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HELLO ONTARIO
September 2007 |
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Welcome back to another great year of Historica Fairs in Ontario. Exciting things have been taking place over the past few months and we are anxious to share information about them and our plans for the future of the Ontario Historica Heritage Fairs Association (OHHFA).
In our June newsletter we provided you with the URL for our new Ontario website which was launched following the formation of our new provincial organization last spring. If you haven't already done so, please bookmark our new site so that you will be able to visit it regularly to keep aware of what's happening in Ontario.
www.ohhfa.ca
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NATIONAL FAIR
Lethbridge, Alberta
July 9 to 16, 2007 |
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From all reports, our delegation to the National Fair in Lethbridge had a great adventure in July.
In a recent e-mail message from our head of delegation, Jeremy Thorpe, he said,
"Lethbridge was great. We had a wonderful group of kids and the counsellors were fantastic."
Alumni student, Johnathan Sawicki, really enjoyed the Fair and said,
"I have to say I had a wonderful time in Lethbridge! I'm glad you enjoyed the Heritage Press, I really enjoyed contributing to it. The whole week went really well and I was glad to be able to have helped out with everything that was going on. I met some great alumni students from across Canada as well as some great fair participants. Of course once again I was blown away by some of the projects!"
Thanks to counsellor Diahne Graham for sharing her photos with us!
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ALUMNI STUDENTS' REPORTS ABOUT THE NATIONAL FAIR!
At the end of the National Fair it was announced that the 2008 Fair would be held in Victoria, British Columbia. Once again fifteen Regional Fair sites in Ontario will be invited to send a delegate to the National Fair next July. We are accepting applications for counsellor and alumni positions for this exciting experience. If you would be interested in taking on this rewarding challenge next summer please contact Wayne Hugli at whugli@histori.ca .
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ONTARIO REGIONAL COORDINATORS' MEETING
September 29, 2007
in Toronto |
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All Regional Fair Coordinators are asked to mark this date on their calendars and make plans to attend this very important meeting in Toronto. We hope to have a representative from each Regional Fair site in Ontario in attendance at the meeting. If your Regional Fair Coordinator is unable to attend we encourage your site to select an alternate delegate for the meeting.
Full details about the plans for the meeting will be e-mailed to all Regional Fair Coordinators within the next few days.
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DURHAM REGIONAL HISTORICA FAIR
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| Jennifer Maddigan (coordinator for Durham Regional Historica Fair) reports that they have already set a date for their 2008 Regional Fair. "We have our 2008 dates...evening of May 1 and day of May 2 at the Parkwood Estates, Oshawa. It's the 100th Anniversary of the Buick, Col. RS McLaughlin's first automobile, and Parkwood was his home. They have asked us to share the fair with their celebration year."
Thanks, Jennifer, for keeping us updated on the plans for your 2008 Regional Fair. It sounds like this will be a very exciting year for Durham Region. We encourage other coordinators to keep us posted of plans for your Regional Fair as they develop throughout the fall so that information can be added to your page on our Ontario website.
Durham Regional Fair has setup an e-mail address for the site so that all committee members will be "kept in the loop" concerning the Fairs program in Ontario. What a great idea!
This site received excellent coverage of the Regional Fair that was held last April. Minister of Heritage, Bev Oda, was a special guest at the Fair which was held on April 12th at Pickering Museum Village. The Astoria Magazine recently featured an outstanding article about the Fair, complete with full colour photos. Click on the link below to view the article:
www.astoriamagazine.com/historica_fair.html
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WHAT'S NEW AT THE
OHHFA
(Ontario Historica Heritage Fairs Association) |
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At the Coordinators' Meeting that was held last fall in Toronto, Regional Fair Coordinators were informed that financial support for Ontario sites would be substantially reduced in future years.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the work of three Ontario Coordinators over the past three years the Fairs program has grown dramatically in our province. With the expiry of that grant in March 2007 the Historica Foundation will now only be able to provide program support and a small amount of seed funding for the Fairs program in Ontario in the future. There will no longer be funds available from the Historica Foundation to support an Ontario Provincial Historica Fair. If Ontario wants to continue holding an annual Provincial Fair we will have to come up with creative fund-raising ideas specifically geared to raising the necessary funds.
The three Ontario Coordinators were asked to begin working toward the establishment of a provincial organization to oversee the Fairs program in Ontario. Many other provinces have already succesfully established such organizations and Historica has suggested that Ontario should follow the same route.
A great deal of work has been done over the past six months and our Ontario Historica Heritage Fairs Association will assume responsibilty for the Ontario Fairs program this fall. Regional Coordinators will have an opportunity to learn more about plans for the future at the upcoming meeting on September 29th in Toronto. It is very important that each Fair site sends a representative to this meeting.
OUR PROGRESS TO DATE
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A constitution for the new organization was developed by the three Ontario Coordinators and approved by the Historica Foundation in March 2007. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE CONSTITUTION. -
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With assistance from the Historica Foundation and the Ontario Historical Society the Ontario Historica Heritage Fairs Association was incorporated as a non-profit organization with the Ontario Ministy of Consumer and Business Affairs in June 2007.
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In June, an application was submitted to Canada Customs and Revenue Agency to register the OHHFA as a charity under the Income Tax Act. We have received notification that our application has been accepted and that it will be reviewed over the next few months. Once approved, a charitable status number will be issued to the organization and we will become eligible to apply for grants and issue income tax receipts for donations.
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Carol White met with a representative from the Trillium Foundation to inquire about the potential for another Trillium Grant in 2008.
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Carol White and Wayne Hugli have offered to continue to provide support to Regional Fair sites (by telephone, e-mail and through our website) during this transition period on a volunteer basis.
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The first meeting of the Interim Board was held in Toronto on August 24, 2007 to set priorities for the upcoming year and to make plans for the Regional Coordinators Meeting that will be held on September 29th.
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An application for a new grant from the Trillium Foundation is being prepared by the Board.
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FULL DETAILS WILL BE PROVIDED TO REGIONAL COORDINATORS AT THE MEETING ON SEPTEMBER 29TH. |
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A HUGE THANK YOU |
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Please join us in thanking Jacqui Byers for her dedicated service to the Ontario Fairs program and in wishing her the best as she welcomes two more new grandchildren into the family and resumes further studies.
Jacqui was a teacher for 26 years with the York Region District School Board, teaching all grades and all subjects. She was a teacher-librarian for 14 years and was chair of the York Region Teacher-Librarian Association. Jacqui wrote a teacher's guide to conduct citizenship ceremonies in schools which has been used widely throughout the board. Jacqui became a Vice-Principal in 1999 and retired in that role in 2002. She is the founder of the Stroke Recovery Activation Program for Stroke Survivors and was the co-chair of the Proud to be Canadian Sea to Sea Organization. She worked on the steering committee to bring Canada Day celebrations and Flag Day ceremonies to the town of Markham for several years. Jacqui played a key role on the York Regional Heritage Fair committee.
Jacqui became Ontario Coordinator for the Historica Fairs program in 2002 and is largely responsible for the growth of Ontario from six sites in 2000 to twenty-one sites in 2007.
The Jacqui we all know and love is passionate about Historica and in particular the Ontario Fairs program and will continue to keep an eye on us as she pursues her new interest.. In spirit, Jacqui will always be an important part of the Ontario Fairs Program.
Heartfelt best wishes, Jacqui!!
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