Port Stanley Festival Theatre announced Tuesday morning, May 26, it was cancelling its 2020 summer season. The theatre noted that it had been providing summer shows for over 40 years. “For the longest time we have clung to the possibility that we would be able to present some kind of partial programming to patrons in…
Aylmer and East Elgin Agricultural Society President Randy Laur announced Monday, May 25, that the annual Aylmer Fair would not be held this year. He said that complications created by the COVID-19 pandemic had made holding a fair untenable. However, he added, board members were already starting to plan for the 175th edition of the…
A new environmentally friendly stage at Springwater Conservation Area is scheduled to open within a year, thanks to a $335,000 donation from the estate of local woman Donna Vera Evans Bushell to the Catfish Creek Conservation Authority (CCCA). Construction is expected to get underway in the fall. The sustainable stage, called “Evans Sisters’ Stage” can…
Seven workers at Secord Trails Care Community, a long-term care home in Ingersoll, have tested positive for COVID-19, Southwestern Public Health reported on Friday morning, May 22. A single case had been confirmed in a health-care worker on Monday, May 18. Six additional workers have since tested positive. The employees hold a variety of positions…
A second new confirmed case of COVID-19 has popped up in Oxford, this time in Tillsonburg, Southwestern Public Health reported on Thursday morning, May 21. Earlier in the week, another new case had appeared in Ingersoll, identified as a staff member at a retirement home. All residents and staff there are now being tested. The…
Aylmer Church of God issued a statement on Saturday, May 16, praising the Ontario government for amending COVID-19 emergency regulations to allow drive-in religious services. The church has been holding such services for several weeks, in what appeared to be a contravention of those regulations. No charges have been laid though, and the church launched…
Southwestern Public Health on Friday morning, May 15, was reporting only two ongoing cases of COVID-19 in Elgin and St. Thomas. One is in Malahide Township and the other in St. Thomas. Oxford County, the other part of Southwestern’s region, was also reporting just two cases, both in Woodstock. So far during the pandemic, a…
Elgin Ontario Provincial Police are reporting a fatal crash occurred on Wellington Road in Central Elgin on Thursday, May 14, about 4:45 p.m. A two-vehicle collision took place on Wellington north of Ron McNeil Line. A southbound car crossed the centre line and struck a northbound pickup truck, OPP reported. The car driver had no…
Rural families now have another way to access free internet during school closures brought on by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB), in partnership with Elgin, Middlesex and Oxford counties have expanded Wi-Fi access at select locations, with the help of technology company Cisco Canada. The range of the access is…
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that private parks, marinas and golf courses could re-open for business on Saturday, May 16, as long as strict distancing requirements continued to be met. Campgrounds can re-open to prepare for the coming season Saturday, but access is limited to campers with full-season rentals for now. He also said that,…
The number of COVID-19 cases confirmed through medical testing in the Southwestern Public Health Region, which includes Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford, dropped to seven as of Wednesday, May 13. Locally, Malahide continued to have two cases and St. Thomas two. Oxford dropped to three, with two in Woodstock and one in South-West Oxford. So…
Ontario Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks and Elgin-Middlesex-Oxford MPP Jeff Yurek and Premier Doug Ford announced on Saturday, May 9, that over the next week, 615 provincial parks and conservation reserves would re-open for walking, hiking, bicycling and birdwatching. Camping, beaches and playgrounds would not be open at this time, they said. Minister…