We trust the following information answers the set of questions regarding the nomination of The Rosy Rhubarb Festival Fund for "Outstanding Voluntarism" in the Awards for Rural Excellence Program.
The Rosy Rhubarb Festival committee members are a small group of citizens of Southwold interested in making our community a better place to live and have been working together as such since 1992.
The first objective back then was to have a new community centre built, something badly needed in our area. That project was successfully completed in 1998 with the opening of The Keystone Complex.
Funds for projects are raised in a number of ways.
First we hold our annual Rosy Rhubarb Festival the second week-end in June each year and money is raised at it through rental of spaces for vendors and campers, baking and craft auctions, sale of rhubarb sauce and commemorative festival postage stamps and donations from indvidual yard sales. Other organizations e.g. area church groups, the Optimists and Lions clubs, and I.O.O.F. have fund-raisers at the festival and donate a portion of their proceeds.
This year, the 12th year of our festival, was the most successful yet and cleared over $6,000.00.
We also have volunteers who work at local bingos and raise money for the fund.
We sell our two rhubarb cookbooks in local businesses throughout the year and sold over 100 during the last festival.
Over the past 12 years the Rosy Rhubarb Fund has raised over $322,000.00.
These proceeds have been used to help build our new Keystone Complex. This complex, which can accommodate up to 300 persons, is used for many community events: stag & does, wedding receptions, cooking classes, summer camps, exercise classes, area meetings and small conferences.
Southwold War Veterans Memorial Gardens has also been completed in front of the complex with a portion of these funds. Our Rememberance Day services at the complex have just been wonderful for our community and have honoured veterans from the area.
In fact 2 books have been published as a result of the Rememberance Day services - Southwold Remembers the War Years and Southwold Remembers No.4 Bombing and Gunnery School. A third book, Southwold Remembers the Fingal Observer, will be published in time for this year's Rememberance Day Service.
2 Family Memorial Trees have also been planted in our Keystone Memorial Forest.
Over the years the fund has donated over $5,000.00 to the Local Volunteer Fire.
Department for the purchase of new life-saving equipment, flashing green lights for volunteer cars and for their fire safety programme. The Fire Department also uses the complex rent-free for their fund-raising dance during the Rosy Rhubarb Festival.
The new picnic shelter on the grounds was a community project in which Rosy Rhubarb was deeply involved and assisted in the financing.
The Rosy Rhubarb Fund also helps sponsor local area sports teams and athletes.
Another present project is concrete curbing for the complex parking lot. In addition a percentage of the proceeds from bingos has been allocated to assist the township with the paving of the parking lot.
As special needs in our community arise Rosy Rhubarb is more than willing to help with any worthwhile projects.
Our group meets monthly year-round working on plans for the next year's festival, plus any other projects that need doing. The members work together and when need be we have lots of volunteer helpers that only seem too happy to help out in all kinds of ways.
Soccer team parents help at the Festival Sunday barbeque and the children learn the importance of voluntarism in their community. They seem to love to help put up signs and ride the clean-up wagon at the end of the festival.
And our slogan "It's our rhubarb sauce that made us famous" this year really did make us famous. Over the years the Rosy Rhubarb Festival has drawn visitors from not only Elgin County but as far away as Windsor and Toronto. This year much to the towns peoples' delight the festival made the newspapers big time. The Toronto Star sent a photogragher and a writer to cover the festival and a two page article about Shedden's rhubarb festival appeared in the June 14th Food Section. Then again in the Travel Section of the Star on June 26th, Shedden's town sign promoting itself as the Rhubarb Capital of Ontario and suggesting drivers "slow down and listen to the rhubarb grow" is mentioned in an article Capitalizing on the Odd Attraction.
The festival also has its own website www.rosyrhubarbfestival.com
For the last two years, to promote the festival and as a fund-raiser, a commemorative postage stamp, complete with first day cover, has been sold at the local Shedden post office. Even our postmaster is a volunteer! (Note the stamp attached to your envelope.)
With completion of the Keystone Complex the committee feels is is a great benefit both to the village of Shedden and the surrounding community of Southwold. Everyone is very proud of the building and its surrounding grounds, soccer fields, ball field, a spacious picnic shelter beautiful walkway and memorial forest and Southwold Veterans Memorial Gardens.