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Features
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Celebrating the Seasons – Outdoor Festivals Article by Susan Stephen
Person of Note – Chief John Bigwin
In Muskoka, the changing of the seasons provides ample opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Winter, spring, summer or fall, outdoor festivals and events – from art shows to triathlons and cranberry harvesting to maple syrup – showcase the dynamic nature of Muskoka.
Article by J. Patrick Boyer Hereditary chief John Bigwin represented in words and symbols First Nation ways to non-Indigenous society during his long life. While he witnessed much Ojibwe land become today’s Simcoe and Victoria counties and the District of Muskoka, he lived in both Indigenous and settler worlds.
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Article by Bronwyn Boyer Photography by Josianne Masseau
Article by Bronwyn Boyer Photography by Josianne Masseau
From Heartbreak to Healing – Beverley Brewer
Author Beverley Brewer’s memoir Dance Into The Light is a candid and intimate account of Brewer’s experience of holding space for a close family member battling addiction and mental health issues.
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Creative Chemistry – Owl Light Ceramics
Having her own studio nestled in the wilds of Muskoka is a dream come true for Sue Hlywka and she’s still pinching herself. As a potter who likes to create functional work, Hlywka draws on her fascination with nature in her craft.
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Opinion
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Muskoka Insights
By Meghan Taylor
Muskoka's Elastic Borders
Article by J. Patrick Boyer
Muskoka’s borders are both natural and manmade. While some seem to be arbitrary delineations, shorelines and granite also played a role in defining boundaries. However, these boundaries have also shifted when required, or when forced, causing confusion in identity and classification.
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From an Artist's Perspective By Lori Knowles
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Muskoka Moments By Hannah Lin
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Regenerative Tourism
Article by Meghan Taylor
SPRING 2025
About more than just sustainability, regenerative tourism aims to inspire visitors to impact a destination positively. Traditional tourism focuses on finding exciting new destinations, while regenerative tourism is deeply connected to many aspects, including nature, culture and economy.
TANTALIZING DELICACIES Muskoka flavours are top-tier tasty
Departments
INSPIRED BY NATURE Functional Pottery with Natural Flair
Muskoka’s flexible boundaries shifting with the times
EXPLORING TOURISM - the next evolution
Our Cover Photograph by Tomasz Szumski Heather Glumac, founder of Muskoka Granola, stands behind and readily enjoys her products, especially because there are no ‘‘stupid’’ raisins.
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Article by Susan Stephen
Article by K.M. Wehrstein Photography by Tomasz Szumski
What’s Happened
The Town of Bracebridge prepares to mark its 150th anniversary and the Seguin Sled Dog Mail Run celebrates 40 years of “sledvelopes.” The Muskoka Maple Festival returns, community groups organize Easter egg hunts, and the District of Muskoka launches the Tariff Information Hub. The Muskoka Discovery Centre announces Artist Life Stories Speaker Series, Huntsville Festival of the Arts launches a pop-up concert series, and Bracebridge’s iconic silver bridge is closed for repairs.
Cottage Country Cuisine
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Bronwyn Boyer J. Patrick Boyer Tim Du Vernet Lori Knowles Hannah Lin Josianne Masseau Susan Stephen Tomasz Szumski K.M. Wehrstein Andy Zeltkalns Contributors Annual Subscription Rates: (including HST where applicable) In Ontario $30.00 All Other Provinces $36.00 HST: 773172721
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Muskoka Insights whether for geographical or political reasoning. Being inspired by the natural world, as contributor Bronwyn Boyer shares, potter Sue Hlywka creates functional items that reflect Muskoka – from shaping bowls with rocks to using pine needles or fern fronds as stamps to glazing pieces with colours derived from trees and rocks. Hlywka’s home studio for her Owl Light Ceramics has long been a dream that came true in 2020. Now, inspiration is right outside her door. In this edition, we also learn about Chief John Bigwin, a hereditary chief of the Ojibwe people who played an active role in Muskoka during its settlement, advocating for his people. Living to the age of almost 102, Chief Bigwin balanced existing in two worlds – settler and Indigenous. He honoured his heritage and beliefs while also engaging settlers with story-telling and attending community events. Products that are made in Muskoka are a point of local pride and the food-based companies highlighted in this edition’s Cottage Country Cuisine feature are no exception. Muskoka Springs has a long Muskoka history, over 150 years of it, which means many will recognize their Muskoka Dry Pale Ginger Ale starring in a cocktail recipe. Newer to the scene are Muskoka Granola and Muskoka Brand Gourmet Foods. However, both have rapidly built followings, thanks to flavourful, quality products. Spring is the season of renewal. Temperatures fluctuate, snow melts and slowly white is replaced by green. As we make this transition into a new season, take time to consider your own role in the present and the future. And maybe, take a moment to read the features in this edition of Unique Muskoka. You never know where they may take you! Happy reading! Photograph: MacKenzie Taylor
When going off the beaten track becomes the norm, what’s at risk? Adventuring and exploration are part of being human. We’re curious. We want to know more, and we want to find new places. That want or need to seek out the unexplored can be beneficial or detrimental, depending on the approach. In Muskoka, surrounded by wilderness – lakes, trees, granite – the urge to explore is intrinsic. But we have to consider the impacts we have by traipsing into the woods. We can no longer say we don’t know or understand the consequences of our actions. If we want to explore, we have to also plan to protect and conserve the land we call home. Globally, famed attractions and destinations are changing rules about how and when these places can be accessed. Stonehenge in England, the Acropolis in Athens, the city of Venice, as well as temples, pyramids, vast wildlife reserves and more are no longer freely available for anyone to access. Changes like this aim to prevent damage while also repairing what has been over-used. While we cannot prevent the passing of time and changes associated with it, we can preserve, protect and consciously adapt our own behaviours to ensure we’re sustaining, or even leaving things better than we found them. Nature can regenerate over time. We can also do our part to help Muskoka remain a beautiful, wild place. Perspective is important. Understanding things from another viewpoint can help to build relationships and inform action. This year, we’re adding a new column to the mix. Local author Lori Knowles shares her view of Muskoka in From an Artist’s Perspective. In each installment, Knowles will cover the trials and triumphs of living an artist’s life. In this edition, Knowles shares how art has the power to transport us somewhere familiar. Also, in this issue of Unique Muskoka, regular contributor Patrick Boyer gives a detailed look into Muskoka’s boundaries. During settlement, both manmade and natural boundaries were used to define the region. Over time, those boundaries have shifted,
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From an Artist’s Perspective Take Me Away
Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns
Article by Lori Knowles
Art has the ability to transport the viewer away from their every day to a different time or place. By word, by image and more, Muskoka’s artists are inspired by the landscape and graciously share aspects of the world, through their eyes.
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I was one of those who left and came back. At age 18 I’d never have guessed I’d come to live in Muskoka again. But you can’t take Muskoka out of a girl any more than you can take country out of a cowboy, so here I am in midlife, back again. And one of the best parts about being back is getting to know Muskoka artists. Among the first I met upon my return was a wildlife and landscape painter called Wendie Donabie. She settled here in the second half of her life after a first half that was peripatetic. “I think Muskoka chose me rather than the other way around,” Donabie says of the place that’s finally claimed her. “Muskoka exudes a powerful energy, a magnetism
Photograph: Andy
Somewhere I’ve been, the doctor’s or the dentist’s office, I’ve passed a surrealist painting of a woman on a dock in early morning, her two feet dangling in still water. Something in her stillness makes me think of myself as I often am – alone in the soft light of dawn, with sparkles on water, and sounds of waves gently lapping. For a second I’m there, on that dock somewhere in Muskoka. The thought that comes to me amid the bustle of the doctor’s office: This is a skill, a remarkable skill, this ability to transport me away. Recently I’ve had the luck and privilege to get to know people who can do this for me. Like many beautiful places, Muskoka attracts and traps artists – woodworkers, potters, painters, actors, and writers like me. Some were born here, some retired here, some never left, and some came back after time elsewhere. Maybe it’s the rock, or the blue water, or the green of the trees. Or maybe it’s the snow, I don’t know. Whatever it is that’s drawing them here, they feel a need to draw the place back for me – to show me what they see. As a writer I’ve spent a lifetime trying to render Muskoka with words. I’m guessing it’s the same for sketchers and photographers, jewellers and furniture makers. See? I imagine them saying. See how magical this place is? See?
created by the natural terrain. Inspiration exists everywhere.” Donabie’s website quotes a French film director, Robert Bresson, who once advised artists to “make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen.” Hmmm, I’m thinking, that explains things. Here in Muskoka, Donabie paints simple, natural landscapes: pine needles blanketing rock or a crocus popping up in early spring. As Muskokans we see these natural scenes every day, but do we really see them? It’s a question Donabie is exploring. I imagine for her, the pine needles are like Horton’s Whos: “We are here, we are here, we are here!” It’s Donabie’s job to make them seen. I come from a family of pilots and what astounds me most when I fly with them is the vastness of Muskoka’s lakes. There’s more water than land – more blue than green – at least as it appears to me from up high. Which may explain why a second artist I’ve come to know, a photographer called Andy Zeltkalns, is embracing drone photography. “I search for unique perspectives,” Zeltkalns shares. “Capturing photos with a drone, with its unique bird’s-eye view, has opened up many new possibilities.” From snow-laden landscapes to shimmery patterns created by light on water, “the perspective from above,” Zeltkalns says, “can be truly stunning.” This perspective, this artist’s perspective, is not one most of us get to witness every day. Here in my office on a dark February day, gazing at Zetlkalns’ images – well, again, I’m transported away. See? I imagine him saying. See how magical this place is? See?
Lori Knowles is a journalist and author of Summers with Miss Elizabeth, a Muskoka novel. In this column, From an Artist’s Perspective, Lori explores what it’s like to live and work as an artist in Muskoka. www.loriknowles.com @loriknowles_author
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Chief John Bigwin PERSON OF NOTE
Article by J. Patrick Boyer
H
Photograph: Muskoka Heritage Place Collection, Huntsville, Ontario
seemed to be ereditary unowned as their chief own, signing treaties John and introducing Bigwin, pillar of reserves, poorer land his Lake on which to shunt Couchiching First Nations to the community at margins. Joseph Rama, was also Bigwind, Chief home in Muskoka, Musquakie, and his people’s John Bigwin all hunting ground. signed treaties to Living with the accommodate the land, Ojibwe new realities. Over women picked his lifetime, John medicinal plants witnessed most and berries while Ojibwe land families summering become today’s at Trading Lake Simcoe and Victoria (Lake of Bays) counties and the raised vegetables District of around Cedar Muskoka. Narrows (Dorset). Chief John John grew potatoes Bigwin defended on Bigwin Island the rights of Ojibwe until a control dam families whenever at Baysville raised Chief John Bigwin, a magnetic feature at Muskoka community events, was joined at this 1920s they were infringed the lake five feet Huntsville celebration by a daring dandy, seemingly one of the aristocratic British remittance men on by settlers or and flooded out his scattered around the district, who craved a picture of himself with an Indigenous person. Others, less governments. spud patches. bold, cannot take their eyes off the Ojibwe chieftain. Seemingly They peeled name, Chief Joseph Bigwind, though inseparable from his headdress, buckskin bark from large birch trees to make canoes, known as Bigwin, a version of the name he clothing and beadwork, he represented in baskets and vessels for holding liquids. used. As the burial place of his father, the words and symbols First Nation ways to Other peoples, without the high-quality ground was hallowed. non-Indigenous society. Alongside Rama’s bark, traded for coveted scrolls of it. With The first non-Indigenous traders who elected chief and council members handling two trading posts, the lake was a place of came to Muskoka in the 1840s were day-to-day government, he provided a meeting, sharing and living in a good way. Especially, Muskoka was a spiritual realm. sustained by Ojibwe food. Then more came, potent symbolic connection to Anishinaabeg exploring and settling. Encroaching upon traditions, declaring “I will always fight for John cherished its water, rocky hills, and Ojibwe territory, foreigners claimed what justice for my people.” forests. The largest island bore his father’s
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Photograph: Muskoka Heritage Place Collection, Huntsville, Ontario
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Ever observant Chief John Bigwin, here with Union Jack and war club, closely watches the action. Chief Bigwin filled his time on earth in such vital ways that his place in Muskoka heritage endures to this day. On festive occasions in Orillia, Bracebridge and Huntsville, settlers thrilled to glimpse his ceremonial drum-dance and feather headdress. The chief knew his appearance, in Muskoka’s period of Indian Tourism, provided an entrée to nonIndigenous folk. But he was no actor sent from Central Casting. Chief Bigwin used these openings to tell stories and “teach people well.” When events demanded it, he deployed his authentic presence for maximum impact. In 1938, the centenarian in full regalia appeared in an Orillia courtroom to defend members of his community against charges of unlawful fishing. Holding up a parchment bearing regal signature, he read aloud its guarantee that his people could hunt and fish “for as long as the grass grows and the river flows.” In the hushed chamber, looking gravely into the judge’s eyes, John Bigwin solemnly asserted, “You must not harm my children.” The charges were dismissed. In Bracebridge, Chief Bigwin sat in full
regalia below the falls or near the library, a self-scheduling attraction, recounting “Indian stories” for tourists and wide-eyed children. Twice he travelled to Ottawa to urge Prime Minister Mackenzie King to uphold treaty rights. Royals were entranced by Chief Bigwin, who accompanied Prince Edward from Gravenhurst’s train station when the future king visited Muskoka. In 1938, he greeted Lord Tweedsmuir when the Governor General retraced Samuel Champlain’s 1615 route down the TrentSevern waterway. In 1939, the King and Queen saw him as their royal tour train stopped at Washago. John Bigwin, like his people, had to live in both Indigenous and settler worlds. He and Huntsville industrialist C.O. Shaw would spend days together, talking and walking Bigwin Island. When Shaw bought the island and built Muskoka’s most prestigious summer resort, Bigwin Inn had Indigenous motifs throughout. Shaw promised John land with his ancestors for his own burial.
Photograph: Doug Cunningham Collection
Bigwin outlived both of his wives and their children. Following his death in 1940, the chief ’s remains were not brought to his Muskoka home for burial as planned but interred instead in an Orillia cemetery. By living for more than a century after his 1838 birth, Bigwin filled his time on earth – 1,223 moons, as measured by those to whom he was patriarch; to settler society, a month shy of 102 years – in such vital ways that his place in Muskoka heritage endures to this day. For years he’d canoed from Lake Couchiching up the arduous Black River to Trading Lake, where he bartered furs and hides himself. He’d acquire some en route, from settlers at places like Vankoughnet, where he ate supper in the Boyes family’s home. Offered a bedroom for the night, the chief declined. “I will sleep outdoors.” John Bigwin would not be confined. He would study the stars, feel the breeze against his face, inhale Muskoka woodland scents and remain grounded in who he truly was.
Chief John Bigwin in his regalia, with headdress a comfortable combination of fedora and eagle feathers. Chief Bigwin was an active public figure throughout the region, and beyond, attending political and even royal events in full regalia, in addition to sharing stories with travellers.
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I
t seems Beverley Brewer was destined to be a writer, given the remarkable insights she shares in her memoir, Dance Into The Light. As a child, Brewer loved playing under tree canopies in the ravines of her Toronto neighbourhoods. And having a family cottage in Muskoka gave her an urban-rural existence that shaped her creative intellect. In 2020, Brewer retired to Muskoka, seeking a sanctuary from a torrent of upheaval.
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In her memoir, Dance Into the Light, Beverley Brewer candidly shares her own experience navigating a close family member’s addiction and mental health issues, as well as how she handled the trauma of her younger sister’s suicide.
“I feel like I've transitioned to being very much a Muskoka person,” she says. “In my heart of hearts, I always knew that I was going to live here.” After completing programs at Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology and Brock University for Adult Education, Brewer thrived in her career as an educator and social worker. She later enrolled at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and acquired a Master of Education degree. It was there she studied “narrative inquiry and personal
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experience,” which sparked a natural transition into writing. Muskoka was not just a pretty place to retire for Brewer – it was medicine. “My husband was going through serious health issues and is still recovering from lung cancer,” Brewer explains. “We would huddle in our small cottage in front of the wood stove and he could recover from his chemo treatments and I could catch my breath as his caretaker. At the same time, I was trying to help my sister find a different path than the one she was heading down.”
Dance Into The Light is the manifestation of this journey, a candid account of the experience of holding space for a close family member battling addiction and mental health issues. In the memoir, Brewer gives readers an intimate view of how she handled the trauma of finding her younger sister Jacquelin after she had committed suicide. As the title suggests, it’s through the therapeutic writing process that Brewer is able to move from heartbreak to healing. From the sanctuary she found in Muskoka, Brewer worked closely with her
therapist to bring the memoir to fruition in a way that was beneficial; not only to the writer and the narrative but also to an audience that could benefit from the work. “Using nature in both my writing and my grief work really helped me,” shares Brewer. “Especially being in water. I do a lot of kayaking because it helps me let go of frustrations that I'm carrying around and that’s when new ideas come to me. And I’m inspired by the way there’s always something different to notice about water when you look at it from one moment to
the next.” Another essential ingredient in Brewer’s creative process is being part of various writing communities in Toronto and Muskoka. It was through her involvement with the library groups in Gravenhurst, Bracebridge and Baysville, she was introduced to the Muskoka Authors’ Association (MAA). “Sharing your writing is really putting yourself out there,” Brewers says. “But this community has been so welcoming, and it felt really safe to do that here. At that time,
my dad’s health was failing, my mom had just died, my husband was battling cancer, and my sister was struggling. But I didn't talk about any of that. It was just a safe place to leave my troubles behind and just be a writer.” Brewer also credits her recovery to first responders and Victim Services in Toronto. “When I found that my sister took her life and called 911, the first responders were wonderful,” Brewer recalls. “A few days later, a woman from Victim Services called me. She really let me be vulnerable and
Spring 2025 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 19
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normalized what I was going through. She also told me about the Toronto Distress Centre and highly recommended that I go there, which was a program for suicide loss survivors. This is when I first really started working through my trauma.” During this critical time, Brewer also started seeing a cognitive behavioural therapist. Around her third or fourth session, she felt strongly that she needed to write about her experience. Her therapist agreed and added there is a need for more stories from the family perspective. Brewer wisely took another year or so before she felt ready to tackle the project. “I followed my intuition about knowing when it was time,” Brewer says. “It wasn't about going through the trauma again but to talk about mental illness in the family and finding hope after death. It’s the teacher in me – I guess in some way I was still wanting to teach and share.” If there’s a cohesive message behind Dance Into The Light, it’s that vulnerability is constructive and keeping secrets is destructive. “We don't have to be stoic about this stuff,” Brewer explains. “I think the reason why some people find the book a little bit hard to read is because I don't anything hold back. I really showed my vulnerability on the page, which can be difficult for some, even though it's not all sad. Mostly it's about love and hope. My sister was a funny person, quite sarcastic. So that's in there, too. But it’s messy because the story of grief can’t be told in sequence – it’s all over the place.” As a life-long educator, Brewer teaches herself and others, the various ways writing can be therapeutic. The book she’s currently editing, No One Knew, is the fictional story that gave her relief from the real-life story she was living in Dance Into The Light. “I was writing No One Knew while my sister was acting out,” recalls Brewer. “And I escaped into that book. I liked my characters and I enjoyed creating them. It was a sanctuary for me, like the cottage, because it was my own drama.” The courage it took to publish Dance Into The Light was well worth mustering for Brewer. “It was very healing,” she says. “I was dwelling in it but in a constructive way. I was able to take myself out of the story and
Beverley Brewer worked closely with her therapist when writing Dance Into the Light, not only for her own benefit but also to ensure the audience could benefit from her own journey from heartbreak to healing.
Author Profile Bev Brewer
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analyze my own experience from the outside. Also, I felt like I got to be with my sister a little bit longer because as I was researching our story through my journals, she came alive again.” Starting this spring, Brewer will be reading in the Tall Pine Tales series offered by the Muskoka Authors Association. Look for her at the Gravenhurst Library June 24 at 6:30pm, Baysville Library on July 30 at 7pm, Bracebridge Library on September 20 at 1pm, and Huntsville Library on October 16 at 6pm.
A member of several local writing groups and a life-long educator, Beverley Brewer teaches herself and others the various ways writing can be therapeutic.
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Outdoor Festivals
Snow tubing and night skating are just a few of the engaging winter activities that make the most of the cold and snowy season. Outdoor festivals in the winter offer a range of activities to keep you warm, whether you’re skating or enjoying s’mores around a bonfire.
Article by Susan Stephen
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uskoka may be best known as a summer destination for enjoyment of its lakes and rivers. However, all four seasons in Muskoka have their turns as opportunities to explore and enjoy the region. Local businesses and development organizations, and the dedicated individuals who work for them, have diligently worked to expand the offerings for those who visit, cottage and live in Muskoka. Organizations throughout the district, such as chambers of commerce, service clubs, business improvement organizations and economic development groups often join together to launch and continue outdoor events that highlight Muskoka’s natural beauty and fun in every season. Muskoka’s four seasons may overlap and blend as they transition from one to
another. Outdoor events often mark either the peak of a season or the start of a new one. Summer is the definitive time to “get outside” but it’s no longer the only one. Muskoka’s event calendar has filled up, offering festivals, events, concerts and performances at any time of year. Often more than just a single experience, outdoor festivals in Muskoka can be a chance to try new activities, for kids and adults. You’ve never seen a cranberry bog? Muskoka has that. Want to try snow tubing for the first time? You can do that too. You haven’t tasted maple taffy made on snow? That’s right, you can try it here. Whether you’re experiencing something for the first time or it’s an annual tradition, outdoor festivals and events demonstrate the dynamic nature of Muskoka’s entertainment, arts and hospitality industries. Whether an event is based on a
holiday, a tradition or the time of year, Muskoka events are one-of-a-kind. Are you ready to fill your calendar?
Winter
Winter festivals throughout the region, such as Bracebridge’s Fire and Ice Festival, Port Carling Winterfest, Dorset’s Snowball Winter Carnival, Gravenhurst Winter Carnival and Huntsville Snowfest, make the most of the cold. Winter events can mean all kinds of weather – snow, wind, ice, cold and even sunshine. Whatever the weather is doing outside, as long as you’re bundled up, festivities can help keep you warm. From night skating to outdoor games to sliding down a tube hill on main street, winter is no longer just a time to hibernate.
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Spring
Photograph: Josianne Masseau
Maple taffy, made by pouring warm maple syrup on cold snow is a specialty as the spring weather ramps up maple syrup production.
In Muskoka, spring can bring any mixture of weather – a late snowstorm is just as possible as rain or sun. As the snow recedes and the ground thaws, the tradition of maple syrup making takes centre stage. The Muskoka Maple Trail and Muskoka Maple Festival celebrate the sweetness of spring. While maple is at the forefront, there’s much more. Spring art shows, Easter egg hunts, and even the first farmer’s markets of the year take place before summer officially begins. Outdoor athletic events also begin to take off in spring, including the Spin the Lakes cycling tour, that challenges riders with various routes in Muskoka’s scenic landscape. Similarly, as the weather warms, craft beer and food events start to line up as Victoria Day weekend approaches.
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Visiting sugar shacks, maple syrup operations and other locations along the Muskoka Maple Trail each spring can give an appreciation for the effort it takes to produce the delightful, sweet syrup.
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Photograph: Josianne Masseau
Outdoor festivals, whether in a park or on a closed main street, give attendees the chance to explore businesses and activities they otherwise would not come across. Summer art festivals, like Nuit Blanche North in Huntsville, are an incredible way to enjoy the season.
Summer
not, seeing historic boats in the water is incredible. Sunshine, fresh air and warm nights also lead to outdoor art, with events like Baysville Arts and Crafts Festival, Nuit Blanche North, and Muskoka Arts & Crafts Summer Show, to name a few. While so many artists draw inspiration from Muskoka’s landscape, summer events connect directly to that creativity.
Photograph: Tim Du Vernet
Photograph: Josianne Masseau
Sweet summer events range from concerts and music festivals in open-air amphitheatres, like Muskoka Chautauqua, Muskoka Music Festival and Tall Pines Music and Arts Festival, to triathlons, marathons, duathalons and fun runs that explore Muskoka’s roads
and waterways. Summer regattas and boat shows, like the Muskoka Boat and Cottage Show, Rotary Dockfest, Muskoka Lakes Association Antique Boat Show, the Antique and Classic Boat Society’s Summer Vintage Boat Show, commemorate Muskoka’s boating past and present. Cruising the lakes is an iconic summer activity and, whether you’ve done it before or
Summer boat shows at docks across Muskoka provide visitors the chance to see history in the water. Vintage and antique boats, as well as newer watercraft, seen in the water are a fan-favourite summer sight.
Photograph: Josianne Masseau
While outdoor dining in Muskoka is always an option on patios at local eateries, food at outdoor festivals is often curated to match the theme of the festival or can even be the focus of the event.
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Photograph: Josianne Masseau
The annual Bala Cranberry Festival is a must-attend event. The street festival of vendors and the cranberry harvest itself are unique events to Muskoka that mark the fall season.
Fall
Photograph: Tomasz Szumski
Fall fairs and pumpkin festivals are love letters to agriculture and the bounty of a good summer season; a celebration before the cold sets in.
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As the days get shorter, the temperatures begin to drop and the trees start to change their colours, fall festivals celebrate both the end of summer and the preparation of the harvest for the winter. Rosseau Pumpkin Festival and Bala Cranberry Festival bring fall harvest to the forefront, highlighting foods and activities that peak during the season. While both events came to be thanks to their respective food items, their expansion celebrates the culmination of a fruitful summer. Fall fairs take place in every community in the region to honour agriculture and the importance it plays in our lives, historically and today. What could be seen as a last hurrah before the snow flies is also a peak time to enjoy outdoor activities, sans snow. Whatever the season, whether you have a favourite or not, Muskoka is filled with exciting opportunities to enjoy each one. Local or visitor, prepare to have a good time, at any time of the year.
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Article by Bronwyn Boyer / Photography by Josianne Masseau
S
ue Hlywka named her pottery studio Owl Light Ceramics in honour of the moody colors of twilight and her love of owls. “Owlight” or “owl’s light” is a literary term first used in the 1500s to describe the darkening light of dusk, when the owls would become active. Having her own studio nestled in the wilds of Muskoka is a dream come true for Hlywka and she’s still pinching herself. After growing
32 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2025
up at a campground her father built on Kukagami Lake in Sudbury, Ontario, the wilderness feels like home. “The camp is about 20 miles from the highway and, back then, there wasn’t even a road,” Hlywka recalls. “In the wintertime, we would get there by snowmobile. My dad would tuck us into a little sled he built for it. We had no electricity or running water, just propane and a pump to get water from the lake. It was really
Sue Hlywka thinks of herself as a potter more than a ceramics artist because of the functionality of her work. She also credits nature for the artistic aspect of her designs, because it’s her biggest inspiration. awesome in the summers and it’s where my love of nature and the outdoors came from.” Hlywka’s fascination with the natural world inspired her to study wildlife biology at university. From there, she worked for a nonprofit organization called Scientists in School, which operates across Canada teaching workshops in science, engineering and technology, with a focus on environmental stewardship. When she got married,
she moved to the United States, where her husband attended grad school. They moved to Guelph for a period of time and then back to the U.S., bouncing between Minneapolis and Chicago. Hlywka worked for the U.S. Forest Service for a while, then did volunteer work teaching English as a Second Language to adult immigrants. As rewarding as she found that work, Hlywka craved a creative outlet. “I’ve always wanted to try pottery,” she shares. “My son had
Spring 2025 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 33
Sue Hlywka has always dreamed of having a pottery studio in the woods. She and her husband relocated to Huntsville in 2020, settling in just before the pandemic, and she now makes pottery full time in her own studio. done pottery in high school when we lived in Minneapolis and he was bringing home these beautiful pieces and it made me really want to try it myself.” When she moved back to Chicago,
Hlywka enrolled in classes at a studio called The Pot Shop, where she was instructed by Dominic Mosca. “I just fell in love with the process,” she recalls. “I loved the feel of the clay and how it can be shaped into whatever
you want it to be and the creative component of that. And I liked the practical component too – the self-sufficiency of making pieces that can be used every day.” Although ceramic arts are a common
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Ceramic arts require commitment and discipline, as working with the materials is challenging to learn. Initially inspired by her son’s high school pottery creations, Sue Hlywka took classes and fell in love with the process, shaping the clay into whatever she wanted it to be.
Spring 2025 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 35
“hobby” type craft offered by schools and community workshops, it’s a skill that requires a lot of commitment and discipline. “I didn't realize it would be as challenging as it was,” says Hlywka. “It took me a year to get consistent with centring the clay on the wheel. It was quite a while before I started making pieces. And I’m amazed at how different those pieces are from what I’m making now – it takes a lot of practice.” Moving to Huntsville in 2020 meant Hlywka was cut adrift, as the closest potter’s guild is in North Bay. “When I belonged to Dominic’s studio, I paid a studio fee and could use his glazes and films and he would do all the firing,” she explains. “Since we moved to Huntsville, I’ve had to teach myself to mix glazes. I had a wheel, but I’d never fired anything myself. My husband and I built a little shed on our property so I’d have a studio and I took online courses in mixing glazes. It’s still a work in progress but I enjoyed learning about the chemical formulations of mixing glazes. I feel so lucky that I can do it all on my own now.” Hlywka is also grateful for her study in wildlife biology, which gave her the foundation for understanding glazes. “While I loved the biology side of it,” she says. “I didn't love the chemistry and the physics part. But it proved useful all these years later learning to mix glazes.” And after living in cities for so long, Hlywka and her husband were ready to get back to the woods. Muskoka was already familiar from visiting relatives in Huntsville and its proximity to Toronto was an advantage when Hlywka’s husband has to travel for his job as a food toxicologist. Their move couldn’t have been timed better, as they had just settled in when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “I had always dreamed of having a pottery studio in the woods,” says Hlywka. “It just so happened that the dream got fast-tracked because the isolation forced me to make pottery full time. So, here I am, living
36 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2025
After pieces are formed on the wheel, they must dry for a couple days. Then they’re trimmed and handles or extra pieces are attached. Then they’re fired, then glazed, then fired again. A finished product takes at least three weeks to produce. my dream.” As an observer and an introvert, being immersed in nature and honouring her creative spirit is the life Hlywka was destined for. She thinks of herself as a potter more than a ceramics artist because of the functionality of her work. And she credits nature for the artistic aspect of her designs, because it’s her biggest inspiration. “As a child, my dad was always creating things,” she recalls. “He'd find a growth on a tree and make something out of it, like a planter or a bookend. He was always making things that were creative and functional, so that must be where I got it from.” Hlywka gets design ideas everywhere she looks when she’s immersed in the wilderness. The imprint from a fern frond can look like a tree, and countless designs
cutline
can be made from pine needles. She also makes what she calls “rock bowls,” which are bowls shaped from rocks she’s collected. “There are so many great shapes rocks can make,” she explains. “And they have so many varieties of colour in them. I have been formulating my glazes actually to try and mimic them. I have a glaze that I call ‘lichen’ because it reminds me of lichen. I also have one I call ‘the aurora glaze’ created from overlapping colours, that looks like the aurora borealis.” Hlywka is very intentional when it comes to her craft. She’s not a fast “production potter” that can produce a high
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quantity of pieces at a time. While she’s in awe of those potters, her studio is small and geared towards perfecting a smaller quantity. If she spends all day working, she can produce about 20 pieces. Part of what slows her down is she carefully weighs her clay and meticulously perfects the art of glaze mixing. After the pieces are formed, they have to dry for a couple days, then they’re trimmed, and that’s when handles and extra pieces go on. Then they’re fired again, then glazed, then fired again. Overall, it takes her a minimum of three weeks to produce the finished product. While Hlywka enjoys the artful and scientific process of creating her pieces, she finds the business aspect challenging. “I struggle figuring out what to charge because that aspect of it is not my M.O. at all,” she shares. “But I love that it connects me with people in the community and people who buy my pieces. I love the thought that someone is enjoying something that I created. That satisfying human connection is how I define success.” Making glazes is perhaps the most exciting part of the process for Hlywka. “It’s like Christmas morning when it’s time to see how it turned
Sue Hlywka’s studies in wildlife biology also gave her the foundation for understanding glazes. While chemistry and physics were not her favourite part of her studies, the knowledge has proved useful in learning to mix her own glazes. out,” she says. “Sometimes it doesn’t turn out anything like I expected, which is always interesting.” Hlywka tries her glazes on a variety of clay “test bodies” to see how they’ll look. If she runs low on a glaze, she needs to formulate it carefully before making a full new batch. “It takes some trial and error,” she says. “Some of them don't work very well with certain clays, so it takes a while to get one that works and then be able to reproduce it. Consistency is really important to me. Working with the clay is the creative
right-brain part and the glaze is the analytical left-brain part and I love having that balance.” Pottery is certainly about balance for Hlywka. “It's actually quite therapeutic for me,” she shares. “That’s why I like to go at my own pace. It’s a creative outlet and a meditation at the same time. I retreat into my studio, put music on, or just listen to the birds. It feeds my soul.” Locally, Hlywka’s finished pieces can be found at Cole’s Art Market or Muskoka Tea Company in Huntsville, Algonquin Art Centre in Algonquin Park and Kala House of Colour in Bracebridge. Her studio in the woods is a place for peace and creative chemistry.
Sue Hlywka’s fascination with the natural world inspired her to study wildlife biology at university. That love of nature continues to come through in her pottery, stamping images of trees, ferns or pine needles into her work. 38 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2025
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Photograph: Boyer Family Archives
Muskoka's Elastic Borders
By mid-20th century, northern district Muskoka was fully laid out in 21 townships (Humphrey Township now with Parry Sound District), its heavily marked border suggesting an intent that, now complete, it would remain this way forever.
Article by J. Patrick Boyer
L
ooking at a map of Muskoka you can see its borders have not changed for a century and a half. Well, changed slightly but not so anybody today notices. Pioneering homesteaders in the district’s northwest faced an arduous journey south to Bracebridge to register their free grant lot of land, so Humphrey Township was transferred temporarily to Parry Sound District, its conveniently closer Crown Land Office available for legal niceties. Like many temporary arrange-
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ments, Humphrey has since remained firmly welded to Parry Sound District. A second change, at Muskoka’s northeast corner, resulted from expansion of Algonquin Park when a preference for straight boundary lines bisected unorganized Finlayson Township, its eastern half in the park, the western half in limbo. When Muskoka’s internal municipal boundaries were revamped in 1970, the orphaned half of Finlayson, still unorganized for municipal government, was quietly fixed to the District.
Except for those two tweaks, losing one township but gaining half of another, Muskoka’s territorial outline has remained intact since the 1860s. Muskoka’s borders are both natural and manmade. The western boundary, Georgian Bay’s shoreline, offers a natural edge. The district’s southern boundary, the Severn River, is also a recognizable natural boundary. However, to the east and north, where the unbroken landscape just keeps on rolling, provincial officials drew two lines across a map, inventing divisions
you’ve left Muskoka and entered its twin district. If seen from above, whether by bird, aircraft or satellite camera in outer space, Muskoka spreads seamlessly east and north and even south of the Severn, unrecognizable as a mapped block because it is an integral part of a larger contiguous zone. Across the district at groundlevel, frogs and otters and moose are as much at home in these woodland swamps as they’d be in the wetlands of Haliburton, Parry Sound or the continuing Canadian Shield territory beyond. On February 28, 1868, these geographic boundaries for Muskoka were formally enacted by Ontario’s legislature when also setting borders for Parry Sound and Nipissing, all three as
northern Ontario districts. It was a step to open the northlands for logging and farming, and to populate the region with a large number of Euro-Canadian settlers. The action was to prevent Americans from moving into “empty land” across the Great Lakes, fearing another invasion because Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Seward, promoting the Manifest Destiny doctrine that all North America be part of the United States, aggressively championed Canada’s annexation. It was no simple thing to orchestrate all this. In the 1850s, the province had already allowed logging to begin in south Muskoka, while settlers were claiming land as squatters, with little local administration and no control. The three districts
Photograph: Library & Archives Canada
where nature herself imposed none. One artificial break indicated where Muskoka stopped and Haliburton began, the second where Muskoka and Parry Sound districts split from one another. These two arbitrary borders present the same tussle with Canadian Shield physicality surveyors encountered laying out Muskoka’s internal grid with many irregular property lines. Early Muskoka councils appointed lot line inspectors and refereed disputes between neighbours. Rough terrain boundaries proved fungible in nature then and today still confound many real estate transactions. When driving Highway 11 north from Huntsville or the roads around Rosseau, it’s hard to tell from the terrain where
This 1836 commercially published map of Upper Canada, showing the Muskoka area empty, marked an intermediate point between Euro-Canadians knowing nothing and knowing everything about the northland interior. Near the top of the map “Mississagua” designates Ojibwe lands.
Spring 2025 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 41
Photograph: Ontario Archives
This 1861 map by Thomas Devine shows some northern townships outlined and named, with internal surveying of lots complete in Morrison and Macaulay townships while still in progress for Muskoka and Draper townships, with similar states of advance in seamlessly connected Simcoe and Victoria counties.
Photograph: Ontario Archives
had to be surveyed, challenging work that boundaries vanish. Early “united townships” continued for decades. Despite the urgent need included Draper-Macaulay-Stephenson-Ryde, for municipal government, Cardwell-Watt, MorrisonMuskoka’s embr yonic Muskoka, and McLean-Ridout townships remained – ten minimally populated northern extensions of townships become four. Victoria County and Simcoe Reeves in east Muskoka District for most purposes, travelled to Lindsay for Victoria townships in Muskoka’s council meetings, those from eastern half part of Victoria, the west down to Barrie for in the western half, with Simcoe council. The provincial S i m c o e . Po l i t i c a l l y, government believed this Muskoka’s internal borders In 1852, William Lyon Mackenzie doubled-up role provided life introduced an urgent motion the were porous. support for infant Muskoka assembly approved calling on the To form any municipal townships but required reeves structure at all, scattered Governor General to order “an to preside over their own homesteaders improvised a immediate survey of the lands township’s council meetings between Georgian Bay and the frontier solution by and participate in Victoria or Ottawa River with a view to their combining lightly settled immediate settlement.” David Simcoe councils, too. Expected t ow n s h i p s u n t i l t h e i r Thompson (pictured above) was to share information between population reached the commissioned by the legislature elected representatives of Municipal Corporations Act 15 years earlier, and his survey Simcoe, Victoria, and went unmentioned in the debate. threshold to become a Muskoka, few councillors in “township municipality” the larger centres cared about whose residents could elect one council serving what was going on in the bush to their north them all, effectively making their township and remained attentive to their own electors’
42 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2025
needs. Not until 1888 did the province elevate Muskoka to provisional district status, severing the cord with Simcoe and Victoria after 20 years. This upgraded Muskoka townships so they could develop and allowed district reeves to focus on doing so, no longer having to sacrifice time and travel to be a phantom presence elsewhere. It took decades for the three districts to come into their own and establish viable operations within their boundaries. Muskoka was either sliced and parts grafted or kept whole and joined entirely, to neighbouring jurisdictions north, east, or south. This began when the district was combined with Parry Sound to elect a representative in the House of Commons, as is again the case today for both federal and provincial elections. Muskoka and Parry Sound also formed a single district for administration of justice. Initially, Muskoka was joined with counties to the south, too, for land registration. With time, each district enjoyed good runs as self-governing entities, with Muskoka in particular reaching its zenith by the 1950s as a fully-functioning, free-standing, and publicly
Photograph: Drawing by Charles William Jeffreys / Library & Archives Canada
The legislature voted to have the north country surveyed in 1837, commissioning legendary David Thompson, pictured here mapping Western Canada, to explore and map Muskoka. He did and recommended differentiating arable from infertile land before homesteaders came.
Photograph: Ontario Archives
recognized place with a distinct identity. In Community Services, he, his staff and councillors 1955, when Robert Boyer was elected Muskoka’s interacted with surrounding jurisdictions in the MPP, it was the first time the district stood on same region as the district and liaised with its own as an electoral district. regional headquarters. To begin, North Bay was But then, especially through the 1970s and headquarters because Muskoka was in a regional since, Muskoka’s boundaries again turned to unit of northern districts. Then headquarters jurisdictional rubber as the was Toronto because someone provincial government, in the provincial government deeming lines on a map reassigned Muskoka to a group artificial and irrelevant, of counties all the way south stretched the district to fit to Lake Ontario. Next, Queen’s into aggregated groups. Park again reunited Muskoka Queen’s Park joined Muskoka with the north, but now to Simcoe and Haliburton headquarters was Sudbury. counties and Parry Sound That one example reveals District for more and more the problem when public purposes such as extraterritorial operation of Philip VanKoughnet, commissioner education, health services, local affairs is multiplied across of Crown Lands and Indian affairs medical programs, social and from 1858 to 1862, drove t h e e n t i re s p e c t r u m o f family services and economic development of northern and government, ministry by incentive programs. Muskoka unsettled parts of the province, ministry. Rotation of varying had not moved but being including Muskoka, by ordering a partners creates paralysis in stretched in so many different colonization road survey from daily work and decisiono p e r a t i o n a l a n d eastern Ontario (the Peterson making. Muskoka councillors Road). He named Oakley Township’s administrative directions, its and staff must establish village of Vankoughnet for his boundary lines on the map, working relationships with family. with little enduring relevance, hosts of different counterparts effectively vanished. in separate silos of government amidst changing When Ian Turnbull of Port Carling served procedures and personnel – in Haliburton with Muskokans as District Commissioner for education, Simcoe for community and social
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Photograph: D.F. Macdonald / Ontario Archives
A survey crew had two groups: cutting away the bush and measuring and marking the line. By day’s end, camp was moved farther along the survey route, depending how much progress had been made. On the Canadian Shield, the gruelling work had rest breaks. services, health, administration of justice, and more. Those at Queen’s Park subdivide the province into regions for their particular ministry’s operations, causing fragmentation or duplication of effort and resources in rural communities. Yes, viewed laterally from above, Muskoka is a single district within long established borders. However, seen horizontally, the place is sliced to shreds. The province places Muskoka, a
northern district, in three different places at the same time. First, the government’s “Central Ontario Region” configuration incorporates Muskoka geographically within what, to Queen’s Park, is a larger “primary region” it calls “Southern Ontario,” which specifically brands northern district Muskoka, within that context, as part of the “south-central section” of the province. Second, despite Muskoka and Parry Sound
districts both being in so-called Central Ontario, some reality can be glimpsed from the fact that each is actually administered by public entities, including the federal government, as part of Ontario’s other primary region, “Northern Ontario.” Adding to this geographic confusion, the provincial government accords Parry Sound, but not Muskoka, administrative status as what it calls an extended primary Northern Ontario region. Third, for certain programs the provincial government deems Muskoka part of its “Eastern Ontario Region,” another Queen’s Park secondary zone, because it sees the district “as a transitional area between the geographic regions.” Ontario’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs promotes its view that Muskoka no longer exists as one of the province’s 11 northern districts. Similarly pushing Muskoka into this twilight zone, Ontario’s Health Ministry, in mapping its administrative regions across the province, excludes Muskoka from its fellow districts, grouping it instead with all counties south to Lake Ontario and Toronto. The Ontario Municipalities Association, in lockstep, only sees 10 districts in the province, not 11.
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Back in the 1970s, Muskoka’s publicized identification with wealthy summering folks made several senior civil servants in the Department of Municipal Affairs, radicalized by the 60s cultural revolution, see the district as a privileged enclave for the rich. Intent on ending all financial benefits received from Ontario’s government, based on its status as a northern district needing help, they pushed for revocation of Muskoka’s northern classification. The “North” would start at the French River, not the Severn. MPP Robert Boyer, knowing Muskoka’s realities, managed to thwart that
ill-informed gambit. But for half a century, the tug-of-war over reclassifying Muskoka as part of southern Ontario has continued. Ten years ago, Muskoka was removed from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, the Northern Health Travel Grant Program and all other northern programs. This year, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, a provincial operational service agency, reinstated Muskoka to receive economic development funds. Although the territorial borders of Muskoka, enacted by the legislature and established by
settler society a century and a half ago, may now seem a time-trapped aberration, appearances are often deceiving. Muskoka registered on North America’s social map and even imprinted itself onto psychological projections of people across the continent, through the human phenomenon of identifying with place. Achieving “a Muskoka state of mind” or becoming entranced by “the Muskoka Mystique” is neither focused on, nor confined by, formal geographic boundaries. By bonding with the place’s uniqueness, “Muskoka” became a treasured destination as people far distant
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Photograph: Boyer Family Archives
By the 1870s, as this detailed section of an 1871 Ontario map with correctly labelled Georgian Bay shows, surveying of townships in Simcoe, Victoria, Muskoka and Parry Sound was underway. Sections marked “Free Grant Lands” reflect 1868’s enactment of the Free Grant and Homestead Act, to incentivize settlement.
Photograph: Government of Ontario
Photograph: The Muskoka GeoHub
Muskoka GeoHub’s advanced mapping digitally integrates a vast amount of stored data about properties and district geography. Accessible online around the world and offering past, present, and future information and images, GeoHub makes reading a map an entirely new experience for a borderless universe. The “future” component is a viewer’s ability to project and rearrange possible structures and changes, before making them. In contrast, when Queen’s Park began playing ping-pong with Muskoka, back and forth between northern district or appendage to counties south to Lake Ontario, the government showed Muskoka’s “regional context” as southern by the shaded area in the map, above right. established a sense of belonging to what, in 1914, Prime Minister Robert Borden, speaking at Port Carling about Muskoka, called “this far-famed district.” Muskoka’s northland character atop the southernmost exposed section of the Canadian Shield’s rocky lakelands and forests proved convenient for those in other areas craving some place special, sparking the district’s vacation economy. Government officials and land promoters in the mid-1800s envisaged only logging, farming, and manufacturing. Yet deeper patterns will out. Summer holidaying had been part of Indigenous life in this area for time beyond memory, with First Nation peoples returning year after year to Beausoleil Island (now in Muskoka’s Georgian Bay Township) and Trading Lake (now Lake of Bays.) Muskoka’s borders are now stretched in new ways by telescoping through time. Relentless exploration and discovery, advancing mapping technologies and the ability to photograph Earth from outer-space and its’ ocean bottoms from deep below the waves, cause constant updating of maps. With digital technology, the ability to integrate a wide range of data about the same site, for which Muskoka’s online GeoHub is a stellar example, further enhances maps and records. GeoHub enables people anywhere on earth to access through cyberspace in a single location the mash-up
46 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2025
of the 1876 Guide to Muskoka, changing water levels through time, almost limitless amounts of municipal data, even projections of how one’s property might look in the future if certain structures and changes, modelled on the screen, were implemented – a triumph of elastic borders. This free-floating awareness of Muskoka, unhinged from the district’s official borders, runs back millenniums with Indigenous wayfinders arriving from the Severn River and its distant reaches to enter a large lake and be nourished by its enthralling unmeasured realms. In 2022, Indigenous leaders developing the Misko-Aki: Confluence of Cultures exhibit on the very same Lake Muskoka bay at Gravenhurst required a much larger area than “official” Muskoka to illustrate their lived heritage on this territory inland from Georgian Bay. Taking a millenniums-long view, their account embraces land known to different First Nations and used by them for thousands of years, the territory of today’s “Greater Muskoka.” The timeless elasticity of Muskoka’s borders teaches they are inconsequential for a place that is a crossroads community. The district has long been both meeting place and shockabsorber for values of the metropolis and practices of the hinterland. Reflecting on the broad scope Muskoka’s place in Ontario, Ian Turnbull draws from his experience to emphasize this facet of being
between. In his work with the District, “I came to understand this betweenness in many ways. With our fabric of small towns and seasonal economies we were more like Parry Sound and Algoma Districts than Simcoe County and burgeoning urban areas to the south. Yet we had a regional government, distinguishing us from our friends to the north and aligning us with regional municipalities in Ontario.” He adds, “We shamelessly adopted best practices from north and south to Muskoka’s benefit. We innovated program delivery as a small regional municipality in ways smaller and larger entities couldn’t.” Accepting Muskoka as “a land between” is essential for the district’s future. “There were some benefits to our betweenness in the first three decades of district government,” Turnbull concludes, while pointing out that “Queen’s Park couldn’t fathom it and switched program funding mechanisms north/south and vice versa over time, to our benefit/detriment.” In recent decades, failure to recognize Muskoka’s unique location betwixt others – socially and culturally a one-off in Ontario, the only jurisdiction having two-tier municipal government within a district – caused distant officials to confound proper municipal functioning by making the district a larger catchment area for such community-centric realms as schools and public health, simply by mistaking elasticity for invisibility.
Generosity is a powerful force for good, but here’s a hard truth: your last tax bill is likely to be your biggest. A donation in your will could significantly decrease, and possibly eliminate, the taxes altogether. Planned giving is a smart way to make a difference in this world!
Photo by Jane Spencer
Muskoka Conservancy is making a difference locally and is part of a movement to protect nature globally. Learn more at: www.muskokaconservancy.org/donate
Photograph: Josianne Masseau
Large groups of visitors at peak periods can have significant impacts on a local community. Muskoka’s population is known to swell in the summers, which is why organizations have worked to incentivize travel to the region in non-peak periods.
Article by Meghan Taylor
E
ven before settlement, Muskoka was a gathering place. Indigenous peoples travelled to Muskoka to hunt, fish and trade, living with the environment while they were in it and leaving the landscape as it was when they arrived. Much of Muskoka throughout history has been built on traditional tourism. Discovering new landscapes and exploring unknown destinations are hallmarks of traditional tourism. Clear-cutting timber to build, hunting wild animals to near extinction and building roads through important wetlands were all normal practices at the time but now seem barbaric and unjustified. Our discovery and exploration methods have adapted and continue to evolve. Generally, traditional tourism is transactional and singular. It stands alone. Regenerative tourism is rooted in every aspect of a community. It requires collaboration across the board as it connects with nature, society, culture and economy. Regenerative tourism expands on the concepts of traditional tourism and sustainable tourism.
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Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns
Spring 2025 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 49
Photograph: Josianne Masseau
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Much of Muskoka throughout history has been built on traditional tourism. A shift to regenerative tourism creates a greater diversity in communities by connecting to multiple aspects of a place, including nature, society, culture and economy. Sustainable tourism looks to increase the benefits and to reduce the negative impacts caused by tourism. It is defined as “tourism that fully considers its current and future economic, social, and environmental impacts, while addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities,” according to the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). Regenerative tourism is about more than just conservation. The primary objective of this tourism is to encourage visitors to
positively impact a destination. The impact may vary by location but can include supporting environmental revitalization or helping to build or repair habitat for wildlife. According to the GSTC, “Regenerative tourism is often described as a practice that seeks to leave destinations in a better state than they were found. It draws inspiration from regenerative agriculture, which emphasizes restoring ecosystems and enhancing biodiversity.” The GSTC “has long emphasized that
A key objective of regenerative tourism is to encourage visitors to positively impact a destination, not just to reduce negative impacts.
Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns
Over the last two summers, Muskoka Tourism has successfully carried out a “Go Lightly” marketing campaign prompting guests to safeguard the natural elements of Muskoka while they visit the region. Regenerative tourism requires collaboration among associations, businesses, government and providers. It begins with sustainability and continues to evolve. Local organizations like Explorers’ Edge (RTO12) and Muskoka Tourism are at the forefront of supporting businesses and individuals through this shift in actions and mindset. Explorers’ Edge has developed their 2025-2026 Business and Operational Plan
with regenerative practices built in. On their website, the current plan “continues work established in the Regenerative Tourism Strategy that positioned EE as a destination development organization within the Canadian tourism industry.” The Regenerative Tourism Strategy developed as part of Explorers’ Edge’s 2021-2022 business plan, provided eight key principles that they have enacted since then.
Photograph: Tomasz Szumski
sustainable tourism also focuses on increasing positive impacts alongside reducing negative ones.” Sustainability and regeneration are interconnected, and they should be. Regenerating spaces has little impact if planning for sustainable long-term use is not also discussed and overseen. However, many use the terms interchangeably, and regenerative and sustainable tourism are not the same. Key differences are in the purpose and the approach to each type. In sustainable tourism, the purpose is to lessen environmental and social impacts of tourism while seeking economic growth. Regenerative tourism supports the evolution, renewal and restoration of communities and ecosystems. In its execution, sustainable tourism looks to lessen the impact of activities on communities and ecosystems. In comparison, regenerative tourism focuses on achieving harmony and alignment for ecological, economic, cultural spiritual and social development.
Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns
Positive impacts created through regenerative tourism can include supporting environmental revitalization or helping to build or repair habitat for wildlife.
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Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns
Regenerative tourism requires collaboration among associations, businesses, government and providers. People are both the creators of tourism and the guardians of the natural world. The community must work together to restore and revitalize the ecosystem.
Photograph:
The strategy continues to evolve as conditions change. Muskoka Tourism’s role in regenerative tourism is outward facing, connecting with consumers. “Our role is different from Explorers' Edge as our focus is solely on creating marketing excitement that inspires visitors to choose Muskoka,” explains Val Hamilton, executive director of Muskoka Tourism. “And they have different pillars to
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support tourism for a bigger region.” Over the last two summers, Muskoka Tourism has successfully run a “Go Lightly” marketing campaign that seeks to motivate visitors to safeguard the natural elements of Muskoka while they visit the region. “The campaign highlights farm-to-table dining, farmers' markets, and sustainable tourism operators, promoting responsible travel choices that support the local community and environment,” says Hamilton. In many ways, regenerative tourism is the next evolution of sustainable tourism. It adds layers to the existing foundations of tourism. Regenerative tourism recognizes that the host community is the primary broker of tourism. The community members are the stewards of the local environment, enabling them to flourish together.
Regenerative tourism recognizes the local community as the stewards of the local environment, enabling the environment and the community to flourish together.
“We’re committed to developing new eco-friendly tourism initiatives that highlight Muskoka’s natural beauty,” shares Hamilton. “Muskoka: Home of the Stars invites visitors to reconnect with the night sky, while our new spring initiative, Birding in Muskoka: Nature Takes Flight, encourages exploration of local wildlife and ecosystems. Our focus is on getting back to basics – celebrating and preserving the natural environment that makes Muskoka so special. These events take place in the shoulder season to grow our year-round appeal and to move people out of the peak periods.” Regenerative tourism does not maintain economic factors as the primary indication of success. While economic success is one indicator, regenerative tourism also considers landscape integrity, cultural prosperity and community sentiment and well-being as important factors in determining outcomes. Perhaps one of the most significant principles acknowledged by regenerative tourism is that activities and processes take place within an ecosystem and people are part of that ecosystem. From within, people are both the creators of tourism and the guardians of the natural world.
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Huntsville Festival of the Arts unveils new intimate concert series
The Seguin Sled Dog Mail Run celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. Started in 1985, dog teams run “sledvelopes” from Humphrey to Rosseau, with proceeds from the event supporting Aspen Valley Wildlife Centre.
This year’s Seguin Sled Dog Mail Run, held February 22, marked the 40th anniversary of the fun-filled event. Started in 1985 by Elsie Chadwick, a Torontonian who cottaged in the area, it began as a way to showcase the Siberian husky sled dogs Chadwick adored. It also provided attendees an opportunity to have some fun during the long Muskoka winter and to replicate a sled dog mail run. It has evolved into an annual fundraising event. The run starts in Humphrey and the sled dog teams participating travel the 17 kilometres to Rosseau. The “sledvelopes” with letters that have been prepared for the event are pre-purchased. They are placed into mail bags and loaded onto sleds that travel to the Rosseau Post Office. A portion of the “sledvelope” price is donated to the Aspen Valley Wildlife Centre. Many businesses now help sponsor the event which includes a pancake breakfast, a Kidz zone activity area, a Beavertail food truck, a food hall, a beer tent and local
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musicians. Organizers said this year’s event was “simply incredible” and thank businesses, volunteers, snowmobile club, community groups and Seguin Township staff for making the event “extra special.”
Photograph: Huntsville Festival of the Arts
Seguin Sled Dog Mail Run marks 40 years
A new intimate pop-up series of concerts began in March and will run to May at the downtown studio location of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts, announced Hannah Naiman, HFA’s director of programs, education and outreach recently. Folk musicians and singer/songwriters, including several local favourites, will be featured up close and unplugged in these house-style concerts. The series kicked off with Gina Horswood on March 13 and continues with James Gray with Hannah Naiman and Nathan Smith on April 10 and Emma Cook and Cindy Doire on May 1. HFA Studio is located at 58 Main St. E (Riverfront entrance) in Huntsville. Doors open at 6 p.m. and concerts begin at 7 p.m. A $20 cash donation at the door is the suggested admission. BYOB and bring your favourite snacks to share. “Come for the music, stay for the good vibes,” says Naiman. “It’s all about a night of music with friends at our “house.”
Huntsville Festival of the Arts launched a new pop-up acoustic concert series. The concerts are unplugged, intimate house-style events, taking place at HFA Studio in Huntsville. Gina Horswood kicked off the series on March 13.
Photograph: Muskoka Discovery Centre
The Muskoka Discovery Centre in Gravenhurst welcomes Twin Flames on Friday, September 26 as part of their Artist Life Speaker Series – evenings filled with performances, interviews and a meet and greet with the artists following the show.
Annual Festival celebrates maple syrup
Artist Life Stories Speaker Series is Muskoka Discovery Centre’s series of intimate evenings with Canadian artists beginning May 1 in Gravenhurst. Each event is a combination of live music, thought-provoking conversation and maybe even a surprise. The $60 ticket to each event includes two 40-minute interview sets, live performances and a meet and greet following the show. Author, screenwriter and Officer of the Order of Canada Maureen Jennings will be the speaker at the Thursday, May 1 event. The creator of the beloved Murdoch Mysteries series, Jennings will share her latest work, The Charlotte Frayne Series, which explores pre-Second World War Toronto. She will also offer insights into the creative process and share personal photos. Twin Flames is the Friday, September 26 offering in the series. A husband-and-wife duo, who share over 44 music awards and nominations, blend folk, rock and Indigenous spirit in their performances. Using English, French and Inuktitut, Twin Flames share their stories through song. Tickets to the series are available at: www.realmuskoka.com or at the office at 705-687-2115. Check in regularly for additional shows.
The true harbinger of spring and an iconic symbol of the country, maple syrup, will be on full display at the annual Muskoka Maple Festival, held in downtown Huntsville, Saturday, April 26.
Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns
Speakers Series featured in Gravenhurst
The event is family friendly and runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is a full day of activities, vendors and displays, live music, street performers and food. Make sure to bring your appetite. Local cafes, bakeries and restaurants will be serving up maple treats. A maple marketplace will feature many local syrup producers and gives you the chance to chat with them. Attendees can learn everything about the process from collecting sap to the production of the final product – maple syrup. Once again, the Rotary Pancake Breakfast will run starting at 9 a.m. Throughout the day, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Muskoka will be offering maple taffy on snow. Live music featuring local musicians (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and wood carving demonstrations will take place on the Main Street. The Kiwanis Sap Run, a safe and fun fundraising event for kids has two options: a 500-metre distance with a 10:00 a.m. start for kids ages 3 to 7 and a 1-kilometre distance with a 10:15 a.m. start for kids ages 8 to 13. The registration for the run includes a free pancake breakfast at the Muskoka Maple Festival. There will be interactive activities and displays from local firefighters and paramedics as well. The maple syrup festival marks the end of the Muskoka Maple Trail, a maple-themed tourism initiative that runs from March through to the end of April throughout Muskoka.
The Muskoka Maple Festival returns to downtown Huntsville on Sunday, April 26. The festival celebrates all things maple and has something for all ages. The event marks the conclusion of the Muskoka Maple Trail, running across Muskoka from March through April. Spring 2025 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 55
Photograph: District of Muskoka
The District of Muskoka has closed Bracebridge’s iconic silver bridge following a preliminary inspection that noted damage to the trusses. Work on a repair plan is ongoing with no timeline for reopening the bridge yet.
Silver Bridge in Bracebridge is closed for repairs
Bracebridge’s iconic Silver Bridge over the Bracebridge Falls has been closed since early January, with no access to a portion of Ecclestone Drive. During regular sidewalk snow clearing by the Town of Bracebridge, an operator noticed an issue with the bridge and notified the District of Muskoka. After a preliminary inspection, a “deformation of truss members” was confirmed. The District made the decision to close the bridge. A senior structural engineer inspected the bridge and confirmed there were issues with the trusses. The District then erected barriers, fencing and signage to prevent vehicular and pedestrian traffic on the bridge. Work is ongoing by the District to develop a repair plan. The bridge is regularly inspected and there was no indication of problems at the November 2024 inspection. There is currently no timeline for when the bridge will reopen.
Easter Egg Hunts in Huntsville and Bracebridge The annual Nutty Chocolatier Community Easter Egg Hunt will take place at Muskoka Heritage Place, 88 Brunel Road,
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Huntsville, on Sunday, April 20 at 12 p.m. Thousands of chocolate eggs are hidden around Muskoka Pioneer Village. Children are divided into age groups before the hunt begins. Then the hunt is on! It’s a 45-minute family event as kids scramble to find eggs. If some are lucky enough to find a golden egg, they receive a special prize from The Nutty Chocolatier. Bracebridge families can scramble for chocolate eggs on Friday, April 18 at noon sharp at the Bracebridge Fairgrounds. The annual Easter Egg Scramble, hosted by the Bracebridge Agricultural Society, is open to all children ages 10 and under. Participants should dress for the weather, bring their own basket and arrive at least 15 minutes early. Some farms animals will be available to pet and there will be an activity section presented by the District of Muskoka. The Easter Bunny will be in attendance.
District of Muskoka Launches Tariff Information Hub “Businesses across Muskoka are preparing for the impacts that U.S. tariff increases will have on trade, supply chains and Muskoka’s economy, and they need access to resources to help them be resilient as they navigate these economic shifts,” says District of Muskoka Chair Jeff Lehman. “The Muskoka
Tariff Information Hub connects local businesses and residents to valuable tools and provides access to the most recent information right at their fingertips,” said Chair Lehman in a recent news release. The Muskoka Tariff Information Hub provides updates, resources and tools to help businesses and the public navigate the current tariff challenges. The website will be regularly updated with business support tools, public awareness initiatives, and relevant content. The Team Muskoka tariff working group is led by the District’s new regional economic development and grants officer Luke Preston, with representatives from area municipalities, chambers of commerce, tourism organizations and business support groups. Since early February, the group has been meeting to identify resources for the new hub and other collaborative initiatives to support Muskoka’s tariff response. The “Be Vocal About Shopping Local” marketing campaign is another way Team Muskoka is gearing up to support Muskoka businesses. The campaign encourages members of the community to highlight their favourite local businesses and outdoor spots, reinforcing the importance of making choices to spend and source items within the region whenever possible. Businesses and residents can get involved in the campaigns by following their local chamber’s social media channels. Additional support for local businesses is available from local area municipality economic development officers (EDOs) and chambers of commerce. Visit venturemuskoka.ca to connect with local EDOs and chambers of commerce.
Bracebridge marks its 150th Anniversary Founded in 1875 as a village, the Town of Bracebridge will be marking its 150th anniversary with events held throughout the year. “Rich in history, community spirit and natural beauty, Bracebridge has come a long way,” said Mayor Rick Maloney. Calling 2025 “…an opportunity to reflect on our past and celebrate the progress and growth that has brought us to where we are today,” the mayor called on the community to “… join me in celebrating a monumental year with special events, legacy projects around
Photograph: Town of Bracebridge
The Town of Bracebridge unveiled the logo for the town’s sesquicentennial. With a signature community event to be held June 7 and 8, the community is asked to share photos, stories and favourite locations. Following the reception, participants can join friends on the dance floor as they rock to the tunes of two local bands – Wheelhouse and The Griffin Pub Band. This is a ticketed event on a first come, first serve basis for former students, staff and guests. This celebration is also providing an opportunity to give back to the community’s roots with all net proceeds going to the South Muskoka Hospital Foundation.
Photograph: BMLSS Reunion Committee
town, community gatherings, sharing stories and so much more.” A signature community celebration will be held Saturday and Sunday, June 7 and 8. It’s a weekend long event to celebrate Bracebridge’s arts, culture, and history at the Bracebridge Fairgrounds where attendees can enjoy live music, food vendors, games, activities and more. The community can help the Town celebrate the sesquicentennial by sharing stories, photos and favourite locations that make Bracebridge so special. Submissions will be shared throughout the year to help celebrate the anniversary. Learn more and submit your entries at engagebracebridge.ca/ bracebridge150.
Register Now for High School Reunion Past students of Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School (the former Bracebridge High School) will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the school and the 150th anniversary of Bracebridge on Saturday, June 14, starting at 5:30 p.m. for a reception and an opportunity to mingle and reconnect with classmates, friends and staff.
2025 marks 100 years of Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School (formerly Bracebridge High School). A reunion is set for the occasion welcoming back staff and students to celebrate and reminisce.
Feature by Susan Stephen Spring 2025 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 57
Made in Muskoka is good (and it’s made in Canada) Article by K.M. Wehrstein / Photography by Tomasz Szumski It’s been a long, hard, cold winter, but the days are lengthening at a gallop, the mountainous snowbanks are melting away and in no time, we’ll be throwing steaks, sliders, lettuce, watermelon, and more onto the barbecue. (Yes, lettuce and watermelon. CCC has been there!) Because locavorism is all the rage these days for its climate and freshness benefits, not to mention supporting the local and national economies, we’re serving up a first course laid out by three local businesses, all with “Muskoka” in their name. We’ll start with the most venerable: Muskoka Springs, established in 1873. Visiting Muskoka Springs’ 43,000 square-foot headquarters in Gravenhurst is a trip down the most pleasant of memory lanes. I have never been a fan of soft drinks, even as a child, so there is only one I ever drink, because, as a young Torontonian, I associated it with my happy place. I’d flee
here to the trees and the lakes and the rocks, and a pop that was only subtly, not blatantly, sweet: Muskoka Dry Pale Ginger Ale. It was made in an old brick building in Gravenhurst labelled “Brown’s Beverages” that we’d pass on each trip to a friend’s cottage. It was quite something to actually enter that building decades later and suddenly be surrounded by innumerable antiques, some of the more recent ones achingly familiar – and to actually see the company’s yellowed “black book” of recipes, including the original one for Muskoka Dry. “We feel we’re one of the longest lasting businesses in the same location in Ontario,” says current president Christopher Kadonoff. “152 years – it didn’t stop for the wars, didn’t stop for the pandemic.” Founder Dougald Brown began bottling the water from an artesian well onsite, Kadonoff explains, “to supply water to the
locals as the lakes were becoming increasingly polluted by the logging and tanning industries.” Then, as soft drinks became popular in the early 20th century, Brown’s Beverages created several, including Muskoka Dry. Its current incarnation – Muskoka Springs Pale Ginger Ale – “tastes just like it did during World War I,” the company website affirms. The company partnered with Coca Cola to bottle its products, and in fact leveraged the popularity of Muskoka Dry to introduce Coke. Five generations of Browns operated Brown’s Beverages but due to a proliferation of soft drinks in the 70s, Muskoka Dry sales began to languish. The company was bought out in 1993 by Muskoka Springs, then owned by business partners Michael Billinghurst and Terry Galbraith. Much to the delight of staunch fans like me, they revived the brand in 1995.
Muskoka Springs’ Gravenhurst headquarters is a step back in time, filled with antiques that go back to its inception. Current president Christopher Kadonoff calls their products “living history” and “nostalgic,” bringing people back to their childhood experiences in Muskoka. 58 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2025
Muskoka Dry® – Christopher Kadonoff
Ingredients
President’s Notes More typically a drink of this type would be garnished with lime. Kadonoff recommends taking a sniff of the rosemary first, then a swig.
4 or 5 oz. Muskoka Springs Pale Ginger Ale 1.5 oz premium Canadian whiskey 3 dashes of bitters 1 sprig rosemary
Method • Stir and enjoy on ice! Everything can be adjusted to taste.
Easy Creamy Dill Pickle Coleslaw Recipe – Andrew Allen
Ingredients 1 small green cabbage, about 1 pound, outer leaves removed 1 small red cabbage, about 1 pound, outer leaves removed 1 medium carrot, peeled and shredded 1 package Milford Bay Smoked Trout (approx. 325 g) 1 cup (225 g) Muskoka Brand Gourmet Foods Dill Pickle Aioli
Method • Quarter green and red cabbage through the core, then cut out the core. Cut each
quarter crosswise in half and finely shred. Place the shredded cabbage in a very large bowl (you will have 6 to 8 cups). • Add the shredded carrot to the cabbage and toss to mix. • Roughly chop all of the Smoked Trout
into pieces (leaving out any skin that comes off the fish) and add to mix. • Pour the Dill Pickle Aioli over the mix, then combine well with two large spoons. • If the coleslaw seems dry, add a little more aioli.
Chef ’s Tips Serve immediately, or place in the refrigerator for about an hour to let the flavours mingle and the cabbage soften. Not a fan of dill? Allen suggests, “Try our Creamy Sweet Italian Dressing instead.”
Owner-operator of Muskoka Brand Gourmet Foods, Derek Gravelle, changed distribution during the pandemic and hasn’t slowed down since. First the Original Garlic Sauce took off and, more recently, Dill Pickle Aioli has exploded onto the scene. Spring 2025 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 59
In 2015, Muskoka Springs was bought out by a partnership, The Rosseau Group, and when the general manager left in 2019, Kadonoff was offered the retitled job. Originally living in Oakville, his family moved to Muskoka when he was 10 and bought the IGA in Port Carling, introducing their son to the world of retail at an early age. After 28 years working for Sobeys, he wanted something different, and made the switch to Muskoka Springs. “It took 100 years to perfect our product and now we’re taking it out to Ontario and Canada,” Kadanoff enthuses. Since 2019, sales of Pale Ginger Ale, Old Thyme Orange, Maple Cream Ale (“our take on Canada in a bottle”) and other products have doubled. They are now found in 400 locations in Canada and Muskoka Springs employs a regular staff of 11, adding another four or five in the summer months. “We’re living history,” Kadonoff says. “We’re nostalgic; we bring back childhood experience. You’d go to Weber’s, then pick up a case of Muskoka Dry.” Future plans include the launch of lemon and ginger-flavoured hop water this spring, and in the late 2020s, a general store on Muskoka Wharf. Kadonoff likes to think ahead. “We want to continue for another 150 years.” Muskoka Brand Gourmet Foods in Huntsville is a much younger company – currently in the midst of a sales expansion that’s more like an explosion. Owner-operator Derek Gravelle started in the food
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field as part of his parents’ family business on Manitoulin Island at the age of 13. “I could work out of anywhere,” he says, “but my wife, Dr. Leslie Cuthbertson, wanted to find a teaching position in a small town. She got an offer from Huntsville High School, so we moved here and she’s still there.” Gravelle’s food business at that time used trade shows and events as a sales staple, until that moment in you-know-what year (2020). “I went home and thought to myself, how am I going to feed my family and children?” he says. A quick call to a friend – Darcy Bullock, co-owner with his wife Alycia Simmons of Bullock’s Your Independent Grocer in Huntsville – got him some shelf space in the store, if he could fill it. “He’s an amazing man, responsible for where I am,” Gravelle says. Starting one frantic Friday night, he quickly designed a brand and set up a commercial-grade kitchen on the back of his house. He drew on his own family’s recipes and sales went well. In 2021, Muskoka Brand Gourmet was picked up by a distributor, which got them into a couple of Loblaws stores, then Sobeys. “I wasn’t in the home kitchen very long,” he recalls. In 2022, the company’s first big growth spurt was triggered by the introduction of its Original Garlic Sauce, which will hit your tongue with a surprise – it has the boldness to include raw garlic. “You can use it as a substitute for garlic purée, with veggies, burgers, mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower,” says Muskoka Brand Gourmet’s sales and operations manager Andrew Allen, who is made in Muskoka himself, having grown up near the Huntsville Fairgrounds. Several new products such as
Heather Glumac started making her own granola during the pandemic to overhaul her own diet. After a local chef and friend, David Friesen, stole an entire jar, he suggested Glumac begin selling granola and even offered her kitchen space for production to get started. jalapeno and black olive garlic sauces and salad dressings were spun off the garlic sauce for addition to Muskoka Brand Gourmet’s existing line of dips, jams, jellies, garlic oils and more. The company expanded its range locally, adding Sobeys in Gravenhurst, the Nutty Chocolatier in Huntsville, the Farm Store in Bracebridge and many more. Following that, Gravelle was contacted by the massive food wholesaler/retailer Costco and began selling Original Garlic Sauce to the organization. And then, he hit on Dill Pickle Aioli. After about a year of working out the deal – Costco wanted the aioli a little thicker, for instance – it was released on February 13. “We got a phone call Tuesday (five days later) – do you have more?” Gravelle recalls. “They wanted it today.
Now they want to send it out west and to the Maritimes.” The company’s regular staff of six plus two more at full production, some of them in Gravelle’s extended family, looks like it’s going to have to get bigger. I think I understand the quick uptake, having now tried it myself, not only in the recipe but also on smoked ham and Montreal-style smoked meat sandwiches, maple breakfast sausages, Brussels sprouts and a few other things. This stuff is addictive. My theorized secret success ingredient, you’ve perhaps noticed yourself: garlic. It’s such a well-loved flavour that it’s used in the cuisine of every culture on the planet that has access to it. But equally crucial to Muskoka Brand Gourmet’s success, I think, is the way it’s used: unapologetically, yet gently tamed by a process that truly is secret, so that even in its fiery raw state it’s tastebud friendly. Andrew Allen is the source of Muskoka Brand Gourmet’s recipe, Easy Creamy Dill Pickle Slaw with Milford Bay Smoked Trout. It’s a simple, typical cabbage and
Muskoka Granola Power Bowl - Heather Glumac
Ingredients ½ cup yogurt (Glumac’s favourites: Liberte Greek 2% Coconut, Riviera Non-Dairy) ¼ cup chia pudding (to make: combine one cup of any milk and ¼ cup of
carrot slaw mix with the aioli and another made-in-Muskoka ingredient with which you can’t go wrong. “It was invention out of necessity,” says Allen. “I had the coleslaw mix and no dressing, so…” Smoked trout with coleslaw? Absolutely. The aioli binds them together. Allen happened to mention he also makes deadly devilled eggs using Muskoka Brand Gourmet Jalapeno Garlic Sauce. Since Heather Glumac studied film at Queen’s University, it was inevitable she would go on to spearhead a Bracebridge food business called Muskoka Granola. Okay, the trajectory wasn’t quite that direct – graphic design was an intermediate step – but she loves where she landed. “I’ve based all of my choices on joy,” she says. “From the design to designing employee hours. From the recipe – I couldn’t find any granola on the shelf that I wanted to eat, which is why I started making my own – I did everything that brought me joy and figured someone else would like it.”
chia seeds, stir together, refrigerate for five minutes, stir again, store in fridge until serving) ½ an avocado, cubed or sliced ¼ cup pomegranate seeds ¼ cup Muskoka Granola (any flavour)
Glumac was born and raised in Guelph. “I was very fortunate that my mother was a stay-at-home mom, able to cook,” she says. “She focused a lot on nutrition, so I grew up eating very well and have always been nutritionally conscious.” After studying graphic design at George Brown and living 10 years in Toronto, she moved to Bracebridge in spring 2014 to do graphic design work for Camp Muskoka. In fact, she also did layout for this very magazine in its first year. “Right before COVID, I was working at the Griffin Gastropub; so I had a lot of time over COVID because they were shut down and I decided to start overhauling my diet,” Glumac recounts. “I wanted to make everything from scratch because the amount of chemicals and preservatives in food was awful. I shouldn’t need a chemistry degree to read what’s in my food.” The granola she created she shared with friends, one whose name you’ll know if you’re a regular reader: Chef David Friesen. That was in spring 2021. “I handed David
¼ cup wild blueberries Stir and eat! Yield: single portion.
Spring 2025 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 61
DIRECTORY Muskoka Granola is made with simple ingredients that you can recognize, including maple syrup for sweetness, as owner Heather Glumac believes “I shouldn’t need a chemistry degree to read what’s in my food.” the jar of granola I’d made as we were hanging out six feet apart and he wouldn’t give it back, ate the whole thing,” Glumac fondly reminisces. Friesen not only suggested she start selling it but let her borrow the kitchen of his Bracebridge restaurant The Pasta Tree to start up, since it was idle anyway. Renting a spot at the Huntsville Farmer’s Market in August, Glumac realized she likely had a product that would sell itself, so prepared samples. She still does, as she learned from one event that without samples, she sells about 5 per cent of what she sells when she provides samples. “It started snowballing,” Glumac shares. “That summer I expanded to the Bala and Bracebridge Farmer’s Markets. I was working 16 hours a day, would go to the markets in the morning at 6 a.m., then bake for five hours, package for two hours, then pack samples at home until midnight. People were coming back for more and I needed help quickly. It was profitable right off the hop.” Glumac outgrew her home-based kitchen in October 2023 and leased the converted warehouse her business now occupies. Muskoka Granola now has five year-round employees and she has had to abandon the kitchen to do admin, sales and marketing (including package design, of course). For the summer’s markets and events, she’ll hire another three or four people. From her original granola flavour, now referred to as Cashew Almond, the selection has been
62 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2025
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expanded to four flavours, the most recent, Pistachio, having been released to great success at last year’s Bala Cranberry Festival. Three times a year, Glumac pays for the whole staff to go on an outing like Cirque du Soleil, a Jays game or a spa day. “I want to be a great company to work for and not just for my own selfish ends – it comes out in the granola – energy is everywhere,” she says. “We’re good energy people. You get good energy from the trees, from the syrup, from the whole nuts.” Her irreverent approach to marketing shines out on her website, where she furthers her righteous crusade against raisins (“we are a raisin-free company because I think they’re gross”) and displays testimonials like “I sprinkle it on my wife at night.” Be sure to check the bottom of a bag of Muskoka Granola, as it might say something like “Sharing is overrated” or “Eat my nuts.” “One thing I really enjoy about business that I did not perceive earlier: there’s so much room for creativity in the choices you make,’’ says Glumac. “I am at heart a creative.” The Muskoka Granola food philosophy: “Simplest is best. The ingredients of the granola are foods that you can recognize. Same for the recipe: put it in a bowl and eat it. This is what I’ll typically eat for breakfast. I would substitute anything from it depending on what you have available. It’s high in protein, avocado is really good for you – it’s a power bowl!” Muskoka Granola is sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, having instead a light and subtle palate feel with a certain depth – no doubt from the use of maple syrup rather than refined sugar. Each nut coated in oatmeal is an elegant little package melting inward in the mouth to reveal the flavour of the nut. The power bowl is a harmonious riot of flavours, which combine to form entirely new flavours and textures, though no other flavour overrides the granola, which thus holds the whole work together. Not in an imposing “you’ll be our 51st state” sort of way, more like a spontaneously-unifying “nope, we all agree we’re staying Canada” style. Maybe that’s because it was made in Muskoka.
Spring 2025 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 63
Muskoka Moments
A Gift of Place I was introduced to Muskoka just over 20 years ago. We came here with two big dogs, a truck full of treasures, books, art supplies and tools, my life-partner and myself. We did a lot of hiking and explored the region looking for a place we could call home. We house-sat and winterized a cottage, then found a small house on five forested acres, 20 minutes from town. We’ve skied, walked and snowshoed behind the property which winds through several acres of boreal forest, juniper where it opens into rocky clearings, crosses a creek and navigates a few swamps. Back there, somewhere, we found an artesian well and the foundation of a log cabin church near the main road. Getting to know Muskoka has been a slow dance. We didn’t fall in love at first sight but we were closer to family in Ontario. Opportunities and choices led to interesting work, meaningful projects and we loved the place in the forest. I am grateful for the quiet, the quality of air and water. We raised chickens and built a yurt. We tried maple syruping around the yard. Personally, I’d rather support locals at the farmer’s market. My commute is winding back roads, only occasionally interrupted by wild turkeys. The first community we met was the artists community – we volunteered at Muskoka Arts and Crafts and were involved in seasonal shows and exhibitions. We were among the 20 co-founding members of the Arts at the Albion cooperative gallery. In large part because of my work at the YWCA, I am grateful to be part of a growing community of activists, women and gender diverse folk across the region. I’m a proud member of the District Inclusion Advisory Group which is playing a critical role as the region becomes more populated and racially diverse.
64 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2025
Photograph: Farah van der Rest
Article by Hannah Lin
Sometimes rural living still makes me feel lonely and isolated. Muskoka can be divided by townships, bylaws, property lines, attitudes and that can be challenging and frustrating. Five years ago, Muskoka became a balm for the soul. I worked from the bunkie. We paid attention to devastating news but also watched the ice retreating and the woodpeckers that occupied the trees unfurling new leaves. I downloaded Seek to identify more plants, and I discovered there
were several on daily dog walks that actually originated from somewhere else. I am a settler here. My heritage is first generation Chinese and also Welsh and Swiss or German. Similar to the families who have named roads across Muskoka, my ancestors came from Europe to Nova Scotia in the 19th century. I believe it’s important to remember that Indigenous peoples have cared for and travelled these lands long before us. Muskoka is the traditional territory of the Anishnaabeg and home to three sovereign nations: Wahta Mohawks First Nations, Moose Deer Point First Nation and the Moon River Métis. The Huron-Wendat and the Haudenosaunee Nations have also inhabited this territory over time. I feel both honour and humility to take the time to walk the road with families through Wahta in June and September. I will volunteer at Muskoka’s second powwow coming up at the end of June. I used to think of myself as nomadic, from Ottawa to Trent University, to the west coast, a cannery museum, Haida Gwaii and the Kootenays. I realize I’ve now lived in Muskoka longer than anywhere else in my life. This is my land acknowledgement. Like the many turtles we stop to help across the roads every May to June, it’s taking a while to make the journey. I love Muskoka for the gift of place it has instilled in me.
Hannah Lin is the executive director of the Community YWCA of Muskoka. She received YWCA Canada’s Carolyn B. Bray Award for Spirit, Dedication and Creativity in 2024. Her partner is David Cureton, a luthier who owns and operates Muskoka Guitars where he builds musical instruments from Indigenous hardwoods.
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