In 35 years as resident of the Dryden area, it occurred to me recently that I had never spent the night at Blue Lake Provincial Park.

Certainly I had swam its azure, almost Caribbean-looking waters, jumped from its highest diving rocks as a teen, braved its treacherous portages with a canoe slung over my shoulder, snowshoed the Rock Point Trail, and rappelled down the vertical climbing routes at the Blue Lake Crag.

I also got red ants in my pants there once, but it’s a bit of an em-bare-assing story.

While I can proudly claim that I once slept in New York City in a tent trailer, I must admit there was a period in my life when I was just ‘too cool for car camping’.

Yes, every item in my camping arsenal was an ultra-light, compact and ridiculously expensive necessity, designed to be stuffed into huge 70 litre packs and carried on one’s back for many miles from the car.

These days, it’s a bit of an adjustment tempering an adventurous lifestyle to accommodate the vulnerabilities of an infant.

What do people with babies and young children do to scratch their outdoors itch? They go car camping.

You only have to visit a few other Ontario Parks to realize what a crown jewel Blue Lake is for our area. It’s a perfect confluence of flowing exposed granite, sandy soil, open jackpine forest and crystal-clear water that has attracted campers for generations. It’s as easy as outdoor living gets.

The park celebrated their 50th season in 2010 and was buzzing with its typical friendly Manitoban family crowd over the long weekend, campers who seemed to be regulars, or devotees of this special place, come for one last frigid dip in the lake or to savour a walk through the smoky jackpine grid of camp sites.

The park has built an amazing new shower facility in the past year that smartly incorporates some of the Vermilion Bay area’s distinctive pink granite into its design.

It’s tempting to take exception to the price of contemporary camping — $40 per night for an electric site, $35 otherwise, (plus reservation fees) is nothing to sneeze at.

But instead of complaining about the great time I had this weekend, it makes me wonder about regional tourism outfitters who continue to bemoan the ever-slowing trickle of ‘hook and bullet’ American Plan visitors.  Have they taken notice of the thousand or more Manitoban families actually competing for high-priced campsites every weekend between Rushing River and Blue Lake parks?

Bicycles are far more numerous than fishing rods and firearms in this crowd.

The child-laden ‘Toban tent-trailer set may not be dropping thousands of dollars, but they’re showing an increased willingness to drive past Kenora to string up the ‘ol patio lanterns, despite the lack of options for them.

In just three months, I’ve already learned not to underestimate the shortage of recreational choices that comes with kids.

I’m among a captive market that it seems only Ontario Parks has learned to serve.

Nuttall, who previously served the community as a town councilor (1980-82 and 1989-91) is thus far the sole person to announce their intention to run against incumbent Mayor Anne Krassilowsky this fall.

Nuttall’s most recent dealings with council have involved presenting a 400-name petition to city council in opposition to the city’s plan to install residential and commercial water meters in August of 2009.

Nuttall previously ran for Mayor in 1985, losing by 26 votes to George Boissennault.

Nuttall has served as the Dryden Chamber of Commerce president in 1984, 1985 and 1995.

He also sat on the Dryden District Hospital Board for 1979 to 1982, co-ordinated the Youth Trust of Ontario from 1980-82 and chaired the fundraising committees for both The Dryden Recreation Complex and the Senior’s Activity Complex.

Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of a large structure fire that destroyed a thriving Vermilion Bay business Sept. 6.

Machin Fire Service was dispatched shortly after a 911 call alerted officials to a fire at The Village Corner, a gas station and restaurant at the corner of Hwys. 17 and 105, at 5:40 a.m.

Arriving on scene shortly thereafter, the Machin Fire Chief and incident commander reported a large two-storey structure fire with fire visible in the main floor gas station area. The mutual aid of both Dryden and Wabigoon Fire Services was requested.

After six hours of dangerous and intense firefighting with approximately 50 firefighters on scene — the Machin incident commander declared the fire under control.

Dryden deputy fire chief Ken Kurz says no one was injured in the blaze which proved difficult for firefighters to extinguish.

“You got an unknown about people being in the building, so searches were done very quickly in areas where they could,” said Kurz. “Then getting at the fire was a major problem between the levels of roofs on there and the additions put on the building over the years. It was very stubborn and very difficult.”

Heavy equipment was used to remove the roof and walls to extinguish hidden fire in the layers of roofs.

The bulk of Machin Fire units and crew remained on scene until 6 pm.

A Machin Fire unit and crew remained on scene all night for fire watch and to extinguish occurring spot fires. The Machin Fire Chief, and the Office of the Fire Marshal are investigating the cause of this fire.

“Mary” is survived by her children: Dennis (Mary) of Eagle River, Karen (Bob) Nelson of Dryden, Janet (Garry) Murdick of Eagle River, 9 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren.

She is predeceased by her husband and 3 grandchildren.

Visitation was held Thursday, August 26th, 2010 from 6-8 p.m. at the Dryden Community Funeral Home’s Chapel.

A Funeral Service was held on Friday, August, 27th, 2010 at 2:00 pm. at Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Dryden with Pastor James Wood officiating.

Interment followed.

Grace married Lloyd Clifford Pollock in July 1942, and shared almost 49 years with him before his passing in June 1991. Grace was also predeceased by her parents Will and Winnifred Gifford, her brothers Stanley, John, Ray, Leslie, and Archie Gifford and sisters Maudie Herring and Norma Levenick, as well as sisters-in-law Blanche, Fern, and Pat Gifford, and brothers-in-law Everett Herring and Milton Levenick.

Grace will be lovingly remembered and forever missed by daughter Evelyn Anderson of Winnipeg, sons Bill (Donna) of Dryden, Bob (Brenda) of Lundbreck, Alta., and Patrick (Loretta) of Vermilion Bay; grandchildren Shane (Cathy), Mike, Mark, Tina (Tim), Jason, Ashley, and Sharlene, as well as 9 great grandchildren. Grace is also survived by one brother Ross Gifford of Outlook Sask., sisters-in-law Angie Gifford and May Gifford of Surrey, B.C., numerous nieces, nephews and cousins, as well as her very good friend Astrid Allen.

Grace was born on the farm in Glenside Sask., and later attended Normal School in Moose Jaw. This trained her for her chosen profession of teaching school. She began her teaching career in Saskatchewan, in one-room country schools which consisted of grades one to eight and where she had to go early and start the wood fire to heat the school before the children arrived. She taught there until she met Lloyd, and then got on a train and moved to Port Arthur Ont. to marry him. She began teaching again in 1960 at Eagle River, Minnitaki, and Vermilion Bay, where she continued to teach until her retirement in 1981.

Grace loved having family get-togethers and barbeques at home, and she loved her flowers! Grace was renowned for her outdoor tiered flower garden, and people would drive by her home in Vermilion Bay just to see it. In the earlier years, she started most of the plants from seeds which she planted indoors weeks before garden planting time.

In 2007, Grace moved into Princess Court Long Term Care in Dryden, where she resided until her passing. Special thanks to Dr. Michael Cortens for all of his years of medical consideration and to the wonderful staff at Princess Court for the care and compassion she received there.

A Celebration of Grace’s Life was held at the Vermilion Bay United Church on Saturday September 4, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. with Alice Bloomfield officiating.  Interment was held in the Vermilion Bay Cemetery and a reception followed at the Lions Hall in Vermilion Bay.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Grace’s memory may be made to the Vermilion Bay United Church or to the Happy-Go-Lucky Seniors Center in Vermilion Bay through the Stevens Funeral Homes P.O. Box 412 Dryden, ON P8N 2Z1. Condolences may be emailed sympathycard@shaw.ca subject: Pollock

Hosted by Thunder Bay Harley Davidson and sponsored by Naturally Fit, the idea of the competition was to be a Strongman event.  Unfortunately, due to the lack of competitors, the event was changed to a Dead Lift and Bench Press competition.

Campbell is the main organizer of the Dryden Strongman Competition, and wanted to attend Motors and Muscles to see how they are run in the city.  Requesting the company of fellow competitor Baxter, the pair decided to enter the competition themselves.

“Trevor wanted to compete and had to get it off his bucket list,” jokes Baxter.  “He asked me to come along for the ride which gave him four hours to convince me to compete as well.”

With only six competitors, there were over 600 people in the audience cheering the group on.  There were three classes available, which included lightweight, heavyweight and women’s class.  Both Dryden men competed in the lightweight division.

Baxter did not place for the bench press but did place for the dead lift.  With a total lift of 480 pounds, Baxter took third place overall.

Campbell competed in both events, taking first place in dead lift with a total of 520 pounds and a total of 320 pounds in the bench press competition.

Although this is an amateur event, so there were no monetary prizes, the men did receive plaques in recognition of their wins, as well as an experience worth repeating.

“It’s pretty humbling when you’re lifting your heaviest weight and the big guys are lifting that amount for a warm up,” says Baxter.

The pair has been training together for over two years now, and separately long before that.  They do plan on attending the “Bench for the Cure” on October 9 in Thunder Bay, where all proceeds are donated to the Canadian Cancer Society.

“It’s opening season for moose hunting, so I was debating doing it,” remarks Baxter.  “I just took the whole week off, and then it doesn’t matter if I miss opening day.”