Family and friends appreciate unique handcrafted gifts, and there will be lots of choice at the 2012 Sunderland Maple Syrup Festival Art & Craft Show on March 31 and April 1, 2012. There will be over 30 vendors at the Sunderland Public School venue offering a potpourri of treasures, including: • painted glass • jewellery • knitted items • hand sewn items • wrought iron art • ice-cream mixes • chocolates & candy • home baked goods • ceramics • pottery • woodworking • embroidery • painted totem poles & masks • unique clothing • metal wall art • fine art prints Admission to the craft show is free of charge. Horse and buggy drawn wagons can transport people from River St. to the school on Albert Street to visit the annual Art & Craft Show. Tickets for the bus excursions are also sold at the school. This year, people are invited to tour Harlaine Maple sugar bush and Salem Alpacas. Entertainer Trulee Odd is coming back by pop- ular demand to amaze the crowd at the school venue. Drop into the café to grab a coffee or some lunch. And don’t forget to visit the Sunderland Community Library at the school site. The Festival Craft Show runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 31 and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 1. See you there!



While at the festival why not drop into our beautiful historic town hall to experience some incred- ible art work. We believe there must be something in the water, for there is no other explanation for the vast number of incredibly talented artists that call this area home. There is everything from wonderful paintings of farm life by Lynda Cunning- ham to beautiful landscapes by Harvey Walker. Mixed in is also the stunning and often larger than life contemporary works of Christa Gallant. Of course art is not simply defined by paint and canvas. Craig Telfer creates his own masterpieces from wood. And Anja Kooistra will have you amazed with her wonderful garden statues. The artists will be there in person to discuss their work and answer any questions you may have. The fine art show runs both days from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Whosarmy is a rock band that formed in Toronto when high school friends Travis Wood(vocals) and Cory Williams(guitars) teamed up with Max Trefler(drums) and Greg Markham(bass), who have also played together since high school. It quickly became apparent that there was a great chemistry between the four members as they began playing the club circuit in Toronto extensively. Whosarmy released their first self-titled EP on May 6th, 2011 which features 8 original songs.
Whosarmy recently won CBC’s hit show “Cover Me Canada”. On an average week, Cover Me Canada reached over 1.9 million Canadians aged 2+, and over the course of the season, reached more than 6.3 million different Canadians, or 19% of the total population (almost 1 in 5). Whosarmy competed for 9 weeks playing some of Canada’s most iconic songs including “American Woman” by the Guess Who, “Ironic” by Alanis Morrisette, and “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. Judge Ron Fair had only good things to say, and shortly into the competition exclaimed “ If you’re not the biggest band in Canada in a year, something is really wrong here.” They also received large praise from Paul Anka, Johnny Reid, Alan Frew, and the other judges Jordan Knight and Deborah Cox. As a result of winning, the band won $100,000.00 and a single recording contract with Universal Canada.
After winning Cover Me Canada, Whosarmy released an original single “Alive” which was produced by Ron Fair and reached #6 on the iTunes Canada Rock charts in under three days. The song, which was co-written by Chantal Kreviazuk, was also prominently featured in the series finales of CBC’s “Being Erica” and was performed by Whosarmy on George Stroumboulopoulous Tonight. Alongside those milestones, Whosarmy also gained thousands of new fans online and had YouTube videos of their performances reach over 80,000 viewers collectively.
Whosarmy is currently writing new material for their upcoming record which will be produced by Gavin Brown. The band is also actively collaborating with notable songwriters such as Dave Genn, Todd Clark and Hawksley Workman.

For an athlete, there’s no better feeling in the world than standing atop the podium as your national anthem plays. Just ask Jessica Phoenix.
The Wilfrid resident – and her horse, Pavarotti, returned home from the Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico in October with a pair of medals around her neck after winning the gold medal in eventing and helping lead Canada’s team to Silver. “It was an unbelievable feeling to be at the top of the podium,” Ms Phoenix said in an interview Tuesday. “It was such a privilege to ride for my country and help Canada win the silver medal. My top priority is putting on the best performance I can for the team”.
She led the three-phase eventing competition from start to finish. On the opening day, she earned a score of 43.90 penalty points in the opening phase of dressage.
No penalty points were added to her score the next day, as she completed the cross-country portion with no jumping faults and stopped the clock two seconds under the optimum time allowed of nine minutes and 30 seconds. In the final phase of show jumping, Ms Phoenix jumped clear to lead Canada to the team silver before returning to the stadium to once again jump clear and claim the individual gold medal. It marks just the second time that a Canadian has claimed the individual gold medal in eventing in the history of the Pan Am Games.
“It reflects many years of hard work, dedication and perseverance,” Ms Phoenix said. “And it also reflects how much support I have around me. I never could have done this alone.” It was the second time Ms Phoenix has competed at the Pan Am Games, following a 12th-place individual finish in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2007.
She had been named to the Canadian eventing team for the 2008 Summer Games, Ms Phoenix was forced to withdraw after her horse, Exploring, suffered an injury just weeks before they were scheduled to depart for Beijing.
Barring any unforeseen injury, she’s a virtual lock to be named to Team Canada at the 2012 Games in London.