South Bruce Peninsular - Tourism - Comments

Canada Day Events Listing

KeeMay — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:32:00 -0400

For anyone heading out to the festivities, there is the official complete list of all the day's events on the SBP Crier (southbrucepeninsula.blogspot.com) and all the Sauble beach events at saublebeach.com

vision?

mxyzptlk — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:33:59 -0400

gary, right on. the problem is that there is no 'vision statement' for sauble beach. pipelines, waste water treatment, more water, paid parking, blue flag, one of ten best beaches, etc, etc these are all aimed at further intensification and commercialization of the beach. personally i don't want all these tourists. i don't even bother going to the beach anymore. i want sauble to be the way it was when i moved here 36 years ago. i know that aint gonna happen but that is the vision i would have for the beach. no more cottages than the land can sustain. higher taxes ... gladly. all this filth and violence is imported from the cities. we call them cityots (city idiots). we cater to them for crissake. unfortunatley there are also people here who want to 'take the money and run'. i oppose further development as much as i can. write to council and ask for their vision for the beach? ask the county planner his vision? is it what you want? how can you have a plan when you have no vision of where you are going? its a crap shoot like buying a random plane ticket to who knows where. argh..
kltpzyxm

UhOh

bub — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:00:29 -0400

"Sometimes it seems we've become SBP's Coney Island, only without the rickety wooden rollercoaster."

.....now you went and did it Gary....gave them a new idea!
:)

**********************************************************
"How does one "Throw a camel toe?Either you did or you didn't! "
-ZenLisa

We can only speak for ourselves?

KeeMay — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:54:04 -0400

ah... but the "local" may be those who came up to open a business to make a buck from the tourists. They don't necessarily think like us --- wanting a safe, natural, family-friendly environment:(

Presence of Minds

garym — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:23:23 -0400

Hew, I think that is a great idea, but it may be too late, too far past the Point of No Return for the downtown of Sauble. Keep in mind that these kids were not at the bar, some of them weren't old enough according to the police reports, so there was no way to know the trouble was brewing until it broke. Rest assured the new owners are assisting the police in any way they can, but lets also face some sad facts:

this is the sort of beach we portray in the popular press. we are 'party town' and when you Google sauble.beach you end up with a lot of praying to the porcelin god as the popular pastime. Who's fault is that?
this is the sort of beach the chamber of commerce has been wooing for years. heh talk about riling the fans, but hey, look around, what do we see? What are the demographic targets for the image we portray? Rude T-Shirts, beer-sponsor flags, sea-doos ... doesn't quite jibe with 'blue-flag ecotourism for the whole family' does it? I don't want to denegrate those parlours, they do serve a clientele honestly and fill a niche and that's great, but we shouldn't kid ourselves that this niche is not the sort conducive to the current topic of conversation.

Talk about the responsibilities of the landlords to the health of the community ... the wound of blame cuts pretty deep, if you ask me, and I ain't done yet ;)
this is the sort of beach The Town Corporation has been grooming for years, through a policy of removing any family utility and atmosphere, by making the downtown core exclusive to those who pay premium, not just for coffee, but for everything else. There's no park space, no picnic space, no 'free' space at all, only gimme your money highwaymen -- I mean that in a nice way ;) -- again, this sort of funky strip is great and colourful, it adds character to Amsterdam and Philadelphia's inner districts, but you want it contained, zoned in a chain-linked Coney Island, not part of an actual living community.

Sometimes it seems we've become SBP's Coney Island, only without the rickety wooden rollercoaster.
this is the sort of beach the residents have been culturing for years ... by their absense, by their tacit acceptance, by their greed in charging such rates to rent that only a high-profit biz can dare dream of serving a public here, and mostly just by their abandoning the field to this rowdy element, as if it was the thing to do, as if it was 'right'

Buckminster Fuller famously said that if you were shipwrecked off the Titanic and the lid of the piano floated by, you'd grab on and use it for floatation. It wasn't designed that way, but that's how you were going to use it now. The trouble is, said Bucky,

"we are clinging to a great many piano tops in accepting yesterday’s fortuitous contrivings."

"always been that way" does not make something either right or inevitable.

Some many years ago there was a street corner in Toronto they called "Crack Corner" because of the constant, constant trouble. Bad trouble. Trouble way more bad than any little knife-fight tumble. CITY-TV decided they would do something about it: they set up shop, on that corner, a remote broadcast, with lights, with popcorn vendors, with live music, with artists, jewelry tables ... they filled that public space with people and they stayed there. Thing is, the evil element does not like The Light, they like The Dark, the place where they can be anonymous. Drag them into light, they shrivel up.

It disturbs me that I live here next to this astounding natural wonder of Lake Huron and yet I cannot interest the family in going down there to see it every day. 'Cause there's no place to go, 'cause it's too expensive, 'cause it's not safe, 'cause there's still broken glass in the sand and cars whizzing by flying on more than expensive petrol, 'cause it just isn't our place, it doesn't seem like our home, it doesn't even seem like our planet.

It just seems like a piano-lid with far too many people dancing on it to stay itself afloat.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

responsible for tenant behaviour?

Hew Jass — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:19:59 -0400

Moot point, having had to suffer through some pretty awful excuses of animal behaviour on various long weekends.....I believe it is incumbent on the owner of the property to at least have some sort of screening process in place, however simple. I get tired of warning "renters" about open fires and errant fireworks. I put up with the noise (it helps that I am going deaf) and abusive language and the odd bit of nudity but I am concerned about the threat of fire. I am not certain how to deal with the violence issue-the only violence I have witnessed was last week at the lodge as I passed by the yellow tape. How to keep order at a place like the Lodge presents a problem that must be addressed by its new owners. I always wondered what I would do if I owned the Lodge. Guess we should all go down and meet the new owners and see what we can do to help them out. Maybe if a bunch of us "Old Farts" were seen hanging around , it would bring about some changes in attitude and behaviour? Maybe not, but I get thirsty just thinking about it. A lot of years have passed since I had a drink at the Lodge, too many I suppose.

valid point wayne

bub — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:23:51 -0400

Its true..if a new couple took it over and are trying to make a go of it..I never knew that..and..yes..stories such as this might dampen that.There are certain things, that as businessmen/women can be done to lessen what happened, but its a learning process isnt it.I hope they rise to the occasion, ask for advice about how/who numbers of people etc..we all know those..rules(and the sign said long haired freaky people..lol).In no way is it the owners fault though..at all.Its silly kids from brampton(ok ok here comes the flame wars) but sorry it is what it is.Young..too much booze..away from home, dark starry sauble nights...(not a putdown of Brampton by the way..just the big city thing when going to a small tight knit community)
Now..as for your property..if you give me a good rate on it..no I wont hold you liable for my actions lol ;)
btw was nice talking to you at the horn buddy

**********************************************************
"How does one "Throw a camel toe?Either you did or you didn't! "
-ZenLisa

just a hope you will be nice...

wayne tanner — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:41:56 -0400

Yes there was a scuffle to use the term loosely.
Here is my request to those who would jump into this discussion.
I have a place I rent out for the summer. If I rent the place out to a group of people and one of them decides to do something stupid, am I responcible and should I be affected and judged by thier actions. I hope the answer would be NO as I think that is the right answer.
The people who just purchased "the lodge" I met when thier son had a BDay patry and my little ones's presence was requested.
I met a young couple who have started a venture here in Sauble and have contributed and committed to the community.
Thier kids go to school here, when asked to assist in any sort of community based venture such as fundraising or assisting they ar eager to respond positivley.
"The lodge" has a stigma and we are all aware of that.
Since anything here which is written can end up being "googled" I would hate to see the this young couples quest for a new feel and look of the Lodge be hampered by a incident which was way beyond thier control or anticipation. Although since the incident happened and a potential customer who does a search comes up with "multiple stabbing victims" for hits, You couldimagine the biz could suffer and it any secondary hits come up negative then a potential customer is gone.... I don't think it is necasary to dwell on the past of the lodge, but assist in its future.
So if you could loose the Lodge stigma and rep when dealing and questioning this event. The young couple who now own the lodge deserve it, in my opinion.
Enough blabbering for 1 night

Melee at the Beach

mxyzptlk — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:29:11 -0400

Here is a link to today's Sun Times report:
Seven stabbed, cut in melee
kltpzyxm

Blue Ubiquity

garym — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:58:13 -0400

This list is now reading somewhat comprehensive, at least so far as the money-making beaches of Southern Ontario go. I wonder how long until it is more expedient to list the beaches which have not ante'd up?

"This summer, Blue Flags will be flying at beaches on Lake Ontario, Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, including: six beaches in Toronto (Woodbine Beaches, Hanlan's Point Beach, Centre Island Beach, Cherry Beach, Ward's Island Beach, Gibraltar Point Beach); two beaches in the Town of the Blue Mountains (Little River Beach Park, Northwinds Beach Park); Sauble Beach in the Town of South Bruce Peninsula; Station Beach in Kincardine; Wasaga Beach in Wasaga Beach Provincial Park; and, Rotary Cove Beach in Goderich."
[ Ontario Beaches Get International Award ]

Is there anybody not on their list? More to the point, I suppose, is now that everybody is signed on the dotted bandwagon, the whole eco-clean aspect is nice and well and good, but the expense of Blue Flaggedness is hardly a badge of distinction or even news -- got a blue flag too? (yawn) tha'snice -- although I do now wonder what the media effects might be should any of the club members lose their rating.

And I wonder about that likelihood; the irony is not lost on me that the overseer organization on this whole certificatation thing has the acryonym Fee.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Flickr Workshop Anyone?

garym — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:12:34 -0400

Today's piping plovers caused me to pause and ask, "Would anyone be interested in a one-evening mini-seminar on 'How to use Flickr to post your SBP Photos'?"

Doesn't need to be anything fancy, we could do it over the Peninsular chat-channel (or over gTalk for those of you with our free SBP 'teledyn.com' email accounts), or we could even meet in our local beach-side Internet Café on some warm pre-season evening.

True, we already have our quick guide tutorial How To Photo-Blog To The SBP that sets out the whole process step by step, but maybe that's still a bit of a jump-ahead for those new to the whole shared digital imaging thing.

I was just thinkin' how, when we started this website most folks were still using film cameras, but today most everyone has a digital, and a good many have photo-phones, and, well, once you get past the sign-up process, sharing the SBP you see with the world is really really easy, literally a one-click thing for most phones, at worst a tidy two-step for the home-uploaders, and as you can see from the photos already in the SBP group, this place has ample beauty to share!

So what do you think? Online chat or at MacBeth's? Before the 2-4 or after? If there's interest, I don't mind sparing the time to get y'all up to speed!

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

E'Terra

mxyzptlk — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 08:14:00 -0500

Hi Gary
Right in our own backyard ... E'Terra
kltpzyxm

I played with geocaching for

theboyk — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:44:56 -0500

I played with geocaching for a bit this summer and it's pretty fun (well, pretty fun until your niece thinks you're *really* stealing a pirate treasure and that the pirates are going to come for her and the she freaks in terror!). There were a number of them a walks away from our property (6th and 3rd-ish in Sauble) — you can even see one using the J&J webcam — and if you have a car or bike there are more than I could bother loading onto the GPS unit itself.
It's great for kids especially 'cause they get a reward from their adventures!
k.

A Wiser Earth?

garym — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:36:22 -0500

Perhaps there is more of this sort of sustainable-living thing going on than anyone dares imagine ...

visit WiserEarth.org for more information on what they are calling the largest grassroots movement ever.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Update on the Playground Coals

garym — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 20:17:32 -0400

We were back at that park this evening, and from what I can tell, neither heap of coals was in the least way disturbed since my calling it in to the Public Works hotline. Very cold and grey-ash now, but nonetheless, no attempt was made by the town or anyone else to remove that hazard while it was hazardous, or even after.

Just so you know.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever