Well St. Thomas, set your expectations high! We have a new Mayor and Council at City Hall, our community is growing, and there is a hint of cultural transformation in the air. In our view, we think that St. Thomas can become the next great destination in southwestern Ontario for twenty-something entrepreneurs, tradespeople and makers, young families, and active retirees. Seriously, why not?
Municipal elections can be boring, but this year in Norfolk County there were some compelling storylines. Consider the set-up: the most recent Norfolk County Council lacked diversity, to say the least – nine white men, no women, and definitely trending older.
Joe Preston was elected Mayor of St. Thomas in the October 22nd municipal election with a total of 3,731 votes, defeating the incumbent, Heather Jackson (3,189 votes) and two other challengers, Steve Wookey (2949 votes) and Malichi Malé (338 votes). With four candidates in the running, there was not going to be a landslide, but the margin of victory was still decisive.
Our young & free press team has been heavily involved in the St. Thomas municipal election this year. We have interviewed all the candidates for Mayor and several of the candidates for City Council.
Recently our owner and editor Andrew Gunn and young journalist Jenn Klassen had the opportunity to interview Charlie Luke and Kristal Chopp, the two front-runners in the race to become Mayor of Norfolk County.
Erik Olson took a motorcycle trip around the United States in spring 2018 and makes some of the people and places that he encountered visible in his new exhibition of paintings, ‘Hold the Line’, on display at the Michael Gibson Gallery in London from September 20th to October 27th.
Municipal politics may be significant to our day-to-day lives, but it is common to find that the voter turnout rate in municipal elections is well under fifty percent. Why is this the case?
We are surprised still to meet people in St. Thomas who do not know where the Horton Farmers’ Market is located. For the record, the Market is located on Manitoba Street, just north of Talbot. This does not mean that the Market is quiet on Saturday mornings … not at all!
My young & free press colleague Andrew Gunn and I have been exploring local restaurants for the past six months. In St. Thomas, we have tried places like Bella Jack’s, Café Siam, Braxton’s, and Asuka Japanese Cuisine. We have really enjoyed all the food and flavours.
Tom Wilson may be most familiar to Canadians for his role in musical acts like Junkhouse, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, and LeE HARVeY OsMOND, but he is leaving his imprint now as a writer, too. His memoir, Beautiful Scars, was published in 2017 by DoubleDay Canada, and his frank style and evocative storytelling have drawn in scores of readers.
St. Thomas, Ontario, is a quirky place. Like any small town, the ‘Railway City’ retains a core network of families who have lived here for generations and feel connected to some of the early ideas and foundational myths and realities of the community.
Give credit to the St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce: in 2017, the organization took a leap to launch a new event called Meet the Makers, a single-day showcase designed to highlight all the people who make things in the community.
