The Wed., Aug. 3 Meet Me On Main Street was fun for everyone. Morin Photo
The series of Meet Me On Main Street events came to Winchester on Wed., Aug 3.
Winchester residents filled up Main Street ,filling up all the tables, enjoying the weather, music food and each other’s company.
On hand with their own unique food and menus were Simply Baked Catering, Mr. Mozzarella, Iron Forge Pizza, Country Kitchen Restaurant, and Milano Pizza. The great music was provided by Hillbilly Highway.
Visitors to Winchester’s Meet Me On Main Street could also enjoy sampling from Rurban Brewing, Smokie Ridge Vineyard, Brasserie Tuque de Broue Brewery Inc., and King’s Lock Craft Distillery. The Southgate Church brought along its bouncy castle and cotton candy for the children and the North Dundas Fire Services put on a great demonstration about fire safety. Lactalis handed out free cheese much to the delight of visitors.
The Meet Me On Main Street has become in a short time something all of the communities involved look forward to.
The warden of SD&G came by to see what the event was all about.
“I was not there officially as warden, but I carry that with me wherever I go and it’s important for me to support local events across SD&G,” said Williams.
“I was there out of interest for my own municipality. I am the Deputy Mayor of North Glengarry. This idea of Meet Me On Main Street is something that other communities can beg, borrow or steal from I suppose, in order to initiate in their own communities.”
The warden wanted to see for herself what the event was all about.
“My interest was going and experiencing it for myself and seeing how it was put together and organized and to see from my own eyes just how it does bring the community out,” she said.
“The opportunity for a municipality to do that for the community and to initiate that kind of gathering is really priceless. I am going to bring it up to my colleagues here in North Glengarry and suggest that we try a similar thing.”
The warden was also at the Meet Me On Main Street one in Morewood, but she was unable to stay.
“That gave me a glimpse of what it was going to be like, so I said I have to go to the Winchester one.”
North Dundas Mayor Tony Fraser was thrilled to have the event back on after the pandemic made so many events impossible.
Fraser said, “It was such a pleasure of seeing another community in North Dundas come together, enjoy each other’s company, sample some different food and drink from the area. The community buy-in has been such a benefit to all of us.”
The mayor has been encouraging villages in North Dundas to take on the event in their own community. The pandemic made doing that impossible but now that the world is slowly returning to normal Meet Me On Main Street can happen.
“I spoke to Russell Mayor Pierre Leroux in 2018 about doing it in Marionville but then the pandemic hit in 2019.”
Fraser had announced that Marionville would be added to the list of locations for the event in 2020 but once more the pandemic made that impossible to take place.
“I want other communities in SD&G to see how positive it is.”
Joseph Morin is the Editor of the Eastern Ontario AgriNews, and the Record. He is, despite years of practice, determined to eventually play the guitar properly. He has served the Eastern Ontario community as a news editor, and journalist for the past 25 years with the Iroquois Chieftain, Kemptville Advance, West Carleton Review, and Ottawa Carleton Review in Manotick. He has never met a book he did not like.
