Kevin McSheffrey

Mississagi Park's Annual Lumberjack Days is a go for Aug. 3 and 4. Article content

On July 24, pickleball players from four area clubs, Espanola, Blind River, Elliot Lake and Thessalon, gathered at the Blind River Community Centre for the North Shore Invitational Pickleball Tournament.

Advertisement 1 Share this Story : Blind River club hosts pickleball tournament Blind River club hosts pickleball tournament Author of the article: Article content On July 24, pickleball players from four area clubs, Espanola, Blind River, Elliot Lake and Thessalon, gathered at the Blind River Community Centre for the North Shore Invitational Pickleball Tournament. Advertisement 2 Article content Blind River club hosts pickleball tournament Back to video Linda Rainville, one of the two main tournament organizers along with Fred Nyman, said “This is our first pickleball tournament.” Rainville added that two other members of the Blind River club's executive, Peter Wallentin and Debbie Shamas, were extremely helpful organizing the event. “They were a big part of this tournament.” Each of the four community teams sent 16 pickleball players to the event for a total of 64 competitors. “Although competition was on every participant's mind, the focus of this gathering was to further positive relationships amongst the four pickleball clubs,” said Nyman. “This tournament was created to encourage people who are hesitant to participate in competitions such as the Ontario championship series of events, gave the opportunity to play against people of a similar skill level.” Advertisement 3 Article content Each of the four teams played multiple games, with two-on-two, and Espanola took the day with 21 points. The Espanola club won the roughly three-foot high trophy, and each player on the winning team received a North Shore Invitational Pickleball Tournament keychain. “All four pickleball clubs fielded a team of 16 players who were ranked according to ability. Each partnership competed against similarly skilled opponents from the other three clubs,” Nyman explained. The Blind River Pickleball Club started in 2019 with 15 players. Membership now stands at 103 members, at its height they had 139. They had 14 local businesses help out with contributions to the tournament. They also had sponsors Stephane Cloutier Wealth Management Team and the Royal Bank. Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : Blind River club hosts pickleball tournament Comments Join the Conversation Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information. Latest National Stories News Near Elliot Lake Featured Local Savings

Advertisement 1 Share this Story : Lumberjack Days at Mississagi Park set for Aug. 3-4 Lumberjack Days at Mississagi Park set for Aug. 3-4 Author of the article: Article content Mississagi Park's Annual Lumberjack Days is a go for Aug. 3 and 4. Advertisement 2 Article content Lumberjack Days at Mississagi Park set for Aug. 3-4 Back to video Sarah Daigle, Mississagi Park operations manager , says Lumberjack Days is a popular event from area residents as well as visitors and campers from outside of the area. Last year's event drew about 1,400 people to Mississagi Park that weekend, and this year Daigle expects to surpass that figure. “It keeps growing.” The various events for children and adults start on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. and run to about 4 p.m. There will also be a barbeque. The children's events take place at the campers' beach and include: face painting, leap frog, colouring contest, exciting minnow races, a rubber ducky race, balloon animals, trapper challenge, kids axe throw (not real axes), snake rock painting and the trapper challenge. There is a $3 fee for the children's games, and includes prizes. Advertisement 3 Article content The Saturday adult events include: canoe races, log burling, log toss also at the at the campers' beach. On Sunday morning, there will be adult axe throw (with real axes), two-person cross-cut, and the underhand cut, in ballfield area. In Sunday's adult afternoon events there will be team competitions for the chainsaw obstacle course and the chainsaw event and modified chainsaw at the ballfield area of the Mississagi Park. Daigle suggests people bring chairs. She says they have more teams competing in Sunday's Lumberjack games. In 2023, they had eight teams competing and to date this year they have 10. Teams can register until Friday, Aug. 2. To register a team call Daigle at 705-862-1203. For those wanting to avoid driving to the Mississagi Park there will be a free shuttle from Elliot Lake Secondary School to the park. On Saturday, it will leave the ELSS at 11:30 a.m. and returns there at 4 p.m. Advertisement 4 Article content On Sunday, the shuttle will pick up at Elliot Lake Secondary School at 9 a.m. and at 12:30 p.m. It will make a second trip to Mississagi Park at 1 p.m. and return to ELSS between 4:30 and 5 p.m. There will also be a free shuttle roaming Mississagi Park from the parking area to the locations of the activities. For those who chose to drive to Mississagi Park there is a $12.25 daily parking fee. Mississagi Park is 25 kilometres north of Elliot Lake on Highway 639. Camping For those looking to camp at the park that weekend they will need reservations. While Mississagi Park has 101 campsites, including those in the backcountry, they are usually full on the weekends. They do have an overflow camping area. The sites fill up quickly. To reserve a campsite, if there are any available, call If there are no campsites available people can always come and have fun for the day. Mississagi Park closes for the season on Sept. 30. Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : Lumberjack Days at Mississagi Park set for Aug. 3-4 Comments Join the Conversation Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information. Latest National Stories News Near Elliot Lake Featured Local Savings

Advertisement 1 Share this Story : Monarch butterflies have local champion for their cause Monarch butterflies have local champion for their cause Author of the article: Article content A recent Elliot Lake Secondary School graduate's project has been recognized and honoured by the City of Elliot Lake and the Elliot Lake and North Shore Corporation for Business Development. Monarch butterflies have local champion for their cause Back to video Rhianna Goymer, an 18-year-old ELSS Grade 12 graduate, began working quietly on a monarch butterfly project three years ago. In the summer 2021, Rhianna was walking along Hillside Drive South when she spotted monarch butterflies in a field beside the street next to Dr. Andrew Wannan's Veterinary Clinic. Advertisement 2 Article content “I noticed there were always monarch's back there,” says Rhianna. She became intrigued with the monarch butterflies. When she got home she wanted to learn more about monarchs and began to research the subject. As a result, she decided to take a more scientific interest and approach to studying them. She learned that monarch larva only eat milkweed, which was present in the field. “I had a little book and every day I would track the caterpillars and the chrysalis (resembling a cocoon). One morning me and my mom waited in the field for three hours watching a chrysalis, and we ended up seeing the adult actually emerge from it. That was really cool,” she explains. She then heard of a national project called Monarch Watch, and they were looking for volunteers to tag monarchs and track their migration. She jumped at the opportunity. Advertisement 3 Article content She would sit in the field with a butterfly net and gently catch them. She would tag them with a small sticker on their wing. She was so captivated by the monarchs that she made a career decision. Rhianna will be heading off to Guelph University in the fall to study zoology. “It definitely kickstarted it. I really enjoyed it. I'd like to continue with stuff like this.” Having decided to study zoology she applied to ELNOS for its $3,000 bursary given over two years, to help pay for her university and submitted the her essay. “In my essay I spoke about the monarch.” ELNOS vice-chair Len Kutchaw says when they read her essay about the monarch project they didn't realize she was the same student who applied for the ELNOS bursary. Advertisement 4 Article content “We didn't realize she was one of the (bursary) applicants. She did receive the bursary but it was after that we realized.” ELNOS staff contacted her and said they liked what she was doing and wanted to help. “I'm extremely proud to be a part of this. ELNOS offered to fund the plaque and the work at the field,” says Kutchaw. He added, “To be able to do this and have a young person from our community take this to heart and promote it, it's the least we could do to sponsor it and see that it gets done.” William Elliott, ELNOS general manager says people have been wondering why the city wasn't looking after this empty lot. “In conjunction with the parks and recreation department of the city, we were able to put together some information. We got it put onto a plaque that parks and rec installed it (on June 25),” says Elliott. Advertisement 5 Article content “There's a monument here now to Rhianna's work with the support of the city and the support of ELNOS. So, now anybody coming down they'll know exactly why it looks like this and why it's being preserved.” Because larva or caterpillars only eat milkweed Elliott gave out packs of milkweed seeds to those at the unveiling of the plaque which they could bring home and sow in their yards and help these colourful butterflies thrive. Wannan said the city was pleased to take part and they will add this to the city's Driftscape app. Monarch butterfly story A few days after the female monarch butterflies lay their eggs the larva or caterpillars hatch and set out to eat milkweed and this is one of the locations in the city where that plant thrives. Advertisement 6 Article content As the caterpillars grow they shed their skin five times over a period of up to 15 days. They then construct a pupa resembling a cocoon. Between eight and 15 days, the monarch butterfly emerges from the pupa. They begin to mate up to eight days later. The female monarch can lay 300 to 500 eggs over the next five weeks, laying one egg at many locations. (From Monarch Joint Venture https://monarchjointventure.org ) Monarch's can live up to nine months. In late summer or early fall, the monarchs become snowbirds and head south, flying thousands of kilometres, to mountain tops in central Mexico. Their offspring that were born in Mexico begin their trek north in the spring. However, Kutchaw said that in Mexico the monarch butterflies are losing much of their habitat to farmers wanting to plant cash crops such as avocados. Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : Monarch butterflies have local champion for their cause Comments Join the Conversation Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information. Latest National Stories News Near Elliot Lake Featured Local Savings

Espanola wins pickleball tournament

What motorists are to do when there are amber or red flashing lights. In 2022, flashing amber-yellow school bus lights were introduced.

Advertisement 1 Share this Story : School bus light rules School bus light rules Author of the article: Article content What motorists are to do when there are amber or red flashing lights. School bus light rules Back to video CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Young kids thrown into seats as school bus driver slams brakes A video that's hard to watch. A school bus in Colorado driver slams on the brakes in an attempt to teach kids a lesson about staying in your seats, as seen in a video released by the Douglas County School District. More Videos 0 seconds of 39 seconds Volume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts Shortcuts Open/Close / or ? Play/Pause SPACE Increase Volume ↑ Decrease Volume ↓ Seek Forward → Seek Backward ← Captions On/Off c Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreen f Mute/Unmute m Decrease Caption Size Increase Caption Size + or = Seek % Next Up EDUCATION MALFUNCTION: No golden rules at schools anymore Live In 2022, flashing amber-yellow school bus lights were introduced. This is to alert motorists that the bus is approaching a stop. It serves as a warning to drivers that the bus will soon stop. Motorists are to slow down, proceed with caution, and only stop if it is safe to do so. Once the bus comes to a complete stop, the red lights will flash and the stop arm will be extended. This signals to motorists in both directions that they MUST stop. Advertisement 2 Article content “This is based on the same principal and rules of the road pertaining to traffic signal lights at an intersection,” says Acting Sergeant Phil Young, North East Region OPP. East Algoma Ontario Provincial Police detachment commander Inspector Tyler Sturgeon wants to ensure everyone has an enjoyable and safe 2024-2025 school year. Motorists should be extra attentive and prepared to stop for school buses from Monday to Friday between the hours of 7 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. Additionally, please watch for school students walking to and from schools and bus stops. Drivers and vehicle owners can be charged if their vehicle illegally passes a stopped school bus. Fines range from $490 to $2,000, plus six demerit points for a first offence and from $1,000 to $4,000, six demerit points and possible jail time up to six months for each subsequent offence. For more information, please visit: Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : School bus light rules Comments Join the Conversation Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information. Most Commented The following is a list of the most commented articles in the last 7 days. Latest National Stories News Near Elliot Lake Featured Local Savings

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