Serving Lake Erie’s North Shore Friday June 20, 2014
Dover Overflow!
Correction In our June 6th issue the date in the story “Body of fisherman discovered at Port Stanley” should have read Tuesday June 3rd rather than May 3rd.
INSIDE Blue Water Art Oath Students took an oath to promise to help protect and conserve our water STORY PAGE 2 resources.
War of 1812 Report June 22: British ship HMS Leander defeats USS Rattlesnake off Sable STORY PAGE 2 Island, Nova Scotia.
Port Stanley Report Port Stanley Main Beach on Lake Erie will be flying the Blue Flag again this summer. This will be the 5th year that Main Beach has been awarded the prestigious Blue Flag. STORY PAGE 3
A Taste of Summer Celebrating the quality and diversity of the local summer harvest and reviewing the availability and abundance of produce. STORY PAGE 4
Andrew Hibbert Friday the 13 is very lucky for some communities along the shoreline of Lake Erie. Port Dover is the centre of an event that happens every Friday the 13th summer and winter. Although it is somewhat more popular in the warmer months it draws motorcycle enthusiasts during any season. This year there is only one Friday the 13th event in Port Dover so it was expected that bikers from across North America would make the most of it. The PD13 (Port Dover Friday the 13th) event began casually in 1981 on a Friday 13th by a small group of young men and their bikes at the Port Dover hotel. They had such a good time, comparing notes, telling biker tales and showing off their gear that they promised to meet again on the next Friday 13th. They kept that date, and the rest, as they say, is history. Port Dover bike shop owner Chris Simons was involved in the first biker gathering in 1981. The full story is on the official PD13 web site at www.pd13.com. As the story goes, the six friends each told two friends, who told two friends, who told two friends, and the
LOOK AHEAD Community Events
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Classifieds & Service Directory Page 7 Business Roladex
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Left: Richard Terry and Rose Walker from north of Toronto had just finished lunch in Port Stanley. bikers can barely move their bikes along at a walking pace. Shuttle busses are provided to transport automobile drivers from parking lots on the edge of town into the core and beach area.
numbers increased year after year until the Friday 13th rallies now draw over a hundred thousand to the party. Port Dover itself is well organized for the event, with the whole town becoming a tourist friendly destination. The police from several detachments are on the scene to make sure everything goes smoothly. Roadblocks at several access points keep all four wheeled vehicles out of the downtown area. Only motorcycles are allowed along the main street where bike riders and pedestrians share the road. Sometimes the crowds are so large the
As numbers of bikers increase it seems that both bikers and residents are aiming for a magical 500.000, a number that would make the Friday the 13th in Port Dover rival the famous Daytona Beach, Florida yearly biker’s rally as the largest congregation of bikers in the world. In spite of the shattering noise level and exhaust that tens of thousands of bikes can produce, bikers are an amazingly considerate and appreciative group. Directions are followed, boundaries respected. They come for the bikes and the fashions. It is mostly a Show and Tell event. The bikes are beautiful, some of them genuine works of art. The street vendors, local merchants and service clubs have a huge day and the residents are treated Continued On Page 7
Remembering the Olga
Port Bruce Report The Aylmer Optimists held their 26th consecutive Catfish Derby on June 8th in Port Bruce. STORY PAGE 6
Above: On Friday the 13th weekend Bikers were seen at may locations including GT’s on the Beach.
Andrew Hibbert Port Stanley: On Saturday June 7th a memorial service and dedication took place on Main Beach near the pier (west breakwater) to commemorate the sinking of the charter boat Olga. This was one of the worst marine disasters to happen near Port Stanley harbour. The dedication ceremony took place at the site where the Olga monument has been placed, beside the harbour walk opposite the west breakwater. Frank and Nancy Prothero are Port Stanley residents, historians, authors and publishers of many books on local and regional history. Their dedication to preserving and promoting local history led them to create and fund the Olga memorial and organize the dedi-
Frank and Nancy Prothero and their grandson Reverend Robert Clifford with the Olga Commemorative Stone at Port Stanley Main Beach. cation service. It was with great dedication the Prothero’s were able to find several family members of those who were lost in the Olga disaster and bring them to the ceremony.
The Olga dedication by Frank Prothero Welcome to our unveiling and dedication ceremony. I would like to thank you for coming and while we are in the business of saying thanks, I would like to express our appreciation to the municipality of Central Elgin for providing us with the space for this memorial and for agreeing to Continued On Page 5