Community

ICYMI

February 1, 2020

In case you missed it

The wildfires that spread throughout Australia in December and January prompted Amanda Beaton, co-owner of Truckin’ Roll, to organize a fundraiser at Founders’ Hall and Food market in early January. With the assistance of Kristina Allen, events manager for Founders’ Hall, the idea took hold rapidly and ballooned into an event larger than anyone anticipated.

There was musical entertainment and many shared stories of family and friends who live in Australia. Over 100 vendors donated services and products for a silent auction and the Founders’ Hall vendors participated by donating a portion of their sales or designated products for the cause. When the final tally was made, over $15,245 was raised.

Amanda Beaton, co-owner of Truckin’ Roll, spearheaded the fundraiser Photo Credit: Cheryl Young/Salty

Martitime Marzipan participated in the Australian Wildfires fundraiser Photo Credit: Cheryl Young/Salty

At the end of 2019, Canoe Cove Meadery closed its doors after over 10 years in business. Deep Roots Distillery has purchased the remainder of their bulk stock and will be distilling some of their various meads into unique spirits.

This April will see the 10th year of Burger Love™, and Fresh Media announced a significant change to the month-long food event. This year, restaurants will be welcome to offer a variety of proteins for their burgers, provided it is sourced from PEI.

Opening up the event to non-beef options will allow for a more diverse event, and appeal to those who may prefer fish, pork, poultry, or vegan options. Restaurants can choose to offer the typical beef burger or another kind. Alternatively, they can offer two burger choices to their diners, as long as there are local ingredients in their patty.

In January, the provincial government announced the recipients of the 2020 provincial wellness grants. The grants will assist 23 community groups promote wellness and help Islanders live healthier. The Wellness Grant Program provides $50,000 annually to support community-led wellness initiatives in the following priority areas: living tobacco free; being physically active and reducing sedentary time; healthy eating; consuming alcohol responsibly; and mental health promotion.

“These grants offer community partners assistance so they can creatively promote wellness within Island communities. I am so pleased to see a wide range of innovative programs receiving grants this year, touching on all wellness priority areas,” James Alyward, health and wellness minister, said in a press release.

“The work our community partners do to improve the wellness of people across the province makes a real difference in the health of Islanders and we want to continue to work together and support these important initiatives.”

This year the program offered two different funding streams to make it more accessible: a Community Catalyst Grant and a Health Promotion Impact Grant. A few of the organizations that were given grants with a food focus include the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Holland College, and Abegweit First Nation Wellness Centre. For a complete list of the recipients and the projects funded, visit the PEI government website.

In restaurant news, Crossings Cafe in Borden-Carleton is taking a winter break and will reopen in May, however, the business will still be available for catering and special events. Trailside Café announced it will be leaving its Mount Stewart location and reopening in The Arts Hotel in downtown Charlottetown this spring as the Trailside Music Hall.

In other restaurant related news, Sadat’s Cuisine is still open, despite being defrauded last fall of a significant sum of money by an online scam. Customers have responded to the incident by frequenting the restaurant, which is allowing the Sadats to repay some of the debt incurred by the scam.

Congratulations to Glow Juicery and The Recovery Studio on their grand opening last month. The business has been growing since 2018, and moved from its seasonal location on Water St in Summerside to a permanent spot on Walker Drive last year.

As well, congratulations to MacKenzie Produce for being featured on the cover of Fruit and Vegetable magazine in December 2019. The farm, which is owned and operated by Greg and Tania MacKenzie in Stratford, PEI, produces over 2 million pounds of cabbage yearly. That cabbage goes to a company that supplies coleslaw for KFC.

Lone Oak Brewing celebrated its grand opening on January 25th. The newest craft brewery on PEI was busy getting up and running in late November and December. Along with their three beers (and one cider) available on tap in Borden-Carleton, you can find cans of their brews on select PEILCC shelves.

Kudos to The Cook’s Edge in Charlottetown. Their ‘Knife Sharpening for the Food Bank’ raised $1310 for The Upper Room Food Bank in November and December.

Oak Tree Place PEILCC in Charlottetown will be closing for renovations in February. The liquor store is expected to be closed for 14 weeks while the interior is updated. Meanwhile the new specialty liquor store at Founders’ Hall continues its construction with a projected opening date for March.

Congratulations to Grace Hughes, from Bonshaw, PEI, who won an Education Award from Holstein Canada. The Young Leader Advisory Committee evaluated the worthy candidates from this year’s applicants based on their farm and work involvement; youth and community involvement; career choice; scholastic achievements; and, new this year, an essay question based on Holstein Canada’s services. The goal of the Education Award is to select and award well-rounded individuals in the Canadian dairy industry that have made a commitment to their career, community, schooling, and the industry at large.

As announced in February 2019, Fisheries and Oceans Canada will be implementing mandatory gear marking to all non-tended fixed gear fisheries starting in 2020 in Eastern Canada.

The new requirements are part of the Government of Canada’s continuing efforts to improve tracking of gear, address ghost gear, and further identify management measures threats to marine mammals, in particular North Atlantic Right Whales. They will enable officials to make corrective changes in the most efficient manner going forward.

They are implemented to recognize gear origin, specifically country, region, species, as well as lobster and snow crab fishing areas. They were a continuum of what has already been introduced in certain Gulf of St Lawrence snow crab fisheries since 2018.

In particular, the rope fishers use will now need to consist of interlacing different strands of coloured twine within existing rope. The colours use will identify the region, species fished, and the different fishing areas for lobster and snow crab.

Congratulations to MacBeath Farms and Idee Holsteins on being named 2019 Master Breeder Award Winners. The honours are given by Holstein Canada and this year marks its 90th year awarding Holstein farmers who have mastered the art of breeding balanced cattle. The Master Breeders will be honoured at the National Holstein Convention in Saskatchewan this coming April.

Kudos to UPEI’s student union for their introduction of a sustainability program at the campus pub, Fox & Crow. The Choose to Reuse program will see a fee of 15 cents added to single-use items like plastic cutlery, or coffee cups.

As well, a student can pay $2 for a reusable takeaway container, and exchange it for a new one the next time they are grabbing a bite to go at the pub (or get a refund of their deposit). The pub is also selling reusable coffee mugs for students to use instead of single-use cups. With the recent change towards eliminating single-use plastic bags across PEI, the student union felt that this was a natural next step.