Submitted by Rob Hiscott
It was a busy 2025 for your local Rotary Club as we hosted four community Pancake Breakfasts, (serving over 900 breakfasts during holiday weekends from May to September), hosted and tended 26 different bars in 2025 (for a wide range of events at Rotary Hall, Lion’s Head Arena and Tobermory Community Centre), sponsored three fun Trivia Night events at Rotary Hall (hosted by Caeli Mazara and Eric Perez), held a very popular and successful third annual Oktoberfest celebration at Rotary Hall, hosted six casual Sunday Coffee Socials at Rotary Hall (with occasional pop-up sales during the events), and sponsored the annual Lion’s Head Santa Claus Parade (with many children, parents and relatives visiting Santa at United Church Hall after the Parade).
Rotarians also participated in the Ontario ‘Adopt a Highway’ program in 2025, helping with trash pick-up (along a four-kilometre stretch of Bruce County Road 9 between Lion’s Head and Barrow Bay), to help keep Northern Bruce clean!
Rotary awarded five Scholarships (valued at $7,500 in total) in 2025 to graduating students of Bruce Peninsula District High School to help support their pursuit of post-secondary education goals. For over 50 years, your local Rotary Club has maintained a tradition of awarding scholarships to graduating students of Bruce Peninsula District High School!
Rotary supported Golden Dawn Seniors Home by purchasing hanging baskets of flowers (to place outside in the patio and walkway areas of the facility), and hosted a birthday celebration for residents celebrating birthdays in the month of November.
We partnered with Christ Church Anglican to host a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper at Rotary Hall (with proceeds going to Lion’s Head and District Food Bank).
Your local Rotary Club also made donations to the Bruce Peninsula Biosphere Association, Bruce Peninsula Hospice, Lion’s Head and District and Tobermory Food Banks in 2025. Beyond these donations, Rotarians volunteered 225 hours of their time towards the stair re-construction project at Rotary Hall, and purchased the paint to finish the project. We also helped sponsor the water collection/reclamation project in Guatemala and made a donation to Rotary District 6330 ‘Hand Up’ Project in support of global initiatives, focused on funding and implementing sustainable development projects like clean water, maternal health, and education in developing countries.
For more details and photos on all of Rotary’s events and activities in 2025, you can check out the review on our Club website at https://www.rotarynbp.org/stories/rotary-in-review-2025
As always, our success as a service club is in large measure due to the wonderful support and generosity of the Northern Bruce community, and we are deeply appreciative of this! By participating in our Club activities, sponsoring with generous financial support, and volunteering time and effort towards Rotary events and causes, the Northern Bruce community helps our small club succeed – Thank you for all your help! We wish everyone all the best in 2026!
Sunday Coffee Socials Begin at Rotary Hall
Beginning this past January 11th and continuing each Sunday throughout January and February, your local Rotary Club is hosting Coffee Socials at Rotary Hall from 10 AM to 2 PM each Sunday. Everyone is welcome to come join us for conversation over hot beverages (coffee, tea, hot chocolate) and light snacks – we hope to see you there!
We’re entering our third winter season of hosting Sunday Coffee Socials at Rotary Hall, and we’re hoping to experiment further with combining these events with pop-up sales for local merchants, providing visitors a chance to do some shopping while socializing at Rotary Hall! If you or your business would be interested in holding a pop-up sale at any of our scheduled Sunday Coffee Socials, please talk to any Rotarian, or contact our Club via e-mail at nbprotary@gmail.com
Fun New Year’s Eve Open House at Rotary Hall
Despite the snowy wintery weather New Year’s Eve in Lion’s Head, 19 people made it out to attend our Open House hosted by Rotarians at Rotary Hall! There was pizza, snacks and beverages and those who came out had an enjoyable, fun evening leading up to the New Year! This is our second annual New Year’s Eve Open House at Rotary Hall, a casual gathering of Rotarians, friends and neighbours! This is our second year holding this event, and we hope to continue this tradition!
