This must be pumpkin festival weekend. Halloween is this week and there are a number of big pumpkin farms in Niagara. A few years ago I was doing on the escarpment and came upon a traffic jam and gridlock. It was Howell's Family Pumpkin Farm. This is a farm amusement park, with sand boxes, bunnies, animals, tractor tire play area, hay play area, straw ump barn, haystack jumping pillow, a tricycle track, the giant maze, and so on. These are all activities for little ones. Their website is ahowlinggoodtime.com
At Warner Ranch and Pumpkin Farm in Welland, there is something every season - for winter activities there are horse drawn sleigh rides of various sizes of sleigh. For autumn, their pumpkin patch is extensive, and they distinguish themselves from Howell's with free admission to the park. Various activities have prices - pony rides $4.00, petting zoo and corn maze, $2.00 and so on.
They have Rainbow the Unicorn for birthday parties. Here's what they say: "Rainbow does not live here at the farm, being a Unicorn he resides in the enchanted forest and can be reached at 289-673-1729.
And close to us is Puddicombe Farms, right on Highway 8 with a train around the orchards and fruit wine production. The train ride is a "scenic 30 minute ride around our 100 acre estate".
Here are two of the models from the Minneapolis Show this year.
Grimsby is in the news today - I know the headline is there every day to catch 'your eye'. But Grimsby's hospital will lose its surgical facilities and obstetrics because they don't meet current standards. That would likely mean it becomes an urgent care centre/emergency unit only.
Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) runs the Grimsby hospital, and informed staff that it has applied for funding to upgrade the surgical department. This is $8.6 million in provincial funding needed.
The Medical Director, Gary Benson, has resigned. There hasn't been board approval for the move of the Obstetrics, Surgery and Endoscopy programs over to HHSC. He says he was blind sided in a meeting with HHS where it was announced as a done deal.
There is a meeting tonight for townspeople to organize a response. The meeting is organized by the Medical Director of Niagara West Palliative Care Team and McNally House Hospice - Dr. Denise Marshall.
This little hospital has been an orphan for decades. As hospitals got organized into regional systems, Grimsby resisted for many years. It raised many millions of dollars - there is $15 million in the fund - to rebuild the hospital, only to be refused the go ahead every time. This has happened as recently as 2011 when it was number 2 on the list for rebuild approval.
And then Grimsby has always been a Conservative riding - during the many Liberal years it had an uphill battle politically.
This seems to be a Ground Hog Day scenario - a never-ending process to get approval to rebuild.
