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You’re in for a real treat on Sunday Jan 7, 2018 “The Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra” directed by Cindy McCall is an all ages group of 40+ fiddlers, with guitar, percussion, piano & penny Whistle, viola, bass, cello, and flute...
OnSunday, December 3rd at 2:00 PM, the fine local band, The Tritones, will be presenting a concert at the MERA Schoolhouse in McDonalds Corners. The Tritones is an original Jazz, Funk Jam Band. Playing the compositions of guitarist Franc van Oort,...
Come on out and dance for a great cause! On Friday, November 17, the Guatemala Stove Project is hosting a fundraising dance featuring the talented local band, Under the Covers. This band will have you up on your feet and dancing all night. This...
The 15th Annual MERA Christmas Fair is the perfect place to shop locally, support local artists and artisans and to support Community Arts at MERA (McDonalds Corners/Elphin Recreation and Arts) which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. This...
Officers from the Lanark County Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) assisted by Technical Traffic Collision continue to investigate a fatal collision on Highway 7, in Tay Valley Township.Officers were called to the scene just west of...
The small straw bale building in the parking lot of the Fall River Pub and Grill at Hwy. 7 and the Elphin-Maberly Road is back in business. In past summers a coffee shop has been open at that location, and now it is the home of the new Maberly...
Making a useful basket from a tree trunk could be a mystery for any one other than an indigenous person. For many years our First Nations people have traditionally used the trunk of a black ash tree to provide the fine splints for basketmaking. This...
On Friday, May 26th, 2017, members of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Lanark County detachment and Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau (OCEB) executed a Controlled Drugs and Substances Act search warrant on a rural property and residence in the...
A three-person jury has chosen a winner for this year’s Award Of Excellence in Fine Arts and Fine Crafts supporting the work of Fibre Artist and Quilt Maker, Bridget O’Flaherty. Jurors Sunny Kerr, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Agnes...
MERA is proud to announce that the internationally claimed Celtic duo of Mairi Rankin and Allie Robertson will be presenting a concert at MERA in McDonald’s Corners on Sunday, June 4th at 2:00 PM. Mairi Rankin brings all the talent and vibrancy of...
The annual Perth Festival of the Maples has been a welcome rite of spring since 1976. As the festival celebrates its 41st anniversary, maple syrup producers, business vendors, entertainers, visitors and local residents alike recognize the yearly...
The Friends of Lanark County and the National Farmers Union Local Chapter present "Pollinators, People And Pesticides", a speaking event that will interest members of the community who care about the pollinator crisis and human environmental health...
Every couple of years, Elphin’s Jenny Whiteley seemed to put out a record. They were all different, all expressions of the things she was thinking about, the music she was making at the time. Then, after her fifth solo record, she stopped...
The McDonalds Cornere Agricultural Society has cancelled its spring poultry auction, which was set for this Saturday, due to an advisory issued through OMAFRA and the Feather Board Command Centre concerning poultry Infectious Laryngotraceitism ILT....
Three well-known and beloved local artists have come together and created an exhibition in Dean Hall at MERA for the month of February. Come at meet these delighted people on Sunday. February 5th at 2 PM Here is what these talented artists have to...
Free garden seeds! Free garden advice! What a great way to spend a winter Saturday morning! For the sixth year in a row, the McDonald’s Corners Farmers’ Market invites you to bring seeds and friends to our annual Seed Swap – and take home...
Although gardening season seems to be far into the future, it is not too early to make plans for ‘the best garden ever” Seed catalogues have arrived, with photos of sumptuous vegetables, gorgeous blooms and delicious fruit. Seed catalogues are a...
(Township of Lanark Highlands, ON) – On the afternoon of Friday 25th November 2016, officers from the Lanark County Detachment of The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were despatched to the 2nd Concession of Dalhousie. Township of Lanark Highlands,...
The Tay Valley Community Choir is pleased to once again stage a Christmas concert, this year titled An 1816 Christmas to help celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the founding of Tay Valley Township. The Choir has selected a series of songs for...
From October 15 to 17, Lene Rasmussen, a master basketmaker from Wainfleet, Ont., gave two workshops on weaving with natural, unprocessed willow at the MERA (McDonalds Corners/Elphin Recreation and Arts) schoolhouse in McDonalds Corners. Rasmussen...
Jim Bryson is an acclaimed Canadian singer/songwriter who has toured and recorded with many other top-drawer Canadian artists such as Kathleen Edwards, Oh Susanna, the Weakerthans, and even the now legendary Tragically Hip. He has recorded five...
The four storytellers that performed at Fieldwork in Mabery last Saturday, thought carefully about which story to bring. Earlier in the year Fieldwork and 2 women productions from Ottawa walked the land and felt the history of both the land and the...
Cape Breton fiddler Anita MacDonald and piper Ben Miller make a musically explosive combination which might just be the next big thing from that storied island. Their four-piece band, which includes Tyson Chen on piano and Zakk Cormier on guitar,...
On September 18, Maberly Hall hosted an afternoon of music as part of the Festival of Small Halls, which started on September 14 and runs until October 2. The festival was inspired by the spirit of small hall festivals in PEI and Australia and is...
New local service for kids with ADHD and Autism Amanda Neadow, standing with her sons Jason and Dawson, opened the JDN Center for Children in Perth on September 10. The center will provide ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) Therapy and parent...
The Sundance Artisan Show was held in Maberly on the Labour Day weekend at the scenic property along the Fall River behind the Fall River Restaurant at Highway 7 and County Road 36. It was a “must see; must go; mark your calendars for next time if...
Photo: Frit Flava Vase by Alexi Hunter The Sundance Artisan Show is marking its 10th year. For the past five years the show has been held on the picturesque Fall River, at a wooded site right behind the Fall River Restaurant on Highway #7 and Road...
Organizers of the Silver Lake Pow Wow are gearing up for another end of summer gathering of friends and neighbours at Silver lake Provincial Park. The Drum this year, the Soaring Eagle Singers, are a group that has been at the Pow Wow in the past,...
This Saturday, the 134th annual fair will take place in Maberly. To coincide with the Tay Valley 200th Anniversary, the theme is “Heritage”. The light horse show beginning at 9:00 am sharp. The opening parade of the ‘biggest little fair to...
If you want to have some fun, meet new friends and make beautiful music with others, then the Tay Valley Community Choir may be the place for you. The choir meets on Monday nights from 6:00 to 7:30 pm alternating between the Maberly Hall and Lanark...
A comic delight is on stage until August 14 at Perth's Classic Theatre Festival, the uproarious Shaw comedy, Arms and the Man (with, left to right, Lindsay Robinson, Lana Sugarman and Scott Clarkson). The colourful, fast-moving show brought standing...
On July 13, 2016, heavy smoke could be seen rolling along the CP Rail tracks from Glen Tay in Tay Valley Township to Churchill Road in Drummond/North Elmsley Township as firefighters battled a series of out of control bush fires along Highways 7 and...
The Lanark Highlands Basketry Museum is holding a series of workshops this summer and below is the schedule. July 23: Discover birch bark and spruce roots. Make a small container, knife holster, or beads. July 30: Continue birch bark. Aug 6 & 13:...
A Company of Fools are the actors, and the McDonalds Corners Farmers’ Market are your hosts on Wednesday, July 20 for a summer evening’s “torchlight Shakespeare” entertainment featuring duelling knights, dastardly pirates, proper princesses,...
The Lanark Highlands Basketry Museum, which is founded and curated by Ankaret Dean, held its grand opening on Saturday, May 28. The new museum is possibly the only museum in the world to focus on the techniques of using natural materials to make...
Kevin Fenner has a lot of experience in the roofing business. He worked in an industrial setting as the manager of a roofing company during boom years in Alberta, and after moving to Ontario 15 years ago he built a company with 25 employees...
Looking for something creative and enjoyable for your children or grandchildren this summer? Consider enrolling them in MERA’s 12th annual Arts Camp for Kids for children ages seven to 12 (or 13) at the heritage MERA Schoolhouse in McDonalds...
A number of Tay Valley residents are upset about a Lanark County-sponsored program to spray the herbicide Clearview on road allowances adjacent to county roads in order to remove infestations of wild parsnip. Tay Valley Council has not approved the...
On May 22, 2016, Silver Lake Wesleyan Camp formally dedicated their new water-slide. As if summer camp wasn't already fun enough! The dedication event was a great success, with well over 200 people from the community near and far coming to commit...
Saturday, May 28, from 11-3, will see the opening of a new museum in McDonalds Corners in Lanark Highlands to celebrate the world of basketry. Located in a 1930's stable, the Lanark Highlands Basketry Museum houses a collection of over 200 items, a...
An abandoned old car sits in a field. Not an unusual sight on a back road in Lanark County, or anywhere else in Eastern Ontario. Did someone try and fix it up but then give up when they could not get parts? It's an old car, a white 70s era Cadillac,...
On April 23, the Blue Skies Fiddle Orchestra (BSFO) Jam-a-thon took place at the Maberly Hall. This year's Jam-a-thon, which was a fundraiser for the orchestra, also celebrated Tay Valley Township's 200th anniversary of the Perth Military Settlement...
On April 16, music lovers were treated to a concert celebrating 200 years of history in Tay Valley. The concert, titled “Tay Valley 200th: A Song Celebration”, was performed by the Tay Valley Community Choir at the Maberly Hall. It blended a...
This Saturday, April 23, is the annual Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra Jam-a-thon at the Maberly Hall from 1pm to 6pm. The Jam-a-thon supports the orchestra and will also celebrate Tay Valley Township's 200th anniversary of the Perth Military...
There is likely no individual better able to inspire those interested in Canada's far north, and in particular the Northwest Passage, as singer/song writer David Newland. Newland has traveled extensively to both as a Zodiac driver and presenter with...
Two Centuries of Life in Tay Valley to be Musically Celebrated Party on! From Aboriginal heritage to the struggles of immigrant settlers to the building of community, life in Tay Valley Township over the past 200 years will be commemorated on...
Howard Clifford has unshakable faith in the transforming, restorative powers of nature. He believes that nature is not only a healer but that the “University of Wilderness” is the best teacher. On Wednesday, April 6, at the Annual General...
In order to bring the sights, sounds, and tastes of everything Celtic to music lovers in and around Bolingbroke, and to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Mike Erion organized an afternoon of Scottish and Irish music at the ABC hall on March 12. Erion...
On February 27, the MERA schoolhouse was abuzz with local growers looking ahead to spring as they swapped seeds at the annual McDonalds Corners Farmers’ Market Seed Swap. The event, now in its fifth year, was organized by Kristine Swaren of Blue...
Winter months in Canada's north are the perfect time for locals to brave the cold and get together to share a meal, especially when the proceeds go to a local community cause. At the MERA schoolhouse in McDonalds Corners, that tradition is the...
