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

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, September 11, 2015 | 14 Dig into Halton's history continued from p.11 cycling team and only the second such facility in North America. It also includes community recreational space that boasts a fitness centre, 300-metre (984-foot) walking/jogging track and three courts for volleyball, basketball and badminton. Wendy Schick, a retired librarian who has been volunteering to help organize the Burlington side of event over the last few years, said each place featured in Doors Open has a fascinating story just waiting to be told. From the Burlington Masonic Centre on Brant Street, which was constructed in the mid-1800s, to The Different Drummer Books store on Locust Street, which was a threestorey brick house built in 1906 for Elgin Harris, the young publisher and editor of the Burlington Gazette, she said there's so much history ingrained in these structures, which are the bones of our community. Gingerbread House Gardens on Ontario Street, for instance, has a 150-year-old magnolia tree sitting in its gardens, she said. "It was built by A.B. Coleman, a contractor who built it as his private home, but also built it as a demonstration of all the variety of finishes on a house he might build for you," Schick continued. "There are about another 15-20 homes in the downtown, which he and his brothers built," she said. "He also built three buildings at the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition), Convocation Hall at University of Toronto, a hospital in London, Ont., a housing estate in Florida, the Brant Inn, the original Brant Hotel and the homes on Indian Point in Aldershot." She's hoping residents and visitors alike will have more of an appreciation for Halton's past after visiting the places and seeing how the communities came to be and who the people were that worked to support and develop it. "We live in a very historic area, especially the south of Halton, and so many of those families are still represented in our community," she said. Doors Open Halton Region is a participant of Doors Open Ontario, which encourages communities across the province to celebrate their rich heritage. From April to October, each year, residents and visitors are invited to discover first-hand Ontario's hidden heritage treasures, some of which have never been open to the public. This year's theme celebrates Ontario's sport heritage. In honour of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games that recently concluded, many of the Halton sites will pay homage to local sports heritage. For more information, visit www. doorsopenontario.on.ca/haltonregion, www. facebook.com/doorsopenhalton or www. doburlington.on.ca. ANNEX Classes for ages 3-18 Recreational & Competitive Dance $ ACADEMY INC. Fostering the love of the arts for 10 years in Oakville Featuring: Super Starz Dance Mini Movers (ages 2-3) Saturdays 8:45am - 9:30am + HST Twinkle Toes (ages 3-4) Saturdays 8:45am - 9:30am for 35 weeks of Tiny Tumblers (ages 3-4) Tuesdays 5:00pm - 5:45pm & classesamazing Saturdays 9:30am - 10:15am prices!! Hip Kidz (ages 4-6) Tuesdays 4:45pm - 5:30pm Primary Ballet/Jazz (ages 5-6) Wednesdays 4:45pm - 5:30pm & Saturdays 9:30am - 10:15am Primary Acro/Jazz (ages 5-6) Tuesdays 5:45pm - 6:30pm & Saturdays 10:15am - 11:00am 290 Starting at W W W. A N N E X D A N C E A C A D E M Y. C O M | 9 0 5 . 8 2 9 . 1 6 1 0 | 2861, Unit 39 Sherwood Heights Drive, Oakville