Sarnia Slates Mega-Weekend Festival Including Tall Ships Tour.

From Louis Pin, Sarnia Observer.

Sarnia is putting all its eggs in one basket next summer, scheduling two annual summer events on the same weekend as the Tall Ship festival.

Both Artzscape by the Bay and the Borderfest music festival will take place during the Aug. 9 to Aug. 11 weekend, culminating in a four-day stretch that could see tens of thousands of visitors flock to Sarnia. The decision to merge the dates of the three festivals, announced 

Tuesday, was done to give people more reasons to come to Sarnia during the hotly anticipated Tall Ship Celebration.

As many as 100,000 came out to see the ships last time the festival was in Sarnia. Organizers are hoping to pull a similar crowd this year.

“We contacted (the other festivals) a couple months back,” said Vicky Praill, with Tourism Sarnia-Lambton. “We thought when we were planning entertainment, why reinvent the wheel? Why not contact some existing events?”

Link to the rest here.

Image. U.S. Navy.

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Centennial Boat Ramps Finally Done, and It's Beautiful.

From Tyler Kula, Sarnia Observer.        

Boaters rejoice.

As of next week, Sarnia will have public boat ramps again.

The City of Sarnia announced Friday the prolonged task of replacing the old Centennial Park four-ramp launch is near its end. The new version opens to the public April 26.

“We’re all excited about it,” said John Cowan with Needham’s Marine Limited in Sarnia.

Getting the 180-200 boats Needham’s stores on London Line into the water was a challenge last year with just the single ramp at Bridgeview Marina available, he said, also crediting Bridgeview for going above and beyond to fill the void left when the old launch was demolished in 2017 and efforts to build a new one were repeatedly stalled.

“The new ramps look great and we’re excited to start the new chapter,” Cowan said.

The old ramps were destroyed in January 2017 as part of the now-$13.5-million Centennial Park remediation and revamp project.

The plan had been to build the new ramps first, but that was abandoned when senior government and conservation authority officials required the seawall at Centennial Park's south be moved in 10 metres, city officials have said.

To get the rest of park remediation and redesign work done, the call was made to demolish first.

Link to the rest here.

Images. Zach Neal.

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Lambton College Goes Big for Fiftieth Anniversary, Powwow.

Troy Shantz, The Sarnia Journal.

Expect the 25^th annual Lambton College Pow Wow to pack a lot more “Wow” this year.

“When we realized that it would coincide with the 50th anniversary of Lambton College, and then of course the 150th anniversary of Canada, we thought this was the perfect time to really amp it up,” said Jane Manning, manager of aboriginal education at Lambton.

The Pow Wow is hosted by the Aboriginal Student Council and Aboriginal Cultural &Learning Centre as a way for students and the wider community to celebrate indigenous culture, crafts and food.

The event is expanding from the usual half day to three days, April 7 – 9, and moving to a larger venue at Clearwater Arena.

Day One will offer high school students a chance to learn more about native culture.

Link to the rest here.

Image credit: Montanabw

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