Rotary Club of Peterborough Holds Gala To Celebrate Centennial Anniversary

The champagne bottles were popping for the Rotary Club of Peterborough as they celebrated their 100th anniversary with a gala at the Fleming College Ballroom on Saturday night.

Rotary Club of Peterborough president Wayne Harding (pictured) pops out of a wood cake to mark the club’s 100th anniversary at Fleming College. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The group is known for connecting leaders, exchanging ideas, sharing interests and taking action on several social challenges with donations turned into grants that fund community improvements according to their website’s mandate.

"Rotary has its own inertia. It's not about one person or the leader, we do service and we always have projects,” said Atul Swarup, former Rotary president. "Members bring projects to the table so that keeps our club fresh and new and keeps our members invigorated."

The club honoured members and presidents (both past and present) during the ceremony with a presentation and speeches while reflecting on the 100 years of service to the local community.

Mayor Diane Therrien commemorated the occasion with the City officially recognizing the club’s accomplishments and milestones.

The Rotary Club was first founded on Apr. 1, 1921. They wanted to host the gala last year but had to pivot and reschedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When we started planning it, we had all these wonderful events planned and basically we had to cancel pretty much everything,” said Wayne Harding, club president. “Getting to the gala after having to reschedule it three times, having to change the venue, it's just been great to see everyone tonight and thoroughly enjoy the community.”

The gala featured dinner (made by Fleming culinary students), live music from The Dreamboats, a DJ and dancing.

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Photos: Peterborough Golf & Country Club Celebrate 125th Anniversary With Throwback Tournament

In celebration of the Peterborough Golf & Country Club’s 125th anniversary, the course held a step-aside scramble tournament.

St. Peter’s Secondary School student Josh Watson, 14, warms up with a putt prior to the tournament. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Members were dressed in era-appropriate golf clothing dating as far back as 1897, used old-time putters and re-introduced the stymie rule with curling rocks.

The club will host several other events to commemorate the course’s milestone. In June, the course will have a curler’s golf day (as the course also has its own curling rinks). July 1 features a celebration day with a cake and other festivities.

Non-club members can have a chance to try the course as August allows members to bring a guest for $18.97 to celebrate the year the course was founded.

The Rye Street band will perform in September at the course. October is hosting a “Swing & Sweep,” where members can golf for nine holes and curl for six ends.

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Peterborough Golf & Country Club Tees Off 125th Anniversary With Throwback Golf Tournament

Over a century of drives, chips and putts have happened at the Peterborough Golf & Country Club (PGCC) as they celebrate their 125th anniversary with a kickoff golf tournament this Saturday.

125th Anniversary co-chair Diane Topping (pictured) wearing traditional ladies’ golf attire during the late 1900s while taking a swing at the 12th tee at the Peterborough Golf & Country Club. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The event features a step-aside scramble golf tournament with some features relative to 1897, the year the golf club was founded. The tournament will feature stymies (other golf balls could not be marked and were natural obstacles for other golfers) with curling rocks on two of the greens and old-style putters used by course staff.

“In 1898, a picnic basket was had so we’re going to replicate that, folks will come off and we’re going to have sandwiches the way it was with a picnic basket,” said Ron Dempsey, 125th anniversary committee co-chair.

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The club will host several other events to commemorate the course’s milestone. In June, the course will have a curler’s golf day (as the course also has its own curling rinks). July 1 features a celebration day with a cake and other festivities.

Non-club members can have a chance to try the course as August allows members to bring a guest for $18.97 to celebrate the year the course was founded.

The Rye Street band will perform in September at the course. October is hosting a “Swing & Sweep,” where members can golf for nine holes and curl for six ends.

“This is a very exciting year,” said Dave Robinson, PGC president. “We’re really looking forward to a great year starting with our May 28th event.”

There are roughly 900 members at the PGCC (with an overlap between golf and curling). The club was founded on May 28, 1897.

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Peterborough Matboards Unveil New Logo For 120th Anniversary

A new logo celebrating a milestone of 120 years in business for matboards and art material manufacturer Peterboro Matboards was revealed in their factory Thursday morning.

Steven Sprotte, operations manager (left) and his father Alan Yaffe, president (right) after the new unveiling of their new logo. Yaffe purchased the business in 2001 after being a picture framer for over 25 years. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The logo contains the year the company was founded in 1902 and has five matboards on the left side.

The boards represent the company’s philosophy of quality, integrity, tradition, innovation and social responsibility according to the company’s presentation.

Local politicians such as MPP Dave Smith and Coun. Keith Riel were invited to take a facility tour prior to the logo unveiling.

Smith, Riel and representatives from the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce and Peterborough and the Kawarthas Economic Development gave acknowledgements of the company’s milestone after the tour.

Peterborough Matboards operated in the Larry Electric Motor building until the 1960’s on Sherbrooke Street. They have relocated to the now-Ricart Branded Apparel & Promo building on Lansdowne Street. The company occupies the former Unilever plant that produced Ragu sauce on 715 Neal Dr.

The company boasts roughly 650 different colours of matboards manufactured in their factory.

Roughly 20 workers operate on the manufacturing floor with eight administration employees.

“We’re treating everybody like family and I think that’s played to our success,” said Steven Sprotte, Peterboro Matboards operations manager. “It’s about having great relationships with people. We have a huge focus on quality.”

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New Logo Unveiled To Commemorate 150th Anniversary of Peterborough Lacrosse

A commemorative logo has been designed to celebrate 150 years of lacrosse in Peterborough since it was established in 1872 released on Wednesday.

Eleven of Peterborough’s 17 Mann Cup championships were under the Peterborough Lakers. Photo courtesy of Ed Arnold.

The anniversary marks 150 years of lacrosse as the oldest and most successful sport in the city’s history.

The logo was designed by former lacrosse player Jamie Plunkett of apparel company UncommonFit.

The first game began 1872 with the Red Stockings as the first team. Peterborough won its first championship in 1879 and won 29 senior and junior national championships and more than 150 provincial titles. Peterborough also won the Mann Cup 17 times in franchise history.

Tim Barrie, Committee chair has been formed to celebrate the game’s anniversary with a big week of lacrosse being planned for the last week of June ending with the celebration of Canada’s birthday on July 1. No further details have been released.

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PTBO Celebrates the 101st Anniversary for the Trent-Severn Waterway of Parks Canada In Video Series

Historian Dennis Carter-Edwards takes you through the history of the Peterborough Lift Lock with the start of an amazing series with PTBOCanada with never-before-seen photos!

This summer series explores the history of Trent-Severn Waterway of Parks Canada on its 101st anniversary!

Part 1: Lift Lock Origins

Carter-Edwards takes us through the story of how canal construction began in Peterborough including Cobourg entrepreneur James Grey Bethune and his mishaps with the Commission.

Part 2: Thomas Stafford Rubidge

Canal engineer Thomas Stafford Rubidge conducts surveys to feasibly further canal works and maybe getting in a fistfight with his assistant.

Part 3: Richard Birdsell Rogers, Henry Holgate and the Lift Lock Construction

Carter-Edwards takes us through the story of how canal construction began in Peterborough including Cobourg entrepreneur James Grey Bethune and his mishaps with the Commission.

Part 4: The Liberal Party and the Peterborough Lift Lock in 1896

See how the Liberal Party thought of the canal system and the Lift Locks after winning the federal election in 1896.

Part 5: Extending the Canal System Amidst the 1911 Election

Despite that the Liberal and Conservative Parties were in favour of an extended navigation system from Lake Simcoe to Georgian Bay, see how politics and the canal system would intersect through the 1911 election.

Part 6: Maintenance, Improvements and Tourism of the Trent Severn Waterway

Following the 1920s, the government had the challenge of maintaining and upkeeping the Lift Locks while using it as a tool to promote tourism.

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Local Ice Cream Parlour Celebrates 125th Anniversary

Central Smith Creamery celebrates their 125th anniversary with one-dollar vanilla ice cream cones this Saturday which is considered National Ice Cream Day weekend.

(left to right) Jillian Scates, project manager and co-owners Ian and Jennifer Scates are part of three generations who have been involved with Central Smith Creamery. Photo by David Tuan Bui

The price is a throwback to when the Scates family purchased the business in 1978 and sold ice cream scoops at that price. They chose vanilla as ice cream’s oldest flavour to commemorate the milestone.

"It's a true honour,” said Ian Scates, co-owner of Central Smith. “Sometimes you kind of have to pinch yourself to realize that you've literally been here before cars existed. It's a bit surreal to think that it's been around as long as it has.”

Ian Scates describes working at Central Smith the “longest summer job” of his life. Photo by David Tuan Bui

“Sometimes in life, it's really important to stop and celebrate the milestones,” said Jennifer Scates, co-owner of Central Smith. “The business of life gets us not thinking about the important things and it's important to recognize where we were, where we're going to, celebrate our employees who have helped us along the way and just pause and reflect.”

Central Smith Creamery has over 70 flavours of ice cream where some come in and out of rotation depending on popularity. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The business has had three generations of the Scates working at Central Smith. Ian’s father, James Scates purchased the business back from the Andrews family in 1978 where Ian first helped the business in 1979. Since then, Ian has been working at Central Smith for 42 years.

His daughter, Jillian Scates graduated in business from Dalhousie University in April 2016 and joined the business starting at the bottom. She has worked her way through as a sales analyst and now as a project manager.

“There's a lot of pride in that we've been able to keep going with the legacy,” said Jennifer. “This place is still in the same place 125 years ago.”

Some of creamery’s top flavours are Algonquin Canoe, Lavender Lemonade and Monster Cookie. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

New this year is Central Smith merchandise for sale such as reusable water bottles, caps and t-shirts. A colouring contest to design your own ice cream flavour is part of the milestone celebrations. Customers can pick up a colouring sheet and submit their designs to the store by Aug. 1.

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Kawartha TV & Stereo Celebrates 50th Anniversary With Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

The giant scissors were out to cut the ribbon to celebrate Kawartha TV & Stereo’s 50th anniversary on Monday morning.

(left to right) MPP Dave Smith, owner Glenn Stuart, general manager Scott Stuart and Mayor Diane Therrien holding the ribbon as it gets cut to commemorate the store’s milestone. Photo Courtesy of Kawartha TV & Stereo.

In attendance were Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith and Mayor Diane Therrien to commemorate the event. Owner Glenn Stuart and general manager Scott Stuart — who are brothers — had the honours of cutting the ribbon with giant scissors to celebrate the store’s milestone and community involvement.

“We have been a huge supporter of local for years and years and years since day one,” said Scott. “We’ve very proud of that and we will continue that for as long as we can.”

“We all do business with each other,” said Glenn. “We buy from those businesses back and forth and that’s one of the things we do in a small-town atmosphere.”

The store has been reputable for supporting the local communities and city officials have noticed the business’s contribution to Peterborough.

Smith gave a certification to the electronics store to mark the occasion. He mentioned that Kawartha TV & Stereo was one of the first places he visited and made a purchase since moving to Peterborough in 1981.

“The service you have provided has been fantastic,” he said. “It’s a testament to what you have done to this community, the fact that you’ve been here for 50 years.”

“There’s a reason people keep coming back,” said Therrien. “I can’t wait to be here for another 50 years.”

Kawartha TV & Stereo opened in 1971 with 600 square ft. of space on Charlotte Street before moving down the same road with 800 square ft. The store moved again in the mid-1980s to its current location on the corner of Lansdowne Street and Park Street which is known as the “Bargain Corner.”

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