Unique Muskoka Issue 29 July 2021 : simplebooklet.com

2 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021Features11Sharing the Treasures of Island LivingArticle by Meghan Smith Photography by Andy ZeltkalnsTreasured Islands with Generations of Muskoka Memories is a compilation of short stories and poems fuelled by a love for Muskoka and its island escapes. Much akin to sitting on the dock on a summer afternoon, surrounded by family and friends, each story takes you to a diﬀerent place or time.16Baking the Enjoyment of Cakes and Cookies into One Article by Meghan Smith Photography by Josianne Masseau Can’t decide between cake or cookies for dessert? e Muskoka Stuﬀed Cookie Company makes the choice easier, combining their own passion for crafting and eating baked goods into a sweet experience of your favourite goodies....telling the Muskoka story24Painting with Just Not Skill but with IntentionArticle by Meghan Smith Photography by Tomasz Szumski Viewing a Marilyn Goslin painting transports you to the place and the emotions of the piece, much like entering her home or studio transports you back to simpler times. Fearless in her craft, Goslin is constantly developing her skills and making her intention clearer. 32Langmaid’s Island – A Part of the History of Lake of Bays Article by J. Patrick Boyer Langmaid’s Island is spectacular in its features. Girded by some four miles of pristine shoreline, its 147 acres dramatically feature three hills rising 175 feet above Lake of Bays. Many are concerned about a proposal, currently under appeal, that could see the island developed into 36 separate lots.[16][32][24]

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Opinion9 Muskoka InsightsBy Don Smith56What’s HappenedArticle by Matt DriscollMPP Norm Miller has shepherded provincial legislation to keep polystyrene out of the lakes, Muskoka Lakes Chamber is spearheading online marketing and the District has plans for island waste collection. For this and more, turn to What’s Happened.58Cottage Country CuisineArticle by Karen Wehrstein Photography by Tomasz Szumskiink “campﬁre desserts” and two things spring to mind: messy, scrumptious s’mores and marshmallows doubling as torches yet still stickily sweet, right? In this month’s culinary trip, contributor Karen Wehrstein will take you to both these things at a pro level, and beyond.Our CoverPhotography by Josianne MasseauA lifelong Huntsville resident and professional photographer for over 20 years, Kelly Holinshead is also a dessert-lover, a self-taught baker and the genius behind Muskoka Stuﬀed Cookie Company. JULY 2021LANGMAID’SISLANDPrivate preserve,publicly sharedFrom the Muskoka Riverto the Tokyo OlympicsStuffed Cookies –Cakes and CookiesAll Baked Into OneMARILYN GOSLIN:Painting with IntentionDepartmentsAll About KitchensCREATE YOUR DREAM SPACE e possibilities are endlessBRACEBRIDGE 3 Gray Road 705.646.0347HUNTSVILLE 4 Centre St. N. 705.789.6161www.allaboutkitchens.ca42Pushing Limits – Recreating Muskoka’s Boat Racing LegacyArticle and Photography by Tim Du Vernet ere is a primal urge in all of us for speed. e excitement, the risks and the danger – the sense of accomplishment that comes from pushing limits. Harry Greening and the legacy of boat racing in Muskoka are all about pushing limits.48From the Muskoka River to the Tokyo OlympicsArticle by Meghan SmithAlanna Bray-Lougheed’s trek to the Tokyo Olympics began four generations earlier when her great-great grandfather acquired property on the Muskoka River. Her mother, enrolling young Alanna in a paddling program ahead of using the family canoe, started her on a trajectory that sees her ready to represent her country at the Olympics.[42][48][58]64Muskoka MomentsBy Deborah Martin-DownsJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 5

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…telling the Muskoka story Unique Muskoka is published six times per year by Unique Publishing Inc.Donald SmithPublisher and EditorCurtis ArmstrongDirector of Salesand Digital MarketingDonna AnsleySalesLisa BrazierDesignSusan SmithAdministrationJ. Patrick BoyerMatt DriscollTim Du VernetKelly HolinsheadDeborah Martin-DownsJosianne MasseauMeghan SmithTomasz SzumskiKaren WehrsteinAndy ZeltkalnsContributorsAnnual Subscription Rates: (including HST where applicable)In Ontario $30.00 All Other Provinces $36.00 U.S. $60.00 All Other Countries $72.00HST: 773172721Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement Number: 43268016Copyright © 2021 Unique Publishing Inc.No content published in Unique Muskoka can be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.Mailing AddressBox 616, Bracebridge ON P1L 1T9Street Address28 Manitoba St., Bracebridge ON P1L 1S1www.uniquemuskoka.cominfo@uniquemuskoka.com 705-637-0204 6 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021stoneway marble & granite inc.Les and Renata Partyka1295 Muskoka Rd. 118 West, Bracebridge | 705.645.3380 | stoneway.inc@gmail.com705-764-0765 | muskokabarging.com | 1163 Milford Bay Rd, Milford Bay ONBARGING STEEL & CRIB DOCKS SEPTIC SYSTEMS LANDSCAPING ● ●Muskoka Barging●Family run construction company with over 35 years experience operating in the Muskoka Lakes area. No job is too small or too big.

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46 Ann Street, Bracebridge705-646-9995 | 877-877-3929www.LesBell.caTRUST • INTEGRITY • SERVICEOur local team is here to provide you with personalized insurance solutions. For the coverage your family deserves, call us today.Photograph: Susan SmithYour Home and Cottage Mattress CentreTHE LARGEST SELECTION OF IN-STOCKMATTRESSES IN MUSKOKAMUSKOKACURATED COLLECTION by Marshall Mattress6 Monica Lane, Bracebridge705.646.2557www.mattressesofmuskoka.comMuskoka Insightse burden of the COVID-19 pandemic has been heavy. Even for those who have not suﬀered directly from this highly contagious respiratory illness, the changes in lives to mitigate its aggressive march around the globe have taken a severe toll on almost everyone. As travel has been discouraged, we gather our perspective largely through a local lens and our daily diet of news reports.Muskokans, like so many others, have been looking for a sign of hope and a sense life will once again return to the times when simple pleasures can be enjoyed with friends and family. As I sit writing this column, that much-needed encouragement came in the lessening of COVID-19 restrictions and the opportunity for many to go about their daily routines once again. Whether it was the ability to browse the shops oﬀering non-essential items, getting ﬁtted for a pair of shoes or enjoying a meal at an outdoor café, one could almost hear the collective sigh of relief. It seemed without exception that Muskokans and those who visited here respected the need to continue to follow safe practices and that’s the way it should be. While the push towards double vaccination continues at a quickening pace and the potential for herd immunity becomes a greater possibility, we’re not there yet and the variants that continue to ﬁnd their way to Canada remain a threat.In the meantime, there is reason to feel positive and to embrace the opportunities this phased approach has to oﬀer. With caution, there is no reason why each week shouldn’t measure a greater distance between the pain of COVID-19 and the promise the future has to oﬀer.Muskokans and those who make their second homes here have long been known for being innovative. While the feature in this issue of Unique Muskoka on Langmaid’s Island by regular contributor Patrick Boyer tells a fascinating story of those associated speciﬁcally with this signiﬁcant piece of property, it is much of the colour Boyer provides that gives an insight into life at that time. Take, for instance, the decision to build a new dam in Baysville – it was a decision based on need but one that changed the landscape and lives. is and other information, as simple as the rising water preventing the growing of vegetables, tell the reality that needed to be overcome as Muskoka developed.Roots are important, not only to permanent residents but to seasonal residents, as well. In the feature by Meghan Smith, Olympic-bound competitor Alanna Bray-Lougheed and her mother, Sandra Bray, share how being a ﬁfth-generation summer Muskokan built not only character but provided the impetus to begin the long trek to Tokyo.Painter Marilyn Goslin demonstrates her creativity not only in her artwork but the environment where she lives and displays her paintings. By refurbishing a century home for her gallery, Goslin reveals her many talents and the intention that is an underpinning to all she undertakes.One of the catch words of the COVID pandemic has to be pivot and if ever there was an outstanding example of changing directions, it has to be the story of Kelly Holinshead. A respected photographer for 20 years, Holinshead has taken a passion for baking and used her entrepreneurial skills to launch a delicious new business. Enjoy these and other examples of Muskokans making a diﬀerence in this issue of Unique Muskoka.Happy reading!mbaWayne Judges 705-645-0480Jack Judges 705-646-7424email: judges@muskoka.comQuality workmanship and customer satisfactionfar beyond any written warranty.Restoring Muskoka’s heritage and building new traditions for over 45 yearsDESIGN • CONSTRUCTION • RESTORATIONJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 9

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You too can help us protect Muskoka for generationsto come. Show your family’s support by donating toMuskoka Conservancy’s eorts to conserve shorelines,forests and wetlands.Gifts of any amount are appreciated!Calling all Muskoka Families…Joinour growing list of generous, local families who have answered our call.PRESENTING FAMILIES -$5,000+Don & Karen Lang Family • Rob & Elizabeth Je nnings Family • Hope Thomson & Phil Haynes Family• Colin Glassco Family • Donna & Bob Poile Family • Selby Martin & Kathy Varley Famil y• Theresa & Seth Mersky Family • Suzanne & Dan Cook Family • Richard Boxer Family• Lulu Hamlin • Guy & Margaret Carr-Harris Family • Francis Carmichael, Jack Cashman & Family• Nancy Cohen, Stephen Goldhar & Family • Liz Lundell & Guy Bury • Jim Christie & Sarah Pepall FamilySPONSOR FAMILIES -$3,500+Chris & Bev Cape Family • Michael & Martha Robinette Family • David & Susan Willmot Family• John & Pam Rennie FamilySUPPORTER FAMILIES -$2,000+Susie McClelland Drin kwater Family • Jim Leech & Deb Barrett Family • George Boddington Family • Bill & Judy Benson FamilyDONATE NOW AT muskokaconservancy.org/donateTogether2021…We’re StrongerMuskoka Conservancy Registered Charity# 890408883RR0001Charitable tax receipts will be issued for all eligible donations!Visit muskokaconservancy.org to learn more.

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Sharing stories and memories is a way to impart lessons learned and keep alive family history. While we are used to being able to tell these stories during meals or on rainy afternoons, the past year has made it diﬃcult to connect as usual but even more important to do so. Treasured Islands with Generations of Muskoka Memories is a compilation of poems and short stories fuelled by a love for Muskoka and its island escapes. Much akin to sitting on the dock on a summer afternoon, surrounded by family and friends, each story takes you to a diﬀerent place or time. Self-admittedly, author Kathy Varley has only become a Muskoka islander over the past 30 years, beginning to come to Muskoka in the 1990s with her husband, Selby Martin. Martin’s family has owned Wellesley Island since 1879, over 143 years, passing through several generations. Varley's book shares fond Article by Meghan Smith / Photography by Andy ZeltkalnsLake Rosseau island cottager Kathy Varley has captured the memories of island life in her book.July 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 11

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12 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021memories of childhood games and activities, the lifelong impact of summers spent in Muskoka and historical family connections to prime ministers and premiers, before and during their tenures, military men and women and adults and children from across the globe. “I feel I have some claim to it now, too,” laughs Varley. “We spend the summers here and enjoy the privacy. It’s a big island. We love it here.”Muskoka is an escape for many. Even those who live in the area year-round have their own rituals and spaces to unwind and relax, enjoying the forests, lakes, ﬂora and fauna. For Varley and her family, enjoying the privacy, the tranquility, the beauty and the wildlife only add to the charm and history of Wellesley Island. “You see something new every time you walk around the island,” shares Varley.Like a walk along a well-trodden cottage path, Treasured Islands with Generations of Muskoka Memories reminds the reader of their own sun-soaked adventures. Everyone who has visited the District has their very own Muskoka story. ose with generational connections have even more history from which to draw and share. e idea of collecting the stories from her fellow islanders struck Varley one evening at a neighbour’s dinner party. A dinner guest was sharing a recollection, a story named e Raven Faces North, that is now included in the book and Varley knew instantly how many One of the constants of island life is having a boat at the ready for trips to and from the mainland.Royal VictoriaRegional Health CentreMuskoka residents who call 9-1-1 with heart attack symptoms may be taken directly to RVH in Barrie· chest discomfort · neck and jaw discomfort · nausea · sweating · shortness of breath · light-headedness An advanced cardiac team is ready and waiting at RVHto deliver specialized care.Always call 9-1-1. Never take yourself, or your loved one, to hospital. NEWKnow the signs: 1-800-843-1732 www.fireplacestop.com6048 Highway 9Schomberg

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more stories there were to be shared. “My husband and his father always had so many stories to share, so I thought there must be hundreds more out there,” says Varley. “We put the word out, just to people we knew, and I told myself that if I got more than 20, I’d put out a book.”Varley received more than her initial target of 20, and has now received so many she’s working through the publication of a second With a view over the lake, Kathy Varley is working on the manuscript for a second book on island living.A Muskoka tradition for Selby Martin’s family is an escape to their Lake Rosseau island. Great aunts and uncles, along with family friends, gather on the porch.705.645.4294 TF: 866.645.4294STORE: 228 TAYLOR RD., BRACEBRIDGEOFFICE: 1646 WINHARA RD., GRAVENHURSTSales & Service of MajorPropane Appliances(refrigerators, ranges, fireplaces, furnaces & more)Safe & reliableNo electricity requiredBulk propane deliveryto your home or cottageAppliancesJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 13

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14 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021volume of stories and memories. Treasured Islands with Generations of Muskoka Memories was published in 2020, with 26 stories from 17 contributors. e stories Varley collected for the book were all sourced through word of mouth and support from the Muskoka Lakes Association newsletter.“People have poured their hearts out,” says Varley. “ere is so much history and passion that has been poured into these stories.”Memories of Sans Souci Island, Star Island, Caledonia Island and more provide a glimpse into the lifestyles and traditions of islanders through generations. Accounts of regattas, canoe races, parlour games and grand meals paint a picture of summer life in Muskoka. Each story communicates the lifelong traditions of summers at the cottage. “I’ve been enchanted by them all,” says Varley. “It’s a privilege just reading these stories but we’ve also met so many new people on the islands.”Connections are a valuable commodity in Muskoka and can be wide-reaching. rough the Muskoka Lakes Association newsletter, Varley received a request for the book. With Kathy Varley and Selby Martin view an important recollection of early island visitors who have their initials engraved in this piece of wood.Your Muskoka Specialist for Sunrooms, 3 season windows, Aluminum and Glass railing systemsAvailable through your contractor or directly through DavlinSUNROOMSBYDAVLIN.CA info@sunroomsbydavlin.ca1-705-706-4927

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correspondence, it was discovered that the book requester is a ﬁrst cousin of Selby Martin, Varley’s husband. “Making connections and meeting all of these new people has been such a great side eﬀect of this project,” says Varley. With the interest created from the ﬁrst book, Varley again sent out requests for participation in November 2020. She had stories in her hands to review before Christmas with the second book forthcoming in July 2021. She now has 30 stories and a dozen new authors contributing.“Muskoka is a pretty powerful place,” shares Varley. In a pandemic, if nothing else, people have found themselves with time to sit in front of their computers and put their thoughts in words. Tales that would usually be shared during drinks on the dock, at a dinner party or during a campﬁre now come to life in written word. Proofs of the cover of Kathy Varley’s second book which will be released later this year.Granite steps & entrancesPathways & patiosRetaining walls & boulder accentsShrubs & treesShoreline restorationDriveways & lot gradingINTRODUCING KIATHE21 Robert Dollar Dr, Bracebridge, ON P1L 1P9705-645-6575July 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 15

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16 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021Article by Meghan Smith / Photography by Josianne MasseauMost people have had that moment: the dessert conundrum. Do I want chocolate or vanilla? Am I in the mood for cookies or cake? Pie or cheesecake? How can anyone choose just one? e Muskoka Stuﬀed Cookie Company makes the choice easier, combining their own passion for crafting and eating baked goods into a sweet experience of your favourite goodies. As their website states: “Have your cake and cookie, too!”A lifelong Huntsville resident and professional photographer for over 20 years, Kelly Holinshead is also a dessert-lover, a self-taught baker and the genius behind Muskoka Stuﬀed Cookie Company. “For years I’ve baked for people I know, especially at Christmas time,” shares Holinshead. “Often, I’ve given away about 30 boxes to friends and family with all kinds of treats I’ve made.”With the postponement and cancellation of many weddings in 2020, courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic, Holinshead found herself with free time she would not have normally experienced in the spring and early summer months. As many did during lockdown times, she was baking regularly and giving the ﬁnished products away to friends. At Father’s Day she decided to bake and giveaway stuﬀed cookies for the ﬁrst time. ey were a huge hit.“People loved the cookies,” she recalls. “e reviews have been great. It’s all experimental but it’s so fun.”As restrictions lifted, photography work picked up again and Holinshead had little time to continue her culinary explorations. Stuﬀed cookies were placed on the backburner. She recalls in early November her schedule began to free up. Her husband kindly reminded her of her great idea and pointed out that if she didn’t take the idea and run with it, someone else would. In less than three weeks, Holinshead was in a

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commercial kitchen she rents, pumping out stuﬀed cookies. Her years of baking experience at home did not fully prepare her for her next steps. She had not baked in a commercial setting before and deﬁnitely not with the intention of selling the baked goods. “ere was deﬁnitely a learning curve,” she laughs. “Commercial ovens bake diﬀerently; larger batches are diﬀerent. ere were some things that surprised me, that’s for sure. It has been interesting.”So far, the journey to stuﬀed cookie mastery has been ﬁlled with culinary creativity. For starters, stuﬃng a cookie is not as simple as it sounds, let alone making the ﬁnished product look and taste great. Holinshead started with family recipes collected over the years, such as her grandmother’s gingerbread and her mom’s best shortbread, along with her own favourites. She knew she wanted to include family classics with a twist and seasonal ﬂavours that everyone would enjoy. “I wanted to have good varieties for the ﬁrst launch,” shares Holinshead. “It was really coming up with ﬂavours of items I already love and used in my own baking.”Her ﬁrst orders for Christmas 2020 totalled 40 boxes, ﬁlled with ﬁve diﬀerent types of cookies. She knew starting oﬀ with a “base” cookie or ﬂavour, somewhat similar to ice cream ﬂavours, would be important. e standard dough bases she now uses are vanilla, chocolate and peanut butter, all crafted with brown butter for additional ﬂavour and consistency. “It took me a bit to come up with base doughs but now I’ve got it down and tweak them slightly, like vanilla to cinnamon spice,” she explains.e doughs are enhanced with mix-ins, Photographer Kelly Holinshead is now focussing some of her attention on creating stued cookies.Photograph: Kelly HolinsheadJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 17

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18 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021like chocolate chips, dried fruit or candied ginger, and then carefully used to cover indulgent ﬁllings – ganache, frosting, cake, even other cookies. No dessert is complete without the proper garnish. erefore, each cookie, once completely cooled, is topped with its own glaze, drizzle or other ﬁnishing touch. “I like doing a cookie with something like cheesecake stuﬀed in and a ganache ﬁlling, so there are diﬀerent textures but complementary ﬂavours,” says Holinshead. Sweet Salt of the Earth Caramel Crunch. Don’t Worry Be Hoppy. Tapped Out. Nutty But Nice. Muskoka Stuﬀed Cookie Co. rivals any craft brewery or even Ben & Jerry’s for their inventive names for ﬂavours. “I really thought about our ﬂavours and Stued cookies are a big deal; not only are they massive but Kelly Holinshead uses only top-quality ingredients in these specialty treats. When a power outage strikes, SOMMERS RESIDENTIAL GENERATORSensure that your home or cottage automatically stays powered on.ECRA / ESA 7002295 • TSSA 000365522A full range of generators that can be custom built to suit your home or cottage’s speciﬁc needs, so you’ll always have standby power ready.705.765.0600 • www.sitelectric.com • Port CarlingMUSKOKA • PARRY SOUNDYour Source For All Your Electrical, HVAC,Backup Power And Home Automation Needs.Photograph: Kelly Holinshead

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what I wanted to name the cookies,” Holinshead laughs. “I wanted to have cookies that had clever names. It’s so fun. Sometimes I even have a name before I’ve fully made a cookie.”With such a variety of ﬂavours, there’s something for every taste from Muskoka Stuﬀed Cookie Co. However, these cookies are not for those with allergies. With such a variety of ingredients, these masterful desserts cannot be made without gluten or other allergens. “I use some pre-made ingredients, so I can’t verify that they’re allergy-free,” explains Holinshead. “It’s not a gluten free kitchen. ere are bakers that are meeting that target. But I’ve got some really great ideas coming up.”Inspiration comes from everywhere. Friends suggesting a favourite ﬂavour, browsing online through recipes or grocery stores, and even wandering the candy aisles. Testing out anything that seems like a delicious combination, Muskoka Stuﬀed Cookie Company is always looking for new ideas. “I think about cookies all the time,” exclaims Holinshead. “I’m always wondering what combinations I can put together.”Measuring in at four inches in diameter, Each stued cookie, once completely cooled, is topped with its own glaze, drizzle or other nishing touch. 705-646-2508excelrailings.caJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 19

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20 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021two inches in height and between a quarter to a half pound in weight, these are a heavyweight cookie. Stuﬀed cookies are a big deal; not only are they massive but Holinshead uses only top-quality ingredients in these specialty treats. “It takes a long day in the kitchen but its 100 per cent worth it,” she says. “e cookies make people so happy.”Every part of the business and the baking are experimental. One batch of baking produces about 12 cookies, which gives perspective on how many hours are logged to ﬁll orders with so many diﬀerent ﬂavours of cookie. With her multiple step process and working mostly as a one-woman operation, Holinshead admits that the whole process can be stressful, but so far, she’s avoided major kitchen disasters, like dropping a whole tray of cookies. ere is not a walk-in cookie shop, at least not yet, and with ﬂuctuating provincial restrictions, Holinshead had the opportunity to approach ordering and product availability a little diﬀerently. Most bakers are up in the early hours of the day, scrambling to bake as much product as possible and then, when items sell out, they’re gone until the next day. For Muskoka Stuﬀed Cookie Company, Holinshead started oﬀ by taking pre-orders With such a variety of avours and toppings, there’s something for every taste from Muskoka Stued Cookie Co.A professional photographer for over 20 years, Kelly Holinshead is the genius behind Muskoka Stued Cookie Company. Pssst...Do you love knowing what’s going on in your community?Since 2015, Doppler has been North Muskoka’s go-to source for local news.SOUTH MUSKOKA DOPPLER IS UP AND RUNNING and will bring the same dedicaon to the communies of Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, and Muskoka Lakes.Head to southmuskoka.doppleronline.caand sign up for FREE to get the scoop. READ LOCALOur mantra is local: from features on local people doing extraordinary things, to local business spotlights, news and sports coverage, all supplemented by provocave opinion pieces on topics near and far.For more informaon contact MATT DRISCOLLEditor – South Muskoka DopplerMa.driscoll@doppleronline.caPhotograph: Kelly Holinshead

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28 MANITOBA STREET, BRACEBRIDGE | 705-637-0204COMFORTABLE FASHIONSHOP ONLINEwww.uniquemuskoka.com 22 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021and continues to regularly announce “cookie drops” online. “From January to Easter I did weekly drops, with orders on Friday, and pick up the following Friday,” says Holinshead. “I’ve pulled it back a little bit now to once a month, maybe a bit more than that.” A week or two in advance of the beginning of the month, or before a holiday, Holinshead opens pre-orders for various box sizes, allowing for personal ﬂavour choices. In this way, orders are ﬁlled and ready for pick-up locally from the Muskoka Good Food Co-Op in Huntsville on the predetermined date. In addition to regular “cookie drops”, Muskoka Stuﬀed Cookie Co. oﬀers both a Cookie of the Month Club and a Corporate Cookie Club subscription. Membership in these delicious clubs ensures that cookies are available for pick up the ﬁrst week of each month, with ﬂavours hand-selected for your enjoyment.Basing her schedule on pre-orders, means Holinshead knows just how many of each type of stuﬀed cookie she’ll need to bake. She can shop for supplies, arrange time in her rented kitchen and plan the amount of time she needs to dedicate to fulﬁlling each custom order. “I bake some really original creations, with lots of great ingredients,” says Holinshead. “I’m so happy I’ve done this.”Although she was disheartened to learn she was not the ﬁrst person to think of stuﬀed cookies, Holinshead is sure “there aren’t any quite like mine though.” With combinations like Sweet Buns Cinnamon Crunch, Triple Chip with Brownie Points and Pecan You Pass Me a Buttertart, we’re inclined to agree. Sweet treats conjure fond memories of special recipes from grandma, holiday dinners with family and nights around a campﬁre with friends. Muskoka Stuﬀed Cookie Company rolls all of that goodness (and more!) into one big, delicious dessert for you to enjoy.

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As a self-taught artist, Goslin did not attend art school and therefore did not have the beneﬁt of learning “the rules.” Developing skills that could be learned quickly in art school, like which supplies to use and the best techniques to achieve a certain look, took Goslin time to master on her own. On the other hand, with no formal training, she was free to explore her instincts and talents, learning that sometimes, making mistakes and trying out ideas is better than following the rules.“e best paintings are the ones where you’re brave enough to just put that brushstroke down,” Goslin says. us far, bravery, tenacity and hard work have led Goslin to live, work and travel while evolving as an artist. But at ﬁrst, she was not certain a career in the arts was even feasible, let alone one focussed on oil paintings. Growing up in Bracebridge, Goslin recalls enjoying art classes in public school and high school. She had always drawn and painted as a child and teenager but also has memories of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winters and traipsing through forests in the summersShe attended Trent University for English and history programs but was always drawn back to painting. After a trip to Newfoundland for a wedding, Goslin spent an extended stay in England, painting watercolour scenes from the east coast and English scenery. She worked exclusively in watercolour at that point in time. When she returned to Muskoka, she held her ﬁrst art show at Richard Green Fine Art, formerly located on Highway 118. When her artwork sold out at the show, Goslin ﬁnally began to realize that art might be a viable career option after all. “I started to realize that this is what I really want to do,” she shares. “I never went back to school and I’ve been a full-time painter ever since.”In the early 90s, at around 25 years old, Goslin moved to Montreal for a change of place. ere, she had the pleasure of embracing the vivid Montreal arts culture, visiting galleries, attending ballets and theatre productions and meeting people from all diﬀerent walks of life. She began to collect art books, a collection she continues to grow to this day“I had an interesting life, there,” says Goslin. “I was exposed to diﬀerent art that I hadn’t seen before. Just like any profession, your understanding is limited until you get out there and, all of a sudden, you’re seeing and learning amazing things everywhere.”At Christmas one year during her time in Montreal, a dear friend gifted her a set of high-quality oil paints, noting that she needed to try her hand at oils instead of sticking only to watercolours. Goslin still had no interest in oil paints at the time and stored them away. Above: While artist Marilyn Goslin completes her works in her studio, she most enjoys painting outside, among the elements. Right: Goslin makes use of leover or unwanted wooden boards by fashioning them into one-of-a-kind frames for her one-of-a-kind paintings.July 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 25

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“I was terriﬁed of oils,” she laughs. “I thought, not on your life will I try oils! I’m a good watercolour painter.”Leaving Montreal and moving to Lakeﬁeld in 1999, Goslin’s new neighbour began to suggest a foray into oil painting. She decided to take the advice to experiment, not be afraid and, if nothing else, she could try and not tell anyone. Goslin chose to paint her neighbour’s bike, leaning against a fence beside a farmhouse, remembering that she selected the scene for the way the sun overhead cast shadows through the spokes onto the pavement. “I thought to myself ‘ok I can do this but I won’t tell anybody’,” she remembers. “I thought I’d just not tell anybody and give it to my neighbour. Well, little did I know, she loved it and she took that painting to a high-end gallery in Peterborough.”e gallery contacted Goslin the following day, requesting she come in with her work. A year later, a year ﬁlled with experimenting and “making it up” as she went along, Goslin held a show at the same gallery, showcasing her oil paintings. Every piece sold and she has not painted with watercolours since.“at was the start of a really wonderful experience in Peterborough,” shares Goslin. “As much as I missed Bracebridge and I wanted to come home, I had really good fortune in that city.”Working with gallerist and artist Peer Christensen, Goslin built a career as an artist CUSTOM HOMES & COTTAGES FOR OVER 45 YEARSFor over 45 years, Tech Home has helpedclients realize their vision of a beautiful &uniquely personal custom home.We build to the highest standards of quality atthe most aﬀ ordable pricing in cottage country.Visit our Gravenhurst Model Home or Toronto Design Centre, & we’ll bring your dream to life.GRAVENHURST MODEL HOME2278 Hwy 11N.| Gravenhurst, ON | P1P 1R11.888.417.8761GREATER TORONTO AREA DESIGN CENTRE130 Konrad Cres, Unit #18 | Markham, ON | L3R 0G5905.479.9013SERVING MUSKOKA / GEORGIAN BAY / HALIBURTON1-888-417-8761 www.techhomeltd.comIT’S YOUR DREAM. WE BRING IT TO LIFE.THANK YOU Frontline Workers...we appreciate all that you do!An old farmhouse in Bracebridge is Marilyn Goslin’s current restoration project. She’s peeling back the layers of the century home to rene a space instead of covering it up with new materials.MODERN HOME CARPET ONE350 Ecclestone Drive • Bracebridgecarpetonebracebridge.caTAYLOR CARPET ONE30 Cairns Crescent • Huntsvilletaylorcarpetonehuntsville.comHARDWOOD • LAMINATE • VINYL PLANK & TILE • VINYL ROLLS CARPET • CERAMIC • NATURAL STONE & MOREFloors forHome & Cottage705.645.2443705.789.9259July 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 27

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28 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021GBSContracting Inc.and a following throughout Peterborough, participating in art shows, fundraisers and the Kawartha Lakes autumn studio tour. On studio tour weekends, Goslin would often have 300 to 400 visitors at her home studio. Her dedication to creating art from the heart often had her ﬁnishing between 60 to 100 paintings per year and hosting four art shows each year. “I’ve been one of the lucky ones,” comments Goslin. “I started painting full time and then, of course, I funded my painting by waitressing for years and years. You’re always worried about ﬁnances but I’ve been really lucky and people have bought my paintings.”e art gallery run by the City of Peterborough maintains a permanent collection of Goslin’s work on site. Goslin was recognized by the City of Peterbrough in 2014 with a community leadership award for culture for her many contributions to the community. For years, while making her own way as an artist, Goslin made a point of supporting other community groups in ways she could by donating paintings for auctions or other fundraisers for the local hospice or other non-proﬁts. “I had never heard of an award like that,” says Goslin. “I felt really loved and supported there and it wasn’t easy to leave, even though I wanted to come home.”Spending 20 years of her life in Peterborough, moving back to Bracebridge was not about one place being better or worse than the other. Moving was a recognition of her own sentimentality and being inspired by the locations where she works. “e process of painting is a very sacred thing for me,” she shares. “I’m happy to be home and I’m grateful people are welcoming As each room is refurbished, it becomes a location for the display of Marilyn Goslin’s paintings.

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BATH & KITCHEN SHOWROOMDESIGN. INSTALLATION. REPAIRSERVING ALL OF MUSKOKA279 MANITOBA ST, BRACEBRIDGE705.645.2671KNOWLESPLUMBING.COM @MUSKOKABATHTHE RIOBEL MOMENTI™ COLLECTION AVAILABLE AT KNOWLES PLUMBING!279 Manitoba Street, Bracebridge 705.645.2671 @knowlesplumbing @knowlesplumbing @knowlesplumbingBATH & KITCHEN SHOWROOMSALES•INSTALLATION•REPAIRSERVING ALL OF MUSKOKAknowlesplumbing.comMuskoka’s Bath & Plumbing CentreMarilyn Goslin is inspired by scenes throughout her community, such as this painting of Chancery Lane in downtown Bracebridge.me. But what I want to do now is ﬁnd a way to honour my own memories of Bracebridge by doing more paintings of it.”Beyond just her natural surroundings, Goslin takes great care in selecting and building her living and workspace. Along with the growth and evolution of her art, she has spent signiﬁcant eﬀort over the last 25 years refurbishing old houses where she and her daughter have lived. Rejuvenating may be a better term as Goslin brings her homes back to how they may have looked when they were built. Goslin and her daughter, Kelly, sand ﬂoorboards, buﬀ and ﬁnish railings, reinstall windows, doors, trim and shutters from the time period and will even be refacing the brick exterior of her current residence. She even makes use of leftover or unwanted wooden boards by fashioning them into one-of-a-kind frames for her one-of-a-kind paintings. She recalls homes in Port Hope, Lakeﬁeld, Peterborough and Bracebridge that she took great pleasure in returning to their former glory, without adding all of the modern amenities. “It’s sort of a continuing thread from painting,” she explains. “Everything is sensory and means something to us, and every ﬂoorboard has a story. Every piece of furniture that we have has a story.”Goslin believes strongly that handmade items require more than just skill; they require intention. An emotional connection exists between an artist or artisan and their work that cannot be mass produced. She cites this connection as the reason she and her daughter restore every board in their home by hand. ey are currently working on an old farmhouse on Golden Beach Road in Bracebridge, peeling back the layers of the century home to reﬁne a space instead of covering it up with new materials. ey make use of as much as possible from the existing structure and source required replacement items from other old farmhouses, second-hand stores and ﬂea markets. Sometimes, she’s even traded paintings for wanted materials.“I want my house to be a sanctuary,” says Goslin. “I think that my space has to be really sensory for me to carry on and feel inspired. In fact, I’m so inspired here that I’m doing paintings of the interiors of my house.”On the property, a dilapidated drive shed has been restored and converted into Goslin’s studio, where she’ll gladly accept visitors when she can. As a drive shed, the building July 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 29

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30 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021An emotional connection exists between an artist or artisan and their work that cannot be mass produced. Marilyn Goslin cites this connection as the reason she and her daughter, Kelly, put so much eort into refurbishing their home and gallery.Tickets & Information1-866-687-6667WWW.REALMUSKOKA.COMMUSKOKA WHARF, GRAVENHURSTCRUISE & DISCOVER!CRUISE & DISCOVER!Featuring:Amazing CruisesStunning ExhibitsFamily ActivitiesPrivate Eventshad small windows, letting in little light. Goslin ensured the reinvention of the shed into her studio added a large window, facing the greenery of her yard and her neighbour’s horse pastures. Her studio view, along with her ability to ﬁnd the hidden gems of places in Muskoka from her childhood, provides Goslin with ample inspiration for new artwork. “I am humbled by how lucky I am,” she explains. “Honestly, I know there are so many talented people in the world, whether its art or music or whatever, that never get noticed. I’ve been so lucky people have been supportive of me.”Fearless in her craft – she is unafraid to ruin a painting in order to learn and grow; developing her skills and making her intention more clear. Viewing a Marilyn Goslin painting transports you to the place and the emotions of the piece, much like entering her home or studio transports you back to simpler times. Goslin endeavours to continuously grow as an artist and challenge herself to try new subject matter.

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32 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021Article by J. Patrick BoyerMuskoka’s numerous lakes hold many islands. Each oﬀers its own dimension – thanks to the adventure, the extra eﬀort and the psychological distance from mainland preoccupations one has by travelling to a further shore. Bigwin is the largest and most famous island in Lake of Bays but the second largest, Langmaid’s Island, is spectacular in its features. Girded by some four miles of pristine shoreline, its 147 acres dramatically feature three hills rising 175 feet above the lake, which account for its earlier name Hump Island, seemingly a translation of its Ojibwe name. Langmaid’s virtually undisturbed shoreline hosts ﬁsh spawning areas. Its stands of old-growth forest pre-date the logging era. Wildlife migrates back and forth to the mainland across a narrow channel. Uncommonly long sand beaches provide nesting grounds for turtles. Ancient rock cliﬀs abutting the island’s southeast provide thrills for anyone daring a cool plunge. Lake of Bays is the highest major lake in Muskoka’s watershed. e particular mystique of the lake derives from its inlets, isthmuses and isles being enveloped by densely-forested shores and sheltered amidst rising remnant guardians of Earth’s oldest rock. A most irregularly shaped waterbody, it currently has 32 islands – the number a function of lake levels. Bruce MacLellan, author of two history books about Lake of Bays featuring his unique collection of century-old postcards, notes, “Depending on water levels, Langmaid’s can be one or two islands.” is long, large island escaped photographer’s lenses, being too big to yield a postcard view or any other picture not resembling mainland shore. e only known image from a century ago shows a tiny gap near one end – one island in two parts.

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All a function of water levels – both Nature’s-own and dam-created – some of the lake’s rock stands sentinel-high as bluﬀs. Other parts barely protrude above the surface as squat islands. Some are too small to even have names. Despite such diﬀerences, all share being the summits of submerged bedrock. Around these islands are deep dark ravines. e lake descends 260 feet in places. If drained, the rugged rocky basin holding this immense lake would be revealed as a cratered canyon the retreating ice could only lightly scour 10,000 years ago. Down there are haunting remnants of prior epochs, adding to what Mary Lynn Findlay called the lake’s “primitive direct appeal” that drew her back for 50 straight summers. It’s what permanent resident Jacqueline Goddard today calls its “raw natural beauty.”Over time, its name has changed from Nagatoagoman and Nun-ge-low-e-nee-goo-mark-so-Lak-a-hagan, to Baptiste Lake then Trading Lake, and on to Forked Lake and next Lake of Two Bays before oﬃcially becoming Lake of Bays in 1853, though Trading Lake (for its fur-trading activity) persisted into the 1900s. Most pertain to the shape of the lake, whether the Indigenous Lake of the Forks from its many deep bays and points of land, or its Anglo echoes in Forked Lake and Lake of Two Bays. Here, as elsewhere in Muskoka’s watershed, the diﬀerence between a place being mainland, peninsula, isthmus, island or submerged reef depends on water levels. Dams have caused islands to disappear, turned an isthmus into an island, made creeks into lakes, while digging canals has turned creeks into navigable waterways.For instance, in the mid-1880s Ontario’s Department of Public Works excavated a canal between Fairy and Peninsula lakes, turning a swampy creek-bed into the longest artiﬁcial navigable route in Muskoka’s watershed. e Cut enabled advances with steam era transportation that boosted Lake of Bays’ vacation economy beyond its fur trade and lumbering economies. On the lake itself, the Muskoka River’s natural outﬂow was quite low, so the dam Baysville’s founder William Brown built across it in 1872 to power his sawmill altered Nature’s handiwork by raising the water to run its turbine. After four decades, Brown’s deteriorating timber dam caused the Department of Public Works to replace it in 1918 by a stone dam. It looked better and made Lake of Bays ﬁve-feet higher.Altering water levels impacts the ecology, cottagers, boaters and the status of islands and isthmuses – even names. In 1905 when the water was still lower, renowned English opera tenor Joseph Tapley arrived at the lake. Attracted by its magniﬁcent sand beach in Haystack Bay, which fondly reminded him of a wilderness sand crescent called Bondi Beach he’d enjoyed while on tour in Australia, he bought it and named his Lake of Bays place “Bondi.” His name suited, explains his granddaughter Nancy Tapley, until the new 1918 Baysville dam raised the lake. “e big crescent of sand that was here when Grandfather Joseph Tapley ﬁrst arrived was ﬂooded,” she says.If temporary spring ﬂooding creates havoc, nothing beats a permanent ﬁve-foot hike in a lake’s level. Chippewa Chief John Bigwin once grew potatoes on sections of Langmaid’s Island that are now below water. rough the Indigenous epochs and since arrival of traders, loggers, homesteaders and vacationers, this island has been intermittently occupied yet lightly used. is reﬂects how the distinctive place enthralls people, commanding respectful awe. In the late 1990s Langmaid’s Island was designated a natural heritage area under the District of Muskoka heritage program. e Township of Lake of Bays thereupon incorporated within its Oﬃcial Plan a clear policy to preserve Langmaid’s Island from development.But how this large island came to be special is also a human story. In the historic shift from First Nation relationships with land to the English-based ownership concepts of property, the ﬁrst settler to acquire title to the island was a Langmaid. In 1871, Eliza and Samuel Langmaid from Portsea, England, were among the ﬁrst in Muskoka’s McLean Township claiming land under the settlement-encouraging 1868 Free Grant and Homestead Act. Between 1872 and 1874, their sons William, Samuel Jr. and John with his wife Eliza Jane, followed.Samuel Jr., developing a feel for life on the Canadian Shield, paid $29 for the 29 acres of Hump Island in Photograph: Rob StimpsonJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 33

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McLean Township; the rest of it lay in Brunel Township. Samuel became distinctive in the Baysville community, a conﬁrmed bachelor and landowner. He used Langmaid’s Island, as it now became known, for hunting with other men and their dogs. Some ran deer from one end to the other where the other hunters waited with loaded riﬂes. A building at the island’s east served as a hunting cabin. His brother, John, followed a diﬀerent script, continuing his father Samuel Langmaid’s trade as shoemaker with a shop in Baysville. In 1883, Eliza Jane gave birth to their son, Billy. He, too, would learn boot making. But Billy preferred retailing, had a knack for it and by age 15 was a Baysville merchant operating a satellite store for Fenn, Anderson & Co, a leading Bracebridge dry goods concern. Six years later, in 1904, when Fenn Anderson expanded its downtown Bracebridge store to add a grocery department, Billy Langmaid was inspired to open his own grocery store in Baysville. e village was a happening place that summer with a new iron bridge being built to replace the original 1870s structure. By early 20th century, Lake of Bays had become a summer magnet for well-to-do North Americans, oﬀering an array of resort accommodations, while others were building cottages to enjoy life’s advantages as seasonal Muskokans. Langmaid’s new store and the village’s improved bridge were keeping pace with the vacation economy as Muskoka increasingly became a fashionable, as well as a scenic, destination.Among arrivals from the United States was the Peck family of Chicago. David Billings Peck, his wife Janet and their two sons arrived at Lake of Bays 1915, a year after Canada’s prime minister, vacationing on Lake Rosseau with his wife for their second consecutive summer, had raved when addressing a summer regatta at Port Carling about Muskoka’s “far famed renown.” By then, the District had indeed become prominent on the map of North America. Still, the summer of 1915 was a sensitive time for Americans to show up; the United States was still sitting out the World War but Muskokans were preoccupied ﬁghting, sacriﬁcing and dying in it. In her memoirs, My Happy Years at Lake of Bays, long-time cottager Jessie Garratt explains that Dr. Peck was head of Borden’s dairy operations in Chicago and very wealthy. Peck bought Burnt Island, a small island at the lake’s south end, then hired local men to build a large cottage on it. Both sons were highly enthusiastic about boating, and their father gradually built up a ﬂeet of several mahogany motorboats and a beautiful steamer. By 1920, with both the Great War and the Spanish Flu Pandemic over, and with 16 years’ experience running his business, Billy Langmaid relocated and expanded This stone dam at Baysville, regulating outow of Lake of Bays down the south branch of the Muskoka River, was built in 1918 by Ontario’s Public Works Department to replace William Brown’s 1872 log damThe supply boat Joe Bell is navigated around a oating log near Burnt Island. Floating logs were a particular concern on Muskoka lakes during the era of lumbering.Photograph: Bruce MacLellan CollectionPhotograph: Courtesy of John PeckJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 35

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36 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021“Langmaid’s Groceries,” specializing in fresh meat, vegetables and fruit. He also began operating a summer supply boat, the Joe Bell. Already well-known for Langmaid’s store in Baysville, calling around Lake of Bays gave the Langmaid name even greater caché among cottagers. “A special treat was the arrival of Mr. Langmaid and his supply boat, every Tuesday,” recalled Dean Matthews, a summer resident at Port Cunnington from 1920 on. If one wanted Captain Langmaid to put in, “all that was necessary was to tie a white towel in a branch near the dock. He always had bananas and fresh fruit, which were quite a luxury to us in those days.” e “penny candy was popular with kids,” reports Bruce MacLellan, “a treat.” Some families doubted that Billy really knew his cuts of meat, because they often got surprises when asking him for certain roasts or other cuts. Meanwhile, from 1873 when Samuel Langmaid Jr. bought the lightly-used island property, it changed hands several times, yet always within the Langmaid family. By 1935, Billy Langmaid, provisioner to the Lake of Bays, owned Langmaid’s Island outright.Hearing of endless pleasures to be had at Lake of Bays, David Peck’s sister Katherine and her husband Henry T. Adamson, also from Chicago, “often visited her brother at Burnt Island and fell in love with Lake of Bays,” as Judy Vanclieaf explained about the important Peck and Adamson families in last year’s Lake of Bays Yearbook. Burnt Island, increasingly known around the lake as “Peck Island,” lay close to Langmaid’s. From her ﬁrst sighting of it, Katherine Peck-Adamson became enchanted by this Island. She coveted the “large island Billy Langmaid (centre) who began his retailing career in Baysville at the young age of 15 was a member of the family associated with Langmaid’s Island.Photograph: Courtesy of John PeckMuskoka Cottage Developments Inc. muskokabuilds.com with its sister company Ensō Innōvations Inc. enso-designs.com recently joined forces with Baysville’s Tooketree Passive Homes tooketree.com to be able to offer Muskokans sustainable, passive, and net-zero builds manufactured right here in Muskoka. Tooketree Passive Homes manufactures S.E.E.D (Sustainable, Ecological, Efcient, Durable) Building Systems to create energy-efcient, sustainable homes that meet Canada’s highest and most rigorous health and environmental standards.A NEW PARTNERSHIP HAS FORMED THE BEDROCKFOR A REVOLUTIONARY BRAND OF MADE-IN-MUSKOKA ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE COTTAGES AND HOMES.Muskoka Cottage Developments Inc. and Tooketree Passive Homes with the help of Ensō Innōvations Inc. plan innovative projects and their unique approach uses cutting-edge computational techniques that take advantage of articial intelligence, parametric design, simulation and optimization to evaluate thousands of possible design solutions, nding the right balance of trade-offs.” says Joshua Dias CEO, Muskoka Cottage Developments Inc. & Ensō Innōvations Inc. Because of the capacity of this newly formed partnership, they are also one of the only builders available to get started immediately for your one stop design/build home and cottage projects this summer. Together they are working to make buildings renewable and affordable by embracing principles of the circular economy.Cottage rendering provided byEnso Innovations Inc.

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Photograph: Courtesy of John Peckthat had a beautiful beach,” summed up Jessie Garratt about the Chicago woman’s perspective. In 1936, Katherine and Billy reached agreement. She became its owner in exchange for $3,000 – an amount any Muskokan was happy to pocket in the depths of the Great Depression. After that, “It soon became apparent,” reports Jacqueline Goddard, member of the Lake of Bays Heritage Advisory Committee, that “Billy Langmaid was a man of means and most generous to others in the community.” Langmaid’s Island had been gifted to him in trust when a boy by his Uncle Samuel. Like his benefactor, Billy remained a life-long bachelor, too. He continued “Langmaid’s” retail store until his death in 1966, aged 83. By mid-century, Burnt Island was identiﬁed by the Peck name and Langmaid’s was increasingly called Adamson’s Island. Katherine and Henry Adamson’s son Gordon confused matters when he and his wife Emily named their children for his parents. A son born in 1949, Henry Norcross Adamson, and their daughter, Katherine. Common Above: A special treat for many Lake of Bays islanders was the arrival of the supply boat Joe Bell. Right: Billy Langmaid operated his Langmaid Grocers store in Baysville from 1904 until 1966.Photograph: Bruce MacLellan Collection705-375-2797WATER ACCESS PROPERTIESSpecializing i nmuskokaseptic@gmail.commuskokasepticservices.comSEPTIC PUMPINGSHOP ONLINEwww.uniquemuskoka.com28 Manitoba Street, Bracebridge, ONClassic HandbagsTraditional QualityContemporary StyleCrafted from Harris Tweedone of the most desirabletextiles in the world.July 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 37

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sense led to them being known “Henry N.” in distinction from “Henry T.,” and “Kate.”e island had been a hold-out of long standing, with property development happening elsewhere but not on it. However, a modest change occurred after the ownership change. Five high calibre rustic buildings appeared in one discreet spot on the large island. e main cabin included a ﬁreplace and living room with guest bedrooms. Another housed a kitchen with propane cooking and dining room, plus a bedroom for the cook. ere were two sleeping cabins, one for Katherine and Henry T. Adamson, another for Emily and Gordon Adamson, each with double bedrooms. e ﬁfth housed a somewhat noisy but all-important diesel generator, which enabled the compact island colony to be comfortable and self-suﬃcient with lights and appliances. At the shore, a large boathouse held various craft including a specially-designed boat to transport propane cylinders directly from Baysville.Adamson’s Island was not a place much shared. “Both the Pecks and Adamsons seemed to have unlimited means but lived quite secluded lives.” An exception, recalled Garratt, was “young Cameron Peck who raced madly around the lake in fast boats or in sea ﬂeas.”“Despite it being private property,” wrote Judy Vanclieaf, “there is a long history of locals and cottagers visiting the island, particularly its beaches, which were popular gathering spots on hot summer days, and the rock cliﬀs where many a daredevil plunged into the lake.”A long-time family friend, Johanna Henning, told her the Adamsons “did not mind sharing the island’s natural assets as long as there was no garbage, ﬁres or disturbance of wildlife.” Infrequent use of the island by its owners, and more cottager activity at the lake, meant use often became abuse. Public enjoyment of unoccupied islands in Lake of Bays is familiar. e cover of Bruce MacLellans’ book Post Cards from Lake of Bays features a pre-1909 scene of picnickers on Burnt Island “before it was occupied.” In Doug and Helen Cunningham’s Memories of Lake of Bays, a Haystack Island postcard is captioned, “Although privately owned now, Haystack Island was once a favourite spot for picnics, exploring and diving from the cliﬀ on the south side.” Over the 80-odd years of Adamson ownership, the Island changed hands three times but, as with the Langmaids, the transfers were always within the family. In 1987, Henry N. Adamson inherited the island from his parents and looked forward to many years at Lake of Bays. He cared intently about heritage and in 1985, he and 11 others became founding directors of the Lake of Bays Heritage Foundation, a registered charitable organization. Indicative of his commitment was his intent that the island be designated a Muskoka heritage area to limit future development and plans began to transfer ownership to the Heritage Foundation. In his mid-40s, Henry suﬀered blindness. He always felt he would recover his vision and return to his island life but inability to travel from Chicago to Adamson’s Island led to its abandonment. In 2014, an accidental staircase tumble in his home ended his life at age 65. e anomaly of a single island being in two diﬀerent townships – the result of surveyors in the 1860s and 1870s imposing a ﬁxed grid pattern across Muskoka’s lakeland terrain – was remedied in the 1970s after Photograph: Jacqueline GodardLe: Cooking when the Adamsons owned Langmaid’s Island was by propane while electricity for lighting was provided by this generator. Above: During the sixty years it was owned by members of the Langmaid family, it had but a single building used in hunting season, seen here at one end of the island. Photograph: Johanna HenningPhotograph: Courtesy of John PeckGordon Adamson (right) was one of the owners of Langmaid’s Island. The boat is the Delta, an 18-foot hydroplane built for him by Minett-Shields in 1936.705.645.8404 | 800.732.0158norstarexteriors.com.SIDING • SPECIALTY ROOFING • WINDOWS AND DOORS • DECKING • EAVESTROUGHS AND GUTTER PROTECTIONWe pride ourselves on offering the highest quality exterior products for your home or cottage, including siding, specialty rooﬁng, windows and doors, decking, rain water management products and much more. Our experienced team leaders and installation specialists ensure every project has an organized schedule and that product, delivery, and installation speciﬁcations adhere to NorStar’s exacting standards.EMBRACE YOUR EXTERIORSERVING MUSKOKA, PARRY SOUND & HALIBURTON REGIONS SINCE 1976Supply • Install • Cash & CarryJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 39

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40 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021Photograph: Bruce MacLellan CollectionMuskoka’s municipal government revamp. When adjusting boundaries, Langmaid’s Island was placed in McLean Ward, Lake of Bays Township. en a Crown grant, back-dated to October 20, 1874, was registered May 22, 1975 on title, granting Samuel Langmaid Jr. “All of this island.” With this new retroactive root of title, Billy Langmaid had the entire island when he sold it to Katherine Adamson in 1936, so that when Henry N. became owner in 1987, it was of the entire island. After his death, probate for the estate was granted in September 2016. e family, his sister Kate in particular, wanted to gift the island to the Lake of Bays Heritage Foundation, a worthy gesture said to have been precluded by U.S. tax laws. As a result, the property (now being referred to as “Langmaid Island”) was put up for sale. e executor acted quickly. ere were two oﬀers below asking price, and the executor accepted the second one when the Heritage Foundation, which had a 30-day right of ﬁrst refusal, ran Named by renowned English opera tenor Joseph Tapley, who arrived in Muskoka to farm, Bondi was Lake of Bay’s answer to the fabulous sand beach in Australia of that name. The ve-foot rise in water level submerged most of the magnicent crescent beach in Haystack Bay.Hospice MuskokaVisit www.hospicemuskoka.com and “Donate Now” on Butterﬂ y Event PageTelephone your donation in to 705-646-1697 SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2021 AGENDA9:00 – 11:00 am Pick up your butterﬂ y at the following locations, then take home for releaseFrom 12:00 pm on August 15, participants will be able to download the virtual event program including local performers at www.hospicemuskoka.comMUSKOKA WINDOW & DOOR, 15 ROBERT DOLLAR DRIVE, BRACEBRIDGEST. PAUL’S CATHOLIC CHURCH, 235 JOHN ST. S, GRAVENHURSTANDY’S HOUSE, 16 WEST STREET, PORT CARLINGEven in these challenging times, you can still support Hospice Muskoka with a donation to Hospice Muskoka for a butterﬂ y in memory of a loved one.DONATION OF $30.00Receive one butterﬂ y DONATION OF $ 100.00Receive four butterﬂ iesLast day to order a butterﬂ y July 10, 2021Virtual Butterﬂ y ReleaseSUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2021MUSKOKA WINDOW & DOOR, 15 ROBERT DOLLAR DRIVE, BRACEBRIDGEMUSKOKA WINDOW & DOOR, 15 ROBERT DOLLAR DRIVE, BRACEBRIDGEMUSKOKA WINDOW & DOOR, 15 ROBERT DOLLAR DRIVE, BRACEBRIDGE

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out of time while raising the $9.4 million. When new owner Langmaid Island Corporation unveiled its intended changes to the property, a rezoned Langmaid’s Island would be divided into 36 lots with shuttle access from a location on the north shore, in Huntsville’s jurisdiction. Many expressed concern about the island’s proposed changed appearance, natural landscape impacts, ecosystem disruption, boating safety issues and discontinuity in the heritage and character of Lake of Bays; a public meeting of about 100 people spoke loud and clear on these points, with only three builders supporting the application. e boating safety issue, repeatedly emphasized, concerns increased boat traﬃc in Little Whiskey Bay. Because water by the mainland parking area is too shallow to dock many boats, a shuttle would run continuously across the bay, in addition to 32 families using their own boats for pleasure.e complex application required many studies and peer reviews. Both the Town of Huntsville and Township of Lake of Bays planners recommended the application be declined, citing numerous reasons. When this was made known, Langmaid’s Island Corporation appealed to Ontario’s Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (the renamed Ontario Municipal Board) on the grounds of delayed response.e appeal hearing took place in cyberspace during February and March this year. e application’s sole supporter was Langmaid Island Corporation. Opposing it were Lake of Bays Association, Lake of Bays Heritage Foundation, Town of Huntsville, Township of Lake of Bays and citizen Kelly Zytaruk representing the community. e contest gained news media attention and online as virtual hearings were intently followed by interested parties. e ruling, still pending at time of writing, will determine if this unique island remains part of “oﬀ-the-grid” Muskoka. “I think this situation is all about whether the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal will support municipalities whose established policies protect natural heritage,” sums up Judith Mills, president of Lake of Bays Heritage Foundation, “or whether a developer can change an oﬃcial plan enacted with community support.”When you shop in our store...you’re supporting the work of local artisans, writers, craftspeople and other Muskoka businesses.When you shop in our store...When you shop in our store...When you shop in our store...When you shop in our store...28 MANITOBA STREET, BRACEBRIDGESHOP ONLINEwww.uniquemuskoka.comJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 41

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There is a primal urge in all of us for speed. e excitement, the risks and the danger – the sense of accomplishment that comes from pushing limits. Harry Greening and the legacy of boat racing in Muskoka are all about pushing limits. Greening was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame for his “unprecedented series of wins and world records, gaining international honours, esteem and respect as well as his pioneering achievements.” His inﬂuence extended well beyond his 25 active years of competition from 1904 to 1929. Greening was a Hamiltonian who summered in Muskoka and conducted many of his endurance achievements on Lake Rosseau.It is one thing to just go fast and another to be the fastest and ﬁrst across a ﬁnish line. e history of race boating in Muskoka is a remarkable achievement, especially given the relatively remote location and short boating season, compared to other regions of the continent. Article and Photography by Tim Du Vernet 42 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021Rolf Gerling takes o in his re-creation of Rainbow IV. The original cra was well known for the spray it created.

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Murray Walker feels this history is signiﬁcant enough to be worth celebrating in a major form, such as a dedicated museum. He calls it a story of “threes” – e Rainbow series driven by Harry Greening, the Miss Canada series driven by the Wilsons and the Miss Supertest series story of Jim ompson, designer, with Bob Hayward at the wheel. Speed on the water in many forms runs very deep in Canadian historic DNA and Muskoka heritage, so it would be a natural ﬁt to create such a centre to recognize it.e combination of technological innovation, a dedicated team behind the engine, the hull and logistics and especially the focused drive of one individual to bring it all together to push the limits of the rules, have always been key ingredients in racing. In his series Motor Boat Racing in Canada, Greening shares much about his philosophy and the stories behind some of his adventures in challenging the rest of the world on the water. As he describes it, Greening’s journey with power began with the attempt to motorize a canoe around 1908, so he could avoid portaging a canoe three miles between Lake Joseph and Rosseau. Greening’s quest for speed continued at the Hamilton Yacht Club where he competed with his Gadﬂy series of boats and achieved substantial success, at one point winning every race he entered.Serious racing began in 1920 with the Fisher Trophy challenge. e boats entered were expected to be high speed family runabouts. Rainbow I was entered and won. She was described as possibly the best boat of her kind built to that point in time.e journey to greater and greater speed for Greening was a constant evolution and experimenting with existing ideas. Greening applied his designs in new or slightly diﬀerent ways as well as staying just at the edge of what he believed the racing rules would permit. Discoveries in one area of nautical design could be carried over to others. Concepts such as “surface wheels,” the surface propeller, outboard rudder, full out stepped hull and modiﬁed versions of stepping were among some of the more signiﬁcant technologies with which he experimented. Greening had the means, the opportunity and the ability to combine it all into new and challenging forms. Some of these developments are commonplace in motor boating today.Speed and horsepower in Rainbow I were further improved with a balanced driveshaft. Rainbow II experimented with the surface wheels and redirecting water ﬂow for greater eﬃciency. While there may be no physical landmarks surviving in Muskoka to remind us of his drive, the boats Greening had built are his legacy. ey continue to live in the re-creation of Rainbow 1 and Rainbow IV through the stewardship of Rolf Gerling. It is one thing to read about these boats and another to see the technology in action.Of course, Greening wasn’t the only competitor who experimented with ways to go faster. Gar Wood was the sports ﬁrst superstar, winning ﬁve Gold Cup races in a row, with stepped hulls and multiple aircraft engines that were modiﬁed for nautical use. With nearly unlimited resources, he was unbeatable and rules were imposed to make the racing more accessible and competitive. By the 1920s, hydroplane hulls were a well-known solution for reducing drag. Motor Boating Magazine published plans for a 21 foot “Canon Ball” in its May issue of 1925. Despite the ruling regarding stepped hulls, this didn’t stop Greening from coming as close to the edge of the rules as possible and venturing out in ways yet to be considered. In fact, Greening states that his focus turned toward creating a hull that would use the With spray shooting hundreds of feet from the prop and the nearly dory-like look of the hull, Rainbow IV was clearly a radical challenger.Rainbow IV challenged many ideas with her outboard rudder and crosswise lap hull.July 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 43

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44 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021concept of the stepped hull, without it being a stepped hull. Rainbow IV is the best demonstration of attention to the wording of the rule. Greening had experimented with the outboard rudder in Rainbow III and Rainbow II was a study in hydro-dynamics, borrowing concepts of water ﬂow from others.Among Gold Cup followers, the race of 1924 is a well-told story. While the rules speciﬁcally prohibited a “stepped” hull, there was nothing about the use of laps. Normally, the planks in a lapstrake hull run from bow to stern, overlapping such as in a rowboat or early Duke Playmate, generally in line with the direction of the ﬂow of the water. To run the laps across the ﬂow of the water would potentially create many small points of lift, without using a single step. Further, Rainbow IV used a surface prop and outboard rudder. When race day came in 1924, Greening’s Rainbow IV won against the incredibly streamlined, Crouch-designed Baby Bootlegger. Curiously, the lines of Baby Bootlegger have been recreated and borrowed endlessly in various forms, but not until Rolf Gerling commissioned the Muskoka recreation of Rainbow IV had boat racing enthusiasts been able to understand just how radical this creation was. Even today, she looks unlike anything on the water.With spray shooting hundreds of feet from the prop and the nearly dory-like look of the hull, she was clearly a radical challenger. Greening believed that his challenges to the rules resulted in constant changes to the rules, “that seemed to work between the rules, without hitting an important snag.” Greening gambled on playing one option against another. While the rules prohibited the step, they didn’t exclude lapstrake construction. Greening reportedly reviewed the meaning of The re-creation of Rainbow IV is powered by a BPM Engine from Italy that puts out nearly 800 horsepower.The minimalist dashboard of Rainbow IV was in contrast to her provocative design.MUSKOKA’S LUXURY SHOPPING EXPERIENCE 705.762.5757 Main Street Bala 3138 Hwy 169 Bala, ON#gooverboard #comeplayinmycloset

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lapstrake extensively to exclude confusion with a stepped hull. In 1940, Greening noted, “Although we won the Gold Cup hands down, we didn’t get to keep it.” A protest was lodged before the race and the race was run, with the result subject to the APBA decision. Rainbow IV won using the points system, while Caleb Bragg’s Baby Bootlegger came second. e result of the protest was that the laps were steps and the hull was not in the form of a runabout. First place was awarded to Baby Bootlegger. To make the loss even more concerning is the possibility that Rainbow IV was inspected during construction by an APBA oﬃcial and her design met oﬃcial criteria. Greening never competed in the Gold Cup again. e contention was that while Greening had followed the “rules” as outlined, he hadn’t followed the spirit of the rules. After it was thought to have been a win for Rainbow IV, a period account in "e Rudder” states: “His success this year was a most popular one and every real sportsman applauded the plucky Canadian for the never-say-die spirit which has kept him in the game year after year in spite of many setbacks which would have discouraged a less determined character.” e real winner of the Gold Cup of 1924 was George Crouch, the designer of the three top place ﬁnishers. Rainbow IV would prove her merit in another way, the long-distance endurance race. She set a world record on Lake Rosseau. An eyewitness of the period states, “e last I saw of Rainbow IV on that day, Herbert Ditchburn, her builder was at the wheel and the little boat was touching only the high spots as she reeled oﬀ miles almost while we were thinking about it. At the end of the 24 hours, Rainbow IV had established a new world’s record of 1,218 miles and Greening was again vindicated.” Greening would break his own record again, with Rainbow VII. Rainbow VII may be considered the most successful of all Greening’s creations. Winning the Championship of North America in 1928, against Gar Wood, while carrying at least seven passengers. e eﬀect of Harry Greening and the Rainbow series may have extended beyond the world of boat racing. By commissioning Muskoka boatbuilder Ditchburn to create The original Rainbow IV would prove her merit by setting a world record on Lake Rosseau by travelling 1,218 miles in 24 hours.July 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 45

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46 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021many of his craft and to perform trials and endurance quests on Lake Rosseau, the region not only got to experience world class speed but to absorb its inﬂuence in many forms. Such examples possibly include the Ditchburn Viking series of launches featuring a stepped hull, the outboard rudder used in many of the sport runabouts and the monkey rails that were a period trait of many a performance boat. e superintendent of the Ditchburn plant, Bert Hawker was an able builder and designer. It is also possible that the stepped hull concept in the Vikings originated from his drawing board. is period in motor racing followed the Great War when many surplus aircraft engines became available for conversion to other use. Gar Wood made extensive use of these engines including the popular Liberty and Packard engines. Rainbow III is powered by a period Packard engine. eir sound is very distinctive, like that of an old airplane ﬁring up. Rainbow IV, according to Motor Boating (1925), used a Liberty Engine (Gar Wood Marine Model T-25) that developed 400 HP at 1850 RPM. She had capacity for just over 40 gallons of fuel. She burned 685 gallons of regular fuel for the world record. During the 24-hour world record test between October 2nd and 3rd, co-operating with Commodore Greening were the entire facilities of the plant of Herbert Ditchburn of Gravenhurst. James Galloway, General Manager of Gar Wood Inc., was included in the list of mechanics for the test.Plans for just about any historic boat are not diﬃcult to ﬁnd. e challenge comes in recreating the complete package. Historic photos can provide the clues to surface details and hardware produced from the Ditchburn factory, but balancing the dynamics of hull, power and steerage take the trained eye of a nautical engineer. e end result of the recreation of Rainbow IV is a very satisfying craft that presents much of the essence of the original. A rare, but period 400 HP, 12-cylinder Gar Wood Liberty is the icing on a magniﬁcent mahogany, oak, cedar and chrome cake. The monkey rail was a classic feature of many Ditchburn runabout from the 1920s.

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48 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021Alanna Bray-Lougheed (right) competes with long-time teammate Andreanne Langlois at the Pan Am Games in Peru in 2019.Rituals and traditions that ebb and ﬂow with the seasons are a large part of life in Muskoka. e onset of summer signals time to be spent at the cottage, on the beach and in the water. Whether the preferred water activities are for leisure, for relaxation or for sport, Muskoka’s lakes and rivers provide a network of waterways that can fulﬁll any preference. Alanna Bray-Lougheed is a qualiﬁed Olympian in sprint kayaking and a ﬁfth generation Bracebridge cottager. Sprint kayaking is all about fast times over shorter distances on the water. Racing kayaks are very narrow, requiring balance and skill to successfully navigate, not mentioning the strength and power required to hit racing speeds. Since 2012, Bray-Lougheed has been on the national sprint kayaking team, competing at several World Championship and World Cup events. At the 2019, Pan Am Games in Peru, Bray-Lougheed won two gold medals in K2 and K4 500m races. Gold medalist Alanna Bray-Lougheed holds one of two gold medals she won while competing at the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.Article by Meghan SmithPhotograph: Pan Am GamesPhotograph: Courtesy of Sandra Bray

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“I qualiﬁed for Tokyo 2020 this past March after a year of uncertainty with training and competing during a global pandemic,” she says. Bray-Lougheed ﬁrst competed for Canada in 2012 at Pan Am Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her mother, Sandra Bray, and grandfather, Jim Bray, travelled to the competition to support and cheer on the Canadian athletes. “Having my mom see what I could accomplish after such humble beginnings I believe was very special for her,” shares Bray-Lougheed. ose humble beginnings include a cedar strip canoe purchased for use at the family cottage on Fraserburg Road in Bracebridge and summer canoe camp at Burloak Canoe Club in Oakville. Bray-Lougheed’s sport combines speed and water, passions of her grandfather, Jim Bray, and great-great-grandfather, Alfred Bray. In 2020, Alanna’s grandfather Jim Bray was inducted into the Canadian Motor Sport Hall of Fame for his career racing stockcars. He began his racing career in 1952. In 1964 and 1965, he was the second Canadian to make the ﬁeld for the Daytona 500. He had a part-time career in NASCAR Grand National from 1962 until 1974. Today, at 88 years old, he lives in Brantford and continues to enter cars in races with NASCAR Canada. “My father followed his passion into racing,” shares Sandra Bray. “Now we have two racers in the family. My dad with stock cars and my daughter with kayaks. My dad is a huge supporter of Alanna. And he’s the one who ties all of the history together.”Alfred Bray, Alanna’s great-great-grandfather, was a retired electrical engineer who purchased property on the Muskoka River in 1936. He was born in England and was the grandson of a steam engine producer there. He saw great change in technology as he moved from England, ﬁrst to New York and then to Canada. Water access for boating seems to have been the draw for Alfred Bray to purchase land in Fraserburg. “In those days, my great-grandfather and his neighbour were the only two guys on the river,” explains Sandra Bray. “e rest of the area was just farmers. e neighbour had the smallest boat known to mankind. But the two of them were always out on the river.”e cabin was built in the family’s backyard in Long Branch, a neighbourhood and former municipality that is now part of Toronto. Alfred took great care numbering the boards, preparing the design and then he took it apart, drove them to Muskoka with his son, Jack, and his grandson, Sandra Bray’s now 88-year-old father Jim, and put it together on the property. Jim was just three-years old at that time. e original building was just 12 feet by14 feet but was added onto over the years, including the use of a steam engine on the property to generate electricity. “I started going when I was ﬁve years old,” comments Sandra Bray. “As a little girl in my dad’s arms, I got to pull the steam whistle and that’s what hooked me on the place.”e cabin and property, after Sandra Bray’s great-grandfather passed away in 1961, were passed down to the next generation but it fell into disuse. At some point, the steam engine was removed from the property, taking with it the source of electricity. With inconsistent attention and irregular attendance from the family, the cottage began to fall into disrepair.“It wasn’t the type of place you’d go to visit every weekend,” explains Sandra Bray. “ere was a cookstove and kerosene lamps. My cousins and I, in our teenage years, we went up to visit but it was pretty primitive.”At the time, there were no family members who could put in the eﬀort required to maintain the property, let alone return the cabin to a habitable state. Sandra and her Top: Jim Bray (right) and his sisters Marilynne and Jeanne were the third generation of the Bray family to spend vacations on the Muskoka River. Above: Alfred Bray and his son Jack enjoy a meal by the Muskoka River in 1936.Photographs: Courtesy of Sandra BrayJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 49

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It wasn’t long for Alanna Bray-Lougheed to take the step from paddling a canoe to nding herself in a kayak.two younger brothers met their great-grandfather but the cousins in her family had not and therefore did not have the same connection to and memories of “great-grandpa’s forest. “I felt a strong responsibility to honour what my great-grandfather had built and the beautiful site he’d picked,” says Sandra Bray. “I took it upon myself to revive the place. 1997 was the start date of the resurrection or the revival, so to speak. People thought I was crazy but I love it.” “From that time onwards, I have memories of going up in the summer and winter, always helping my mom with the work that needed to be done at the cabin,” shares Bray-Lougheed. Involved in heritage conservation in Oakville, Sandra Bray was familiar with the principles of restoration and knew the project would take time. Alanna, as the youngest of two daughters, accompanied her mother to revitalize the property on the Muskoka River at the age of three. “If I learned anything during those young years, it was that it takes time and hard work to bring your visions and goals to life,” says Bray-Lougheed.For several years, the mother-daughter duo would visit family on the Trent-Severn waterway to collect lumber and then continue on to the cabin to work on renovations. When a dear friend visited them and noted the river, they urged Sandra Bray to purchase a cedar strip canoe to enjoy paddling on the river. “Not knowing what I was doing, I bought one,” she says. “It needed some TLC but it would ﬂoat. My daughters and I tested it in our pool in Oakville.”However, with little experience in canoeing, when Sandra Bray saw an ad for a kids’ summer camp to learn to paddle at Burloak Canoe Club in Oakville, she signed Alanna up. Her idea was that 10-year-old Alanna would learn the basics of paddling and be safe at the cabin. “My mom enrolled me because she wanted me to know how to paddle and steer the canoe,” says Bray-Lougheed. “Gradually I started competing at regional and provincial competitions, and I began to train with the high-performance group at the club.”“Before long, I learned about these things called regattas,” laughs Sandra Bray. “Alanna loved it. Paddling became her world.”What started as a weekly summer camp turned into full summer camp the following year and from there, continued growth and development as an athlete. Bray-Lougheed credits having a wonderful group of national team athletes and Olympians to look up to during her years at Burloak Canoe Club as her inspiration to continue training and aim to compete for Canada. Qualifying in March of this past year for the Tokyo Olympics, Alanna Bray-Lougheed (right) is seen with other members of her qualifying team.Photograph: Courtesy of Sandra BrayPhotograph: Richard LamJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 51

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However, her advancement in her sport reduced the amount of time she spent with her mother at the cottage.“I continued to update the cabin and she continued to be dedicated to her sport,” says Sandra Bray. After many years of cleaning broken glass, property maintenance, building and rebuilding, Bray has the family cottage back to a comfortable, livable condition. She even built “one of the nicest outhouses” imaginable, with speciﬁcations from Cottage Life. e cabin remains rustic with no running water and no electricity.“I’ve reached a plateau,” shares Sandra Bray, about her revitalization. “It’s very comfortable. It’s insulated. I’ve brought it up to code with a building permit. I’m carrying on still, keeping the family tradition alive.”“My plan is to document my great-grandfather’s life,” says Sandra Bray. “If I don’t tell the story, it’s not going to get told. My dad tells me stories about his times there. He’s proud of what I’ve done in resurrecting the cabin.”2021 marks 85 years and six generations of the Bray family cottaging at the Muskoka River property. Sandra Bray looks forward to times in the summer when the whole family is up at the cabin to enjoy the peaceful setting and bond as a family. Bray-Lougheed shares that her favourite parts of visiting the cabin are sharing a bonﬁre with family and friends and, maybe unsurprisingly, spending time by the river or by the falls. “I also love being able to compete in a boat with three of my closest friends,” shares Bray-Lougheed. “It is special to achieve a goal as a team, versus as an individual.”As pandemic restrictions begin to lift and plans for the Olympics in Tokyo continue to evolve, Bray-Lougheed’s focus is on her When Sandra Bray purchased a green cedar strip canoe for use by the family on the Muskoka River, she knew her daughter Alanna should get lessons on paddling and so started Alanna's trek to the Tokyo Olympics.Photograph: Courtesy of Sandra BrayALGONQUIN PARK • HALIBURTON HIGHLANDS • MUSKOKA1-800-469-4948 ALGONQUINOUTFITTERS.COM 705-787-0262CANOE TRIPS & DAY TRIPSNEW ONLINE STOREoxtonguecraf tcabin.com Fine Canadian CraftStudio JewelleryOriginal Art Open daily in July & August 1073 Fox Point Rd., Dwight Lake of Bays, 705.635.1602Juliet Promnitz Corona Queen Ceramic CAPTURE THE SCENTS OF MUSKOKA28 Manitoba Street, BracebridgeJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 53

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54 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021training and she’s trying to not look too far ahead. She has conﬁdence that the safety of all athletes, coaches, volunteers and staﬀ at Olympic venues will be the top priority of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC). e Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, are set to occur from July 23 to August 8, 2021, with over 11,000 athletes from across the world competing in 339 events. “ere is no doubt that these Olympics will look much diﬀerent than any other games,” says Bray-Lougheed. “at being said, I am extremely excited to start getting information on exact details of how our experience will look.”“It’s been a strange journey for athletes the past few years,” says Bray. “On top of their rigorous, demanding training, they’ve had to do it under this cloud of doubt and uncertainty.”No matter what her experience at the Tokyo Olympic Games looks like, the cabin in Fraserburg and the quiet of the Muskoka River will be there for her to unwind and enjoy with her family, post-competition. “I am very lucky to have the cabin in my family and I hope to show my children the beauty of Muskoka someday,” says Bray-Lougheed. “I deﬁnitely see myself spending more time on the Muskoka River in the future.”Similar to so many who enjoy Muskoka as an escape, being at the cabin provides a change of pace for Bray-Lougheed, with diﬀerent rules, diﬀerent timelines and diﬀerent rituals associated with cottage life. Absconding to the cabin for a summer or a weekend creates excitement about getting away from everyday life and normal routine. Alanna Bray-Lougheed (right) and her mother Sandra Bray have a deep family attachment to the Muskoka River. From taking lessons to be a safe paddler, Bray-Lougheed has represented Canada internationally and now has her focus set on competing in the Tokyo Olympics.Photograph: Courtesy of Sandra Bray28 MANITOBA STREETBRACEBRIDGE | 705-637-0204INTRODUCINGCanadian-MadeShop Onlineuniquemuskoka.comor In-StoreAPPAREL

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56 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021Whats HappenedDistrict launches lakeside waste collection Muskoka’s garbage collection system has been expanded to include a new category of service.At the end of May, the District of Muskoka oﬃcially launched its lakeside waste collection in the Township of Muskoka Lakes.Every Sunday this summer, lakeside waste collection trucks will be at locations in Muskoka Lakes during scheduled times to accept household bagged garbage and recycling. e new program is intended for residents whose homes are accessible by boat. e collection program was launched largely in response to a decision on June 14, 2019, by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP) to remove and decommission all unlicensed bin dumpster sites in Muskoka by April 30, 2023.Since then, the District has been working with partners and the MECP for approved alternatives to waste collection for water-access and island residents For more information on Lakeside waste collection including when and where the trucks will stop this summer, you can visit www.engagemuskoka.caMuskoka Lakes Chamber takes on Amazone Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce has set up a new online marketplace with the goal of making internet sales available to everyone.Shop Muskoka Lakes is a multi-vendor showcase of local stores and services designed to help strengthen the local economy by putting local vendors in the spotlight and online.“I want people to know that this is a way they can support local. at we’re taking on Amazon,” says Norah Fountain, executive director of the Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce. “And for shoppers and vendors to know that some Muskoka items do appear on Amazon and you can buy the same items on our site without Amazon taking a big bite out of the vendor’s pocket.”In 2020, the Muskoka Lakes Chamber encouraged its members and local artisans to embrace e-commerce, yet some felt they couldn’t because of lack of access to broadband internet.at’s how ShopMuskokaLakes.ca was born, says Fountain. It was out of necessity and out of a desire to do more than just encourage people to support local. Shopmuskokalakes.ca gives the public a chance to buy outright from vendors who have never had a web presence by using the ‘OUR cart’ for transactions.“You can go out to a site like Clear Lake Brewing or Muskoka Chair Company to do the transaction on their site. You can buy and book an experience like an antique boat rental from Muskoka Launch Livery or a steamships ticket. You can see an item but be driven to their storefront, like in the case of Wahta Station, or choose the ‘Conversation Starter’ option such as when ordering custom furniture or buy gift certiﬁcates or book a massage,” says Fountain. “And our local stores all give back to their community,” she says. Fountain thanked FedNor, Township of Muskoka Lakes, PMCN, Lakeland Networks and Magnet for helping the project take ﬂight.Muskoka Lakes allows shipping container buildingsTurning shipping containers into buildings is now a go in Muskoka Lakes Township, albeit with a number of conditions in place.Township council recently found itself faced with a pair of separate applications that involved turning shipping containers (or sea cans) into buildings.e ﬁrst involved a 1,600 square foot retail building at 75 Joseph Street; and the Candice Sheri and Dan Alonso from Live Edge Forest/TREEO were lmed for a CTV commercial as part of Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce's new online marketing project. Photograph: Leila Nasr-Shari

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second involved using three shipping containers at the Boatworks site on Indian River for retail space for a four-year period. e move came only after a number of concerns were raised about the proposals and a number of conditions were put in place.e Muskoka Lakes Association (MLA) issued a letter to the Township noting potential environmental damage caused by chemicals, including insecticides and pesticides, leaching from shipping containers into the soil, groundwater and lakes.e MLA noted it is standard practice for the wooden ﬂoors of shipping containers to be treated with insecticides and pesticides in order to prevent insects from being transported with the containers and to protect the cargo. e steel sides are also sprayed with toxic chemicals, for the same reason.As such, they made a number of recommendations to council including builders take steps to ensure that chemicals on shipping containers are removed or, if possible, never applied before the containers are used as buildings in the Township.e MLA said using sea cans for buildings is not an environmentally responsible practice. Metal is inﬁnitely recyclable, so the container has not been “saved from the landﬁll.”In response, council passed a resolution requiring any shipping containers utilized for construction materials have the ﬂoors removed and replaced and any metal sandblasted unless they can be satisfactorily demonstrated to be pesticide-free. Both applicants agreed to this requirement.Miller gains support for new dock legislation A new law from Muskoka is cracking down on the use of polystyrene on Ontario docks. In late May, the Ontario Legislature unanimously passed third reading of Bill 228, Keeping Polystyrene Out of Ontario’s Lakes and Rivers Act. Bill 228, introduced by Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norman Miller, was designed to require polystyrene foam used in docks and other ﬂoating structures to be encapsulated in order to prevent pieces from breaking oﬀ and polluting the waterways.“It is almost impossible to walk along the shoreline of Georgian Bay and other large bodies of water without seeing large or small pieces of dock foam,” said Miller. “I introduced this Bill in an eﬀort to reduce the damage this kind of plastic pollution is causing to our lakes, shorelines and wildlife.”Georgian Bay Forever, an environmental charity dedicated to protecting every part of Georgian Bay, identiﬁed dock foam as the most pervasive form of pollution along the shores of Georgian Bay. ey’ve been working to educate the public about the damage it causes. In a survey of trash picked up by the group’s volunteers in 2019, more than 5,000 pieces of dock foam of all sizes were picked up – more than all other types of garbage combined.“is Bill improves our water, ecosystems, shorelines and supports the heroic eﬀorts of shoreline cleanup volunteers,” says executive director David Sweetnam of Georgian Bay Forever. “Dock ﬂoats made from polystyrene foam fragment into thousands and thousands of pieces of litter due to weathering, storms, wave action and animals burrowing into it for shelter. ese plastic pieces are never going to go away – they look ugly on shorelines, are impossible to totally clean up and will eventually fragment into tiny microplastics that pose further risks to aquatic life.”Rapid testing program taking oA new, free program distributing rapid antigen COVID-19 tests to small and medium-sized businesses has proved to be a big success in Muskoka.e Orillia-Muskoka Rapid Antigen Screening Program is a collaborative eﬀort between Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, Huntsville/Lake of Bays and Muskoka Lakes Chambers of Commerce, along with the Orillia District Chamber of Commerce.e goal of the program is to identify asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic cases of COVID-19 in the workplace that might otherwise be missed, helping to curb the spread in the workplace, at home and around the community.“We give out supplies in intervals of two weeks and have seen the same businesses come back to get more kits after the two weeks are up,” says Leila Nasr-Shariﬁ, the marketing and sponsorship lead with the Gravenhurst Chamber of Commerce. “is indicates to us that business owners are eager to continue using the kits to ensure the safety of their employers, their families and customers.”Nasr-Shariﬁ says alongside the kits, the chamber’s been giving posters that state that the business is taking part in rapid COVID tests as a way to help customers feel safer when shopping.“We’ve been getting a lot of love on our social media posts of people picking up rapid COVID tests for their businesses,” she says. “Business owners seem to be happy that we are able to oﬀer this both for free and in an eﬃcient way.”Meghan Pratt of the Gravenhurst Chamber of Commerce helps to distribute rapid antigen COVID-19 tests as part of a Muskoka-wide program to protect employees and the people they serve.By Matt DriscollPhotograph: Norah Fountain July 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 57

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Campre desserts are messy,scrumptious and oh, so good!Article by Karen Wehrstein / Photography by Tomasz Szumskiink “campﬁre desserts” and two things spring to mind: messy, scrumptious s’mores and marshmallows doubling as torches yet still stickily sweet, right? In this month’s culinary trip, we will take you to both these things at a pro level, and beyond.Grace Willows, who owns Windmill Bakery and Bistro in Huntsville with her husband Dan, has a take on s’mores whose foundation is a light crispy oatmealish cookie, adapted from a recipe by the 45-year-old bakery’s previous owner, Tjeerd Wouda.Born of an American father and a German mother, Grace grew up in Belgium, speaking both English and French from childhood. She met Dan, born and raised in London, Ontario, when he was working in Belgium with a Christian organization as a carpenter. Because English was easier for her than French for him, they moved to Canada, landing where his parents had had a cottage – Muskoka – to raise four children, teach (Grace) and work their construction business (Dan). How from there to a bakery? “We surprised ourselves,” says Grace. “But we both had a love for good, wholesome food and appreciated the art of baking.” Former Windmill owner Tjeerd Wouda agreed to train them, Dan got right into it and Windmill became theirs in 2015. To expand capacity, they hired master baker Michael Meier in 2016 and have never looked back. Working one business has even improved their marriage, Grace says, forcing them to learn the art of working through disagreements.Windmill oﬀers too many products to list (see their website) with more than 12 varieties of bread as the core and a deﬁnite tilt towards European style. e Willows are working on doubling the size of their premises to allow more production space to supply an increasing demand. Look for a bigger store, take-out and dining space by next spring if things go according to plan.e light, crispy cookie dipped in chocolate travels well. Just take two and squish roasted marshmallows between them for a crunchy, gooey uber-s'more.Like every other eatery on the planet, Crossroads in Rosseau took a hit from COVID-19. However, muses baker Julie Lalonde, when the 12 hectic years it took her and her chef and co-owner husband Richard to transform a coﬀee shop into one of Muskoka’s most loved gourmet restaurants came to a crashing slowdown in March 2020, there was a silver lining.“We’ve really changed. We’ve learned that our family, our kids, are very important. Everything goes faster than you think… we weren’t taking the moments that we should to really enjoy family. COVID forced us to do take-out, online ordering and we now have our gourmet shop – we got to know customers on a Dan and Grace Willow of Windmill Bakery and Bistro in Huntsville have created their own version of the popular s’mores dessert. 58 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021

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diﬀerent level. I don’t think I breathed before this past year, keeping up with emails, weddings, restaurant, cleaning… I’m more calm, I’m a better boss, we’re better organized, have better connection with employees.” COVID forced the couple to reconﬁgure their life-work balance, they’ve decided on a ﬁve-day week and they’re happier for it.When I ﬁrst experience Lalonde’s s'moresque oﬀering, it is elegantly arranged in a gleaming white oval dish and artistically bedecked with strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, two colours of drizzled sauce, marshmallows browned to perfection and a sprig of mint. No surprise from someone who has been cooking her entire adult life, since age 17 (“I just love to cook!”). But if any camps serve campﬁre desserts that way, they were camps my parents couldn’t aﬀord to send me to. Lalonde credits her best friend Chastity Downs, who hails from the United States, with inspiring the simpler core recipe. “She’s all about her whoopie-pies.” Without the accoutrements it’s still deliciously and softly ripe with the mixed tastes of chocolate and peanut butter.While Chef Glenn Kitchen works at the Inn at the Falls in Bracebridge, his wife, Chef Diane Kitchen, owns and operates Kitchen’s Buttertarts on Manitoba St.e aptly-surnamed couple’s career and married lives have been closely entwined. ey met while both were earning their chefs’ papers at George Brown College; she then apprenticed under him in various establishments in Toronto. While she was pregnant with their third child, he was hired by a now-defunct resort on Lake Joseph, so the family moved to Muskoka and has stayed here ever since.Diane bought her business in December of 2019, little knowing what would befall in Chocolate and peanut butter are among the avours that Julie Lalonde of Crossroads in Rosseau features in her delicious dessert.Campre S’mores CookiesGrace WillowsIngredients1 ½ cup sugar1 ½ cup unsalted butter 2 large-size eggs1 ½ cup all-purpose ﬂour1 tsp baking powder¼ tsp salt1 ½ cup oatmeal1 ½ cup melted chocolateMethod• Cream together butter, sugar and eggs.• In a separate bowl, combine ﬂour, baking powder and salt. • Add dry ingredients to wet mixture, mix till smooth.• Stir in oatmeal till combined.• Let dough rest several hours. • Roll out dough ¼-inch thick, and cut out 12 circles using a cookie cutter or cup. Bake about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet until golden, about 20 minutes at 325°F.• When cool, dip one side in melted chocolate. Cool cookies until chocolate sets.• Use two cookies to sandwich your roasted marshmallows by the campﬁre!• Makes approximately 45 cookies. (Can be frozen; refrigerate but don’t freeze dough.) Baker’s Tips• Don’t skip resting the dough: it’s key to consistency and ﬂavour. If you rush the dough, it won’t hold together as well.• Chocolate can be Bakers, or a dark chocolate bar.July 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 59

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Whoopie Pie Cookies Julie LalondeIngredients1 ¾ cups all-purpose ﬂour¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)1 ½ tsp baking soda½ tsp ﬁne salt4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened¼ cup vegetable shortening½ cup granulated sugar½ cup packed dark brown sugar1 large egg1 cup whole milk1 tsp pure vanilla extract2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, ﬁnely choppedMethod• Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift together ﬂour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl.• Add butter, shortening, and sugars to the bowl of an electric mixer ﬁtted with the paddle attachment; cream on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat until pale and ﬂuﬀy, about 2 minutes. Add half the ﬂour mixture, then the milk and vanilla; beat until combined. Add the remaining ﬂour mixture. Beat together.• Drop 12 slightly rounded tablespoons of batter 2 inches apart on each baking sheet. Bake cookies in the upper and lower thirds of oven, 10 minutes; switch the positions of the baking sheets, and rotate each one. Continue baking until the cookies spring back to the touch, 2 to 4 minutes more.• Remove from oven; let cool on baking sheets, 10 minutes.• Transfer with a metal spatula to a wire rack and let cool completely.• Repeat process with remaining batter.• Spread 1 scant tablespoon buttercream (recipe below) on ﬂat sides of half the cookies. Top each with one of the remaining cookies, ﬂat side down, and gently press together. Transfer to a tray.• Melt half the chocolate sauce (recipe below) in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat; add chopped bittersweet chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. Transfer to a pastry bag ﬁtted with a plain round tip (Ateco #2 or #3) or a small parchment cone. Pipe chocolate in a spiral pattern on top of each pie. Let chocolate set before serving, about 1 hour.Peanut Butter Buttercream2 cups of smooth peanut butter½ cup of cream cheese 1 cup of icing sugar Mix together with an electric or hand mixer until light and ﬂuﬀy.Chocolate SauceIngredients:4 cups water2 cups white sugar2 cups cocoa powder500 g milk chocolateMethod• Heat sugar, water, cocoa powder mixed together.• Remove from heat, add chocolate. Stir until combined.• Let cool, place in container.Yield: 2 litres. Keeps in fridge 1-2 months.Baker’s Tips• Rotating the baking sheets is important.• Grown-ups’ version: add a little bourbon to the chocolate sauce.• Other possible additions: pecans, berries, any ﬂavour ice cream, dulce de leche (ridiculously easy: remove label from 1 can Eagle brand condensed milk, simmer unopened can in a pot with enough water to cover for 3 to 3 ½ hours, let cool).three months. “Because I was a chef, I started to do dinners and get a catering company, but there was just nothing going on,” Diane reminisces. “Might as well dive into just the buttertarts and pies.” e buttertart-ﬁlling recipe that is at the core of the business, and a closely-held secret – no doubt due to how absolutely delectable it is – was passed on to her by a chef friend, the late Rick Bradshaw, when ill health forced his retirement. Despite COVID, life goes on. Diane became a proud grandma in March. Away from s’mores and into the magic of cooking with tinfoil, she will take us. is recipe, she conﬁdes, “was probably inspired by Girl Guides. We used to do it when we went camping with the kids. ey loved it.” Absurdly simple, it can easily be made by youngsters. Note: during the month Banana boat is the theme of the tinfoil-baked dessert that Diane Kitchen of Kitchen’s Buttertarts in Bracebridge thinks will be fun for youngsters to prepare.

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Christine Kropp of Huntsville draws on her career in the food business when she oers two dessert recipes that are certain to be campre hits.of July, Kitchen’s Buttertarts will be featuring a Banana-Boat-themed tart.Born near Niagara Falls, Christine Kropp took her diploma in hospitality at Georgian College. Finding she preferred baking over cooking, she attended the Bonnie Gordon School of Confectionary Arts. She and her husband moved from London to Muskoka in 2012, opening a bed and breakfast as well as her cake and pastry business. She grew that into Whimsical Bakery in Huntsville, moving into its Main St. location in 2017.However, her interests shifted more towards consulting than confectionary. “COVID came at the right time for us,” she says, unlike virtually every other business owner. “My focus with the bakery was to get connected to the community, and we did that, we really made our brand. I wanted to get to helping people with their businesses rather than the front counter. I enjoy working with entrepreneurs.” Instead of muﬃns and Chelsea buns, Kropp now serves up concepts and plans for menus, execution, entertaining guests, and so forth for B&Bs, Airbnbs, boutique hotels, pop-up bakeries – whoever has need. To get a taste, you might check out her blog, “e Sweet Life.” Kropp’s simple tin-foil-cuisine dessert concept, she says, “was a big hit around the campﬁre. Everyone can make their own creation. Kids can make their own dessert.” It’s basically wrap some fruity stuﬀ, some cakey stuﬀ and some butter in foil and toss it on a ﬁre. e woman who told me last time we featured her that you should carefully measure ingredients by weight because the amounts are more precise says these ones can be very approximate indeed, as can cooking time. “Open it and take a Cherry Cobbler, Campre Version! Christine KroppIngredientsCan of cherry pie ﬁllingWhite cake mixButterTin foilCooking SprayIce Cream or Whipped CreamMethod• Tear oﬀ a rectangle of tin foil and spray the shiny side with cooking spray.• Add a big dollop of cherry pie ﬁlling.• Add about a ¼ cup of cake mix on top of the pie ﬁlling.• Top with 1 Tbsp butter.• Fold the long edges of the foil together and fold up the ends to keep liquid from escaping.• Place on the cooking rack of your campﬁre (or barbecue) for about 15 minutes.• Open the packet for the last few minutes to brown up the cake a little.• Serve with a scoop of ice cream or whipping cream.Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Campre Version! Christine Kropp IngredientsCan of Pineapple chunksPound cake, cubed ButterBrown sugarIce cream or whipped cream Cinnamon or nutmegTin foilCooking SprayMethod• Spray a double layer of tin foil with cooking spray.• Add a handful of pineapple chunks.• Add pound cake cubes on top of the pineapple.• Top with 1 Tbsp butter, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon or ¼ tsp nutmeg.Follow Steps 5-8 as in Cherry Cobbler.July 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 61

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Zygoptera Consulting Experienced, knowledgeable environmental science and public policy professionals. 705-644-2251 zygopteraconsulting@gmail.com zygoptera.ca Summer was made for cottage info@ontariocottagerentals.com1-877-788-180928 MANITOBA STREET, BRACEBRIDGEAvailable atSUSTAINABILITY IS WOVEN INTO EVERY FIBREQUALITY PRODUCTS FOR ACTIVE LIFESTYLESpeek; you can tell when it’s ready.”e cherry pie ﬁlling in her ﬁrst dish has that lovely homey, comforting cherry taste, and the butter combines with the cake mix to form a crusty layer, as in a pie. Pineapple is a wake-you-up ﬂavour as a rule, and what really pops in the second dish is the brown sugar combining with the butter to form golden-brown crusts on the cubes of pound cake, adding a lovely crunch.“e butter makes it, doesn’t it?” I ask Kropp.“Butter makes everything,” she replies.at was a baker’s tip, folks. Get that campﬁre going, and enjoy!Banana Boats Diane Kitchen Ingredients for one Banana Boat1 large banana, ripe but not too ripe (no brown spots - it will become mush if too ripe)¼ cup chocolate chips3-4 regular-size marshmallows (enough to cover banana)Method• Peel banana and slice in half.• Tear oﬀ a large enough piece of tinfoil to wrap around banana. Spray tin foil with cooking spray, then lay banana in it.• Place chips and marshmallows on/between banana halves. Wrap tightly. • Cook on grate over ﬁre for 5-7 minutes. Oven version: 325°F for 10 minutes.• Serve with toppings of your choice. (Be careful when opening: it’s hot.) Suggested: whipped cream, graham cracker crumbs, maraschino cherry,berries, syrup of your choice, Kahlua or Baileys for the grown-ups, etc. Rotary Centre for Youth131 Wellington St., Bracebridge705-644-2712www.clubrunner.ca/bracebridgeBRACEBRIDGE GENERATION LTD.Water Power Generating a Cleaner EnvironmentInterested in more information or a free tour? www.bracebridgegeneration.comJuly 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 63

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64 UNIQUE MUSKOKA July 2021I can honestly say that Muskoka shaped my passions and the career path I chose. e freedom to explore the forest and the lakeshore, view wildlife and ﬁsh gave me an appreciation of the environment. I came of age in the late 60s and 70s with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Greenpeace, and environmental disasters like the Cuyahoga River catching ﬁre, the Don River running colours, Lake Erie being declared dead and deformed cormorants resulting from contaminants. I knew the environment was the path I would follow.My ﬁrst environmental job was on the Muskoka Lakes in 1974 doing septic system inspections to identify potential issues for someone, much more qualiﬁed, to follow up on. I had the opportunity to interact with cottagers who were truly interested in their water quality and the health of the lake. I went on to take environmental studies, being one of the ﬁrst few cohorts of graduates from a newly-minted program at the University of Waterloo. Partially because of my cottage skills – boating, wood chopping and experience with bugs – I was hired as an assistant for lake studies in northern Quebec where I learned water sampling and the impacts of nutrients on lakes – something Muskoka has worked hard to manage. In the years that passed, I worked mostly on urban rivers seeing the impacts of our rapidly growing cities on rivers and ﬁsh communities. We demonstrated time and again the relationship of the land to the water – the type of land use, its runoﬀ, the role of vegetation and the types of protection and controls that improve or manage the change. I have had the good fortune to work with organizations and as a volunteer, to assess watershed impacts and take ground level actions, like tree planting and stream restoration. Muskoka, too, is facing these issues as our towns grow and cottagers seek to “improve” their properties for a variety of uses. Because the lake is the receiver of runoﬀ from the land surface and our wastewater, we need the best “tools in our toolbox” to ensure that the quality we have today remains or is improved for future generations. We have seen the eﬀects of climate change on our winters and spring runoﬀ which has caused signiﬁcant ﬂooding and impacts to shoreline properties. is is not a problem happening elsewhere – it is here and it is now. I feel an obligation to give back to my community – to share my expertise and passion for the environment. So, post ﬂoods and with my growing discontent for the level of development in Muskoka, I became a director of the Muskoka Lakes Association (MLA). e MLA has 127-year history of engaging in the Muskoka environment with, among other things, a water quality testing program and land use committee. In the 1980s, the MLA became a member of the Canadian Coalition on Acid Rain as Ontario lakes were being killed by the impacts of acid rain. I remember so well canoeing in Killarney and being stunned by the lack of life in the lake – no birds, no vegetation, no ﬁsh and clear to the bottom. e MLA contributed expertise and connections, helping to create the political will for the U.S. to sign the Clean Air Act in the 1990s leading to the mitigation of this threat to our lakes. e best part of becoming part of an organization like the MLA is connecting with others in the Muskoka community who also have a vision for preserving the environment to ensure the enjoyment of the lakes and the value of our properties for the future. ese new friends are part of a growing number of organizations like the Muskoka Watershed Council, Muskoka Discovery Centre, Friends of Muskoka Watershed, other lake associations, Safe Quiet Lakes and Friends of Muskoka. Together we are stronger and looking out for the Muskoka of my past, my present and my future. Deborah Martin-Downs is a second-generation cottager on Lake Muskoka and nurturing the third and fourth generation’s love of the cottage. She is currently the president of the Muskoka Lakes Association. In her day job, Martin-Downs is chief administrative oﬃcer of the Credit Valley Conservation Authority. Muskoka MomentsBy Deborah Martin-DownsShaping a passion and a careerPhotographs: Alex DownsDeborah Martin-Downs enjoys a fun moment with her granddaughter, MacKenzie.

Unique Muskoka Issue 29 July 2021

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