Environmental fair to take place at Patterson Creek
By Bob Irvine
A special environmental fair – Ecology 2021 – will be held in the Glebe on the weekend of June 19-20, practising strict COVID precautions. The Sunday coincides with the summer solstice! The fair will be held in the lovely park north of Patterson Creek between Queen Elizabeth Drive and O’Connor Street.
Long-time community activist and fair organizer Ima Keener explained the event’s key goal. “In the past, many people have followed the 50-mile diet, only buying food produced locally,” she said. “We’re saying: ‘Let’s go from 50 miles to 50 meters’ with us all finding great food sources literally in our own backyards and neighbourhood parks.”
Keener gave the Glebe Report an exclusive list of the top-drawer speakers confirmed to date:
- Cornell animal science professor and bioethicist Will Phil U. Withgilt will answer the eternal question: “If cows love eating grass, shouldn’t we too?”
- Popular TV show host and food stylist Dee Lectabull will show how to make a delicious meal – from start to finish – using carp and other fish found in the Rideau Canal.
- Renowned sommelier Sherry Wineau will lead a blind tasting competition pitting the best wines of the Niagara Peninsula against dandelion wines crafted here in the Glebe.
- Master angler Ben Baitman will offer his personal tips on catching fish from the Rideau Canal. Ben will then lead a children’s fishing derby along the banks of Patterson Creek.
- Best-selling author and registered dietician Love Phood will document the many important vitamins and minerals we absorb when we lick the back flap of an envelope.
Master pastry chef Jean Valjean of Paris will make his much-loved crêpes Suzette, using only leftover cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and a litre of used crankcase oil.
Keener explains that funding for the fair is coming from two federal programs: CMAWMF (COVID Money for Anyone We Might have Forgotten) and POECW-ASS (Polishing Our Environmental Credentials While Avoiding doing Something Substantive). Fairgoers will need to comply with strict rules to prevent the spread of COVID: hand washing, wearing a mask and physically distancing. According to Keener, doing these small but important tasks will allow everyone attending to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience on the banks of Patterson Creek.
All who are interested in serving as volunteers at Ecology 2021 are invited to come to the offices of the Glebe Report on the morning of April 1 (if they have not yet realized that this is Bob’s latest April Fool’s Day spoof).
