Latest / North Shore News / January 16th, 2025

Transcript

January 16th, 2025 · North Shore News

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  Welcome to North Shore News and Interviews on Amherst Island Radio.
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  Each week we keep you updated on newsworthy events, happenings, and conversations that
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  we've had with people in the local community and beyond.
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  Loyalist Townships' outdoor rinks are opening one by one thanks to volunteers.
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  This week, volunteers announced the rink at Skater Park in Odessa is open to the public.
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  The outdoor rink in front of Bath Public School has been open and operating in daylight hours
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  since January 9th.
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  The next rinks looking to open are in Amherst View at Sunnyside Park.
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  The rinks are currently under construction with ice being built.
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  According to the Township, 5 to 6 inches of snow are typically needed to form a proper
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  seal for water, but due to weather conditions, volunteers have adapted by using a tarp to
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  build the ice without snow.
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  Councillor Carol Parks noted the hard work of volunteers and issued a thank you.
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  I just wanted to say thank you to all the members that are all the residents that have
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  been involved in building the outdoor rinks.
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  My understanding that a few of them are open now and hopefully with the cold weather that
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  we're having, we'll continue to operate well into the season.
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  Mayor Jim Haggadourne also mentioned the hard work by volunteers and made note of another
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  innovation taking place at Skater Park in Odessa.
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  The volunteers have worked very hard to bring this around and some innovative approaches
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  as well.
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  I've seen a photo, I haven't seen it in operation yet, but apparently there's a homemade Zamboni
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  that's being used for the Odessa rink to maintain the ice surface and it's kind of the innovation
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  that is really encouraging to see.
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  So just kudos to the volunteers for all the work that they do for the betterment of the
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  community.
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  Updates will be posted on social media by the township as more rinks open or close.
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  Rules and regulations can be found on signage placed around the rinks.
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  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
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  This is North Shore News.
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  Last week Mayor Haggadourne celebrated with Ms. Beatty's fifth grade class at Odessa Public
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  School for the pizza party they won during Local Government Week.
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  This was the second year the township ran a draw for a pizza party as part of their
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  classroom to a community event during Local Government Week.
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  At this week's council meeting Mayor Haggadourne took time to reflect on some of the questions
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  he received from students, their perspectives, and their overall engagement in community
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  matters.
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  It's really interesting to talk to the grade fives and the difference in perspectives throughout
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  the class and throughout the township, they are very engaged.
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  They had great questions, they just kept halting the questions nonstop.
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  Some of them made me stop and think.
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  One of the more interesting ones that I haven't received before is, when will Loyalist Township
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  be getting a roller coaster?
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  And I thought, very appropriate question for the class.
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  Haggadourne reflected on the day and spoke about Ms. Beatty's work.
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  We had a good discussion, they enjoyed a slice of pizza, and Ms. Beatty is a phenomenal
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  teacher.
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  In fact, she taught my daughter her first year of school, and it appears that I attended
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  her class for this on her final year of teaching.
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  She's going to retire after this year, so congratulations to her as well.
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  Haggadourne noted a thank you card he received from students.
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  When I came in the office today, there was an envelope that every single student had
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  written a letter back to the township, thanking them for participating in this and spending
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  the time with them.
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  I haven't made it through all of them yet, but it's very interesting.
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  So just thank you to the public schools for attending our session in the fall, and congratulations
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  to Ms. Beatty's class.
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  The township hosted a number of local grade five classes during the classroom to community
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  event with all participating classes having been entered into the draw.
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  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
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  This is North Shore News.
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  Loyalist Township Council agreed to officially enter into an agreement with the Federation
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  of Canadian Municipalities for a grant totaling $2.5 million and a loan worth $7.5 million.
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  All the $10 million is to go towards the W.J. Henderson Recreation Center Renewal Project.
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  Staff submitted a pre-application to the Federation's Green Municipal Fund in 2022 for a grant
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  totaling $1.25 million and a loan of just under $4 million.
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  In 2023, the Federation notified staff that the pre-application was successful and that
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  they could move forward with a full application the same year.
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  Through this process, staff requested increases for the grant and loan, bringing them to the
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  current totals.
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  In 2024, the Federation notified staff that the complete application was successful and
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  they've since been working together to put an agreement in place for the grant and loan.
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  After this week's council meeting, the agreement is now finalized.
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  Next steps include adding a standard borrowing bylaw so the township can officially borrow
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  the money.
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  Director of Economic Growth and Community Development Services, M.J. Merritt, explains
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  the need for the township to add a borrowing bylaw.
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  As we are doing our deeper dive into the review of the agreement itself, there was one thing
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  that we wanted to note is that there's going to be a need for a borrowing bylaw at some
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  point before we make any disbursement.
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  Before any disbursement can occur, so council could expect to see that request for a borrowing
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  bylaw coming back in February-March timeframe.
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  Councillor Paul Prodrick notes the importance of this kind of funding.
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  Every little chunk of change helps and in our membership with the Federation of Canadian
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  Municipalities is another group that we can get some support from on this project.
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  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
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  This is North Shore News.
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  In the first part of the show, the Canadian television series, Kenny vs. Spenny, will
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  be set to host in the area on February 1st, taking place at the Royal Canadian Legion
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  in Bath.
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  The show will feature Spencer Rice of the Canadian television series, Kenny vs. Spenny.
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  Also during the night, there will be stand-up sets by Babcock and other guest comedians.
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  Rice will be doing a musical performance.
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  Babcock, now based between Kingston and Toronto, is recognized in the Kingston area for his
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  commitment to not only supporting comedy but bettering the scene and even bringing it to
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  new locations.
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  The comedian has shared stages with acts such as Kenny vs. Spenny, Trailer Park Boys and
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  the insane clown posse.
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  His company, AB3 Comedy, has produced over 200 shows in Kingston and the surrounding
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  area since 2016.
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  Most recently he's hosted shows in Ganonakwe, Napa-nee, Cele's Bay, Kingston and Bath.
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  Babcock speaks on his belief of building a stronger community around comedy in the area.
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  We're really hoping that comedy kind of takes off in the outskirts of Kingston as well as
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  the city of Kingston and it all just feeds each other, right?
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  Just building the strong comedy community, not only in Kingston but in Bath and in Ganonakwe,
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  it's only going to benefit and bring bigger and better shows to the area.
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  Babcock notes how the different feel of smaller venues and communities has helped influence
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  what he's looking to do with the comedy scene in Bath.
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  There's a completely different vibe to going into a place like Bath that's so different
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  from doing a show in downtown Toronto or doing a show in downtown Ottawa.
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  Not that those aren't great either.
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  Every single comedy show serves its own purpose and has its own vibe and creating this vibe
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  from the ground up is what we're trying to do here in Bath.
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  Babcock explains the history of his comedy career and how he's been bringing comedy
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  shows to surrounding areas of Kingston, including Loyalist Township.
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  I've been doing comedy for almost nine years now.
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  I started in the Kingston area.
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  I've moved to Toronto a couple of times, the Oshawa area, done comedy there.
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  And with AB3 comedy, been mostly focused in the Kingston area with my own shows but then
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  I've been branching out.
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  I've noticed that now there's a lot of comedy in Kingston which is great a lot more than
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  there used to be but there wasn't a lot going on in the outskirts of town.
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  Gannon Aukway, Celies Bay, Bath, even Napa Nii.
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  So what I've done is I've made partnerships with the Legion and those I've been doing
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  that for about four months now and the shows have all been great.
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  I think every single show we've done has been sold out except for one that was due to weather.
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  The response has been awesome so when we reached out to Bath we really didn't know exactly
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  what the response was going to be but we were pleasantly surprised when it was completely
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  sold out and not only was it sold out but everyone had a good time and we're asking
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  when the next one's going to be.
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  The comedian's connection to Rice came from back in 2017 when he opened for a live Kenny
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  vs. Spenny comedy night after having only been performing for a year.
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  Babcock explains what the experience did for his career and the current shows he's
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  booking along with Rice.
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  Babcock That went from me performing to you know
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  100 people and even to 20 people at open mics to performing for 700 people and that
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  was I think what I considered I guess not my first big break didn't really get me that
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  far but my first real taste of what a big crowd could be like for comedy.
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  I've always kind of stayed in touch and done shows with them here and there and when I
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  started getting these Legion shows going I honestly the idea just came to me that Spenny
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  is a musician and I thought it'd be great to get together with a musician and maybe do
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  a little bit of a tiny variety show and honestly came together very quick sent him a message
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  he was on board boom we booked two shows here we are.
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  Reflecting on a previous show Babcock says he just hopes everyone has a great time.
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  We were looking around and there wasn't one person in there that didn't have like a huge
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  smile on their face at the time and that's that's all we really want and we want to
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  promote comedians and the comedy community but what everyone really wants is to have
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  a good time and forget about their problems for a couple hours so that's the main goal
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  in this show and every show that I do.
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  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative I'm Ted Evans.
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  This is North Shore News.
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  Loyalist Township has announced that their Family Day event for 2025 will be taking place
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  at the W.J. Henderson Recreation Center.
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  As Reconstruction is still underway in the aquatic area the event will be taking place
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  mainly in the arena, library and parking lot.
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  The event lasts from noon until 2 p.m. and is free to attend.
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  Public skating will be open for the duration of the event with ice resurfacing taking
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  place midway through.
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  The skating portion is sponsored by Lorna Willis and Lynn Wimminga.
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  Councillor Paul Proderick speaks about some of the potential highlights from the day.
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  The canteen is going to be open and at that time we also hope that some of the Amherst
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  U Jets will join the people who wish to participate in that.
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  And in the parking lot we're going to have the Loyalist Emergency Services Truck which
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  is always a popular activity for the young ones to get a look at it and go through it.
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  Proderick lists some of the other activities taking place at the event and offers a note
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  to residents.
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  We've got a Lego station, a coloring station, some temporary tattoos, maybe a bouncy cancel
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  and just dance and then a photo booth from photo booth Kingston will be there.
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  Hope you can join us at the WJ Recreation Center and maybe take away a little bit of
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  the winter blouse.
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  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Tat Evans.
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  This is North Shore News.
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  Amherst Island Radio has come a long way from a tumble beginning 16 years ago in a converted
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  milk house on Amherst Island.
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  Today the station boasts a 4,800 watt transmitter serving Loyalist Township, Kingston, Napa
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  Knee and farther north and can be heard worldwide on the internet.
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  And they continue to grow with the addition of their newly launched media hub in Bath,
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  Ontario.
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  Located at 218 Main Street in Bath, the new media hub represents a major leap forward
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  for the non-profit volunteer run station.
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  Eric Trombley, brand manager, says the goal is to create a space allowing the community
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  to tell stories and share performances in new and exciting ways that weren't possible
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  with the space restrictions of the main station.
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  The new facility will feature a broadcast studio, performance and recording studio,
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  multimedia production tools and even live streaming capabilities.
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  All for free for residents of Loyalist Township.
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  Starting in the new year, Amherst Island Radio expects the media hub to up the station's
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  game, with the all new performance studio opening its doors to musicians, providing
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  them with the opportunity to record, live stream and broadcast live to air using high
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  quality equipment.
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  With over 150 live and station performances hosted annually, Eric explained that for the
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  first time they can host full bands without worry.
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  He says in the past to accommodate larger groups that they've had to set up a drum
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  kit down the hall in the office at the main station.
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  The new media hub isn't replacing the main station on the island, but rather will complement
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  the station's existing operations on Amherst Island, allowing volunteers more opportunity
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  to continue to serve the over 20,000 listeners every month.
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  The station's expansion utilizes a private internet connection linking the media hub
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  to the existing broadcast tower on Amherst Island, ensuring that the community's creativity
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  can reach even more listeners and keeping the media hub connected and coordinated with
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  the main station and FM signal.
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  By broadening its capabilities, the station aims to ensure future generations of local
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  media makers and strengthen its role as a vital community resource.
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  As the performance studio continues to take shape, Amherst Island Radio is calling on
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  the community for support.
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  Thousands of volunteers are needed to complete the studio.
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  For more information or to contribute, visit cjai.ca, join the Facebook group Friends of
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  Amherst Island Radio and stay tuned to Amherst Island Radio 101.3 FM or online at cjai.ca.
• 15:40
  For Amherst Island Radio, I'm Jordan Webster.
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  This is North Shore News.
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  This has been North Shore News and Interviews.
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  If you have an idea for a story or want to create stories for the show, consider joining
• 15:56
  our 100% volunteer team.
• 16:00
  Contact Amherst Island Radio for more details.