Clearview Township’s community centres are banding together during the Small Halls Festival for a weekend packed with activities and entertainment.
Events are planned at community halls in Avening, Brentwood, Creemore, Dunedin, Nottawa, Duntroon, Singhampton and Sunnidale Corners, and the Stayner arena, on Oct. 2-5.
On the heels of a branding exercise and a community hall revitalization project, the Small Halls Festival is meant to showcase Clearview’s facilities, provide programing for township residents and attract tourists.
Last year, Clearview Township’s community centres underwent facility reviews and after a little soul searching hall board members decided to go full bore and do whatever it took to keep the halls open. The volunteers that run the halls raised funds to help pay for the renovations.
With a commitment to maintaining the halls, attention turned to ensuring the future vitality of the halls.
Duntroon Hall board chair Jim Campbell and Avening hall board member Sara Hershoff had been dreaming of an event that brought all the halls together for one event and the Small Halls Festival was born.
“This is our opportunity to let people step back in time and experience what their grandparents might have experienced before rural communities were gutted,” said Hershoff. “The halls are a touchstone to our past.”
She said it’s about celebrating a rural resource that other communities have lost and protecting it for future users.
“Although the community changes, the halls are constant,” said Hershoff. “We still need a place to meet and the halls are there to use in any way that we want.”
Campbell said it’s not just about the immediate community, also welcoming people from elsewhere who want to come in and be a part of the Clearview community.
“It’s to bring community together and help find the breadth of Clearview and create a definition in people’s minds,” said Campbell.
Event planning is coordinated by the Township of Clearview’s community culture and recreation coordinator Shane Sargant.
Sargant said $45,000 has been allocated for the festival with $20,000 coming from the township, $20,000 coming a County of Simcoe grant and $5,000 coming from a provincial grant. With the exception of $10,000 in township funds earmarked for programming, the other funds are for marketing purposes.
Sargant also secured three contract staff members to work on the event whose wages are paid for through Employment Insurance and thousands of dollars in sponsorships and in-kind donations.
“We’re hoping that it’s a signature event for Clearview. Our objective is more about bringing the halls together, promoting Clearview Township as a community that can work together and host significant tourist events,” said Sargant.
“We think that the quality of the event is worthy of people travelling from out of market to visit the event. Each hall does have an event that would bring people from out of town.”
Of note, he said, is the scotch nosing and dinner in Singhampton, Friday and Saturday night concerts in Avening, the Rib Tickler and Yuk Yuk’s in Nottawa, brunch with Dan Needles in Duntroon, celebrity chef Carl Heinrich cooking in Dunedin, a bluegrass concert in Brentwood and two of the top classical guitar players in the world at Sunnidale Corners.
For details, visit www.smallhallsfestival.ca.