Businesses and citizens participate in the largest Santa Parade in the Ottawa Valley with 100 floats. Thousands of spectators come out to kick off the Christmas season in Carleton Place. The Parade is sponsored by the BIA and takes place on Bridge Street in downtown Carleton Place!

November 28 @ 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Nov. 28: Beckwith Craft Fair

Held in the Beckwith Public School gym, 1523 9th Line, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with over 40 exhibitors. Donations accepted for the Lanark County Food Bank. Info: 613.257.1539

November 7 @ 8:00 am – November 8 @ 5:00 pm

Nov. 7-8: Carleton Place Artists’ Open Studio Weekend

Local artists will open their studios for a sale and a chance to see them at work.

Info: 613.859.0100 (Jennifer)

Hailed the largest Santa Claus parade in the Ottawa Valley you can join thousands of spectators to watch hundreds of sparkling floats lit by LED bulbs as the Business Improvement Association hosts its annual evening parade on Saturday November 28th 2015.

The parade begins at 5 p.m. at Carambeck School and travels up the town’s main thoroughfare Bridge Street. After Santa’s sleigh passes through the town spectators can congregate at the Carleton Place and District Memorial Hospital for hot chocolate carolling and the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Proceeds support the Lanark County Food Bank.

For further information information please call 613-257-8049 or visit www.downtowncarletonplace.com

Downtown Carleton Place will filled with the sights and sounds of Whoville at this years BIA Santa Claus parade.

“A Whoville Christmas”

Downtown Carleton Place is where the Grinch will find Christmas! The festive spirit will be making its way in and around and about the town. No, you are not mistaken, the Grinch who Stole Christmas and all that he has taken, will be downtown for this holiday celebration. The excitement is building and for a very good reason, as Santa will soon be here to celebrate the season.

I think the most likely reason of all may be that our hearts grow three sizes that day when we watch our Santa Parade. Oh the noise, the singing, the dancing, and more Santa will bring your way! There will be ribbons, tags, packages, boxes and bags that will adorn floats as they parade by.

Welcome Christmas, Bring your cheer, cheer to all from far and near! Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more! You will feel light-hearted for the season at the BIA Whoville Santa Claus Parade.

The Carleton Place BIA Whoville Santa Claus Parade is where we will stand heart to heart and hand to hand listening to singing and dancing welcoming the season’s meaning!

If you’re looking for that perfect gift for your special someone or maybe even something for yourself here is your chance!

The Carleton Place BIA along with the Merchants of Downtown is holding “Ladies Night Out” from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday November 19th.

The event is designed to help you start your shopping with retail savings to be found throughout the downtown. You’ll also be able to enter to win prizes, savour delicious food, and view the downtown LED Christmas lighting.

During the evening, shoppers will have a chance to enter a draw to win one of five $100 BIA Buck draws. A BIA Buck is our standard dollar used on a regular basis by the consumers in our community. BIA Bucks are an economic booster to our BIA members and enable shoppers to contribute to BIA retailers. The BIA Buck is available to the public and can be purchased from the BIA office. There is no expiry on the BIA bucks. The date of the draw for the BIA Bucks is Wednesday November 25th, 2015.

For more information on “Ladies Night Out” you can contact Carleton Place BIA Project Manager Cathie McOrmond at cmcormond@carletonplace.ca or call 613-257-8049

Mark your calendar for November 7, 2015 10 am to 4 pm at the Neelin Street Community Center (CP arena) for the 27th Annual LCIH Women Fair. This year’s theme is “Rise Up” – “Be Your Best You”.

NEW this year will be a live onsite makeover with three women who will be selected through a nomination process prior to the event. Event goers will find many familiar vendors and great lunch selections with door prizes, silent auction items and a fashion show too.

More NEW excitement to the event will be the addition of a quality artisan’s area where you will find unique one of a kind gifts for yourself or others.

This year’s show will be an event you will not want to miss mark your calendar bring your friends and spend the day with us.
Interval House is the only dedicated anti-violence organization in the County. From support services, crisis line, emergency shelter to outreach services and public education, Lanark County Interval House is reaching out, rising up and supporting women’s empowerment, strength and courage.

We appreciate the support of the community as it is an integral part of the foundation so we hope to see you at the fair.
If you are in crisis please call 613 257-5960

For more information or to be a part of the event please contact Pam Cupak, Fundraising Coordinator, at 613 257-3469 ext. 27 or visit our website www.lcih.org

Halloween in 2015 is Saturday, October 31

It is a day to mark the single night in the year when, according to old Celtic beliefs, spirits and the dead can cross over into the world of the living. Some people hold parties and children may trick-or-treat in their neighborhood.

Some people put a lot of effort into decorating their homes, yards and drives. They may even construct life-size replica graveyards or dungeons and invite people from the neighborhood to view their creations or hold a themed party. Other people may organize fancy dress parties for adults or children. Popular activities at parties include watching horror films and trying to make fellow guests jump in fright.

Many children go out to play trick-or-treat. They dress up as ghosts, witches, skeletons or other characters and visit homes in their neighborhood. They ring doorbells and, when someone answers, they call out “trick-or-treat”. This means that they hope to receive a gift of candy or other snacks and that they are threatening to play a trick if they do not get anything. Usually, they receive a treat and tricks are rarely carried out.

There are special types of food associated with Halloween. These include candies in packets decorated with symbols of Halloween, toffee apples made by coating real apples with a boiled sugar solution, roasted corn, popcorn and pumpkin pie or bread. Halloween beer, which is made by adding pumpkin and spices to the mash before fermenting it, is also available in specialist stores.

Children also take part in a long-standing Canadian tradition of “Trick-or-Treat for Unicef”. Pumpkin-carving contests, pumpkin art tours, a reading marathon, and symbolic Walks for Water are just a few examples of the educational and fundraising activities schools and children develop to help provide thousands of children developing countries with basic quality education.

October 31 is not a public holiday. Schools, organizations, businesses, stores and post offices are open as usual. Some organizations may arrange Halloween parties, but these do not usually disrupt normal affairs. Public transport services run on their regular timetables. If people are driving around the neighborhood in the late afternoon or evening, it is important to be particularly aware of children, especially those wearing dark costumes, who may be unfamiliar with traffic conditions.

Halloween has Celtic origins. In pre-Christian times, many people believed that spirits from the underworld and ghosts of dead people could visit the world of the living on the night of October 31. These spirits could harm the living or take them back to the underworld. To avoid this, people started dressing up as ghosts and spirits if they left their homes on October 31. They hoped that this would confuse the ghosts and spirits.

Thanksgiving Day in Canada is on 12th October 2015.

Thanksgiving Day in Canada has been a holiday on the second Monday of October since 1957. It is a chance for people to give thanks for a good harvest and other fortunes in the past year.

Many people have a day off work on the second Monday of October. They often use the three-day Thanksgiving weekend to visit family or friends who live far away, or to receive them in their own homes. Many people also prepare a special meal to eat at some point during the long weekend. Traditionally, this included roast turkey and seasonal produce, such as pumpkin, corn ears and pecan nuts. Now, the meal may consist of other foods, particularly if the family is of non-European descent.

The Thanksgiving weekend is also a popular time to take a short autumn vacation. This may be the last chance in a while for some people to use cottages or holiday homes before winter sets in. Other popular activities include: outdoor breaks to admire the spectacular colors of the Canadian autumn; hiking; and fishing. Fans of the teams in the Canadian Football League may spend part of the weekend watching the Thanksgiving Day Classic matches.

The native peoples of the Americas held ceremonies and festivals to celebrate the completion and bounty of the harvest long before European explorers and settlers arrived in what is now Canada. Early European thanksgivings were held to give thanks for some special fortune. An early example is the ceremony the explorer Martin Frobisher held in 1578 after he had survived the long journey in his quest to find a northern passage from Europe to Asia.

From the end of the First World War until 1930, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving Day were celebrated on the Monday closest to November 11, the anniversary of the official end of hostilities in World War I. In 1931, Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day and Thanksgiving Day was moved to a Monday in October. Since 1957, Thanksgiving Day has always been held on the second Monday in October.

Thanksgiving Day in Canada is linked to the European tradition of harvest festivals. A common image seen at this time of year is a cornucopia, or horn, filled with seasonal fruit and vegetables. The cornucopia, which means “Horn of Plenty” in Latin, was a symbol of bounty and plenty in ancient Greece. Turkeys, pumpkins, ears of corn and large displays of food are also used to symbolize Thanksgiving Day.

Our Haunted Heritage Storytelling Night

October 15 @ 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Carleton Place & Beckwith Heritage Museum.

Our third annual night of scary ghost stories and tales of local hauntings!

Info: 613.253.7013 or cpbheritagemuseum@bellnet.ca

Meeting at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Hall, Potluck Supper 6 p.m. for 6:30 dinner.

Bring your own plate, cup, knife and fork, and your favourite dish to serve.

Join us for our next meeting Wednesday October 7 2015 at 7:00pm for Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging with Rebecca Craig. Rebecca is a licensed practitioner of Ikebana (Sagagoryu School) as well as an artist of traditional Japanese brush painting.

Everyone is welcome!

Please join us at 39 Bridge St. at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Hall (basement) in Carleton Place, ON. http://www.cphorticulture.ca for more information.