Brandi Hewson of Wai Products

‘Tonight Brandi Hewson of Wai Products will be one of the four finalists at the Bear’s Lair competition in Peterborough. Having won the regional competition in Haliburton, Brandi goes onto the big stage in search of prizes and recognition for her business. Robert Herjavec, from The Dragons’ Den will participate at the Grand Finale as the keynote speaker and guest judge. ‘ -Good Luck Brandi!

The January 2011 edition of the Winterfest Newsletter is here! Click here to download a copy in .pdf format.

Accommodation and Competition Maps

Below, you’ll find maps showing the location of accommodations and competition sites for the Games. Map legends are below the map images. To download a full-size .PDF of the map, click here or click on the images below. For a copy of the map Legend in .PDF format, click here.

Hockey Night in Haliburton Star-studded Panel Announced!

The Winterfest 2011 Games Organizing Committee is pleased to announce the following Haliburton Hockey legends that will be partaking in an open panel discusson at the Northern Lights Theatre on Wednesday February 16th, 2011. Confirmed hockey legends include Scotty Morrision, Walt McKechnie, Glen Sharpley and many more still to be announced! Also present that evening will be the Stanley Cup as well as a very special guest who is arguably the face of Canadian hockey!

Haliburton County - A year-round destination

I’ve blogged about some of the many resources and activities on this blog throughout what some people might think of as the Haliburton “off-season” but there really is no off season in Haliburton County any longer.

Since the area was settled, there has of course been “year-rounders”–those folks that took up permanent residence while the rest of us returned to our city or suburban lives. No so anymore.

There is a plethora of activities indoor and out throughout the year in Haliburton County–just skim back through my winter months posts to get an idea (though I documented but a small portion due to time constraints).  The car racing on ice was an activity that really tickled my fancy having never seen such a thing but the creative and crafty goings on at the Rails End Gallery and The Art Hive are two destinations that I could and would appreciate year-round.

But the fact is there is plenty of room for more business in Haliburton–and Haliburton has the resources to help businesses, especially smaller or start -up businesses take root. Both the year-rounders and the permanent residents can benefit by taking part in new and exciting endeavors or become patrons of new businesses that have found their way to Haliburton County. Here’s a short, informative, nicely-written article from the Haliburton County Echo on just how crucial efforts like this and others can be to the livelihood of Haliburton County.

Now for the details of the Haliburton Creative Business Incubator–a great opportunity for the many types of businesses in the creative business arena.

An announcement forwarded by the County of Haliburton, Department of Economic Development, Tourism & Marketing:

Four spaces will soon be available to emerging entrepreneurial businesses in the Haliburton Creative Business Incubator, located in one of Ontario’s most beautiful and vibrant locations. Renovations to the former Haliburton Public Library building are now underway and we anticipate that we will be ready for clients to move in by mid June.

Our application package provides

* Information on our program
* Details of work spaces available and costs
* Steps for selection and the selection process
* Minimum qualifications for eligibility
* Evaluation criteria
* Application form

Get your applications in as soon as possible. Applications received by April 30th, 2010, will receive priority consideration. Successful Candidates will be contacted in early May and invited to come to Haliburton for a personal interview.

This is a wonderful opportunity for young businesses looking to establish in a location that offers a beautiful natural environment, a vibrant community and a “relaxed” business style.
Our low monthly costs include a dedicated space for each business, broadband services, access to training seminars and a mentoring program which will provide experienced business people to our clients as advisors. We will also assist clients in their search for suitable living space.

We invite you to do business with the world while enjoying the wonders of the Haliburton Highlands. Contact us right away for your ticket to a “business life with lifestyle”.
If you’re not a candidate for the Creative Business Incubator but know of a creative business that might be the right fit, please pass this news to them. It just might be one of the best recommendations you make.

Important Dates:

*
April 30th, 2010 for applications to receive priority consideration
*
Early May contact for successful candidates
*
Personal interviews in May
*
Facility availability mid to late June

Examples of Creative Businesses:

* Arts administration and education – development and curation, visual art appraisal.
* Architecture design and planning – commercial, residential, landscape architecture and landscape planning, environmental planner, land use planner, community and urban planner.
* Business service consultant – human resources, business management, research, marketing.
* Communications – advertising, public relations, media relations, publicist, promotions, fundraising, consultant, photo journalist.
* Craft – artisans working in: clay, fibre, glass, leather, metal, paper, wood, decorative painting, mixed media
* Culinary – work in the styling and presentation of food
* Cultural Heritage – restoration, conservation, preservation, research, presentation of artifacts, information and buildings of cultural and/or historical significance, archiving, archeology
* Dance – choreography design
* Design Arts – interior and kitchen design, landscape, graphic design, furniture design, fabric design, fashion design, jewelry design, pattern design.
* Illustration – commercial or medical illustrator.
* Information Technology – IT consultant, computer/informatics consultant, management information systems, geomatics.
* Writing, Editing and Publishing for the Performing Arts, Literature & Business – in any medium, including advertising, and technical writing.
* Media Arts – video, film, web, and multi-media development including animation, and illustration – Web and application programmer, computer game developer, computer programmer, e-business software, developer, interactive media developer, software developer/programmer
* Music – composing, performing, recording
* Photography – commercial, industrial, portrait or as a fine art, also framing and restoration.
* Research – in any area including, but not limited to business, the arts, culture and heritage
* Theatre – teaching, directing, producing, coaching
* Visual Art – those involved with painting, sculpture, drawing, or creation of visual art in any medium.
* Defies Description – is a combination of any disciplines above.

Mail Your Application To:
Haliburton Creative Business Incubator
P.O. Box 210
c/o Haliburton County Development Corporation
49 Maple Ave, Unit 4
Haliburton, ON. K0M 1S0

Or Contact: Mike Jaycock, Project Consultant
Email: hcbi@bell.net
Phone: (705) 754-9996
Blog: http://hcbi.wordpress.com

Sidney Crosby wins gold for Canada. (Photo credit: Doug Mills/New York Times)

The depth and breadth of hockey’s place in Canadian culture can be hard to fathom beyond the borders. But it now might be heard, echoing from the north, thanks to a 3-2 overtime victory over the United States in the final event of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

To hear Canadians tell it, the hockey gold medal has come home, where it belongs.

Canada did not win as many medals as it had hoped at these Olympics, which closed on Sunday night, but it won more golds (14) than any country in history. The last, an emphatic exclamation point on the 2010 Vancouver Games, will be collectively cherished more than any other.

This, after all, is a country whose $5 bill has a scene of children playing hockey on a pond, with a quotation from the short story “The Hockey Sweater,” by Roch Carrier:

“The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places — the school, the church and the skating rink — but our real life was on the skating rink.”

Hockey, the Canadian poet Richard Harrison once said, “is the national id.”

Continue reading this article at the The New York Times.

Roberto Luongo w/ victory flag (Photo credit :NYTimes/Stalknecht)

Team Canada Olympic hockey team wins gold/ Photo credit: Doug Mills, NY Times

It is really hard not to gloat.

The men I live with were rather smug about Canada’s loss to the U.S. earlier in the competition. They felt quite sure that the US had a lock on the gold.

There was never a doubt in my mind that Canada would take home the hockey gold. The world’s record 14 gold medals  for Canada is the fudgey chocolate icing on my Nanaimo bar.

Fleming Collage, Haliburton Campus (Photo: Roger Corrao)

Hey there!

I’m spreading the news about  the Internet Outreach Program’s series of courses through Fleming College that is being offered to folks in the Haliburton County. It’s been a long time coming but with the funds from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Farm, and Rural Affairs’ (OMAFRA) finally released Haliburton County can finally join the information age with the Internet. I’ve supplied all the information you should need (below) no matter if you are an absolute beginner, beginner through intermediate, or perhaps a business person building a brand on the world wide web.

I’m truly impressed with the diversity of offerings and the token fee involved for each series that should make this endeavour one that anyone can undertake.

It’s my understanding that broadband service is now or soon will be available to 95% of Haliburton County residents and  the cost is extremely low.

I’m looking forward to taking advantage of this service next summer. Unfortunately, since the funding was held up and I needed to work from the cottage my spouse and I committed to a 2-year contract with a satellite Internet provider and the cost is ridiculous. I’ve been told by a Broadband Outreach Program representative that this provider will need to lower his rates to be competitive but I’m not holding my breath as he’s made no offer yet.

As my cousin’s spouse remarked, this guy should be paying us as we agreed to be the point of origin for his satellite dish so he could offer services to the folks on Maple Lake.

I thought he’d put some effort into marketing as we were promised a lower fee when 5 more people signed up. He never did much–at least not via his website–and he certainly won’t now and it’s become a real pain. Lesson learned. I simply wanted to spend more time at the Lake but the reality was I couldn’t afford to do so without working. Now I’m paying over two years many times more than I made in the sum total of two months using the service.

But back to you smart people for whom the waiting is now paying off. All the info on the almost-free Internet classes is below.

Enjoy!

County of Haliburton- Broadband Outreach Program
Internet Courses for individuals and businesses
at Fleming College for only $10