Submitted by Rob Hiscott,
Northern Bruce Peninsula Rotary Club
Rotary and Tagwerk Beer are proud to sponsor the first annual Oktoberfest community event, scheduled for Saturday, October 14th at Rotary Hall in Lion’s Head.
Oktoberfest family fun begins at noon on Saturday just outside the Hall, and admission is free for this daytime event (food and drinks are not free). The BBQ and beer tent open at noon, with sausages, sauerkraut, pigtails, hotdogs and pretzels as menu items, and featuring Tagwerk Beer in addition to other alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks being available. There will be live music by local musicians, kids games will begin at 1 PM and a tae kwon doe demonstration will commence at 2 PM. The free daytime event will be held just outside of Rotary Hall and will run until 6 PM.
Beginning at 7:00 PM, Oktoberfest moves inside Rotary Hall for the paid event which will feature Oktoberfest food and drinks (at extra cost), music, dancing and games. There will be an opening ceremony at 7:30 PM, Mayor Milt McIver will ‘tap the keg’, the bar will open and BBQ will continue through the evening. The band RoadRash (featuring classic rock hits from the 70s to 90s) will perform sets through the evening. Tagwerk Beers will be featured (Oktoberfest draught), along with wine, ciders, coolers and soft drinks being available (Rotarians will be tending bar and BBQ throughout the event). Music will continue through the evening, along with adult games and general Oktoberfest fun! Oktoberfest 2023 will close at 1 AM Sunday.
Oktoberfest merchandise will be also available for sale, including t-shirts and beer steins!
The entry fee of $25 for the evening Oktoberfest event can be paid on-line through Eventbrite at lionsheadoktoberfest.com, and this fee includes a collector’s beer stein which can be picked up at the event. Tickets can also be purchased in advance from any local Rotary Club member, or you can contact Tim Lang, the event coordinator directly at (226) 979-9332 or timjlang@hotmail.ca. Tickets may be available at the door for $20 (not including a collector’s beer stein), although availability of door tickets may be limited due to Hall capacity restrictions. We encourage everyone to get their tickets ahead of Oktoberfest, and we hope to see you at the first annual Oktoberfest community event!
Proceeds from this fundraiser will go towards Rotary Hall improvements, a Hall which has served as a community hub since 1898! Honourary Rotarian Jim Dilamarter prepared a ‘History of Rotary Hall’ describing just how important the Hall has been for Lion’s Head and Eastnor Township:
Over the past 125 years the Hall has been well-used to serve the local community. Originally named Eastnor Township Hall, local Township Council meetings were held there for many years. In early years, the Hall was used for weddings and meals, court sessions, training of the 160th Battalion during World War I, weekly dances, annual meetings of Eastnor Agricultural Society, concerts performed by local Church Sunday Schools and Bruce Peninsula School, antique shows, blood donor and mass inoculation clinics.
Since its inception in 1954, your local Rotary Club has used the Hall for a wide variety of purposes including Club meetings, dinners, pancake breakfasts, dances, and other events raising funds for many local community causes.
The Hall continues to be used for family events such as weddings, receptions, showers and anniversaries, training sessions, as well as concerts, stage performances, movie shows, games nights, dances and even a few funeral receptions. For several years, the Northern Peninsula Cowork group also used the upstairs Main Hall for their work activities.
All of this attests to the importance of Rotary Hall within our local community, and the need to fund Hall improvements to help maintain and keep it going well into the future.
Wendell’s Walk Raises Over $29,000!
Rotarian Wendell Thomson successfully completed his over 60 kilometer walk down the Bruce Peninsula from Tobermory to Pike Bay, raising more than $29,000 in donations (as of September 26th), for the local Lion’s Head Hospital to ‘help keep health care local’. These funds have been earmarked for a new nurse call system at the local hospital.
Wendell made it as far as Miller Lake Rona on Highway 6 on his first day, Monday, September 11th, and completed his walk to Pike Bay Community Park on Wednesday, September 13th. Special thanks to Wendell’s two companion walkers Kathy Nixon Speechley and Fallah Alrubeyi who walked the full distance with him, along with Bluewater RV (Lonnie Bray and Gary McCarthy) for providing the Truck and 5th wheel trailer for breaks, to Grey-Bruce OPP Wiarton Detachment for providing a police cruiser, and OPP Auxiliary Staff Sergeant and Rotarian Tom Buckley who accompanied Wendell and his entourage keeping everyone safe along the busy Highway 6 from Tobermory on down, and then on towards Pike Bay.
Also special thanks to the Bruce Peninsula Hospitals Foundation which set up a web platform to facilitate on-line donations. Wendell and Rotary thank everyone who donated to help him reach and surpass his fundraising goal, to ‘help keep health care local’.
First Trivia Night at Rotary Hall!
A successful Trivia Night at Rotary Hall was held Friday, September 22nd, hosted by Caeli Mazara and Eric Perez who had previously hosted Mainsheet Trivia Nights.
There were 33 participants at this first Trivia Night event, it was an enjoyable evening for all, and the winning team for the evening included Richard Jackson, Claire Jackson, Heather Bryans, Andrea Simons, Catherine Henderson and Rod Layman.
Rotarians tended bar and hot dogs and pretzels were available that evening.
The next Trivia Night event is tentatively scheduled towards the end of October, with a theme of ‘Spooky Trivia’, with extra prizes for best costume! More information will be forthcoming on Rotary’s facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RotaryNBP/
Wendell Ferguson Concert
A Rotary Hall fundraising concert featuring Wendell Ferguson, a well-known Canadian Country Music Association ‘Guitarist of the Year’ award winner was held on Thursday, September 21st, with proceeds earmarked for Rotary Hall improvement.
There were 48 people in the audience that evening who were entertained by Wendell Ferguson’s music and comedy, as well as a speed drawing demonstration (a portrait of John Lennon – see photo) by renowned artist Paul Murray who sponsored this fundraising concert.
