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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1998 GRAPEVINI Fun with flapjacks Acton Venturers, their parents and leaders cooked hundreds of pan- cakes for hungry Santa Claus parade goers on Saturday morning. Mem- bers of the Acton Scouting move- ment held their first pre-parade breakfasts at Trinity United Church. "We'll do a little bit more than break even, but more im portantly, we had a lot of fun," said Scout spokes- person Jan Inns following the break- fast. "The first sitting was busy and then it slowed down for the second one. We'll probably do something similar for next year's Santa Claus parade." Playhouse raffle A two-storey playhouse will be raffled by the Acton Agricultural Society as its first fundraiser for a new building in Prospect Park. The playhouse, a replica of the model home in the West Meadows Village subdivision, was built by Peter Zions Construction and donated to the So- ciety which needs to raise between $250,000 and $300,000 for a new building in Prospect Park now that demolition of the old arena is underway. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased from members of the So- ciety. The draw will be made on Sep- tas 19, 1999 at the Acton Fall air. Nothing up my sleeve Master illusionist Brent Mackie brings his bag of magic tricks to Acton High school tomorrow (Friday) for one performance. Mackie, who owns a magic shop in Georgetown, is also the producer of Experience the Magic, a captivating show that includes classic magic tricks and modern effects and illusions. The last time Mackie appeared at the Acton library he had the audience in awe. Tickets are $5 and available at the door before the 7 p.m. show. The performance will benefit the Halton Hills Mayor's Youth Action Committee. Successful school show Acton High school teachers are making wish lists -- not for Santa but to take to the school's parent ad- visory council which will use prof- its from Saturday's widely success- ful craft sale to buy equipment for the school. "The craft sale was an over- whelming success and although money-wise we don't know the bot- tom line yet, we expect to do much better than the $4059.90 we raised last year," organizer Linda Neary said on Sunday. With 92 juried ven- dors, happy crowds of shoppers got great deals on an eclectic variety of handicrafts. Last year the craft sale profits were used to purchase computer and sound equipment and life-like baby dolls for a parenting class. Carol service Acton's church choirs will join their voices at a special Advent carol service on Sunday (Nov. 29) at 3 p.m. in the Bethel Christian Re- formed Church. Everyone is invited to hear all the Christmas favourites and sing along at the service spon- sored by the Acton Ministerial. Each of the churches has also planned special Christmas events and serv- ices including potluck suppers, can- dlelight services and Sunday school pageants. Help Mitch's victims Acton Rotary Club is putting their money where their mouth is with their plea for donations to help the victims of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. The Acton club is donat- ing $2,000 toward the cause. Dona- tions by the public can be made at the Bank of Nova Scotia, Mill Street, East, Acton. Hurricane Mitch dev- astated Honduras, killing hundreds and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. Kinsmen in third year of service to Dear Editor: : It gives me great pleasure to an- nounce that the Acton Kinsmen are currently in their third year of opera- tion. In keeping with its mandate of serving the communities greatest needs the Acton Kinsmen will once again be commencing their annual Christmas tree sale starting in De- cember of 1998. The Acton Kinsmen continue to provide financial assistance and vol- unteer outreach to many of Acton's social services. It has continued to provide support and fundraising for the new Acton Arena and quite re- cently sponsored a minor hockey team in Acton. The Acton Kinsmen continue to receive phone calls re- garding what activities they contrib- ute to and how they could join. The Acton Kinsmen meet every Monday evening at the Acton Boat- house at 7 p.m. The membership is made up of men between 20 - 40 years. of age. Their backgrounds vary from occupation to occupation but the one thing that is common is a desire to see a positive change in the commu- nity. The assistance. with the Acton Arena, the annual Fall Fair parade community float, which saw the Acton Kinsmen take first place for their Kinasaurus . pop bottle monster, are just two of the many activities in which the Acton Kinsmen have participated. The group's greatest fundraiser is the selling of Christmas trees in the community of Acton. There was a complete sell out of all of our trees and this year promises to be even better. I would like to take this opportu- nity to extend an invitation to all those people who would like to spend a couple of hours each month and make a difference in the town. We have all sat back at one time or another and wondered how we could make a difference to the young peo- ple in Acton. We are investing in our future; it's only a couple of hours. If you are interested give ei- ther Jason Ash a call at 853-0900 or David Quinn a call at 853-0675. We are in need of a few more mem- bers to fill vacancies left by Kins- men who have moved to different locations. David Quinn, Membership Director, The Acton Kinsmen THE NEW TANNER COMING ALONG: Construction is proceeding on the new home for Acton Home Hardware on Highway 7 east of town. With a little continued cooperation from the weatherman builders will soon get the frame enclosed and then work can proceed in relative comfort despite the season. - Ted Tyler photo The violent windstorm two weeks ago blew pieces off the new arena roof. The' old arena roof, which was "deemed to have failed' by the engineers, is as sound as a dollar. (Sorry, bad analogy.) One could easily imagine publisher Tyler and others who tried to save the old arena enjoying a fine 'I told you so." It proves everything I have ever thought about engineers sincé I fought pitched battles with them, at Steeles Tavern, those many years ago. And it reminded me of a story. A priest, a doctor and an engi- -neer were playing golf. The group ahead of them was incredibly slow and so they asked the course marshall to speed them up. "I'm sorry," said the marshall. "But you'll have to be patient. Those men are all retired firemen who saved many of our members, and our clubhouse, from a raging in- heroic actions, they were all blinded. Asa sign of our gratitude and respect, they have been given lifetime freedom to play whenever they want." "What an inspiring story," said the priest. "I'm going to go home and pray for a miracle to restore their sight." "You're right," said the doctor. "Their dedication to saving other has inspired me to go home and do research on a possible cure for their affliction." And they all looked at the en- gineer who seemed lost in thought. Finally, he asked:" Why can't they play at night?" Speaking of firemen, congratu- lations to Bill Spielvogel and all our volunteer firefighters who ush- ered Santa into town in such a fine fashion. This year's parade was the best ever. The floats were im- aginative and mostly packed with excited children. If you skipped it, you missed one of the joys of liv- ing in a small town. Granted, To- ronto's parade may be flashier but <a 'Engineers belon ferno. Sadly, in the course of their_ The Way I See It with Mike O'Leary |. there's so much to be said for home made floats with children you know on them. The bands were great. Santa told me personally that, of all the parades he's in, Acton's is the most personal and friendly. The old elf surely looked to be enjoying him- self as he called to the spectators as if he knew each one, young and old. Which, of course, he does. Ihave one question regarding the parade. Why the politicians? The Mayor's car was dawdling along as she handed out candy piece by piece. You'd have thought she was hand- ing out grant money for the old arena. Don't these people realize that it's cold and the kids, for whom the parade is run, don't know them and ~ would just like them to get out of the way so the real clowns can come by. If for some unfathomable reason, politicians must be in the Santa Claus parade, shouldn't they have he good graces to keep up to the pace car? Personally, I don't think poli- ticking has any place on Santa's day. Santa's parade is forever tied to Eaton's in my mind. As a boy, see- ing Santa arrive and then lining up in Eaton's toyland for a personal chat officially kicked off the Christmas season. In those days, of course, Eaton's put on the parade. After get- ting a candy cane from Punkinhead, my Mom and I would check out the windows at Eaton's and Simpsons. Those were magical times. These days Eaton's has fallen on tough times. They gave up the pa- rade years ago and I hear they don't even have a toyland any more. The market is abuzz with rumours that Eaton's will be sold to American in- eo) g on trains terests. That rumour, incidentally, has been going strong since the late '60s. George Kosich, Eaton's shortlived president, resigned abruptly last week. The word is that Eaton's third quarter profits have tumbled. This after the re- marketing of the compay to attract more young, wealthy customers. In order to do this toys, appliances and furniture were eliminated to emphasize high-end fashion. Not a bad plan but there is one teensy problem with it, The market just isn't big enough to support them and other niche marketing stores like Holt Renfrew. It's sad, really. For many of us, Eaton's is as much a part of Canada as the parliament build- ings. My grandfather worked there. I can remember my Mom going through the catalogue and, in her mind, buying all of the wonderful clothes and furniture in there. Such a shopping spree was the only one our modest house- hold budget could support. From my earliest recollection, Eaton's was where your dreams lived. The Canadian retail scene has been decimated in the past few years. Simpsons is gone. Birks is all but gone. Now Eaton's. In re- turn we got Wal-Mart and big box stores. I think it was a lousy trade. In my heart, I hope Eaton's sur- vives. Intact and proudly Cana- dian. Both our kids were working so "The Bride" and I took in the pa- rade alone this year. It wasn't as much fun. There oughta be a law - "you must have little kids to take to the Santa Claus parade." I men- tioned this to "The Bride" and gently suggested we might have another one or: perhaps adopt a wee one so we could properly en- joy the season. Well neighbour, | tell you, she threw me the dirtiest little smile that had my heart all a-flutter until she said: "we'll rent 5 one." WHAT'S YOUR REEF? Put it in a letter to the Editor! Deadline is Tuesday at noon.