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FERRY Mayor hopes to strengthen communication channels 4
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THE PICTON
Gazette
Volume 186, Week 7
THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 18, 2016
FROZEN
Sophiasburgh residents enjoy winter festivities
FRUITFUL
Senior Panther execute gameplan for upset win
Canada’s longest publishing non-daily newspaper, proudly serving Prince Edward County since 1830
Frigid temperatures fail to freeze family fun
Hours of precipitation difficult to counter
Ameliasburgh carnival organizers adapt to overcome extreme cold
Heavy snow hits county Tuesday
JASON PARKS STAFF WRITER
There were plenty of reasons of stay inside last weekend (most of them measured in degrees Celsius) but give it to the Ameliasburgh Recreation Committee for adapting to the Arctic blast that crept across Prince Edward County. While the line up was altered and some events canceled, the 2016 edition of the Ameliasburgh Winter Carnival went ahead as planned and you would have a tough time convincing the scores of children participating there were any issues with old man winter's icy forecast. Recreation committee member and winter carnival organizer Jan Nightingale figured about 200 people would drift through the Ameliasburgh Town Hall by the time the event was over. The fourth edition of the winter carnival was almost exclusively inside the hall except for horse drawn wagon rides thanks to Amanda and Scott Carter and a scavenger hunt around the Roblin Lake park. “It's Family Day weekend so we put a lot of time into planning fun things for
ADAM BRAMBURGER STAFF WRITER
A three-day weekend turned to four days for many Tuesday as the county was hit with a system of significant snowfall that didn’t let up for hours on end. School buses were cancelled, plows had a hard time keeping up with volume, and scores of people elected not to venture too far from their homes. The Skyway Bridge on Hwy 49 was even closed for several hours as a transport truck was stuck atop it. Even by 5 p.m. when the snow was finally letting up, the streets in Picton were nearly deserted and one could drive several kilometres on many County roads without seeing another car. Environment Canada statistics indicate it was the snowiest Feb. 16 in history in the region with a recorded 22.4 cm in Trenton. It wasn’t the snowiest February day TASTY TREATS (From left) Liam and Andrew Cornell try their hand (or mouth) at the donut factory game at the fourth annual on record — that was Feb. 28, 1984 when 36.4 cm fell — Ameliasburgh Winter Carnival on Sunday afternoon at Ameliasburgh Town Hall. (Jason Parks/Gazette staff) but many could points to the children to do,” Nightin- ities such as skating, snow using equipment provided month ago, we had green drifts much deeper than official numbers shoeing and cross country ski- by the Quinte Conservation grass and plus tempera- those gale told the Gazette. would indicate. tures,” Nightingale said. Area. The frigid temperatures ing were scrubbed. “It's tough because when Those events were origiand unpredictable ice condiSee STORM, page 12 tions meant the outdoor activ- nally to have been facilitated we started planning this a See CARNIVAL, page 12
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