Saturday September 29: We meet in Brighton in the morning at a park where we could leave our Buicks while we checked out the many vendors on the main street which was closed for the day. There was quite a collection of cars there, Buicks included and a lot of British cars too. They were invited especially because of the Queen's silver jubilee. There was also a vintage tractor collection in one parking lot.

The main street was packed with people. It was such a beautiful day. There were many different types of vending stalls set up, with some involved in the apple industry, such as apple pies, candy apples, apple cider, apple crisps all for sale at various prices. Of course, there were many other food vendors, hot dogs, hamburgers, bacon on a bun, sausage, French fries, cotton candy and so on. You could not go hungry.

Some of the group visited Proctor House Museum; a restored mansion built by a local business man in the 1850's and added to around 1869. This house is well worth a visit. They had great docents who had all the information about the families who lived there.

At 2:00 p.m. the parade started. It took half an hour to pass and including three marching bands, lots of cars, tractors, fire trucks, police vehicles and walkers.

Part of the festivities included an opportunity to purchase tickets to the "beef and pork BBQ" dinner, which solved the problem of where to eat on Saturday evening. After the parade, we all gathered at Harold and Verna's home for a social hour and a tour of Harold's shops and to see his extensive vintage radio collection. Would you believe he as over 4500 radios?

The dinner was held in the curling rink, (no ice in yet) and it was a busy place. We heard that they fed over 2,000 people. When we left there was still a long line up waiting for a place to sit down and eat.

Sunday September 30: We departed on our tour on scenic back roads to Stirling and "Farmtown Park", a collection of buildings filled with exhibits about the local area including the cheese industry, dairy farming, etc. plus a large collection of vintage farm tractors and other farm equipment. There was even a McLaughlin Carriage on display. There is one building set up as a village street with stores, a gas station, a bank and a church. This area can be rented for weddings and parties. We had a great volunteer guide, Jack Rushnell, and he gave us all the history about how Farmtown came to be. It was all done with volunteer work and donations from local people.

From there we headed over to the Ivanhoe Cheese factory store where most everyone purchased cheese. After the spending spree was over we mounted up the Buicks and headed for Madoc and our lunch stop at "Barley Pub and Eatery", a great spot. We had a private room and the service and food was very good. If you are in Madoc and hungry, this is the place to visit.

Thanks Harold and Verna for a great fall tour and thanks also to the members who took the time to drive to Brighton and area.

by Keith Horsfall and Rob Fraser