saw one of the construction workers arguing with a hairdresser over something. They were really going at it hammer and tongs! We wanted to add some more construction puns in honour of the end of the project, but we still have to hammer out some kinks to make sure we nail the delivery. We don’t want to screw them up and have you get board. 

After many delays through the spring, we are happy to announce that the Old Mill Heritage Centre will finally open for the season beginning Friday, July 16th! Stop in - they’ll be open 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm - and visit their new Empress of Ireland exhibit. You won’t want to miss it!

Are you reading this paper on a Wednesday? Then what are you waiting for?! Come on by the pavilion across from the Old Mill in downtown Kagawong from 10am - 3pm every Wednesday for the Kagawong Market. There are over 40 vendors to peruse, and you’ll be sure to find lots of delicious treats, local produce, and one-of-a-kind crafts. Please remember to wear your masks, use the provided hand sanitizer, and social distance where possible.

There are many traditional markers of summer: long, hot days, tourists crowding the falls, evening ice cream cones at the marina and/or variety store. For Team Fergmeijer, it isn’t truly summer until we’ve spotted beloved local celebrity Steve Paikin taking in the quiet joys of our little town. Thankfully, the first Paikin sighting was reported by one half of the Team last week at the market. Have you had a celebrity sighting in the township? Let us know! 

Now that Ontario is in step 2 of the reopening roadmap, the Billings Municipal Office in the Old Mill is open to the public again, but council meetings are still to be attended virtually. Contact tmills@billingstwp.ca by 3:00pm on the day of the council meeting for an invitation. A computer/tablet/mobile phone and internet connection, or a telephone, are required.

H&R Noble will be starting work at the outdoor rink at the Park Centre in the next few weeks. Advertising along the new boards is available if you would like to be part of the fundraising efforts for this project. Contact the township office for more information or to donate.

Happy birthday wishes go out to newly 29 year old, Ardiss F! Age is just a number, but if you find the idea of turning another year older difficult to swallow, try adding some wine. 

While in lockdown, the library and the Billings Heritage Centre have been working on a revamp of the local history book, “How It All Began.” Copies of the new edition will soon be available for sale at the library and museum, as well as at the Kagawong market. 

Got big ideas? Have a vision for Billings Township? The Township will be engaged in the next strategic planning cycle (2022-2025) during 2021. Watch for strategic planning surveys and have your say! The more people who contribute ideas and comments, the better the process and the stronger the plan for the next planning cycle.

We did our laundry today, finally. That was a load off of our mind. Afterward, one half of Team Fergmeijer accidentally dropped all the clean clothes! The other half watched the whole tragic event unfold. Have a great week!

July 7, 2021

Here at Team Fergmeijer, although we have a solid fan base, we accept that not everyone is going to enjoy us all the time. We do get the odd piece of criticism. Just last week, we got a less than friendly message making fun of us for how short we are. It might have hurt our feelings, except that we realized that the worst thing this person could say about us is that there isn’t more of us! 

Today is the day! Come on by the pavilion across from the Old Mill from 10am - 3pm for the first Kagawong market of the summer! Rumour has it there are several dozen vendors from crafts to baked goods, jewelry to fresh vegetables, books to clothing. It’s worth the drive to Kagawong!

As you may have noticed, there has been a wee bit of road works underway in the downtown area. The crew has been working quickly, the weather has been cooperating, and very few surprises have cropped up. All of which means that the work is ahead of schedule overall! Some paving has been started this week (from the highway to the Park Centre), with the remaining work on Main Street continuing for the next few weeks.  Continue to use caution when driving or walking in the area.

Another project set to get underway, H&R Noble will be starting work at the outdoor rink at the Park Centre in the next few weeks. Advertising along the new boards is available if you would like to be part of the fundraising efforts for this project. Contact the township office for more information or to donate.

Now that Ontario is in step 2 of the reopening roadmap, the Municipal Office in the Old Mill is open to the public again, but council meetings are still to be attended virtually. Contact tmills@billingstwp.ca by 3:00pm on the day of the council meeting for an invitation. A computer/tablet/mobile phone and internet connection, or a telephone, are required.

A belated happy birthday goes out to Karen C who turned a glorious 29 last week. Remember, you can’t think of getting older as a bad thing. Think of it this way, if you were scotch, you’d be super expensive!

While in lockdown, the library and the Billings Heritage Centre have been working on a revamp of the local history book, “How It All Began.” Copies of the new edition will soon be available for sale at the library and museum, as well as at the Kagawong market. 

This week, the library is launching their Blind Date With A Book fundraiser. Purchase one of a specially curated collection of books from a variety of genres that have been lovingly enclosed in brown paper wrapping with only the genre and a few clues as to what the book is about. NO author and NO title! Like any good date, your book comes with chocolate (a specialty treat from Manitoulin Chocolate Works), and will take you out for a drink (free coffee compliments of Sugar Bush Canadian Coffee House). In addition to these, there are a selection of other treats, treasures and goodies that might be included with your blind date. Blind date books will be for sale at the Kagawong market starting this week, and supplies are limited!

An upside to all the rain last week is that the burn ban has been lifted! Remember that though bonfires do not require permits, all other fires do. Contact the municipal office for details. 

Got big ideas? Have a vision for Billings Township? The Township will be engaged in the next strategic planning cycle (2022-2025) during 2021. Watch for strategic planning surveys and have your say! The more people who contribute ideas and comments, the better the process and the stronger the plan for the next planning cycle.

Your favourite reporters (or ‘favorite’ for all of our American fans) are officially on holidays this week. Lazy days on the deck and lounging by the lake have had us pondering more big questions about life, the universe and everything. For example, if your front door has a mail slot, are you living in a mailbox? Are beds just wireless chargers for humans? Is a parking ticket just a speeding ticket for going 0km/hr where it isn’t allowed? If a blacksmith hammered your signature from a piece of metal, has he just forged your signature? If a flight school offered short term flying lessons, are they teaching a crash course? Do they make ‘do not touch’ signs in braille? Is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is? Have a great week!