The Big Brome Fair is being celebrated this long labour day weekend in Brome and it is going to be one of the biggest and best fair’s ever! This year marks the 152nd year that the Brome Fair has taken place and the crowds are expected to be bigger than last year especially after the soaking wet summer we’ve had here in Quebec have left us all needing a break. There can be no better place to relax than at one of the oldest and respected agricultural fair in Eastern North America.
This years entertainment features David Usher and Jaydee Bixby…well this ain’t exactly Willie Nelson it’s nice to have some different musical acts and the Brome Fair tries to make every year a bit different on the musical shows. Of course there is also home-grown talent and entertainers playing throughout the day on the smaller stage near the main entrance so even if you’ve never heard of Moist or Jaydee you can still here some great music that varies from traditional Quebecois folk to good ole’ rock ‘n roll!
Since the inception of the Brome Fair in the 1840’s there have bee many changes of government, wars, depressions and countless changes in the way people live…but some things have remained constant; the people of the region and their connection to the land they live on.
Farmers and craftspeople have been gathering together over the years in an annual celebration of all that they do; maintaining their crops and tending to their flocks, eeking out an existance that is not always easy but is always fullfilling and based on the good values of family and hard work.
Of course there is more to life in the Townships than hard work so to counter balance the wholesome family values there will be beer gardens, bingo tents and a pari-sportif horse racing event. Throw in a little monster truck tractor pullers belching columns of black diesel smoke into the air mixing with the smells of fresh Wapiti Burgers and Funnel Cakes and Fried Onions and you have the perfect Brome Fair experience that should not be missed!
Of course the Brome Fair is about family fun, with fun midway rides, music, clowns, magicians, petting zoos, games, food and bingo on site but it is also a serious agricultural show with events and judging taking place in many categories through the week-end.
Main headliners for this year’s fair David Usher, formerly of the group called Moist, who brings a modern pop sound that mixes alternative stylings with techno assertiveness to create a swirling and upbeat mood that is more infectious than The West Nile Virus! David plays the popular Saturday night concert when gusest let themselves loos and have a great time. If you remember seeing Wayne Rodstad from CBC a few years back you might want to get prepared for something quite different. This show could bring a whole new group of young folks to the fair as he is very popular with the Much-Music set!
Unless you have a phobia of seeing Mulroney Jr. on TV like some people, then you likey know that Jaydee Bixby was one of the Canadian Idol finalists and even if you’ve never heard of him you likely know what the Canadian Idol sensibility is and can assume that you will be in for a strong set of popular music staying fairly close to the middle of the road. Jaydee kicks off Mondau September 1st at noon.
Sunday Night is the ever popular Truck Pull. Now…many people are thinking “They’re loud, stinky, powerful and quite an attraction to anyone who has “the knuckle dragger” gene still residing in their DNA columns!” Well…that’s the kind of judgemental statement that the Brome Fair crushes! Those Truck shows are always packed and the grandstands are always packed with cheery lovers of Diesel Horse Power! Hey…we need more in Brome Lake than classical music on Tibbits Hill…what about the loud and raucus minority who love to whoop-it-up with dust and Budweiser! Bring it on!
Another popular attraction will be Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo. Paul “Little Ray” Goulet, owner and head curator of Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo, located in Ottawa, Ontario, and has been caring for reptiles and amphibians since he was a child. In 1995 he and his wife Sheri, began performing educational, live animal presentations to schools, birthday parties, corporate events, malls and fairs. In the fall of 2000, they opened their zoo and have watched it grow to have the most diverse collection of reptiles and amphibians in Canada. The zoo now has the largest outreach program in the country, performing over 2500 presentations a year in Eastern Ontario & Western Quebec. The kids just love to pet the reptiles and get their picture taken holding a real crocodile!
On Monday the horse racing Pari-Betting allows the equestrian gamblers a chance to make a few bets and maybe pick up some cash. The betting area always looks a little seedy with strange characters coming our from the shadows of the grandstand with their crumpled betting programs and chain smoking like the ladies at the VLT’s…another angle of the Brome Fair that makes it such fun! This ain’t no DisneyWorld!!
Other fun stuff is the Mickey Farkas Show for the Kids on Friday and the incredible Gastoni Attractions feature tricks, tumbling, circus displays and of course the popular “Globe of Death”…what’s that…yes…it’s “The Globe of Death” where caged motorcyclists spin at high speed in a large steel globe while on-lookers watch in disbelief!
The full schedule is available at the Brome Fair Website
Get to the grounds early as there is always long traffic lines heading to the fair grounds. The Brome Fair takes place at 345 Stagecoach Road. If you are in the Knowlton area and can’t figure out how to get to the fair just ask anyone you see…The Brome Fair is all we’ve been talking about for the last month!
Check out our photos from previous Brome Fair or look back at the Brome Fair in our article from before.
I admit it…I go to the Big Brome Fair to do a total over-indulgence in the hedonistic pleasures of hydrogenated cuisine! Oh my…the sheer blood-sugar high of freshly deep-fried batter mixed with a diet coke is nothing short of Nirvana! Every day can be a veritable “Greatest Race” through a pleasurable maze of fresh-donuts, pizza, maple candy, wapiti burgers, pizza, deep fried onions and smoked meats and sausages and when you have finally completed the circuit and are sitting in the Grandstand watching the action a Detroit Diesel hauling 16 tons of cement over a dusty dirt patch you really know that you’ve found a most special place!
DESTINATION KNOWLTON BEST BETS FOR THE BROME FAIR
This year…this is what we’ll go to see if we can find a parking space. If you want to go beyond our recomendations then visit the schedule at the Brome Fair Website
This website contains stories and articles that are not necessarily current or up to date.
Opinions, names, schedules and events may have changed since the opinions and event articles were written. This website should be considered a time-capsule of one residents time spent living in Knowlton not a current events website. The DestinationKnowlton.com website will be updated on a monthly basis as of August 2009.For the latest events in Knowlton and Brome Lake visit theChamber of Commerce of Brome Lake Website.
The Easter Bunny has said she has cancelled all future visits to Brome Lake. No more Easter Egg hunts for kiddies, it’s over! The announcement came after Brome Lake Ducks said they will begin slaughtering “bunny wabbits” to increase the work-week for employees and this has forced the lovable Easter Bunny to announce that she will “permanently cease all future visits to Brome Lake forever”.
The announcement was made today by The Easter Bunny who said she was saddened by the news and tearfully added that she looked forward to a day when people would eat more carrots and vegetables and less cute fluffy creatures.
“Killing the symbol of Easter is wrong!” said the Easter Bunny as she nibbled a carrot stick, “What’s next, the tooth fairy, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, Mickey Mouse? They already have Donald and Daffy being turned into boil in the bag delicacies at Brome Lake Ducks….is nothing sacred for the kids? We’re talking more than just the Eastern Bunny folks, we’re talking Bugs Bunny! Bugs Bunny? What’s Up Doc???”
So we’ll have to now explain to our Brome Lake children that they will be no longer serviced by the Easter Bunny because it was was announced that Brome Lake Ducks would soon begin slaughtering thousands of little bunny rabbits every week! The Easter Bunny expressed shock and disappointment that Brome Lake would be home to such acts against rabbits and said she had no choice but to boycott ever coming to the area for Easter ever again. Sad news for children who love the fluffy white cuddly creatures with their wiggly noses and beady little eyes and friendly dispositions; they will no longer be visited at Easter by that most famous of rabbits who delivers chocolate treats and daffodils every Spring.
The Brome Lake Duck Farm had to go beyond their duck farm activities because there just wasn’t enough work at the factory farm to give all employees a full 5 day work week. To add an extra day’s work for the employees 6,000 bunnies will be killed and transformed into human food.
In today’s economy employers are looking for ways to keep employees employed a full 5 days per week as having people work only 4 days out of seven doesn’t seem too productive, naturally, rabbits, being stupid beasts, do not understand this logic. It’s not sure what would be involved if they wanted to ramp up to a seven day work week but no doubt someone will be looking at a way to keep the rendering plant a rendering!
Children in Brome Lake will have to adjust to not seeing their Easter Bunny anymore and will have to find solace in the fact that they may be still able to see thousands of rabbits every week …not happily hopping along with baskets of chocolate eggs but crammed into as factory trucks that grind through town; trucks filled with cages of little bouncing baby bunnies on their way to slaughter…add the flying fur to the flying duck feathers that blow through town from behind the trucks every day and it sounds like Brome Lake could be the setting for the newest Tim Burton film!
“I’ll certainly miss coming to Brome Lake to visit the children and hide eggs every year” said the Easter Bunny from her winter retreat in British Columbia, “but they kids will just have to find some other cuddly representative of Easter that isn’t a food for hungry carnivorous humans…maybe they could try The Easter Cockroach?”
OUCH! Someone, pass me a carrot!
Started in 1912 on the western shore of Brome Lake, the Brome Lake Duck farm is the oldest duck-breeding farm in all of Canada. The native New Yorker who started the farm just before World War 1 chose to breed Peking duck; a large-bodied white duck with a distinct yellow bill and feet, as well as delicious meat which had been first imported from China to the United States in 1873.
Family later moved the farm and its buildings to the other side of the lake and the farm was set up in an area where the ducks could swim freely in the lake during times of summer heat. Now one of the largest employers in the area the farm has annual production that is close to 3,000,000 ducks which are imported to food service industries around the globe including Asia, South America and Europe. Now, with the addition of 250,000 rabbits per year being slaughtered, Brome Lake will have another badge on her colorful uniform.
Also interesting: The Brome Lake Duck Festival
Brome Lake Ducks : Truly the nec plus ultra in ducks!
Earth Hour at Town of Brome Lake
The Community Joins Forces Against Climate Changes
Come on Everybody!
Turn out the lights!!
This year, the Town of Brome Lake has joined Renaissance Lac Brome and a group of citizens to underline Earth Hour, a planetary manifestation against climate change and greenhouse gases. This event will take place around the world on March 27th, 2010from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
To highlight the event, municipal authorities will turn off every light in municipal buildings:
Town Hall, Centre Lac-Brome, Municipal garage and Fire Hall.
Council members invite citizens to take part in this planetary movement on March 27th,2010. Our participation in the Earth Hour means much more than just turning off lights once a year for 60 minutes. This event allows people to voice their opinion on the future of the planet and to send a message to world leaders to take appropriate action to redress the climate change situation.
Gather in Coldbrook Park at 8:30 p.m. with a candle and celebrate Brome Lake’s first Earth Hour with your friends!
The Town of Brome Lake, in cooperation with its partners such as Renaissance Lac Brome,already has several projects aiming to fight against greenhouse gases, such as:
-The consolidation of its urban plan and by-laws to integrate sustainable development as an objective which highlights urban standards in regards to the environment. This consolidation will also be the opportunity to rethink the problem of light pollution and measures to adopt to resolve this situation;
– The establishment of a new waste management schedule by the Town to reduce traveling of trucks. This new schedule pursues this objective to encourage recycling
and composting;
– The implementation of a renewal strategy for less energy-consuming municipal vehicles and equipment;
– The adherence to the “Programme Climat Municipalités”, which proposes an inventory
of the sources of greenhouse gases that includes an action plan;
– The improvement of infrastructures in parks and public recreation areas respectful of the environment.
Gather in Coldbrook Park at 8:30 p.m. with a candle and celebrate Brome Lake’s first Earth Hour with your friends!
L’HEURE POUR LA TERRE À VILLE DE LAC-BROME
LA COMMUNAUTÉ SE MOBILISE CONTRE LES CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES
Lac-Brome, le 4 mars 2010. La Ville de Lac-Brome s’associe cette année avec Renaissance Lac Brome et un groupe de citoyens afin de souligner l’Heure pour la Terre, une manifestation planétaire de lutte contre les changements climatiques et les gaz à effet de serre. L’événement se tient le 27 mars 2010, de 20h30 à 21h30 et ce, partout dans le monde.Pour souligner l’événement, les autorités municipales éteindront toutes les lumières utilisées dans les bâtiments municipaux : Hôtel de Ville, Centre Lac-Brome, Garage municipal et Caserne d’incendie.
The Yamaska Valley Optimist Club will once again be celebrating four “Women of Success” at their fourth annual International Women’s Day Dinner. To be held Saturday, March 13th at the Lakeview Inn.
The evening starts at 6:00 pm, supper to be served at 7:00 pm Every year the club chooses a different theme and this year they have chosen Successful Women Entrepreneurs. We are so very fortunate to have such talented women amongst us in our community and that we have this special occasion to celebrate their success.
This year’s honourees are Patti Larose-Mason and Annette Blanco from the Panier Champêtre; Lucy Hoblyn from Brome Lake Books and Janet Fraser of Café Floral. These four remarkable women, working in the town of Knowlton, have made us very proud and are an inspiration to many in these difficult economic times.
Keynote speaker is Lori Graham of CTV Montreal. Born and raised on the West Island of Montreal, Lori has always had a passion for performing and public speaking. All through elementary school and high school, Lori participated in numerous public speaking contests and performed in countless theatrical productions. Lori was even elected to give the valedictory address to her graduating class at Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School.
While public speaking was always of great interest, academically Lori pursued both pure and applied science. Eventually she would find a way to combine her love of both sciences and languages by becoming CTV Montreal’s weather presenter.
Lori got her break in Montreal media while in her second year of broadcast journalism at Concordia University. She was the recipient of CJAD’s Al Cauley Award, and within weeks began working for CJAD and Mix 96 as a traffic reporter, news reporter and newscaster while completing her final year of university. She went on to graduate from Concordia with the highest aggregate marks in her program.
Two years later, Lori joined the CTV family as a weather presenter during the infamous 1998 ice storm. She refers to her television debut as her “baptism by ice.” She has hosted a number of shows for CTV including “Good Morning Canada” – the network’s national weekend morning show.
Lori is also involved in a number of local charities. She hosts CTV’s “Telethon of Stars” and supports the Bell Walk for Kids Help Phone, the Children’s Wish Foundation, and Ronald McDonald House Charities.
There are a limited number of tickets, so hurry to reserve your place!! Tickets are available by calling Lois Hardacker or Marilyn Hunter at (450) 242-2000, Donna Coates at (450)-242-2548 (evening) or Susan Burbank at (450) 243-0530(evening).
Tickets cost $50.00 with all the profits going to the youth projects that the club sponsors in the area.
While Loto Quebec is trying to enslave the masses of impoverished and desperate citizens of Quebec by promoting addictive Internet Gambling and Poker in order to feed the Quebec governments insatiable need for tax money to pay for their lavish extravagances, Hydro-Quebec is trying to promote similarly dastardly evil by hoping to erect a huge wind farm in the Eastern Townships. The publicly owned power corporation, in the name of money, is willing to rape the provinces patrimony and destroy precious natural beauty for nothing more than stuffing a few pockets.
Think these windmills are a green project? Wake up and smell the herbal tea Martha; these are nothing but promoters who are riding on David Suzukis message and spinning it for their own personal profit! This is not about helping the people of the region or the people of Quebec, this is just about fulfilling some engineering wet-dream and moving money into foreign pockets.
The ad-men are in a full-tilt-boogie trying to paint wind farms in a positve light before we have a chance to realize this is a huge corporate sham designed to enrich the few inglorious basterds who shamelessly abuse the planet and hoarde their wealth!
ATTENTION!!!!
Please come to a PUBLIC MEETING and PRESENTATION to discuss the proposed WIND TURBINE project for the area of STANBRIDGE STATION, CANTON de BEDFORD and PIKE RIVER.
Date: Wednesday, 24 February, 2010
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: George Perron Community Center
14 Rue Philippe Côte, Bedford, Qc
(Near the railway tracks)
This is an issue that would affect not only the immediate communities but those in the surrounding areas of the Eastern Townships, even as far as Dunham and Frelighsburg or further. This proposed project is part of Hydro-Québec Distribution’s call for community based projects with a maximum of 25 MW wind energy production. The deadline for registered bidders to submit their projects is May 19, 2010.
Hope to see you there. Bring a neighbor and a friend. We would like to fill the hall to capacity with concerned citizens!!
For additional information go to http://www.forummissisquoi.com/ and http://www.windinvasion.com/
Corporate greed has infested the government and they are using their own taxpayers as human shields, throwing them in harms way just to ensure their survival! Cue the theme song from Donald Trumps The Apprentice…”Money, money money, money….MONEY!” They are blowing smoke up our asses trying to make us believe this is a good project…yep…it’s good for them! Cough cough…excuse me while I clear your clouded corporate logic from my colon…
Windmill Projects : Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air
Looks like the MRC of Brome-Missisquoi are entertaining the idea of setting up a mammoth windfarm in Bedford in the Monteregie. These gargantuous monstrosities of Engineering self-glorification would all but annihilate the beauty of Bedfrod Canton, Stanbridge Station and Pike River. What sort of lunatic fringe would consider that building mammoth structures can be considered a Green technology? The only green involved is the obscene transfer of wealth from enginerring firms, politicians and off-shore interests…this ain’t about conservation this is about money!
Wind farms around the world are causing health issues, killing birds, bursting into flames, destroying the landscape all the while dressing up the political agenda of the government officials who funnel massive amounts of tax dollars to their mega-project bum-buddies pockets!!
These people do not have our interests at heart. They are bribing local municipalities with a little carrot on a stick payout of $60,000! Ohh boy! That is probably what one engineer from Teknika charged to cut and paste an engineering report that says windmills are going to be , in the words of tony the Tiger, “grrrrrreat!” for the economy and will help save the planet because it’s cheap free power!
Ummm, hello? Do these people take us for complete mental defectives?
Just listen to this marketing jargon from the Kruger Energy website, one of the “companies” involved in creating massive and irreversible enviromental destruction in our province:
“Kruger Energy is set to become a major player in the wind energy sector in Quebec and Canada.
In addition to having developed, built and commissioned a 101.2-MW wind farm in the municipality of Chatham-Kent (Port Alma), Ontario in 2008, Kruger Energy is currently developing of a 100-MW wind farm in Québec’s Montérégie region. Kruger Energy was also selected again by the Ontario government to build another 101.2-MW wind farm to be commissioned in 2011 in the Chatham-Kent area..
Wind energy is one of the cleanest energy sources available in North America. Unlike some conventional energy sources, wind energy is fully renewable and produces no emissions or hazardous waste.
This source of energy has the added benefit of creating direct and indirect jobs. In the long term, the development of wind farms will create an industry in the community, producing both jobs and income for the local economy.
Wind energy is safe and reliable, as well as economically, environmentally and socially viable.”
The Kruger webpage on wind farms shows a child flying a kite in a field of wheat…there are no towers in site just an innocent child frolicking in a golden field! But let’s get real “Freddy” Kruger! Your renewable vision will bring you the loot while the Monteregie gets pummeled with an eye-sore…it will be a little fart on your company timeline but will be a permanent pile of fecal matter festering in our backyard!
Their advertising demons have pictures of rusty-haired children blowing bubbles in to the sunshine of a summer lullaby like happy cherubs floating through heaven! Lord Jesus give us strength to fight against such offensive attacks on reason! This is a windfarm not a playpen full of cherubs! A noisy, stinking, dangerous, in-efficient pile of materials is what it is not a field full of kites and bubbles!
Hmmm…Kruger is the same wind pushing gang that had one of their projects shut down last year:
KRUGER ENERGY MUST TERMINATE THE BAS-SAINT-LAURENT WIND FARM PROJECT
Montréal, Québec, March 16, 2009 Kruger Energy today informed municipal authoritiesin Sainte-Luce, Sainte-Flavie and the La Mitis RCM of its decision to terminate the projectto establish the Bas-Saint-Laurent Wind Farm, which had been awarded by Hydro-Québec Distribution on May 5, 2008.
The termination of the project had become inevitable due to a decision by the Municipality of Sainte-Luce, stipulated in draft By-law No. R-2008-10, to prohibit the installation of wind turbines on most of its territory, effectively blocking the installation of all twenty-seven (27)planned wind turbines.
Furthermore, the ongoing process to implement By-law No. R-2008-102 has made it
impossible for Kruger Energy to pursue negotiations with equipment suppliers.
For these reasons, Kruger Energy Bas-Saint-Laurent, Limited Partnership has terminated the development of the project and informed Hydro-Québec of this decision.
-30-
INFORMATION:
Jean Majeau
Senior Vice President
Corporate Affairs and Communications
Kruger Inc.
Awww….so sad…they made all kinds of money in planning, got government money for studies, paid engineers and consultants and then the project gets cancelled because people woke up and smelled the coffee! Oh well…Kruger got their payoff…now they’re moving into our little corner of paradise to start another round of shakedown…grants, corporate tax breaks, gifts and promises and a whole little happy gang will have their happy ending even if the project doesn’t fly!
Hydro-Quebec puts out a call for tender…yep…just like the calls for tender in the construction world? Nice little arrangement that even Earl Jones would be envious of! How can such bold faced scamming be allowed to continue?
Have you seen these Kruger Energy people? They look like veritable thugs from a Francis Ford Coppola flick! In Ontario, when a family complained of environmental sickness associated with the constant noise of the new windfarm the Kruger folks said the case was closed…buh bye! People living around windfarms are like acceptable losses in a war…the Generals accept that some poor low ranking soldiers will be killed and maimed in battle but the Big G’s will sleep well in their flannel snugglies! Kruger and their government friends have a purely mafia-esque scheme going and while some of you will be sick and have your homes lose value and your environment will be destroyed by huge towering steel structures but at least Hydro-Quebec will be selling more power to the USA and the direcors will be choking down vats of champagne with their Kruger chums down in their south Pacific tax-havens laughing how they screwed over the Quebec population!
We must stop the madness!! Look at these creations!! These are images that should strike fear into all of us!! This unfettered quest for size is a threat to the existance of humanity! Our lives are being endangered by the phallic pursuits of corporate pirates!!
These super-structure windmills are built just like engineers like thing to be: BIG! Who wouldn’t be impressed by such a big tall solid shaft? What a joke! Just like warlords like to parade their missiles the new Eco-Peddlers are trying to dwarf us under the concrete so we feel helpless and submissive…accepting that these monolithic are the new ICBM of the millennium where leaders show who has the biggest tower, who has the biggest wee-wee! Look at us! We have BIG ONES in our province!!!
These projects are presented by MARKETERS and not environmentalists. These projects are pushed on us by politicians who are being rewarded with promises of wealth and prestige. Engineers and their self-indulgent ideas of grandiose entitlement feel that if they can build it then it is worthy of being built but the facts are that if they build this wind farm in The Eastern Townships then it will be turning this little corner of paradise into something that will make the Alberta Tar Sands look like a UNESCO certified world heritage nature-park!!!
When these projects are done, the electricity goes to feed the war-state of the USA and the residents of the Bedford region will be left with huge pieces of junk towering over their heads like a guillotine! Have you ever heard one of these turbines in action? They literally scream in the wind with an aggressive screech. Isn’t it bad enough we are subjected to electro-magnetic fields of ever thickening proportions with cellular use satellite noise and other radioactivites now they will be adding a constant growling wail of mourning apocalypse into our ears!
These Hydro-Quebec people are like the Tobacco Industry trying to sell us the idea that a pack a day isn’t too bad for you! They all have hard-ons over the BILLIONS of dollars they can squeeze out of Ontario and the US by exporting power! Hardons I tell you! Even the ladies at Hydro Quebec and Kruger must have ’em! That’s how punch-drunk they are with the thought of bathing naked in money and living their dreams of personal perversion without regard for the lives and creatures of the area they want to destroy!!
People will start getting sick, property values will plummet, and this is only in the first few years. Then once the politicians who made the deal have retired to scuba dive in the south seas and the PROMOTERS and engineers have made their commissions and kick-backs the shit will really hit the fan. The wind farms will start to fall apart, crumbling and collapsing and being left to rot!
But then, rest assured poor idiotic residents of The Eastern Townships Wind Farm Zone, the Engineers will swoop out of their fiscal tax havens from behind their t-squares and come to the rescue. Just like the engineers who designed the Turcott Interchange in Montreal, which is now at risk of falling apart after only 30 years, is going to be redesigned by more engineers to be bigger and better! Great little make work projects these guys have going on!! Can’t we legislate against the breeding of engineers??
Engineers built the Riverview Causeway in New Brunswick back in the day and well, oops, we extincted a bunch of fish species and caused incredible eco-damage but we sure piled a lot of cement and rocks didn’t we mommy? Now the Riverview causeway is being taken down…the lights came on and people realized that the project was a mistake!
This wind farm project in Befford area in Quebec is a mistake…I will buy everyone reading this article lunch on April 20th, 2029 at the Tim Hortons in Knowlton (Lac-Brome) if the wind farm is still standing if it even gets built. These things are like a wedding…lots of money spent on planning and a big fancy dinner and dance and more money on honeymoon and it’s all a big party at first but in the end the couple gets divorced after a few years because hubby boy isn’t happy just being a pro-golfer and she gives him a nine-iron to the chops! We’re in the wedding planning stage and Hydro and Kruger are like wedding planners with a limitless credit card!
If anyone can say that these wind farms are good for you then they are lying to you and they deserve a spanking from their mama and should sit in the naughty chair for an hour!!
What the Quebec government strap-booted goons should do is allow citizens to use small scale wind turbines on their own property to create our own power and if we have surplus power let us sell it on the grid? Why do they need to control the grid? Who not let Joseph The Potato Farmer from Granby have a small 1.2 KW windmill outside of his fish pond and generate his own power and sell back what he doesn’t use? Ohhhh nooooo…that would mean that these MARKETERS, ENGINEERS and POLITICIANS couldn’t suck more money from taxpayers to make huge mega projects so they can prop up their egos! Dammnit why can’t I make my own power…it SHOULD be that you have to make your own power. We’re so fat and lazy as it is we just plug our appliances into our sockets and watch Olympic Speed Knitting! If Miss Princess Junior High Teenager had to peddle a stationary bike to match Much Music videos of Lady Gaga she would probably soon decide to do something else! This access to easy and cheap power is making us like sloths on a carb binge!
The strain relations between right minded intelligent thinking citizens is a direct polar opposite to the greedy money grubbing promoters of wind farms and the meetings for planning and discussion are sure to be heated as local residents try to avoid being hypnotized3ed by rhetoric and dazzled with trickery by articulate spinners of corporate truth who try to sell us the idea that this Quebec wind farm is going to be good for us.
It won’t be long before the Wiebo Ludwig’s and Joe Stack’s of the world start coming to the surface and we see just how ugly things can get! Before it comes to that make yourself heard and tell the people in charge of making the decisions that they had better refuse this wind project or they will be signing the death sentence to the beautiful region of the Eastern Townships and effectively selling out our childrens childrens childrens futures for a few gold coins!
Bring a juicy pound of flesh!
Notable quotes
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The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.
— John 3:8
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It sounds like we have an international airport next door to us. Our health is being threatened. We’re about ready to abandon our property.
— Scott Shillingstad, Roger Mills County, Oklahoma
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If we knew what would happen, never would we have signed a contract that puts our friends and neighbors through this.
— Hal Graham, Cohocton, New York
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My family and my self’s lives have been completely devastated and turned upside down by the erection of 27 giant wind monsters in every direction from our home by the Wind Capital Group and Tom Carnahan, as close as 1500 feet from our home. They surround us. They keep us from sleeping at night and drive us crazy by day, as I try to care for our World Class AQHA and APHA horses. They’ve ruined the equity in our farm that took us 15 hard years to create. They’ve ruined the marketability of our farm, not that we ever even considered selling, or moving. Now we have no choice. We just bought a house in town, and will be, regrettably, abandoning our precious home.
— Charlie Porter, King City, Missouri
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Wind energy will undoubtedly create noise, which increases stress, which in turn increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
— Julia Gohlke, Sharon Hrynkow, and Christopher Portier, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health
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The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.
— Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1890
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Mike, we are a green energy company, but the green stands for money.
— Jeffrey Skilling, President, Enron
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Looking at the ridge lines, you’re looking at the same thing Ethan Allen and those people looked at. We’ve worked hard to keep billboards off the side of the roads. You can’t put up a billboard but you can put up a 400-foot tower? It doesn’t make sense.
— Michael Klopchin, Select Board Chairman, Clarendon, Vt.
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We must not crucify Penobscot Bay on a cross of wind.
— Ron Huber, Rockland, Me.
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Wind’s unpredictability means it truly has no generating capacity value, and its construction will not displace building any new coal or natural gas generating capacity. Grid reserve margins require wind-back up, and the inefficiency of quickly firing up a natural gas unit to meet erratic wind generation output means any emissions displacement is minimal. Wind is simply an additional capital cost which proves to be more than twice as expensive for the ratepayer.
— Tom Hewson, “Calculating Wind Power’s Environmental Benefits”, Power Engineering, July 2009
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When I first saw the so-out-of-place wind turbines and their Vegas-style strobe lights on the once quiet and majestic ridges of my eastern Oregon childhood home, I cried.
— Lynne Stone, Oregon
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Chi vuole la salvezza delle bellezze storico-paesaggistiche della Sicilia e di tutta l’Italia, non può che avversare l’eolico. [If you want to save the historic and scenic beauties of Sicily and all of Italy, you must oppose wind energy.]
— Vittorio Sgarbi, mayor of Salemi, Sicily, Sicilia Informazioni, Dec. 9, 2008
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Delle pale eoliche è la piaga finale del paesaggio italiano. [Wind towers are the final plague of the Italian countryside.]
— Oreste Rutigliano, Sicilia Informazioni, Dec. 9, 2008
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Franchement, quand je survole certains pays européens [les éoliennes] ne donne pas envie. [Frankly, when I fly over a number of European countries, the turbines I see do not fill me with envy.]
— Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France, Oct. 25, 2007
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European countries are far ahead of the United States in not only wind power, but in its unhappy consequences.
— Ed Hiserodt, “Green Fairy Tales”, The New American, June 22, 2009
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Why isn’t as much time and effort spent educating and encouraging people to conserve rather than defacing our landscape? … Long-term benefits like preserving the character of Vermont and energy conservation are more important than short-term solutions that create more problems than they solve.
— Jane FitzGerald, Milton, Vt., Burlington Free Press, May 15, 2009
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The current anger at the march of turbines and pylons across the hills of Britain is not from nimbys. Government money has lubricated most backyard owners to support wind power. It comes from those who appreciate the beauty of the countryside and who question the industrial spoliation of miles of open landscape for a pitiful net gain to climate change.
— Simon Jenkins, Guardian, July 16, 2009
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Hopelessly uneconomic on any substantial scale, since it requires a conventional power back-up for when the wind stops blowing, forests of wind turbines are rightly regarded in most countries as an environmental monstrosity.
— Nigel Lawson, Time, May 21, 2008
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The development of renewable energy resources will require a significant expansion of the grid, as well as a significant increase in needed operating reserves given the intermittent nature of wind and other resources.
— Terry Boston, president and CEO, PJM Interconnection
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Thirty gigawatts of wind maybe requires 25 GW of backup.
Building giant wind turbines, however attention-getting or distracting, does not make the other problems go away.
— Rosa Goldman
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Wind salesmen mimic the memes of environmentalism to sell their industry, often in ways so deceptive or contrary as to mock the very movement they claim to promote. Current policy of unlimited consents for wind power stations is tragically flawed, will never be the answer to climate change issues, cannot fulfill the national energy supply requirements expected of it, and inflicts an extensive and unjustifiable environmental cost.
— Fergus Ferguson
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I am skeptical about the current craze for windmills. They produce very little useful energy and are an ungodly abomination on the landscape. How can groups that used to gag at clearing a path for a transmission line now accept adorning mountaintops all over the east coast with 45-story structures? As the Nature Conservancy says, it’s “Energy Sprawl”.
— William Tucker
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Don’t get the idea that I’ve turned green. My business is making money, and I think this is going to make a lot of money.
— T. Boone Pickens, The Guardian (U.K.), Apr. 14, 2008
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Before declaring itself bankrupt on 15 September, US investment bank Lehman Brothers was one of several major firms that invested in wind projects in exchange for the tax credit, which they used to reduce their federal tax bill.”
— Nature, October 1, 2008
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Cumulative impacts are a growing concern with more numerous documentation of wind impacts on birds, bats and their habitats.
— Albert Manville, Senior Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, April 3, 2008, e-mail
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The ecological footprint is large relative to the meager environmental benefits.
— R. Dwayne Elmore, Oklahoma Chapter, The Wildlife Society, and others, letter to Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, Jan. 3, 2008
While the Olympics are bringing out the best in Canadians the Brome Lake Blog is continuing to bring out the worst in people, especially the owner, Morris “Don’t call me Maurice” Coggles.
Residents of The Town of Brome Lake are wearing paper bags on their heads as Brome Lake Blog continues to be a mysogynistic ranting forum that paints the town on the Internet as a haven for fools and right-wing self-serving, fawning parasites!
The Blog, owned by Morris “Maurice” Croghan, is in no way a representation of the fine folks living in Brome Lake but instead is a nasty collection of worthless posts that are designed to poke at people and inscite responses instead of actually doing anything positive.
Townsfolk’s are at their wits end but unfortunately there is no laws against utter stupidity otherwise Croggles would be doing life for first-degree retardeness!
Morris Croghan, or Maurice as we say here in bon Quebecois, or is it Morris like John Charest is a convenient twist spelling in order to hide his Quebecois heritage? Momo seems to be like many old men who take up blogs late in life after the spark of intelligence and sensibility has long been snuffed out due to cerebral shrinkage: he fails to see that his maniacal posts actually cause people to feel sorry for him!
Sir: You live in Quebec, complain about everything and your name is Maurice….that makes you a 100% pur laine Québécois!! Like it or not, protest as you do, you are what you most hate, monsieur.
Maurice seems to have a constant axe to grind with the Brome Lake Chamber of Commerce and it’s not clear why as Mr Croghan doesn’t seem to be any sort of entrepreneur or business owner who pays taxes in Brome Lake or does he, so his constant anger towards the people trying to help Brome Lake doesn’t make sense. Does Croggles have any bright ideas for helping local business? Does he have any idea about running a real business that gives back to the community and supports families or is his agenda one of trying to circumvent protocol for self-profit?
His attitude is typical of those whose megalomania creates a delusional belief of self-entitlement.
He bashes the French language and glorifies his English roots but this demonstrates a keen self-loathing as the name Maurice is as French as Poutine and St Jean Babtiste under all his God Save The Queen bravado and crotch mold!
He hates taxes, hates the politicians, hates the Francos, hates The Anglos, hates the business owners, hates the tourists, he hates hates hates…well except for the rose colored stories of when he, as a boy in 1950, used to run naked through the fields of Foster singing English war songs and bashing bird nests with sticks.
It seems like this one-dimensional childish character of base simplicity has grown into an elderly one-dimensional character of base simplicity but the age seems to have worn down any glimmer of reason, wit and intelligence to about a four point font. His remarks and observations stand-out on his blog with the same class and sophistication as a hair-matted, pee-stained la-z-boy in the front yard of a hillbilly trailer park.
Hey Maurice, why don’t you try starting a real tax-paying business in Brome Lake instead of bashing others? When people complain about how their tax dollars are being used it is one thing but if they are not even part of the system and just sit on a festering soap box of hatred and ignorance then they just sound foolish. Baiting people with blog posts and name calling and fueling misinformation and hatred is the hallmark of a small and unhealthy mind.
One thing residents of Brome Lake can be thankful for is that the Maurice Croghans of the world are slowly but surely disappearing under the watchful eye of a benevolent lord. It was fitting that when Conan O’Brien did his last Late Night show he spoke emotionally to the audience and said the one thing he despised most is what Morris Croghan represents: cynicism.
Times have changed old man.
Back when the Brome Lake Blog started it appeared that Brome Lake had a new forum for residents and even DestinationKnowlton.com announced the coming Blog with fanfare, but it soon turned to disappointment as the Blog slowly revealed itself to be a inbred forum run by a single dictator who wished to force views down people’s throats: let’s look back…
Dateline Brome Lake (2009) :Brome Lake has a new forum for residents. The Brome Lake Blog was started to allow citizens to express feelings on issues and discuss concerns about politics and life in Brome Lake.
Still in it’s infancy, the blog isn’t organized yet into categories and it’s basically a free for all guestbook where people just toss their two cents into the ring…but some visitors are finding that if you don’t agree with the agenda of the blog then you are told to just plain shut-up! Brome Lake Blog is available at bromelakeblog.com/
Started by resident Morris Croghan the new blog “is dedicated, but not limited to, relevant comments on the politics, commerce and general happenings in and around the Town of Brome Lake, Quebec, Canada. Comments must be in English and all will be subject to scrutiny before being published. Profanity, slander, sexist, or racist, comments will of course be barred.
We are looking for honestly held opinions ( that’s allowed in a free country ) be they politically correct or not.” Hmmm…sounds like a nice concept but once inside people are finding that what that really translates into is something quite different. People are being insulted and there is no sense of humor in sight! If someone posts an idea the post is picked apart like a prairie dog by vultures. While it purports to be a forum for residents it seems that only three residents, the site directors, are posting their agenda which is hard to decipher through the rudeness.
Oh well, it at least shows that most people in Brome Lake have better things to do than waste their time on a local blog that seems to be doing nothing more than uniting the bozos! The blog has been operating for several weeks now and more public interest is growing as the 2009 Brome Lake Election approaches.
There are more and more folks leaving comments and asking questions and surely there are more and more visitors who come to see the latest issues and of perhaps to check out the comments to provide a little comedy relief! So far there has been little interesting political commentary and the appearances by the candidates in the Brome Lake Elections are as rare as a sighting of a groundhog on a wet February!
The blog is not always easy to navigate and there appears to be some name calling and trolling where answers and comments are laced with aggressive intolerance. If a point is made it is usually belittled if it tends to go against the blog owners personal viewpoints…of course since the Brome Lake Blog is a personal creation without any connection to the town it will likely remain a place for people to either beat the same drum or to be told to shut up and stop being stupid!
If a blog solicits honestly held opinions then it should be tolerant to all opinions but there already appears to be some straying from issues solely focused on Brome Lake as Federal Government bill’s regarding benefits to new Canadians seems to be a topic of discussion as well
“I don’t like bigots. I don’t like liars. I don’t like agenda driven Anglophobes. I don’t like meaningless political speak. I don’t like dirty tap water. I don’t like what my towns become. I don’t like phony “Baie St Paul” advocates. I don’t like Anglo panderers. I don’t like decrepit, defunct Anglo Foundations.” says one post by the blog manager.
Another post: “Wisdom Era Councilors at it Again ! I see ha! ha! that George Bristol ha! ha!, Larry “No show” Fairholm ha! ha! ha! and Alain ha! ha! ha! “the linguist” Gautier are running again ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!Come on fellows, give us taxpayers a break, surely you jest ? The new administration will have plenty of toxic left over Wisdom deadwood to contend with as it is, in Carke, Bourret.
George I’m sure would spend more time in West Brome if he could, but those terrible WB roads, almost impassable ! ( except to Bel Canto events). Larry “no show” Fairholm, seldom attends meetings, but is never absent on payday. Could be he is usually trapped on the other side of the lake while the provincial roads department goes about it’s never ending task of changing all the bridges and diverting all the ditches into Brome Lake.As to Mr Gauthier, Alain once showed some glimmer of commitment to doing the right thing (bilingual resolution 2008-10-355) but in the end folded and morphed into a mouthpiece for the Wisdom, Carke, Bourret team. Went down with the ship Alain ? Time for all to say goodbye. ”
And another: “…answer my questions, but remember no spinning and no political speak, just good solid answers. This is a blog, not a polite wine and cheese lying contest.”
It’s not clear how people will react to such comments and posts but it would be un-likely that any political candidates would show up on the blog with all the name calling and quite probable that the blog could end up being nothing more than a vent for a few malcontents who want to sling mud on anything that moves! Let’s face it if someone says “I find your Blog, and in particular, your comments, irrelevant, malicious and uninformed” and then they are called “stupid” then there doesn’t appear to much headway made towards constructivity.
Indeed the Blog owner is posting hatred and ignorance and name-calling and finger wagging all the while seeming to say that the problem with Brome Lake is that 50years have passed buy and progress has happened. Progress, good and bad, happens to every town so for the Brome Lake Blog owner to pine for lost youth is rather sad.
Word around the water cooler is that commenting on the blog is pointless and it is all a waste of time and just a platform for hatred and ignorance as well as pointless name calling and mud raking.
Unfortunately the people who have started this project seem unable to create and simply wish to destroy with attacks on people in the Town. Dissing this website is as pathetic as it gets! In the little world where the Brome Lake Blogger leaders dwell there is a population of knuckle draggers who seem to live in some delusional world of malicious self-importance and self-righteousness.
No-one is allowed to have a screen name, posts are deleted if they don’t fit the tastes of this one man show. The owner of the blog seems to find the time to insult the Destination Knowlton website for some reason…see what happens when you try and give someone a voice? I guess we learned our lesson on that one!
Visit the BromeLakeBlog and decide for yourself if it is a representation of the real viewpoints of Brome Lake or if it is a vocal minority of trolling bullies exposing their true colors, bigotry with a mix of ignorance, hatred and cranky old fartinessness: www.bromelakeblog
Come celebrate with Knowlton the arrival of the Holiday season at the opening ceremony of the Festival of lights to be held this Saturday, November 28, at 6 p.m. at Coldbrook Park.
A special thank you to the volunteers:Marie-José Duchesneau for the many hours “tinkering” with the new Festival of lights website ;Vilnis Epners for coordinating the refection of the nutcrackers;Claude & Janet Boulianne as well as our anonymous artist for the construction and decoration of the magnificent mailbox;Camlen’s employee for helping out with the lights installation and the nutcrackers delivery;Jacques Lecours for the use of his garage;
as well as Kevin Barnes, Danielle Bombardier, Francine Brassard and Lynn Matthews for all their time given out freely to help realised this festival.
With the short days of November slowly bringing us towards the snows of December it’s a good time to look at all of the events upcoming in December in the Knowlton area. So many visitors come to Knowlton during the holidays for the Festival of Lights, for the skating beside the Mill Pond, for the wonderful shopping in the boutiques of Knowlton and to experience the Victorian Christmas that Knowlton is famous for.
The village is nice in quiet once the snow starts to settle but there are plenty of things to do and see throughout the month of December both before and after Christmas.
December Highlights
Bingo
Every Sunday
Every sunday From 7 pm at Odd Fellows Hall, 476 Knowlton Rd. Information: (450)243-6778
Friday night social club
Fridays from October to May
From 8 pm at Odd Fellows Hall, 476 Knowlton Rd. Darts, cribbage, 500, refreshments … $2 entrance fee. Welcome everyone! (450)243-6778
Festival of Lights
Until January 1st
Knowlton will sparkle under thousands of twinkling LED lights. Stay a while in the perfect after-ski region and enjoy a wonderful meal while savouring a glass of regional wine in one of our many restaurants. 1-877-242-2870, e-mail
“Noël dans nos campagnes”
Until January 4
Come and find out about activities and festivities offered by the municipalities and the existing animation in our art galleries and artists and artisans’ studios.
Skating Rink in Coldbrook Park in Knowlton
Weather permitting
Come rediscover the joy of skating under a winter sky. 1-877-242-2870, e-mail
Santa Claus Parade
December 5
In the streets of Knowlton (Brome Lake) at 1 pm. Meet Santa after the parade. Presented by the Lion’s Club. (450) 242-2491
The Brome Lake Santa Clause Parade
Duck don December 5 & 6
For each country style duck pie sold during this period, $2 will be given to the Knowlton Lions Club for their Christmas baskets. Brome Lake Ducks, 40 Center St., 450 242-3825
December 5th to Jan 4th Knowlton Gallery Presents “The Art of Giving”
49 Victoria in Knowlton
The Knowlton Gallery offers high quality contemporary art and fine craft by established and emerging artists.
Come and see the remarkable Santas by Judy Mullins.
Pot-pourri choir in concert December 6
At 3 pm. at Knowlton St-Paul’s Anglican Church. $10 450 263-5068
Club Optimist Christmas Brunch December 6
From 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Salle de la Bonne Humeur, 7 Mill Rd. in Bondville. Santa Claus will come visit and the children will receive a gift. For children 10 years old and younger with and adult, brunch is free. 11 to 16 $5, adults $8. Welcome all! 450 243-0325
Christmas reception and musical presentation December 7
Réception Canadian Club of the Yamaska Valley. Auberge West-Brome, 128 route 139. 450243-6524 [email protected]
Midnight Madness
December 12
Come do your Christmas shopping in our stores which stay open until midnight for the occasion. Animation and contest. Details to come. Caroling in the streets from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Horse sleigh from 8 to 11 p.m. Firepits from 7 to 11 p.m. Gift wrapping service from 7 to 10 p.m.
Knowlton Harmony Band concert December 12
At Knowlton United Church. Details to come.
December Ice When the snow storms have passed and the sun peeks
out from over The Glen we can sometimes be treated to icicles forming on the fragile
fingers of the naked hedges along the fences and fields of Lac Brome. Delicate
patterns are created turning the frozen branches into what appears to be glistening
angel wings draped over the trees.
More Photos & Pictures
Christmas carol service December 12
Seasoned with readings, choir, chorals and singing at 3 p.m. at the Creek United Church. 450 243-6746
Bake sale
December 12
From 10 a.m. at the B.C.H.S. 130 Lakeside Rd. 450 243-6782
The world’s most beautiful voices December 18
The Music Lovers’ Club presents opera on the giant screen at the Centre Lac-Brome. Enjoy the opera in surround sound, and deepen your appreciation of the art through stories and commentary. All welcome! Starts at 6:30 pm. 3$ (450) 242-2020
Snow Ball December 19
At 7 p.m. Kick up your heels and dine and dance at the beautiful “Snow Ball”. Delicious dinner catered by Virgo, music by the popular band “Jab Jab”. Tickets $ 150 per person (tax receipt for $80.) Proceeds to Theatre Lac Brome. At Centre Lac-Brome, 270 Victoria St. 450-242-1395.
Holiday dinner-dance
December 19
Enjoy the stylish renderings of pianist Yaakov Ludmer while dining, then dance the night away with a D.J. playing the best in music to keep your feet flying. From 6 p.m. Restaurant Le Relais, 286 Knowlton Rd. Reservations: 450-242-2232.
Polar Express / Boréal Express
December 23
French movie at 10 a.m. and English movie at 2 p.m. At Centre Lac-Brome, 270 Victoria. Only $2 per person! Popcorn or juice $1. 450242-2020
Christmas lunch
December 23
At 11:30 a.m. Menu: glass of wine, soup, meat pie, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, beets, homemade ketchup, dessert and tea or coffee. $20 taxes and service included. Door prizes and cozy ambiance! Tickets on sale at the restaurant. Welcome all! Resto O’sunrize, 1076 Knowlton Rd. in West-Brome, 450 263-5063
Christmas dinner
December 24
At 5 p.m. Menu: glass of wine, soup, meat pie, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, beets, homemade ketchup, dessert and tea or coffee. $20 taxes and service included. Door prizes and cozy ambiance! Tickets on sale at the restaurant. Welcome all! Resto O’sunrize, 1076 Knowlton Rd. in West-Brome, 450 263-5063
Festival of lights fireworks display
December 29
The winter sky over our snow covered village will explode with a spectacular fireworks display in Coldbrook Park at 6 pm. Come to Knowlton and experience the magic! In case of inclement weather, the event will be postponed to the following day. 1-877-242-2870, e-mail
As part of the month long Festival of Lights the village is planning their second annual winter fireworks display. The show is simply spectacular as the fireworks light up the village sky and sparkle over the ColdBrook Park. Last year’s fireworks were a huge success and the streets were full of people who braved the chilly temperatures to see the show. It is rare to see fireworks so close to the village and it is really a fantastic show as the fireworks are set to music. Bring a chair and a thermos of eggnog!See Previous Winter Fireworks
Woolrich Knowlton is world renowned for presenting sales on discounted Woolrich clothing. Woolrich clothing is for the active, outdoor lifestyle, arctic parkas, jackets, shirts, shorts, vests at a discount. Residents of Brome Lake have always been excited about the big sales happening in the Oddfellows Hall across from the Depanneur Rouge.
This is your chance to grab some plaid and to buy the Woolrich brand at a discount price! Get yourself looking good this year!
Come visit our Knowlton Store for great gift ideas to keep you and yours warm and cozy ths season: blankets, fleece, p.j.s, our famous flannel shirts, wonderful woolen sweaters, and stylish coats, and accessories to add to the mix. We are open everyday from 10 am – 6 pm.
Do you have something special you would like Santa Woolrich to bring you? Sign up for our “Santa’s Hint List”, and help your loved ones out with their gift list.
Join us for Knowlton’s Midnight Madness Saturday, December 12th from 5 pm to 12 pm: Storewide specials, Wonderful surprises, Music, Munchies and more! Come sing along with Mrs. Claus!
Venez nous voir au magasin à Knowlton, nous avons plein d’idées cadeaux pour vous tenir au chaud cet hiver…couvertures, pyjamas, polars, chemises en flanelles, chandails en laine, manteaux stylés et accessoires, etc Nous sommes ouverts à tous les jours de 10 hrs à 18 hrs.
Avez-vous fait votre liste de souhaits Woolrich? Incrivez les articles que vous aimeriez recevoir sur la liste du Père Noël.
Joignez-vous à nous le samedi 12 décembre pour La Folie de Minuit de 17hrs à miniut. Nous aurons des spéciaux partout dans le magasin, des surprises, de la musique et des gâteries. Allez, venez chanter avec la Mère Noël!
Sunday December 9th you’ll have the chance to see new paintings by Farruggello in the recently opened Bed and Breakfast on Victoria Street, “Gite du jour au Lendemain”. Take a moment to introduce yourself to the artist as well as the home that has been part of Knowlton’s history since the 1800’s.
About the Artist : Farruggello Originally from Nice, France, Farruggello initially entered the art world by working in several framing studios. In his early twenties he opened his own gallery, which he ran for 3 years. In addition, for several years he continued to organize expositions for various studios and galleries in Nice.
However, it is in Quebec, in 1989, that he began his work as an artist. There, he participated in several live-model workshops and carried out his initial studies of perspective inspired by architectural structures and urban environments which he enjoyed deconstructing. His present work still draws from those early experiences.
His first acrylic paintings were composed with masses of color, to which he progressively added more perspective.
In 1994, he began a collage series, cheerfully blending paint with urban décor elements that he photographed. Staircases, facades, doors, fire escapes, railways, lampposts, rope lines, etc., are part of the many cultural references that he fused together.
In 1995, he presents Façade, his first exposition in Montreal. This initiated a long series of urban compositions where he mixed abstraction with realistic elements, a distinguishing feature of his style even today.
The colors are vibrant, the paintings are juxtaposed, and the dynamic suggestions are indeed audacious signifying an accrued mastery of a medium and a more radical aesthetic. Read more on the official website : http://www.farruggello.com/farruggello_e.html
About The Knowlton Bed & Breakfast : “Gite du jour au Lendemain” Originally known to many in the early 1900’s as The Foster Farm, the house on Victoria Street is well known in Knowlton. It is said to have been the house with the first inground swimming pool of the region! The lovely Victorian Home and surrounding barn have always been a charming decoration on the street. The home was occupied by the McKeen family for several decades, Mrs. Francis McKeen has a street named after her in Knowlton and they McKeens had always kept the property and buildings looking sharp and tidy with fresh white paint!
I actually have a soft spot for this house because I lived in the home for the last 5 years of the McKeen ownership, renting the small house attached to the main home that used to be the farm managers house. The home and property have always represented the Victorian spirit and it is great to see the new owners of the home have turned it into a bed and breakfast to share this unique part of Knowlton’s history!
There are three bedrooms available. The house is at a walking distance from the marina (15 minutes), from the village (20 minutes) and from the beach (30 minutes). There is an inground pool and the Bike Path is right off the main driveway. Lovely old trees tower overhead and flowers bloom in the lush greenery on the large 1.37 acre property.
Visit the official website :http://www.gitedujouraulendemain.com/
At 11 o’clock on November 11th we will stop to remember the brave Canadian soldiers of the past and say prayers for the present-day and future soldiers who sacrifice so much so that we may enjoy freedom. Please show your support by attending the Knowlton Remembrance Day Ceremony in Lac Brome in front of the Knowlton Academy on Victoria Street.
Every year on November 11, Canadians pause in a silent moment of remembrance for the men and women who have served, and continue to serve our country during times of war, conflict and peace. We honour those who fought for Canada in the First World War (1914-1918), the Second World War (1939-1945), and the Korean War (1950-1953), as well as those who have served since then. More than 1,500,000 Canadians have served our country in this way, and more than 100,000 have died. They gave their lives and their futures so that we may live in peace.
Looking back at the ceremony held in Knowlton, we can can appreciate the respect that is shown by our community towards the courageous men and women who have help shape this great country. These pictures and thoughts are from 2007:
The Knowlton band played, prayers were read as heads were bowed, and tears welled in our eyes as the lone trumpet’s piercing notes helped pay tribute to the brave men and women of Brome County who have given so much in the service of their country.
It was a lovely ceremony and we were fortunate that the weather co-operated as a huge crowd converged on the greens of Knowlton Academy around 10 am. Poppies were pinned to every lapel and the atmosphere was austere.
The Mayor of Knowlton was on hand as were many local family members and representatives from various organizations came forward to lay wreaths of respect. Everyone sang hymns and prayed together and it seemed that these turbulent times made such a ceremony even more vital. Seeing the casualties in current struggles around the world makes more of realize the sacrifices that were made by other generations.
Police closed off Victoria Street near Knowlton Academy as hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects and lay wreaths for those who can never be forgotten. Every year at Remembrance Day Ceremonies in Canada there are fewer and fewer Veterans of the great wars of the world but the crowds who gather seem to be getting larger all the time.
Living in Quebec, it was surprising to see such a crowd gather in Lac Brome and it surely made everyone there proud in their solidarity in showing their thanks. Most newspapers of major cities across Canada featured reports and historical coverage of Canadians at war yet in Quebec many newspapers almost go out of their way to ignore the remembrance of our heroes! It may not be surprising but it still is disrespectful and so it was especially nice to see the hundreds who came out to bow their heads.
With more Canadians in harms way in Afghanistan it is good to see more young people coming to such memorials. World War 1 and 2 do not register in the consciousness of many young people so the sight of Girl Guides leaving white paper swans at the cenotaph was a poignant reminder of how war continues to affect us.
The Veterans of Brome County proudly displayed their medals and stood at attention as the music lifted into the bare trees and a moment of silence left us all in our thoughts… thoughts for the hope for peace and thanks to all of the men and women of the Canadian Forces who continue to do the dangerous job most of us would be afraid to even contemplate.
Throughout the years many people from the Brome County area have enlisted into the Canadian Armed Forces to fulfill their dreams and meet their destiny. Seeing the stoic faces and close families at the Remembrance Day ceremony made us proud to be a part of such a group. Not all of us are originally from the area but all of us have someone in our family who has known the war in one way or another. This makes us all brothers and sisters in arms and even though many people in the crowd didn’t know the person standing next to them…then, as the prayers were read and a chorus of voices whispered “Amen” together it showed that we are all part of a family bigger than we can imagine.
Around noon the crowd slowly dissipated and amongst the handshakes, hugs and back-patting there was the feeling of appreciation for the road we have all traveled up until now and the hope for the chance to see one another again…may God allow.
On Sunday, the day after the memorial, the Legion held a brunch at the Knowlton Academy. The basement was full for the event as people came to sit with a hot breakfast cooked up by the local Scouting movement. The hall where we ate in Knowlton Academy was decorated with large red paper poppies made by the children of the school and many drawings and bright paintings expressing their desire for peace, love and understanding.
Being surrounded by the arts and crafts of the kids taped to the walls while having Veterans of the wars gather to share a meal and drink a cup of tea among friends was quite moving.
The rain from the night before left pools of water like a shallow moat around the stone monuments where just the day before we had gathered en masse to bear witness to the courage of our brave heroes. As we left the basement after our brunch and walked towards the cenotaph to bow our heads one last time in remembrance we noticed that one of the small paper birds that had been placed during the ceremony by the girl guides had fallen off its fragile home-made cross and was now floating in the rain water…
Our Canadian Forces continue to do battle in combat situations around the world. While we remember the sacrifices of the past we should also be aware of the young men and women who are currently serving our country and helping to protect each and every one of us.
Please leave your comments or messages at the official Canadian Forces message board for our brave soldiers.
The Big Brome Fair is being celebrated this long labour day weekend in Brome and it is going to be one of the biggest and best fair’s ever! This year marks the 152nd year that the Brome Fair has taken place and the crowds are expected to be bigger than last year especially after the soaking wet summer we’ve had here in Quebec have left us all needing a break. There can be no better place to relax than at one of the oldest and respected agricultural fair in Eastern North America.
Of course the Brome Fair is about family fun, with fun midway rides, music, clowns, magicians, petting zoos, games, food and bingo on site but it is also a serious agricultural show with events and judging taking place in many categories through the week-end.
Another popular attraction will be Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo. Paul “Little Ray” Goulet, owner and head curator of Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo, located in Ottawa, Ontario, and has been caring for reptiles and amphibians since he was a child. In 1995 he and his wife Sheri, began performing educational, live animal presentations to schools, birthday parties, corporate events, malls and fairs. In the fall of 2000, they opened their zoo and have watched it grow to have the most diverse collection of reptiles and amphibians in Canada. The zoo now has the largest outreach program in the country, performing over 2500 presentations a year in Eastern Ontario & Western Quebec. The kids just love to pet the reptiles and get their picture taken holding a real crocodile!
I admit it…I go to the Big Brome Fair to do a total over-indulgence in the hedonistic pleasures of hydrogenated cuisine! Oh my…the sheer blood-sugar high of freshly deep-fried batter mixed with a diet coke is nothing short of Nirvana! Every day can be a veritable “Greatest Race” through a pleasurable maze of fresh-donuts, pizza, maple candy, wapiti burgers, pizza, deep fried onions and smoked meats and sausages and when you have finally completed the circuit and are sitting in the Grandstand watching the action a Detroit Diesel hauling 16 tons of cement over a dusty dirt patch you really know that you’ve found a most special place!
Come celebrate with Knowlton the arrival of the Holiday season at the opening ceremony of the Festival of lights to be held this Saturday, November 28, at 6 p.m. at Coldbrook Park.
About The Knowlton Bed & Breakfast : “Gite du jour au Lendemain” Originally known to many in the early 1900’s as The Foster Farm, the house on Victoria Street is well known in Knowlton. It is said to have been the house with the first inground swimming pool of the region! The lovely Victorian Home and surrounding barn have always been a charming decoration on the street. The home was occupied by the McKeen family for several decades, Mrs. Francis McKeen has a street named after her in Knowlton and they McKeens had always kept the property and buildings looking sharp and tidy with fresh white paint!
Our Canadian Forces continue to do battle in combat situations around the world. While we remember the sacrifices of the past we should also be aware of the young men and women who are currently serving our country and helping to protect each and every one of us.