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Vol. 3, No. 22 Tuesday, December 14, 1993 CIRC. 12,000 36 pages He'll soon be on his way -Port Perry Lions Club held a very su akfast with Santa Claus' at the Lions Hall in Manchester last Ssturdsy morpinge to 200 people came out on a very cold ° day to enjoy breakfast and kids a chance to meet Old St. Nick. Ashlee Sutherland, 3, of Utica of many happy youngsters who jumped up on Santa's knee and good all year and this is what | want for Christmas ....." This was the firal isthe Lions Club had hosted a Breakiast with Santa and Club members »OD DoNOR CLINIC DEC. Queen St. 151812 ~ 4 will be goin to the dogs «Downtown Port Perry will be "going to the dogs" for a weekend in January. As many as 70 teams of sled dogs are expected January 22 and 23 for a series of races that will start on Queen Street and continue over a course on Lake The sled dog races, which are popular wherever they are held, are to be part of the Scugog Snowflake Festival slated for two weekends in January. On Monday afternoon, Scugog council gave permission for race organizers to lose Queen Street from Perry to the lakefront for several hours onJan. 22 and 23. John Lennox, who is organizing the races for the Festival said they have the backing of the Port Perry Kinsmen Club and the Siberian Husky Association. Mr. Lennox told council organizers are prepared to truck snow to Queen Street to build a track for the dogs and sleds to race to the lake where they will cover a course of either four or six miles. He told council that if the weather co-operates that weekend, the races could attract up to 3,000 spectators. The races, with four or six dog sleds will be "against the clock," and the competition will be for cash and prizes. Teamsare expected from as far away as New York State, Michigan and Quebed, he told council. "This sport is getting very , popular and will be demo sport at the next Olympics," he said. Tom Iliffe of the Siberian Husky Assoc. said races have been held on part of the main street in Minden for the last decade and attract huge numbers of spectators to that community every. winter. "The races are very popular," he said Monday. In response to questions from council, Mr. Lennox said the race course along Queen Street will - be completely fenced and marshalls will make sure spectators don't interfere with the races. The parking lot at the municipal building on Perry Street will be used to "marshall" the dogs and sleds before the start of the sprints. Elgin Knopp, who is working with the Snowflake Festival, told council the local Busipess Improvement Area (BIA) has given its endorsement to the races and the closing of Queen Street for the two days in January. Meanwhile, plans for the first ever Snowflake Festival are starting to take shape for the weekends of January 15-16 and 22-23. Along with the dog sled races other planned events include an ice sculpting - competition; le races, cross country skiing, hot air ballon rides, skating competitions at the Ice Palace, and mixed slo piteh tournament at the baseball diamonds. Building permits up this year in Scugog Township The value of building permits issued by Scugog Township this year is running just about double last year's total, according to a report from the Township building department. Spurred by the $5.2 million expansion to the.Community Hospital, permits issued to the end of November stand at just « over $15 million. Last year for the same 11 . month period, building permits issued by Scugog had a value of $8.8 million. 'The report shows that housing starts in Scugog are up this year as to date there have been permits for 52 single family homes with a construction value of $6 million. By comparison in 1992, housing starts to the end of November totalled 38 with a value of $6 million. The report algo shows an increase in new commercial 15 - 2-8 PM, MASONIC HALI construction activity with four permits issued with a value of $740,000. - Last year at this time, the Township had not issued a single permit for a new commercial building. However, 1983 was not a good year to be in the swimming pool business as there have been just nine permits so far with a value of $88,000. Last year at this time there had been 19 pool permits issued worth just over $200,000. While the overall building picture appears to have improved slightly in the T hip this year, N » was a bleak month. The value of permits was $267,000 last month (just one single family home) In November, 1992, permits issued had a value of nearly $1 million, and included six new homes worth $747,000.