November 30, 2025 When Hurricane Melissa slammed into the western half of Jamaica on October 28 it set a world record with wind gusts reaching 406 kmh.About 2800 kilometers away from where the hurricane made landfall, a much more positive…
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November 15, 2025 It was shortly after midnight on November 1 when Daniel arrived in Montego Bay after eight months working on a farm in Niagara-on-the-Lake. When the taxi headlights illuminated the apocalyptic scene, he was in disbelief. There was…
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June 5, 2025 The mood was upbeat and the enthusiasm was contagious as the Farmworker Hub celebrated its fourth year of operation with an Open House on Wednesday night. Members of Quest Community Health, Bridges Niagara and Bikes for Farmworkers…
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March 25, 2025 The first of the balmy breezes have arrived and music is in the air with the early arrivals of the red winged blackbirds and the first of the migrating songbirds. For many Niagara residents there is also…
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Frustration and a sense of helplessness seems to be predominant emotions cresting on the unending wave of news from the south of us. The scale of this societal shift tempts us to think that we are too small…
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The announcement was met with a mixture of surprise and joy in the winter of 1944. Henry and Anna Neufeld gathered the family in their tiny farmhouse and shared the news with their nine children – another baby was on the…
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Reflecting back on 2024 a shining achievement rises above the collective memories in our corner of Niagara-on-the-Lake. It’s the story of a family who achieved an unforgettable milestone despite major challenges. Darek and Christine Lauber and their five children…
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June 30, 2024 The weather forecast on Saturday, June 29 was less than promising with heavy rain and high wind warnings. Amazingly, the clouds parted and sun broke through just as people began to arrive at the Virgil arena for…
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NOTL Local , June 11, 2024 It was later than usual to take my dog for a walk one August night but cooler temperatures drew me out to enjoy the cricket choir and star studded skies. It was close to 11pm…
Read MoreMay 8, 2024 This week marks a milestone anniversary in which we honour the life and legacy of Jeleel Stewart. Despite decades of being written out of our history, we remember those who have paid the ultimate price for the…
Read MoreNOTL Local – Feb.25, 2024 It was the video clip of a young boy dancing that gutted me. He was wearing a jacket that was way too big, hands waving in the air, while the band played…
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The Local, January 6, 2024 Thanks to local residents, the year ended with a glimpse of hope and comfort for three Jamaican families. The goal of an online fundraiser held in December was to provide one month of groceries…
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The Local, November 22, 2023 It’s been almost 14 months since Ceto Reid, a 20 year veteran…
Read MoreLooking Back, Love in Action ~ Part One…
Read MoreThe Local, October 20,2023 There was a sense of anticipation as the emcee of the concert…
Read MoreSeptember 2023 By generously…
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Read MoreThe Local, July 3, 2023 The story opens with Malaika, a little girl in the Caribbean, who awakens from her sleep after a dream of a flying man carrying a basket of fruit – peaches, apples, and cherries –…
Read MoreThe Local, June 26/2023 Fifty years ago I shared a stage with a number of local musicians for a childrens camp fundraiser organized by John Wiebe at St.Catharines United Mennonite Church. I was especially excited to…
Read MoreNiagara on the Lake Local, June 22, 2023 It was an appreciative congregation who met on Sunday night for the second last Caribbean Workers Outreach Project church service of the season. Hosted by Bethany Mennonite Church for decades it…
Read MoreBuilding Bridges instead of Barriers It started out with a simple list of errands for Barbara Somerwil one summer day in 1992. A vision check was not on her agenda but by the end of the day Barbara viewed…
Read MoreLine a 9×16″ cake pan or 2 smaller ones with parchment paper. Mix dry ingredients together: 2 1/2 C. flour 3 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 C sugar Cut in 3/4 cup or shortening….
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The Local, Dec.27, 2022 Last weeks storm was one for the books. Thanks to the howling wind and plummeting temperatures my memories of it will be frozen as solid as the water buckets in my chicken coop. Christmas preparations were…
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The Local – Friday, Oct.28 It happened in a split second – metal on bone, laundry scattered, a twisted bike frame on the side of the street, faces blurring in and out of his vision. It had been a hectic…
Read MoreThe Local, August 4, 2022 Dale Merrill’s life has taken an adventurous turn in recent years, one he likely never could have imagined. He has been a design and build contractor for 40 years, building luxury homes in the U.S….
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The Things We’ve Handed Down – Honouring Harvill Maye …
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The Local, March 28, 2022 This week marks the 10th anniversary of the passing of Isbrand Boese. A refugee from the war in Ukraine, he arrived in Niagara in 1930 with his parents and 5 siblings. Within a few decades…
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For many of us 2022 will be remembered as a time when a caring community shone brightly, despite the second year of COVID related challenges. Last spring the delivery of more than 500 welcome kits to farm workers was a…
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Thump, thump, thump. The noise was a bad omen on a beautiful Sunday afternoon as Kathy Kerr pulled over on a rural stretch of gravel road in Niagara on the Lake. Her tire hopelessly flattened and without a cell…
Read MoreOctober 29, 2021 by Jane AndresCommunity If you’ve ever visited local farm stands in search of the perfect peach you would likely have met Paul Bent at the colourful Epp farm stand on the Niagara River Parkway. Some locals like…
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October 7, 2021 by Jane Andres The parish of Clarendon lies in the heart of Jamaica’s mountainous countryside. Few Niagara locals have even heard of this area, yet many of us have been influenced by or benefitted from the “Clarendon…
Read MoreMaking connections enriches a community July 2021 by Jane Andres It’s a Tuesday night and I’m pulling up to the Serlucca farm on Concession 2, the car loaded with groceries. Dan, the farm owner, greets me with a big…
Read MoreGladstone Pusey August 30, 1963 – March 18, 2021 Broken Bank, Rock River, Clarendon A gentleman. Hard worker. Dependable. A man of his word. An honourable man. He liked to joke, to add a little levity when the going got tough…
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Niagara on the Lake Local ~ February 24, 2021 by Jane Andres Jane Andres, best known in Niagara for creating a caring community and…
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Niagara on the Lake Local, Dec. 30, 2020 It wasn’t what they expected when they moved to Niagara. It has only been a year and a half since Antonio Illas first set foot on the most fertile soil in Canada,…
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Niagara on the Lake Local, December 11, 2020 2020 will always be remembered as a year of extraordinary challenges. In Niagara on the Lake it will also be remembered as a time when a caring community shone brightly! The delivery…
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Niagara on the Lake Local, October 8,2020 By Penny Coles ( Edited version ) Two Niagara-on-the-Lake families are seeking a permanent solution for a Jamaican farmworker who was seriously injured in a 2008 workplace accident here. The story of…
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NOTL Local, October 2, 2020 https://notllocal.com/2020/10/02/library-books-for-kids-heading-to-jamaica/ In February 2012 Jodie Godwin, her 12 year old daughter Leah and I had the opportunity to visit Jamaica. The purpose of the trip was to meet the families of the men who worked…
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The NOTL Local ~ October 2, 2020 It’s no exaggeration that this past season has been fraught with unforeseen challenges for everyone. There were also many times this past summer when a bright sunbeam would slip through a fissure in…
Read MoreThe Joy of Connection Part 3 June 2020 Until the last quarter century, most of early black history in Niagara on the Lake was buried in obscure documents or barely acknowledged by one of our town’s foremost historians, William Kirby….
Read MoreThe Niagara on the Lake Local, June 22 https://notllocal.com/2020/06/25/farm-worker-struggles-to-get-permanent-resident-status/ It never gets easier. There is a price to be paid for families that are separated for eight months of the year. Men and women working here on the temporary…
Read MoreThere has been much in the news lately regarding the systemic racism which most of us who have grown up in a white dominated culture have been blissfully unaware of, yet benefited from. We have a lot to process, especially…
Read MoreThis year marks a 15 year anniversary celebrating treasured friendships with our Jamaican neighbours. It was in spring 2005 that I was invited to assist with the music at a little church service for Caribbean farm workers. The CWOP …
Read MoreOne of the first signs of spring is the bright red leaves of rhubarb poking up in our garden! Rhubarb Orange Muffins Topping: 1/4 Cup brown sugar 1 Tbsp. orange zest 1/2 tsp. cinnamon Batter 2 Cups flour 1/2 cup sugar…
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In the February 12 edition of The Local I took the readers to visit a mountaintop high up in the clouds of St. Catherine, Jamaica with Uton and Linnette Bell. Since that experience in 2008, I have had the privilege…
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The NOTL Local~ Feb 12 It was a golden morning in Spanishtown, Jamaica. The brilliant sunshine and rapturous birdsong erased any memories of the dull winter my friend Jodie Godwin and I had left behind in Niagara. We…
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The Niagara on the Lake Local – May 10, 2019 The police officer leaned in closer to the squad car radio, listening in disbelief. Dispatch was requesting backup for a traffic situation. An excited driver had just reported a woolly…
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“They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad that I’m going to miss mine by just a few days.” ~ Garrison Keiller My father, Ruben Friesen, passed away on Dec.11 at 94 years of…
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NOTL Local – October 31, 2020 It’s a balmy evening in September and I’m walking with my dog towards a brilliantly hued sunset on Wall Rd. In the distance I can see the headlights of a little silver pickup…
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The NOTL Local – Sept.26 September offers a welcome change for those who have been dealing with peach fuzz, long work days, heat and humidity for the past 3 months. For our neighbours on the farms this time of…
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The NOTL Local -August 22 Almost 800 meals served! Music and laughter spilling out of the tent and into the picnic grounds. Friends reunited and friendships kindled. The tantalizing aroma of jerk chicken. Lord Mayor Betty Disero twirling on…
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It is a perfect Sunday evening, only a week away from the Peach Pickers Picnic. We’ve been distributing posters and dinner tickets to the 75 plus farms in Niagara on the Lake for about 5 weeks now, averaging 2 farms…
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Niagara Workers Welcome July, 2019 This week the magic happened. It started with a tiny flicker, a momentary reflection catching my eye in a little pond tucked deep among the ferns. A second tiny flash hovered over the…
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It was a beautiful evening in fall and I was enjoying a quiet time puttering about in my front yard when I heard the noise. It was a muffled crack followed by an onslaught of men’s excited voices, then…
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In a guest room in our bed and breakfast there is a little basket with a unique contraption tucked in amongst a collection of loose photos. The stereograph was a gift from my husband years ago, a low tech…
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Niagara-on-the-Lake Local, April 11, 2020 It is an early April morning and the sun’s rays are hitting the top of the ridge at Kentish, Jamaica, where the lush green sugar cane is heavy with dew. The sunlight moves slowly,…
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Dufferin Grove Organic Farmers market – April 3, 2019 In Memory of Debbie Wiecha Our market community grieves the loss of Debbie Wiecha, a long-time vendor famous for her amazing organic peaches and fragrant lavender, and much-loved for her generosity…
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Remembering a name forges human connection March 28, 2019 by Jane Andres Denford Thomas with Jodie and Leah Godwin on top of Juan Del Bolas…
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Robert Jupiter: A Hero in Our Own Back Yard February 23, 2019 by Jane Andres For many years my daily dog-walking expeditions involved sloshing through the Four Mile Creek with a pair of rubber boots and visiting the old Servos family…
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February 6, 2019 by Jane Andres It had all the feels of a long anticipated reunion, the adults hugging and laughing as the children watched with shy smiles, waiting to be introduced. Indeed it was a special kind of extended family reunion,…
Read MoreEating Niagara – September 5, 2015 By Tiffany Mayer A pile of photographs sits on Jane Andres’s dining room table.In them, faces beam out at the viewer: middle school-aged students wear caps and gowns to mark the successful end of…
Read MoreNiagara Food : A Flavourful History of the Peninsula’s Bounty By Tiffany Mayer Advertisements
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Harriet’s Legacies: Race, Historical Memory and Futures in Canada Brock University 2015 In May 2005 I was invited to help with the music at a church service for Caribbean workers. CWOP, the Caribbean Workers Outreach Project, was run by Grace United Church…
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Harriet’s Legacies: Race, Historical Memory and Futures in Canada Brock University 2015 We live in Niagara-on-the-Lake within walking distance to the shores of Lake Ontario. If you take the path down into the valley behind our home you will find rich bottom…
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A Collection of Foggy Day Rambles The Last Remnants – Ice House and Cemetery This stone structure was the last remnant of the settlement on Palatine Hill. It had been attached to a wooden building which would have originally been…
Read MoreOne of my most requested recipes! 1 Cup brown sugar 1/2 cup butter 2 tbsp. maple syrup 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts 3 tart local apples , peeled and sliced 4 eggs 1 cup half and half 1/4 tsp pure…
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A Collection of Foggy Day Rambles Whispers from the Past Over two hundred years ago you would have heard the voices of young John, Daniel or Maggie Servos as they played along the banks searching for crayfish or swinging buckets…
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A Collection of Foggy Day Rambles The Road to Palatine Hill The only route to Palatine Hill from the town of Niagara on the Lake was via Four Mile Creek Rd. until the mid 1800s when the Lake Rd. bridge was built. Four Mile…
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Four Mile Meanderings As the Four Mile Creek nears Lake Ontario it twists and turns through the floodplain, intersecting tender fruit orchards and vineyards. Originally a lake bed, the rich topsoil along the Four Mile watershed is some of the…
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A Collection of Foggy Day Rambles Beasts and Birds: A Touch of the Wild There still exists a path frequented by deer and coyote from Palatine Hill down…
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A Collection of Foggy Day Rambles If you take a walk down to the Four Mile Creek behind Applewood Hollow you will notice a wooded rise on the opposite bank. On the top of the ridge, nestled in the…
Read MoreBy NICHOLAS KEUNG Friday, May 3, 2013 It is not often migrant farm workers get to party and go to a concert after a long day of back-bending labour in the field.Certainly not a concert dedicated to them, with black gospel, reggae and R&B…
Read MoreBeyond Ordinary Living Magazine May 2008 By Jane Andres It is four in the morning and a city lies resting. On its southern shore it is bordered by the sea, mercurial waves lapping at its shores at this early hour….
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