Bob Sanderson Mayor of Port Hope
On behalf of Council, I would like to welcome you to our community. We are delighted to have you as our guest in one of Ontario’s premier tourist destinations and we thank you for deciding to visit Port Hope. We pride ourselves on our exquisite combination of urban and rural experiences, making Port Hope a unique getaway destination. Year round festivals, events, and activities will entertain every age and interest. Our urban heritage streetscapes and striking rural landscapes are the perfect backdrop for the finest in historical architecture, arts, crafts, culture, theatre, and recreation. Take a scenic drive through the countryside and discover the rural charm of our lakeshore, farmlands, villages, and forests. The majestic Ganaraska River runs through the heart of downtown and anglers will delight in the year-roundfishing opportunities offering some of the best trout and salmon fishing in the world. Stroll through the downtown and take advantage of our unparalleled shopping, luxurious accommodations, and superb dining. Your visit to Port Hope would not be complete without taking in a live show at our gorgeous, historic Capitol Theatre, one of only two operating atmospheric theatres in Canada. Stay for the day or spend the weekend; you will soon see why Port Hope is an exceptional destination. We look forward to welcoming you back again and again.
An Artist’s Thoughts Fiona Crangle, Port Hope
“The town has really great pockets of culture and artistic thinking it also has a nice blend of people having roots here that seems to feel like a millennium when you talk to them.”
Arts & Culture / Fiona Crangle
Can you talk about your involvement in Port Hope? I’ve been involved with the fair and most recently I have been involved with Critical Mass in trying to establish a contemporary art gallery here in Port Hope. What brought you to Port Hope? The charm of the town, the beauty, the architecture, the sense of history, and the fact that the town had everything I required at the time I didn’t have children but, it had a swimming pool, a library, everything I wanted in the downtown stores it had everything I wanted without leaving town and it was small and I liked that part about it too.
Arts & Culture / Fiona Crangle
How would you describe Port Hope to anyone who is not familiar with the town? The word charm is going to come up over and over again it is truly charming, visually appealing, an incredible sense of history. The town has really great pockets of culture and artistic thinking and it has a nice blend of people having roots here that seems to feel like a millennium when you talk to them. It also has a nice combination of the people that have been here for forever and the people who have come in recently so you get that, old new mixture that I think is really healthy for the town.
What would you consider to be attributes of Port Hope? The size, the ‘walkability’, the visual beauty of it, the sense of history, the curb appeal of virtually every house in the neighbourhood. It has the amenities of a large town but on a small scale and the ‘knowability’ of your neighbours. The ability to cross reference a person you’ve just met with three or four other people it’s almost like six degrees of separation, everyone will know who you are talking about eventually, there will be those links, I think that is absolutely wonderful in a community. Would you say there is anything that distinguishes Port Hope from other communities? A positive and a negative I would say the close ‘knitness’ that sense of heritage with our strong past part of our past, is that whole radioactive waste thing. But, what I like about that is we fought that battle and we are fighting that battle and it takes a certain degree of ownership in a community that I am not sure other communities feel. We fight for it, anything new that comes along we check out thoroughly, anything new it’s truly scrutinized. When we first moved here I was skeptical about the whole radioactive thing then when we looked in to it they said you know there is more pollution problems in Peterborough which seems all charming, sweet, and clean but because they are constantly allowing new industry in without scrutinizing they actually have greater pollution issues than we do. If you were able to convey a message to Ontario about Port Hope what would you like that message to be? Look at it. Really look at it. I think its first doorway is its beauty and as a visual artist to me that’s a huge component as to why I wanted to live here it is a beautiful... beautiful town. So, look at it. And then look some more. I would really like them to understand the stigma that we have and thoroughly investigate it as I feel I have and that’s why I chose to live here, and I would really like that cleared.