Thank you to the many volunteers, supporters and participants who made the first annual Lakes and Trials Festival a fun, active community event.
Thank you to the 50 riders who, lead by Alastair Lamb, Wally Stanton and Steve Tanner from South Frontenac Rides, biked around the lake. Thank you to the dozens of paddlers who, under the watchful eye of Helen Parfitt, the Sydenham Canoe Club and Frontenac Outfitters, paddled the lake. And, to the many who shared stories with Wilma Kenny and her team of historic interpreters, Gini Trousdale, Christine Kennedy, Peter Hamilton and Joanne Ankers, thank you. There are many more stories to come.
The younger participants, when they were not testing their cycle skills at the rodeo with Scott Gordon, Fran and John Willis and Cycle Kingston, or learning about fire safety in South Frontenac’s Fire and Rescue’s Inflatable home, were playing the KFL+A public library’s wonderful outdoor lawn games.
Everyone thanks Rose Pennock and her crew for the BBQ and Trousdale’s General store for the cooling ice cream.
Thank you to our many neighbours from the south who biked from Kingston, by themselves or with the Velo Club; the flotilla who paddled from the Wilmer Boat launch with Dave Linton and the Cataraqui Canoe Club, and those who helped power the Dragon Boat with the Kingston Dragon Boat club. We look forward to you visiting South Frontenac anytime.
This was a real community event. The support of the many sponsors, listed on our webpage, lakesandtrailsfestival.org, made the event possible and open to everyone in the community. The many volunteers who made signs, registered people, wrote information hand outs, put up posters, and spent many hours in committee meetings working out the details made the event run smoothly. Thank you.
Finally, for the many who asked, the fun facts about South Frontenac are: We have 176 named lakes, 12% of Sydenham Lake’s shore is wetland and the lake is 120 feet deep. The Cataraqui Trail is 106 kilometers long and runs from Smith Falls to Strathcona, next to Napanee. It was purchased from the CNR.
We would love to hear your comments, good and bad, about this year’s festival and hope to see you next year.
The Lakes and Trails Festival 