TGIF! Another weekend is upon us, and if you’re looking for something to do over your two day break, then we’ve got a list of events happening around the City of Cambridge that you should check out!

January 30, Saturday

As part of Cambridge’s Winter Olympics series, Shade’s Mills Conservation Area will be open to cross-country skiing from 8 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. Admission is free.

On the same venue, this time from 1 to 2:30 in the afternoon, will be an interpretative snowshoe hike. Again, free admission for the event.

A more serious event will be taking place on the same day at Kitchener Church of God. The church will be hosting a gospel concert for the Haiti relief effort. Proceeds of the concert will be donated to the victims in Haiti.

January 31, Sunday

Walk for Memories, a fundraiser for the Alzheimer Society of Cambridge, will be held at Cambridge Center, from 6 to 8 in the evening. The society badly needs pledges. For details and information, log on to www.walkformemories.ca.

These are just a few happenings taking place over the weekend in Cambridge. As you can see, some of them are for a cause, so you might want to check them out. Remember to mark your calendars!

One Cambridge convenience store in the Hespeler area had a close call with theft, as one unknown man tried to rob the establishment. Fortunately, one of the store’s employees thwarted his attempt when he entered the store through the back door, catching the thief off-guard who then ran off immediately.

According to the reports, the thief went inside the store located at Queen Street East, at around 8 in the evening. After pretending to browse through the items, he approached the clerk working the cash register and demanded to have the money handed over. Apparently, the man said he had a weapon, though the clerk reported that none was seen.

The store’s employees couldn’t get a clear look at the suspect because the man’s facial profile was hidden due to his tightly drawn hoodie. Police authorities think that when the other employee came through the back door, the thief probably sensed things were about to get complicated, and was forced to run off.

The suspect was last seen getting inside a silver-colored SUV. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and no money was taken.

Police authorities in Cambridge are currently investigating the case. If you have any information on the suspect, or similar theft cases, please call the Waterloo Regional Police Detectives office at 519-653-7700.

In an effort to raise awareness on the rising problem of homeless people in the City of Cambridge, one local youth church group will be camping outside in the cold on Friday. This time however, their camping experience will be a bit more serious, with no hot chocolate, campfire songs, roasted marshmallows, and the like.

There won’t even be any tents for this group of teenagers; they’re camping out in a totally different way.

Kicking off at 6 in the evening on Friday, youths from around Cambridge will be putting up cardboard boxes right outside the Maranatha Christian Reformed Church. From 6 p.m. to 6 in the morning the next day, those cardboard boxes will be their home throughout the night. What’s more, these kids won’t have any heaters to make them feel more comfortable. All they will have are sleeping bags and the shirts on their backs.

Though it may be a bit extreme for some teenagers, the youth group thinks it’s the best way to spread awareness on the issue of homelessness. Experiencing how it would feel firsthand will also make them feel more appreciative of the blessings they have, one youth said.

Dina Zomer, the church youth group’s director, said it’ll be safe. She and a group of other church members will be watching over the kids and for those who might want to go home.

Yesterday, we featured a handful of events taking place this week that have to do with the arts, music, and literature. If that list left you wanting, then we’ve got even more happenings taking place in the City of Cambridge this week.

Interested? Then read on.

 January 27, Wednesday

 The Galt Legion Branch 121 will be having a cards and darts special, starting at 1 in the afternoon. 

Over at the Trillium United Church, Blair Scottish Dancers will be having their rehearsals. Those interested can join in for free lessons.

January 28, Thursday

The Cambridge Toastmasters Club will be having a meeting from 7:30 to 9:30 in the evening at the Preston Scout House. Everyone is invited.

The local Caregiver Support Group will be having a program aimed at providing help and insight to individuals who are caring for someone with cancer. The program will be held at HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre

Another program is also taking place on the same day, this time however; it’s got something to do with losing weight the right way. Take Off Pounds Sensibly, or TOPS, will begin at 8 in the evening at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

Again, mark your calendars and check out these events. Most are open to the public, so give them a try!

If you’re bored and looking for something to check out in the City of Cambridge before the month ends, then we’ve go the skinny on some events happening for the month of January, and even a few that’ll take place on February and March.

The Arts

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, by Jeremy Drummond is presently open to the public at the Cambridge Galleries. The exhibit will last until the 28th of February, 2010.

Portraits From Above is also happening until February, this time on the 21st. Those interested can drop by at Design at Riverside.

Fausta Facciponte is up until the 14th of January at the Cambridge Galleries.

Music

Jann Arden is in Town! She’s performing tonight at 8 at Kitchener’s Centre In The Square. She’ll be having a repeat performance on the 31st.

Colin James and Suzie McNeil will also be performing at the same venue tomorrow, January 25, at 7:30 in the evening.

Literature

One of the city’s local book clubs will be featuring The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland at the Cambridge Center for the Arts on January 25, at 7 in the evening.

Whether it’s got something with the arts, music, even literature, the City of Cambridge has what you’re looking for. So what’re you waiting for? Mark your calendars and check out these events!

Those looking to undergo elective surgery in the Cambridge Memorial Hospital might have to be put on a waiting list, that is, until the hospital contains the spread of a highly contagious virus.

According to Ann Bartlett, head of patient surgeries at Cambridge Memorial, she and her staff are doing all they can to keep that from happening.

Due to a recent outbreak of the Norovirus, formerly called the Norwalk virus, Cambridge Memorial’s officials and staff have been forced to use stringent measures in keeping the hospital clean and sanitary. If the virus isn’t contained, then elective surgeries will have to be sent other hospitals in Cambridge.

Although seldom fatal, the virus, which affects the intestinal area, causes severe diarrhea and vomiting. If unattended, dehydration could set in, leading to death. The problem with the Norovirus is that catching it is too easy. Symptoms of the disease are extremely quick to manifest as well.

Treatment is relatively easy, with patients being isolated in disinfected rooms. The hospital’s staffs are also dressed in completely sterile gowns, masks, and gloves to avoid transmission of the virus.

Hardly any visitors are allowed inside the isolation wards, which has caused some complaints among the community’s residents. According to doctors, the best thing they can do is to stop the spread of the virus as much as they can and wait until it dies out.

In a move to breathe life into the downtown Galt area, officials from Cambridge are planning to rehabilitate the city’s Main Street.

In a meeting that took place this week on Wednesday, the Downtown Cambridge Business Improvement Association or BIA discussed plans of streetscaping the city’s Main Street to invite investors

The city’s planning commissioner, Janet Babcock, revealed that Cambridge had already forwarded a funding application for $750,000 to the Southern Ontario Development Agency (SODA). The agency has been allotted over $1 billions over the past five years from FedDev Ontario as part of Canada’s economic stimulus package to battle the effects of the recession.

If things go according to plan and SODA approves the city’s request, the project is expected to kick off immediately, to be finished before the spring of 2011. The federal and city government will each be shouldering 50% each of the proposed budget.

One development firm in Cambridge even purchased a number of buildings along Main Street in anticipation of the project. He hopes to renovate the structures in the future.

Indeed a rehabilitation of the Cambridge’s Main Street is crucial to improving existing businesses as well as inviting new ones to the area.

Despite going through difficult and painful medical treatments for leukemia, 7-year old Ava Caron still managed to get excited when watching figure skaters on TV.

Ava was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of cancer in the blood, in 2007. She spent most of her time undergoing treatment and staying at home watching TV. In the moments that she felt good enough, she said that it was always figure skating that boosted her spirits. She added that watching skaters dancing and seemingly soaring in the air had a calming effect on her, in a way helping her fight the cancer.

Ava’s mother Anne recalled spending nights dancing and twirling around the house, reenacting the figure skaters’ routine with her other daughters, Hannah, who was 5 at the time, and Ella, who was only 2.

Now that Ava’s medical treatment is complete and she’s officially cancer-free, one of her longtime wishes will be coming true this year.

Thanks to Canada’s Children’s Wish Foundation, Ava can take her love for figure skating to new heights – the organization will be sending this family from Cambridge to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, taking place on February.

Anne said Ava might not be able to grasp the magnitude of the event, but she knows her daughter will be happy to see figure skaters in the flesh.

Officials from the City of Cambridge as well as the Waterloo region recently met to discuss the capacity and status of the three wastewater treatment facilities in Cambridge.

According to Jim King, Cambridge’s chief administrative officer, city councilors and staff met up with region officials to clarify the available capacity at the Preston, Hespeler, and Galt wastewater treatment plants. Some of the topics covered included the issue of who should get the remaining available capacity, as well as expansion plans for the three facilities in the future. In addition, the new Boxwood industrial subdivision behind the local Toyota plant was also mentioned, with officials asking if the area has the needed sewer capacity.

He adds that he can’t disclose all of the details just yet, at least not until the all members of the Cambridge City Council hear about the full report. He did however, say that the meeting had good results and many questions were answered from both sides. Boxwood was also mentioned and looks to be in good shape, though the same can’t be said for Hespeler, he added.

Staffs from the Waterloo region are expected to make their report to the Cambridge City Council on the 8th of February (Monday), 2010.

The City of Cambridge’s economic development team are off to a great start this year, as council approved the city’s first industrial lot sale on Monday. Indeed, it’s a great achievement, considering that most Ontario cities usually pick up the pace when it comes to land sales at around March or April.

The Cambridge City Council approved the sale of the 2.1-acre industrial lot located at Vondrau Drive, which is in the Cambridge Business Park vicinity. Right now, the ball is in the purchaser’s hands. Should Grand River Foods Ltd take the deal and close it, they will purchase the lot which fronts their existing facility for an estimated amount of $444,570.

The Cambridge food company presently has a workforce of over 200 people who work in three shifts. If Grand River Foods Ltd continues with their plan to buy the land, it will be converted into additional parking space for their growing staff, as well as for their storage trailers. Some insiders say that a dry storage building might even rise on the lot soon. This would be advantageous for the city, as the project is guaranteed to generate jobs in the area.

The company is set to close the deal on March 26, 2010.