Early morning meeting with the mayor cancelled because he penciled it in for yesterday. Who knows whose fault it was - but why lay blame....? We are seeing him Friday, and in the meantime we had breakfast at LOUIS' II DINER across the street from city hall. LOUIS' II DINER has been around since before anyone can remember. It burned down about 10 years ago and re-located across the street. LOUIS is an old Greek man and apparently a staple of Main Street. We can't wait to meet him and hear his stories. Next we head out to meet Rob, the general manager of the Huntsville festival of the arts, at holiday inn located in the heel of Huntsville’s "commerce area", a.k.a. industrial park.
We were Rob’s dates for the Rotarian luncheon. Greeted at the door by two fantastic men, we proceeded to find a table. Everyone stood up and sang O Canada! And then there were speeches and announcements and one notable event making a comeback in Huntsville this year: the bathtub derby.
After the luncheon, we meet up with Teri Souter, the town of Huntsville art, culture and heritage manager.
Teri got us up to speed on the "who's who" on main street in Huntsville and she also told us about her work with the aboriginal community, the commerce and business planning policies downtown and she also happened to be the president of the bathtub derby! We feel a story forming here... Here’s a pic of one of the many inspiring things in her super cool office.
Next we met up with Helena outside the town hall. Helena is the President of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts and General Manager of the Hunstville Business Improvement Association and this woman knows how to get sh*t done! She secured our storefront right downtown thanks to leads from Dan Watson the Nuit Blanche North artistic director and we move in on Sunday!
Helena introduced us to Cathy, a long time Huntsville resident who owns 2 stores downtown, Muskoka reflections and Intimate reflections . We arranged parking our storymobile in front of Cathy’s store on Friday and asked her not to call the bylaw officers while we are parked for longer than the 2-hour limit trading ice cream for stories! She willingly agreed and helped us arrange power from the light pole.
Back at our cottage by the lake, we formulated our story pitch for CBC Ontario Morning and sent it off to Ron the producer. Then we hit the hay. It’s taken a lot of energy to get ourselves on the road. Finally we had arrived!