Community Day in Wheatley November 6

WHEATLEY — The Wheatley Warehouse Wonderworkers are presenting a Wheatley Community Day they are calling Catching Up and Looking Up on Saturday, November 6 at the Wheatley Ball Diamonds.

“Bring your lawn chair and join us for a cup of hot chocolate or cider,” said organizer George Paisiovich.

Paisiovich says there will be lots to do as visitors spend time catching up with friends, watching families play around the park, with music playing and kites flying overhead.

“Watch the kids chase bubbles, run under the spaghetti tunnel, around the slinky sticks and the mega monarch,” said Paisiovich. “The hope is that for a few moments, we can feel like a community again.”

Kites fly at the recent Southpoint Klite Festival

SUN archive photo

The idea came about as Paisiovich thought about his hometown a few miles up the road in Blenheim.

“I grew up in downtown Blenheim, above my family’s restaurant during the 1960s,” he said. “I saw a recent CBC story about the loss of human connection in the Wheatley area.”

So, as the organizer of the Southpoint International Klite Festival, he thought they could help with that need for human connection.

Paisiovich contacted Chatham-Kent Councillor Mark Authier to see about turning the idea around in a timely manner and Authier said the municipality would do everything they could to help support and promote the day.

“It has been a pleasure to work with them,” said Paisiovich.

Paisiovich then contacted his crew of volunteers from the recent Klite Festival and many got onboard once again.

The Catching Up and Looking Up day will run Saturday, November 6 from 10 am to 8 pm and promises to be a fun time for the whole community. COVID protocols will be in place for a safe environment for families to come together.