Editorials - May 17, 2024

As the news broke on Tuesday that Nobel Laureate Alice Munro had passed away at 92, Canada and the world mourned the loss of one of the great writers of our time. Here in Huron County, we also mourn the loss of a friend and beloved community member.

 

For decades, Ms. Munro could be seen quietly supporting the Blyth Festival at a country supper, or encouraging a playwright at a new play reading. She would inconspicuously visit the Blyth Annual Used Book Sale to drop off a donation of books, introducing herself quietly to the volunteers and staff as “a local writer”. Many Blyth Festival Board members will reminisce about the times that Alice helped with the dishes at a medieval supper to raise money for the theatre, or attended a chivaree to serenade local newlyweds. Where else could you volunteer for an event and end up rubbing elbows with a world-class author?

 

She was often spotted in the evening, out for a stroll on the side streets of Clinton, her chosen hometown, with husband Gerry Fremlin. Friends would ferry her about the highways and byways, always with a unique destination in mind and often with a stop at a local bakery. 

 

She was humble and gracious to the fledgling Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story, allowing her name to be used, as the committee formed to recognize its famous denizen and promote the literary genre in which she excelled. The literary garden bearing her name in her birthplace of Wingham is a much-deserved monument created by her friends and fans. Generations of children in Wingham will pass through the doors of the Alice Munro Public Library in Wingham to become immersed in the love of stories and storytelling. We often don’t do a good job in honouring our local artists, but through the perseverance of those who loved Alice most, her name will forever be linked with Huron County.

 

The accolades poured in, including a heartfelt piece in the New York Times, pointing out that “she portrayed small-town folks, often in rural southwestern Ontario, facing situations that made the fantastic seem an everyday occurrence.” For many of us, especially women facing complex situations and emotions, Ms. Munro’s writing was the first time we felt like an author knew us and had seen and felt all the same things that we had, and knew the people and places that we knew. 

 

She was modest and occasionally dealt with confidence issues, while at the same time, was admired and celebrated by some of the greatest writers of a generation. Who knew that growing up in humble Huron County could be the fodder for stories that would eventually earn her awards and prizes, right up to the coveted Nobel Prize for Literature? 

 

She was a keen observer of rural life and could cut to the quick of an emotional scene in paragraphs, something that would take other writers chapters. Her precision with words was unparalleled, making her the queen of the short story. Her insight into rural living, and especially rural women, will live on in these stories. – DS

Between last week’s coverage of an astronomical increase to ball diamond rental fees in North Huron, causing at least one user group to walk away and take its money with them, and the consternation being felt by Brussels service clubs over Huron East’s facility rental price increases, it’s reasonable to fear a scenario in which cash-strapped municipalities may just see arena and ball diamond users as the solution to all their money problems.

 

Supplying recreation to a community comes at a cost. Everyone knows this. There would be no way to reasonably charge user groups for ice time at an arena or a ball diamond in a way that would cover a municipality’s costs and be modest enough for hockey or baseball associations to afford through user fees paid by children’s parents. And yet, municipalities, counties, towns, cities and villages across the country provide those services, knowing that they’re good for residents in many ways - health, well-being and community chief among them. 

 

In the case of North Huron, there are greater concerns, in Blyth at least. Just over a year ago, some council members made it clear that they had an agenda that included closing the Blyth and District Community Centre. Reports then showed the importance and success of recreation in Blyth. Could heavy fee increases and user groups finding greener (and cheaper) pastures elsewhere torpedo that success and make recreation in Blyth look a lot less successful come budget time next winter? Only time will tell, but the words of letter-writer Amanda Anderson last week can’t help but ring true to many. If no one plays on the diamonds, there is no revenue. It’s pretty easy math.

 

As taxes rise and revenue is harder to come by for local councils as federal and provincial purse strings tighten, the hope is that user groups like small slo-pitch leagues, hockey and broomball associations and service clubs renting local arenas and halls don’t begin to look piggy bank-ish to local government officials and senior management teams looking to fund their ever-growing staffs with ever-growing salaries. As residents struggle to pay bills and keep food on the table, recreation is one of the few amenities offered in abundance in Huron County. To see those opportunities erode would be a true tragedy. – SL