"Donna Ramsay (centre), this year's Salad Festival Queen, receives congratulations from the 1976 queen, Annette Grencer, as fellow contestant Nancy Bergeron (right) applauds. Donna, 18, was elected at the Salad Festival dance Saturday night in the Bradford community centre. She is the daughter of Don and Mary Ramsay of Concession 9, West Gwillimbury, and she plans a career in hotel management. The festival runs from Sunday, June 10, to Sunday, July 17."
"Former Bradford Fire Chief Ted Gapp received a present from West Gwillimbury Reeve Orville Hughes at Saturday's party. Gapp also served the township."
"West Gwillimbury Road Superintendent, Grenville Hughes, 68, resigned last week, after 14 years of service with the council staff. Reeve Orville Hughes accepted the resignation, thanked the road superintendent on behalf of the council for all his co-operation in the past and wished him a long and happy retirement. Councillor Bud Brown and Art Janse suggested council show appreciation of Mr. Hughes services over the years in some tangible way. This was agreed to by Reeve Hughes and Councillor Bob Sturgeon. Councillor Brown asked Mr. Hughes, whose resignation becomes effective on April 6, if he would be prepared to stay on for a short time until a replacement could be found, should this prove to be necessary. Clerk Don Wood told council that two or three applications for the job had already been received."
"The Auld Kirk, a historical church located at the Scotch Settlement will be the scene of an old time church service Sunday, June 22 at 3:00 p.m. The service is being jointly arranged by the Barrie Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church and the Simcoe Presbytery of the United Church. The Auld Kirk is on the 6th line of West Gwillimbury Township south of Highway 88 at the Scotch Settlement. The outdoor service will be led by Rev. Henry Dahlin, minister of Bond Head United Church and Chairman of the Simcoe Presbytery. Also participating in the service will be Rev. Ken Purdon, minister of Burton Ave. United Church in Barrie and Rev. Ed MacDonald, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Orillia and moderator of Barrie Presbytery. The guest preacher will be Rev. W. Stanford Reid, Professor of History at the University of Guelph. The Auld Kirk's beginnings go back to 1823 when a log church was built by the settlers of the Scotch Settlement. In 1827, a frame church was built and the original log building was moved and used as a school until 1840. The present Auld Kirk building was erected in 1869 at a cost of $1,000. Due to a dwindling population the church was closed in 1885 and for some years fell into disrepair. In 1912, it required a new roof. In 1953, the restoration of the cemetery was started and in 1958 restoration work began on the church."
Description : The West Gwillimbury History project (WEGWHIST for short) is gathering information and interest, pursuing the many aspects of Who, What, Where, When and How of the historic Township. The story begins about the time that the Township was surveyed in 1819, 183 years ago. The record-keeping of those days was not too detailed, but it is surprising the records that are available, and the story that they tell. All are welcome to come to the meeting and hear about WEGWHIST. A number of items need to be researched, such as old mills, post offices, meeting halls and fraternal societies. Pen, paper and an inquisitive mind will qualify you as a researcher.
"West Gwillimbury Reeve Orville Hughes is the Warden of Simcoe County for 1976. Mr. Hughes, 55, defeated Tecumseth Deputy Reeve Allan Glassford for the post, in an election during county council's 1976 inaugural session Monday. County Clerk George Watson opened nominations for the warden's post and five men were nominated for the post. That left Hughes and Mr. Glassford to run for the post. In a recorded vote, Hughes won handily over Glassford. He polled 45 votes o Glassford's 23. The newly-elected warden was then led to the dias by Midland Reeve Lionel Dion and Bradford Reeve Art Turner, the mover and seconder of his nomination."
"MPP Art Evans presented Sid Gapp with a portrait of the queen to be hung in the Gay Sixties senior citizens' rooms at the old St. Mary's school. Municipal officials from West Gwillimbury and Bradford, and representatives of provincial and county senior citizens organizations, were on hand Sunday when the Gay Sixties held their official ribbon cutting ceremony."
"Bradford Salad Festival organizer Leo Kleiss said yesterday that pre-sale of tickets for the festival are going well and he expects that very few will be left by the time the festival gets underway. Advertising and community bulletins should bring people from all over Southern Ontario and the estimate is that up to 15,000 people will attend. Area motels and hotels have been booked for the past two months. Last week the Bradford Rotary Club issued a challenge to the Bradford Lions Club to participate in what should be one of the funniest moments of the festival - donkey baseball. The Lions have accepted the challenge and the event will be staged Sunday, July 18. In addition, the Big A Amusements will be opening their variety of carnival rides and games on Tuesday, July 13 to run through until the following Sunday at 6 p.m. Tickets for all the events including the teen dance, salad feast and the baseball games can be purchased at the Festival office in the old Bank of Commerce building at the corner of Barrie and Holland St."
"The town of Bradford bulged at the seams last week as an estimated 20,000 people jammed into the community to make an unprecedented success of the annual Bradford Salad Festival. From last Wednesday night, through Sunday, every event scheduled by the Salad Festival Committee surpassed organizers' highest hopes. Visitors and residents alike consumed hundreds of pounds of fresh salad, sliced their way through a ton of beef, sipped on soft drinks and other refreshments, danced til the wee hours of the morning, and generally paid tribute to the greatest growing area in Ontario."
