Canada Day in Sharbot Lake

The ceremonies to kick off the annual Sharbot Lake Beach events on Canada Day are always a celebration of the busiest and most joyful day of the year in the village, and this year they included some extra elements.

This year, a colour party from the Sharbot Lake Legion, in formal Legion attire despite the weather, entered and brought the ceremony to order.

After MC Lesley Merrigan led off with a flawless rendition of Oh Canada, Marcie Webster brought greetings from Chief Doreen Davis of the Shabot Obaadjiwan and talked about the bonds between the communities, and the shared responsibility to care for the land. She was then joined in song by Pam Giroux, of the Sisters of The Drum.

Alison Robinson then came up to talk about the newest addition, a project that has taken years in development, a new up-to-date washroom and changeroom building at the north end of the beach, facing Mathew Street, where the K&P Trail enters the Thomson Cut Parkland area.

Robinson, who has had a long involvement with the township's economic development committee, talked about how when people talked about what was needed to improve Sharbot Lake as a tourist destination, “we need a proper washroom at the beach,” was something everyone said.

But saying and doing are two different things, and Alison and others formed a washroom committee, working with Central Frontenac Council to get the project under way.

“It was much more complicated than we first thought. We needed engineering, we needed to work with the Chief Building Official, shout out to Andy Dillon from the township, we needed to get the design, and the funding all in place,” she said.

It took a few years from the first meeting to the first flush, but this June the washroom came into service. It includes two fully accessible, hands-free washrooms, a changeroom, a community bulletin board and a historical display, featuring miniature replicas of the original buildings in the village, commissioned by Peter Bell and made by artist Sylvia Grantins, over 25 years ago.

Alison Robinson wanted to recognise some of the people behind the project, including Bill Bowick, her husband Wayne, Ken Waller, and Cheryl Matson who brought her design skills to bear on the final project, integrating the washroom with the look and feel of the beach and the native tree species project she brought to the beach, several years ago.

Duncan McGregor, who recently resigned his spot on council, oversaw the project for the Economic Development Committee, and she wanted to acknowledge his efforts to bring the project to its end.

Since everyone was already assembled at the bandstand, and there was a strawberry social and a Mason BBQ, between the bandstand and the washroom building, the knife cutting ceremony took place on the bandstand. Mayor Frances Smith cut the ribbon.

Marking 45 years in municipal politics.

Frances Smith had delivered her greetings from the township earlier, saying this was going to be her last year doing so, as she is not running for re-election this fall.

Now it was time to mark that occasion. Councillor Nicki Gowdy presented a certificate of appreciation from MPP John Jordan, and thanked Smith for helping her and many others to learn the ropes of municipal politics.

MP Scott Reid acted as the local historian in his remarks about Fran Smith. He said that her history with Oso Township, which was one of four townships amalgamated into Central Frontenac, goes back more than 40 years, to the late 1970s, when a young Fran Smith served as the Clerk of Oso Township. She entered municipal politics after that, first as a councillor and later as the reeve of Oso Township. She served her first term as Frontenac County Warden in 1996, and presided over the difficult forced amalgamation process that set up the current four township makeup of Frontenac County and the expanded City of Kingston.

Reid wondered whether she had been the first warden of the County. She wasn't, there were three before her. Dorothy Gaylord was the first, in 1976, followed by Barb Sproule in 1982, and Isabel Turner in 1992.

When amalgamation came on in 1998, Fran Smith left municipal politics. She remained away for five years, until 2023 when she was appointed to fill out a term of Central Frontenac Council when a councillor from Oso District resigned with a year left in the term. She ran successfully for council in 2004, 2006, and 2010, all the while working full time in Madoc as a Social Services Manager for Hastings County, and she ran successfully for mayor of Central Frontenac 2014 and has served for three terms since then.

Fran Smith has served as warden three more times, after being elected as Mayor of Central Frontenac, including during the COVID shutdown in 2020. The only other woman to serve multiple terms is Janet Gutowski, also from Central Frontenac, in 2012 and 2013.

She has said that municipal politics gets into your blood, and you keep on going because there is always a new challenge around the corner.

It is also a part of her commitment to the local community, which has led her to other volunteer roles even as the mayor's job has become a full-time role. She has been the chair of the board of the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team for over a decade and can be found washing dishes at the Legion on Friday nights.

She has forged a reputation as a unifying force in all her political roles, managing the competing interests of the four townships at Frontenac County, and the relationship between Staff and Council in Central Frontenac.

Scott Reid pointed out that when strong mayor powers came in a year ago, she was one of the heads of council who handled it well, and maintained a democratic decision-making process in Central Frontenac.

But while she has a well-earned reputation as a politician who is adept at bridging gaps between competing interests, that does not mean she has not been willing to be decisive when necessary.

There was one event that demonstrated this well. In the early summer of one year, there was a gathering of township and business people for a garden party. It was an informal event, and the then Chief Administrator of the township was there. The atmosphere was relaxed as Fran Smith and the administrator chatted with one another and with the group. Nothing seemed amiss.

The next day, he was gone from the township, relieved of his contract.

I asked her if something had come to light that morning, leading to a sudden termination, and she said no, it had been in the works for some time.

“When it comes down to it, you need to make decisions, but I know how to keep things under wraps until it is the right time,” she said.

Volunteers of the Year

The final element of the ceremony was the awarding of the Wanda Harrison honour to the volunteer of the year from each of the four Central Frontenac wards. Wanda Harrison was the volunteer of volunteers in the Arden area for 15 years, and her husband Lorne Hilts has presented the awards each year in her name.

This year the award from Kennebec went to Tom Houghtling for his work with the Kennebec Rec Committee and the resurgent Legion; Arlene Uens from Olden Ward, for the murals she has painted and installed in Mountain Grove, and other community art projects she has driven forward; a mainstay of the District 4 Rec Committee for many years, Lisa Hamilton, won the award in Hinchinbrooke; and Craig Middleton in District 3 (Oso) for his work getting the outdoor rink project to completion, and ongoing and daily (in the winter) work, making sure the ice is smooth and clear.