The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

4 Friday, June 4, 2021brooklintowncrier.com Everyone Loves A Parade By Jennifer Hudgins There is nothing quite like a great parade to bring a community together. The Brooklin Spring Fair's annual version has had over 100 years to establish its well-coordinated and inspiring tradition. It's also why each year thousands of Brooklin residents have braved all kinds of weather to watch marching bands, classic cars, floats and more, ushering fair-goers into the fairgrounds. The first Brooklin Spring Fair, representing the agricultural community, was held in 1911 on the property of John Vipond, which later became the Meadowcrest subdivision. Information is sketchy about the earliest Brooklin's parades until 1916 when the 116th Uxbridge Battalion and the 182nd Whitby Battalion marched down Baldwin Street for the first time. Following this, it is likely that no parades took place until 1924 when decorated cars were part of the festivities. Volunteers involved The parade has been organized by service clubs and dozens of community volunteers. In 1974, a group of women formed Group 74 to offer their organizational skills to the Fair board. One of the highlights of their planning came on June 6, 1984, when 22 members of the 48th Highlanders pipes and drum band participated. The Highlanders were a Canadian Forces Primary Reserve infantry regiment formed in 1891 and are allied with the British Army's Royal Regiment of Scotland whose colonel-in-chief is Queen Elizabeth II. A number of Brooklin residents served with this regiment. For the 1949 parade, resident Betty-Jean Blyth entered her decorated 1932 Hudson Terraplane car. When resident Jim Carnwith found out, he entered his own car hoping to beat her for the first prize ribbon. However, on the day of the parade, Jim's car would not start. To the amusement of spectators, he borrowed a horse to tow it, only to lose out to Betty-Jean anyway. Consistent winners The Brooklin Heritage Society knows how it feels to win first place ribbons for best float, having done so six out of the seven years it's been entered. Al and Dwayne Parrot have shared in the excitement as they tow their trailer used for floats by the Society. In keeping with the Spring Fair's 2019 dairy theme, heritage society members wore cow costumes and painted the names of local dairy farmers on banners depicting milk cans. The Brooklin-Ashburn-Myrtle (BAM) Lions club's first attempt at organizing the parade in 2010 was almost a washout. Entrants and volunteers were caught in a torrential downpour, though this didn't deter either the parade or the watchers. Ten minutes after it finished, the sun came out. Jim McGrorey, one of the lead planners, wondered if God was trying to tell him something. Sue Pitchforth, another lead planner who served in the role for over five years, remembers how exciting it was to co-host the occasions Rogers TV broadcast the parade for three years in a row. The longevity and success of the Brooklin Spring Fair parades stem from the many volunteers, organizers and participants who have given their time to produce one that is a true representation of the Brook l in community and a valued tradition. Betty Jean Blyth sits on the front tire fender in this 1949 photo of the car decorating contest. Updating Key Issues North Ward Councillor Steve Lee Brooklin Concrete, the area's largest employee, has been part of our community since 1952. While we're sad to see it go, the writing has been on the wall for some time. We knew development would eventually be in the middle of our community instead of on the outskirts as it once was. The company also knew this was coming and made the business decision to leave when it made the most sense for them. We wish them well. It means though that we will need to ensure our employment lands along the 407 replace those lost jobs as soon as possible. The proposed development is mixed use and residential and conforms to the secondary plan. Provincial law As we know, Brooklin is growing and our density will increase. This stems from provincial legislation in the Places to Grow Act. The province set the population target and we must find ways to make that work as we get little flexibility in it. The official plan, and in our case, the Brooklin Secondary Plan, guide the growth. All development proposals coming forward are part of that Secondary Plan, the longterm vision for growth. Growth also brings more cars and we need to ensure safety on our streets. The speed bumps are coming back. I'd made a motion for a pilot program on Robert Attersley Drive and the program report showed substantive results in slowing the traffic and increasing safety. As a result, Robert Attersley will get permanent speed bumps this summer/fall. As well, I motioned to add an additional two streets per ward this summer. Council also passed a motion adding 10 streets per year for the next five years. I also motioned at council to ensure the new Brooklin developments will have speed bumps and other traffic calming measures from the start. Sports complex As to to the new sports complex, this was just in front of council on Monday, May 31. I am excited for this project which has been a long time coming. So far, the response and feedback from the community has been amazing. Staff has been reviewing survey responses and working with the architect to see what can be included in the designs. Next steps will come to council and I look forward to working on this amazing project. Splash pads With the provincial restrictions for splash pads changing at the last minute and with the advent of warm weather, I received a lot of messages about when they'd open. Staff has worked hard to get them open as quickly as possible. A fun fact: Whitby is sort of Durham Region's leader in splash pads with 16. Oshawa, Ajax and Pickering have nine, six and three, respectively. So while it may seem like ours slow to open compared with others, it's just that we have more to get to than anywhere else. In the meantime, let's get outside and enjoy some of Whitby's great amenities!