May 3, 2019

Happy Sprin…. uh, Wint…, umm…. Sprinter? Wiing? Here’s hoping Mother Nature makes up her mind soon.

If you are (or know of) any teenagers still looking for a summer job, the township has a position open with the museum. Resumes can be submitted to the township office. 

Itching to get out of the house and enjoy the warmer weather? Come out for the Billings Township community clean-up and bottle drive! Meet Sunday, May 5 at 1:30pm at the Park Centre. Don’t forget your rubber boots and work gloves, as well as a mug or water bottle... there will be a free BBQ and lemonade for all participants. Let’s make our community shine!

Flower box adoptees - we will be meeting at the Anglican church on Saturday at 2pm to go over the locations of available flower boxes and to review the requirements for adoption. Don’t worry, no background checks! If you haven’t signed up already, drop us a line (kagawong@live.ca) or contact Linda Ferguson (aka Mama Fergmeijer), or just show up on Saturday. In a related note, shout out to Meg at the town office who has been incredibly helpful to getting the information put together.

 

This Sunday, at the high school, the Classic School of Dance presents... the timeless tale Beauty and the Beast. Admission $10. Children 12 and under free. All proceeds to the Classic School of Dance Student Fund. 

KAGAWONG WATER SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT: The annual valve/hydrant and water main flushing will take place May 9-10, 2019. Any discolouration in your tap water is not a health concern, and water can be cleared by running taps. If more information is required, contact the Municipal Office at 705 282-2611.

Looking for Council meeting minutes, or committees of council meeting minutes? Look no further than the Billings Township webpage: http://billingstwp.ca , which we’re sure stands for Billings: Trails, Waterfall, Poutine. 

Never underestimate a Kagawongian with a deck of cards! The Billings Recreation Committee is looking for 2 volunteers to organize & manage the Kagawong Euchre Tournament held every third Wednesday of the month. Please contact Phyllis at 705-692-7248 if interested.

Expecting Star Wars puns ahead of May the Fourth, were you? Are we getting that predictable? Can’t we just let Qui-Gons be Qui-Gons? Anyway, we tried opening our PDF archive of jokes but had trouble. Tech support told us that Adobe Wan Kenobi was our only hope. We were waiting to be connected to tech support for a long time, but thankfully our favourite Jedi rock band was playing while we were on hold: Bon Jovi-Wan Kenobi. Last, but not least, a friendly reminder that taxes should be filed by now. If you haven’t filed your taxes yet, get on it! And don’t be like the Tuskens who cheat on their taxes. They always single file to hide their numbers.  Have a great week!

April 26, 2019

Team Fergmeijer has received an official report from the Easter Bunny, now that all its Easter duties are complete: Over 80 youth stopped by the Park Centre last Saturday to hunt down more than 600 eggs! Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy the morning.

If you are (or know of) any teenagers still looking for a summer job, the township has a position open with the museum. Resumes can be submitted to the township office. 

With the weather so lovely and spring-like, we here at Team Fergmeijer spent a lot of time on the long weekend gazing at the sky, cloud-watching, and thinking deep thoughts. Like, what if the person who named walkie talkies was in charge of naming other things? Would stamps be lickey stickies? A defibrillator, hearty starty? Bumble bees could be known as fuzzy buzzy, and a pregnancy test could be a maybe baby.  

Calling all green thumbs - the community flower boxes are up for adoption for the growing season. Take on a flower box, plant what you love, water it over the summer, and bask in the admiration and gratitude of a thankful populace. Let us know if you are interested in joining the movement! 

Looking for a little night music? On Wednesday, May 1, all island schools are performing in a concert at Manitoulin Secondary to contribute to the Joan Mantle Trust Fund, which provides money for instruments for several of the concert band programs in island schools. The concert starts at 7:00pm; tickets are available at the door.

Happy birthday to Jean W who celebrated her 29th this week. We’d be more hyped up about it if we weren’t so jealous of her tan after her week of lounging on a sunny beach down south. Also turning 29 is honourary Kagawongian Marilyn P. who we hope will be back at her happy place by the lake very soon!

The MSS S.H.A.R.E/Go Green group is organizing a water walk across the island on Saturday, May 11. Walkers will walk from dawn until supper along two routes (one starting at Misery Bay Provincial Park and going along highway 540, and one starting at Wiikwemkoong), both ending at Manitoulin Secondary in time for a celebratory feast. If you are interested in walking with the group, sponsoring a walker, or offering your washroom as a pit stop for walkers, please contact Chris Theijsmeijer at 705 968-0404 for more information.

At time of writing, the smelts are running! Feel free to share your smelt fishing secrets on the Kagawong Facebook page. 

Looking for Council meeting minutes, or committees of council meeting minutes? Look no further than the Billings Township webpage: http://billingstwp.ca , which we’re sure stands for Billings: Truly Whimsically Picturesque. 

Never underestimate a Kagawongian with a deck of cards! The Billings Recreation Committee is looking for 2 volunteers to organize & manage the Kagawong Euchre Tournament held every third Wednesday of the month. Please contact Phyllis at 705-692-7248 if interested.

While the weather was good last weekend, we went for a bit of a road trip. We finally stopped at this small food stand that said ‘Lobster Tails - $2’ Well, we weren’t going to pass up that deal so we paid our $2 to the old man running the stand. We weren’t disappointed as he started, “Once upon a time, there was this lobster…”

April 19, 2019

Get ready for a hippity-hop good time at the annual Easter egg hunt on Saturday, April 20! Come out to the Park Centre at 10AM to hunt for chocolatey goodness. And don’t forget… if you find an egg in the grass and it’s not wrapped in colourful foil, it’s not chocolate! Not to brag or anything, but our memories are so bad that we can hide our own Easter eggs. 

Home sweet home! As of Wednesday, April 10, the Town Office is back in the Old Mill. Mayor Anderson was sad to see the end of his yellow office, but is glad to have the team back together in the clubhouse again. Rumour has it the interior may be getting a sun-shiny facelift to remind Mr. Mayor of those brief, glorious days. 

Are black jelly beans the Easter equivalent of a lump of coal for naughty children?

Looking for a little night music? On Wednesday, May 1, all island schools are performing in a concert at Manitoulin Secondary to contribute to the Joan Mantle Trust Fund, which provides money for instruments for several of the concert band programs in island schools. The concert starts at 7:00pm; tickets are available at the door.

Never take financial advice from the Easter bunny. He sees nothing wrong with putting all your eggs in one basket. 

Happy birthday to Maya H who celebrated her 29th last Sunday! 

Calling all green thumbs - the community flower boxes are up for adoption for the growing season. Take on a flower box, plant what you love, water it over the summer, and bask in the admiration and gratitude of a thankful populace. Let us know if you are interested in joining the movement! 

The MSS S.H.A.R.E/Go Green group is also organizing a water walk across the island on Saturday, May 11. Walkers will walk from dawn until supper along two routes (one starting at Misery Bay Provincial Park and going along highway 540, and one starting at Wiikwemkoong), both ending at Manitoulin Secondary in time for a celebratory feast. If you are interested in walking with the group, sponsoring a walker, or offering your washroom as a pit stop for walkers, please contact Chris Theijsmeijer at 705 968-0404 for more information.

With this unusual winter and spring, it’s less clear than ever when the smelts will start running. For all we know, they’ve already snuck up river for the season. Keep an eye on the Kagawong Facebook page for any news on the fishy front. 

Looking for Council meeting minutes, or committees of council meeting minutes? Look no further than the Billings Township webpage: http://billingstwp.ca , which we’re sure stands for Billings! Turkeys Without Propriety.

When rabbits take group photos, do they give each other people ears?

The Billings Recreation Committee is looking for 2 volunteers to organize & manage the Kagawong Euchre Tournament held every third Wednesday of the month. Please contact Phyllis at 705-692-7248 if interested.

Our final thought for the day comes from a young fan who offered us the following:

How do you catch an unique bunny? Unique up on it! How do you catch a tame bunny? Tame way - unique up on it! Have a great week!

April 12, 2019

It would appear spring is working really hard to make itself known. It seems safe to declare cold season is coming to an end. Just in time for allergy season to start. 

Interested in a hip-hop concert? Well, there’s nothing like that happening in Billings. However, there WILL be a hippity-hop good time at the annual Easter egg hunt on Sunday, April 20! Come out to the Park Centre at 10AM to hunt for chocolatey goodness. And don’t forget… if you find an egg in the grass and it’s not wrapped in colourful foil, it’s not chocolate!

Welcome home! As of Wednesday, April 10, the Town Office will be located back in the Old Mill, at 15 Old Mill Drive. Turns out the cabanas weren’t needed after all.

Looking for a little night music? On Wednesday, May 1, all island schools are performing in a concert at Manitoulin Secondary to contribute to the Joan Mantle Trust Fund, which provides money for instruments for several of the concert band programs in island schools. The concert starts at 7:00pm; tickets are available at the door.

Got some dirty work that needs doing? Look no further! The MSS S.H.A.R.E/Go Green group is looking to support Cat Lake First Nation Reserve by raising money to go toward food basket donations, and to do so, they are willing to clean up your yard for spring! Teams of three to four students will work for $15 (total) an hour on a weekend to do yard work, raking, even snow shovelling at this point! Contact Yana Bauer (bauery@rscloud.ca) to arrange for a team to come to your house.

The MSS S.H.A.R.E/Go Green group is also organizing a water walk across the island on Saturday, May 11. Walkers will walk from dawn until supper along two routes (one starting at Misery Bay Provincial Park and going along highway 540, and one starting at Wiikwemkoong), both ending at Manitoulin Secondary in time for a celebratory feast. If you are interested in walking with the group, sponsoring a walker, or offering your washroom as a pit stop for walkers, please contact Chris Theijsmeijer at 705 968-0404 for more information. 

We here at Team Fergmeijer don’t get as much fan mail as one might think, but we wanted to share an inquiry we had this week following the school PD day on Monday. Amy H wrote us asking, “What wine pairs well with having your kids home all day? Asking for a friend.” We aren’t big wine drinkers, but we do know whatever you go with, wine is just win with an e on the end!

Looking for Council meeting minutes, or committees of council meeting minutes? Look no further than the Billings Township webpage: http://billingstwp.ca , which we’re sure stands for Billings! Truly Wacky People.

The results from last week’s euchre tournament are: 1st Karen Noble & Myra Duncanson; 2nd Mike & Susan Arbour; 3rd Diane Laroque & Phyllis Cacciotti; Most Loners Karen Noble & Myra Duncanson; Low Score Chris Bigras & Dorothy Antoine; Door Prize Chris Bigras. 

The Billings Recreation Committee is looking for 2 volunteers to organize & manage the Kagawong Euchre Tournament held every third Wednesday of the month. Please contact Phyllis at 705-692-7248 if interested.

What does the Easter Rabbit get for making a basket? Two points just like everybody! Have a great week!

April 5, 2019

Sure enough, within 24 hours of submitting the column for publication last week, not one, not two, but THREE people reported seeing sandhill cranes, all within 3 hours of each other. Congratulations to Peter G on being the first to sight the elusive bird. Although we feel he had an unfair advantage - all that practice strutting around like an actual crane gave him a leg up on the competition. Thank you to everyone who reported their sightings!

Honourable mention goes to Willa W who was the first to report actually HEARING sandhill cranes this spring!

Happy birthday to Sharon A who turns 29 on Monday.  Many happy returns!

Looking for Council meeting minutes, or committees of council meeting minutes? Look no farther than the Billings Township webpage: http://billingstwp.ca , which we’re sure stands for Billings, Totally Wonderful Place.

The township still has an opening for a summer student at the museum. Contact the town office (which is still in the Park Centre for the time being) for more information.

Our loyal readers know that we strive for the highest of journalistic standards in our little column, so it pains us to have to report we made an error in last week's edition. We mistakenly reported the release of upcoming cookbook “Chocolate Covered Failure”. It seems this book is not a cookbook, but rather an autobiography. Our apologies. 

 

Have a great week!

March 29, 2019

With the end of March comes the beginning of April. As we trade lions for lambs (and hopefully snow for daffodils), we hope everyone has a wonderful April Fool’s day on Tuesday!

At time of writing, the elusive sandhill crane has yet to be seen or heard, though a couple of Canada geese were spotted at Riverside on Tuesday, presumably on the hunt for french fries. The 2019 Great Billings Sandhill Crane Spotting Competition continues until we hear of the first sighting! If you see or hear these iconic critters in the fields or flying overhead, let us know (kagawong@live.ca). The first to notify us wins bragging rights for the next year and the official Sandhill Spotting trophy! 

Team Fergmeijer is sending healthy thoughts out to Denis this week as he recovers from what we can only assume is the plague. We appreciate the volunteers keeping our landfill going in his absence, but no one can truly replace Denis.

As self-appointed, self-important, unofficial, unrealistic, unauthorized, informal, insubstantial, uninvited, unauthenticated, uninformed, unsubstantiated, uncorroborated, unknown, unratified, unorthodox, unapproved, unlicensed, unsanctioned, undercover, underappreciated members of the new Rebranding Committee, Team Fergmeijer has launched a new contest to help rebrand the township: a limerick to represent the fabulousness that is Billings Township! We are still accepting submissions to kagawong@live.ca… be sure to get yours in! Sadly, nobody submitted one this week, so we pulled this one from the vault:

When Kagawong events transpire,

Or an update on gossip, you require:

We report on what’s new

And most of it’s true!

We are, yours truly, Fergmeijer!

Happy birthday to Micki B who turns 29 today. Once a Kagawongian, always a Kagawongian.

As you know, the de-moulding process at the Old Mill has been taking longer than expected, and no date of completion has been determined. In order to free up the Park Centre, the township office staff has agreed to relocate to the colourful cabanas until further notice. Deputy clerk Megan Bonenfant was quite pleased, saying, “I always wanted my own office!” Mayor Ian Anderson, with an executive order, claimed the yellow one for his own before anyone else could call dibs. “It’s always been my favourite colour,” he said. Move-in date is scheduled for April 1. 

Of importance to all Kagawongians, a petition is making its way through the township, requesting a name change for the town. The anonymous creator of the petition, known only as MBB, feels that the village name should be more closely tied to the geographic location along Mudge Bay. The petition suggests the village be renamed Mudge. A second petition, acknowledging that the geographical location is just as important as the historical name of Kagawong, proposes a combination of the two: Mudgewong. A referendum ballot is scheduled for Tuesday, April 1; stop by the purple cabana that day to vote.

Two local cooking enthusiasts have recently announced they are writing a new cookbook. This newest effort is a follow-up to their as-yet-unpublished (and incomplete) debut effort titled, “Soy Tubes and Yuck Patties.” You can look for their sophomore effort, “Chocolate-Covered Failure” to be in bookstores April 1, 2027. You can also look on Youtube for their cooking channel “Cooking with Jill and Heather” (but since they have yet to post anything you might not find them). 

Have a great week!

March 22, 2019

The 2019 Great Billings Sandhill Crane Spotting Competition has officially started! If you see or hear these iconic critters in the fields or flying overhead, let us know. The first to notify us wins bragging rights for the next year! There’s even talk of a trophy...

As self-appointed, unofficial, unauthorized, informal, insubstantial, uninvited, unauthenticated, unsubstantiated uncorroborated, unratified, unorthodox, unapproved, unlicensed, unsanctioned members of the new Rebranding Committee, Team Fergmeijer has launched a new contest to help rebrand the township: a limerick to represent the fabulousness that is Billings Township! We are still accepting submissions to kagawong@live.ca… be sure to get yours in! Submitted by the Kagawong Gobble Brigade:

When I think of an animal that’s quirky,

Yet stately, highfalutin’, and perky,

Out by the hill, 

They never stand still!

I speak of the noble wild turkey.

Submitted by an anonymous reader (though there was a suspicious chocolatey smudge on one corner of the email):

Unique things in Kagawong? Please!

We’ve streets that are named after trees.  

Our mascot is Plucky;

The turkeys are clucky!

And the First Lady of Chocolate is Louise. 

Today is the last day to sign up for the MBA 2019 Basketball Association. Leagues available for Junior (grades 1-4) and Intermediate (grades 5-8) players, starting the week of April 1. Contact manitoulinsports@gmail.com for more information, or search Manitoulin Basketball Association on Facebook

Happy birthday to Sharon J who celebrates the tenth anniversary of her 19th birthday today. 

The MSS Music Program, led by Chris Theijsmeijer, is having a Roast Beef Dinner & Dance fundraiser at the Burpee-Mills complex tomorrow night (Saturday, March 23) at 6pm. Music students will be performing after the meal, and you’ll be able to dance the night away to the toe-tapping tunes of Missy and the Speed Wobbles. Tickets are $20 per person, and are available by calling 705 968-0404, or at the door.

Do you have photographs from any decade for St. Paul's on the Hill? The search is on in order to create a photo collage with a written history of St. Paul's for display at the church. Photos can be of any event wedding, christening, youth group, UCW. Your original photos will be returned. Drop us a line if you have any you would like to share, or contact Deb Flaxman directly.

The Township of Billings is currently seeking members for the new Lake Kagawong Resource Committee. The committee is looking for seven (7) members of the public representing permanent and seasonal residents as well as the local business community. The committee terms of reference are available on the public documents page of the township website. If you are interested in this volunteer position and are an eligible elector in the township, please submit a letter outlining your qualifications to Kathy McDonald at kmcdonald@billingstwp.ca. The deadline for applications is March 26, 2019.

Have a great week!