34 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday October 27, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com Harmer to perform benefit Fibre Arts Festival receives two grants to help save Bronte Rd. tree The endangered more than 250year-old oak tree on Bronte Road will receive some celebrity support on Nov. 5. Burlington native and celebrated musician Sarah Harmer is performing a benefit concert to help raise funds to save the tree, which is being threatened by construction plans to widen Bronte Road. The road widening can be accomplished while saving the old oak tree, but that will cost $343,000. The community has been given an opportunity to raise those funds, and the citizen-led Woodlands Oak Tree Preservation Committee has been working towards that end. Harmer, whose concert is another fundraiser toward that goal, is no stranger to these initiatives. The singer and songwriter cofounded Protecting Escarpment Rural Land (PERL) in 2005, an organization that campaigned to protect the Niagara Escarpment from a proposed gravel development that would have destroyed parts of the wilderness on the escarpment. To support the organization, she and her acoustic band went on a tour of the escarpment, hiking and performing at theatres and community halls in town along the way. Now, Harmer, who has released two solo albums to date including I'm a Mountain in 2005, is getting involved to try and save the old oak, which is older than the town itself. Sarah Harmer is performing Sunday, Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. in the auditorium of the Halton Regional Building, 1151 Bronte Rd. For tickets, $30, call The Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts box office, 905-815-2021 or visit www.oakvillecentre.ca For any other information, call councillor Allan Elgar at 416-7090082. Oakville's 5th Biennial Fibre Arts Festival, World of Threads 2007, will once again weave a tapestry of visual delight thanks to a $5,100 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and a $3,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Oakville. "I'm extremely proud of the cultural richness here in Oakville," said MPP Kevin Flynn. "The 2007 World of Threads Festival speaks to the talents and passion that the people of Oakville have for the arts. I'm very pleased that this initiative has received funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation." The festival, in partnership with Sheridan Institute, the Oakville Museum and Oakville's six fibre arts guilds, provides a forum that celebrates contemporary and traditional textile arts and artists, showcasing their work and offering educational opportunities for people in the community to experience age-old mediums. It's scheduled to run from Feb. 23March 4 in Oakville. Along with workshops in heritage arts such as rug hooking, weaving, lace making and more, the festival features a national juried show, art exhibitions in locations across Oakville and lectures by well-known artists such as Jane Selbie and Peter Harris. The Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Ministry of Culture, receives $100 million annually from Ontario's charity casino initiative. The Foundation allocates grants to eligible charitable and not-for-profit organizations in the arts and culture, environment, human and social services and sports and recreation sectors. The Community Foundation of Oakville is a collection of separate funds established by local citizens and held in perpetuity. The public charity, registered with Revenue Canada, through use of endowments, works to enhance the quality of life in the community of Oakville. "The Community Foundation of Oakville is thrilled to support the World of Threads Festival," said Anne Miskey of CFO. "We recognize that the celebration of arts in Oakville is vital to a vibrant and healthy community." For more information about the World of Threads Festival, visit www.worldofthreads2007.cachelan.com Author to speak about identity theft Local author Tony Crawford will be presenting two of his books at Chapters at the Oakville Town Center on Sunday, Oct. 29 from 24 p.m. His latest work, Identity Theft, explains how $300 million fraudulent loans in 2005 climbs to $500 million in 2006 and risks two or more homes to repossession orders each lending business day. It's the fastest growing unregulated and least litigated `White Collar' crime. The first volume, The Perfect Sting, is a fictional story about Identity Theft scams that involve Affiants - people that witness signatures for undisclosed legally binding bank loans that emerge as financial nightmares years later when banks call debtors to repay them. The sequel turns fiction into fact with an explanation of `Title Theft' and `Identity Theft' with illustrations and code-words used by con-artists so that people know when a scam is going down and what to do to safeguard their wealth. NATALIE MacMASTER 2nd SHOW ADDED! Sunday, December17th Famed Cape Breton fiddler, Natalie MacMaster celebrates Christmas down home style with plenty of rollicking fiddle tunes and splendid seasonal renditions of your favourite holiday classics. BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY Thursday, December 21st Meet the new "Kings of Swing" and celebrate the holidays with a "Wild and Swingin' Holiday Party" that will surely have you jumping in the aisles. But buy soon this show will be selling out! MICHAEL BURGESS Tuesday, December 19th & Friday, December 22nd Join one of Canada's greatest singers in what has become a tradition at the Oakville Centre, a very special holiday show that brings back the magic and glory to this special time of year! All performances are at The Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts To order tickets call 905-815-2021 or 1-888-489-7784 Order on-line www.oakvillecentre.ca