Family Time & Mid-Winter Milling! - theHumm February 2020

By Miss Mills

OK — we’re tired of being indoors already, so it must be time to head outside for some awesome activities and marvellous milling about. No problem — Mississippi Mills has you covered (or uncovered, as the case may be)!

Monday, February 17 is Family Day in Ontario, and there are many affordable (and free!) activities to enjoy close to home. In Almonte, Pakenham and area, you can enjoy free public skating, explore local history, have fun outdoors, eat pancakes or catch a screening of a free family-friendly movie. Mississippi Mills offers something for everyone in your family! Here’s the scoop:

The Mississippi Mills Recreation and Culture department is hosting a free family movie at the Almonte Old Town Hall (14 Bridge Street in Almonte) at 11am. Admission is free, and light refreshments will be available for sale.

There will be free public skating at both the Almonte arena (182 Bridge Street, from 1–3pm) and the Pakenham arena (112 MacFarland Street, from 3–5pm). Thanks to Tim Hortons for sponsoring these great skates!

Visit the Mill of Kintail (2854 Conc. 8)and enjoy cross-country skiing, hiking or snowshoeing along their beautiful trails (bring your own equipment). The Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority is celebrating the day by waiving the admission/vehicle fee.

Learn about local history at the North Lanark Regional Museum (647 River Road in Appleton). Museum hours are 10am to 4pm, and admission is by donation. The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum (3 Rosamond St. E. in Almonte, mvtm.ca) is offering free admission that day, so come learn about the “Fabric of a Small Town” and see works by artists Ginger Owens and Vicki VanAmeyden in the Heritage Habitats exhibit that runs until March 14.

Fulton’s Pancake House and Sugar Bush fultons.ca is offering a fun-filled Family Day. They are open from 8am to 3pm and will have special activities (like horse-drawn sleigh rides!) between 10am and 2pm. Bring your own equipment and enjoy snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and sliding. Explore historical displays and enjoy live music. Bring your appetite for all things maple, including pancakes, taffy and cotton candy.

Mighty Mount Pakenham mountpakenham.com is open from 9am to 5pm for skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing (rentals are available), and from 11am to 5pm for snow tubing. First-timer lesson packages and private lessons are also available by advance reservation.

So come on out and enjoy some quality family time close to home this Family Day. For more information, contact the Mississippi Mills Recreation and Culture Department at 256–1077, or Tiffany MacLaren, Community Economic & Cultural Coordinator, at tmaclaren@mississippimills.ca .

11th Annual Mid-Winter Milling

After milling about Mississippi Mills on Family Day, you’ll definitely want to return for Almonte’s popular Mid-Winter Milling event. On Saturday, February 29 from 10am to 5pm, you can wander up and down Mill Street, visiting all of the charming and funky shops and eateries, and partaking in some spiritual and self-awareness sessions with area practitioners. You can indulge in Reiki or Tasseography (Turkish coffee reading), visit with a medium or an intuitive empath, have your Tarot or Angel cards read, and much more. Drop in and make a beautiful bowl at the Almonte Potters Guild ($20, at 95 Bridge St.), and it will be glazed and fired for you to pick up at a later date.

So far 17 practitioners have signed on, and several new shops are participating (including Big Vintage and Gaslight Café), so this will be a perfect day to explore Almonte.

All sessions must be booked in person that day, so it’s a good idea to plan to arrive right around 10am for the best selection. Find details on the back page of this issue, and for more information about participating shops and practitioners, please visit midwintermilling.com or find them on Facebook.

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In memoriam – Dr. Bill Buttle - theHumm February 2020

By Kris Riendeau

I honestly can’t remember when Bill Buttle first started contributing Artbeat cartoons to theHumm, but I think it was some time within our first year of publishing. So for the past two decades (give or take a year or two), his humorous take on the world of art and music has had pride of place here on page 2. On Sunday, January 19, Bill passed away peacefully in Arnprior at the age of 79, leaving behind grieving family and friends as well as legions of Artbeat fans throughout......

Family Time & Mid-Winter Milling! - theHumm February 2020