Morning. Hope the turkey hangover's wearing off.
This week's Buzz is brought to you by The Christmas Light Guys. This year, you stay inside with a coffee while somebody else climbs the ladder. They bring commercial-grade LEDs, put them up, take them down after the holidays, and store them until next year. Installs start in late October. It's a small local crew with a limited number of spots, and there's an early bird special on now. Get a free quote HERE.
Inside: a honey store in Chatsworth where you fill your own jar from a tap, butter chicken poutine in Kincardine, a three-day fair in Walkerton, and a free Oktoberfest with a human pretzel contest.
Let's get into it.
Do you have an event coming up that our readers should know about? Submit your local events HERE to be featured in upcoming editions.
Top 3 this week
Here are our 3 favourite events happening this week
A three-day fair in Walkerton, a bluegrass night in Paisley, and a free Oktoberfest in Thornbury.
Walkerton's Little Royal Fair — Friday-Sunday, October 16-18 | Fri 5-9:30 PM, Sat 9 AM-8 PM, Sun 9:30 AM-4 PM | Walkerton Fairgrounds
One more fall fair before winter, and every day has its own headliner. Friday night it's the Little Rodeo Pro in the Horse Palace. Saturday the Cutting Edge Cowgirls drill team rides at 1. Sunday wraps with a pedal tractor pull for the kids (everybody gets a prize) and a four-horse draft hitch at 3. Midway all weekend. A family weekend pass is $25.
Harvest of the Arts — Friday-Sunday, October 16-25 | Art show Fri 2-8 PM + Sat 10 AM-4 PM, concert Sat 7:30 PM | Paisley Mill + Paisley Rotary Palace
Paisley turns into an arts town for the weekend. Wander the Threshold art show at the old Paisley Mill (by donation), then grab a seat Saturday night for Stoney Lonesome, a bluegrass band big on family harmonies. Concert tickets are $25. Sunday afternoon there's a kids art workshop at the Mill, register ahead.
Oktoberfest at Thornbury Craft Co. — Friday-Sunday, October 16-18 | 11 AM-7 PM | 90 King St E, Thornbury
Free, all ages, and the games are the whole point. Try to hold a 24 longer than the brewmaster. Play Bavarian charades. Join a five-person human pretzel. There's live music Saturday and Sunday afternoon, new Oktoberfest beer and cider on tap, and $10 brewery tours if you want to see where it's made.
Help us decide
One punch card for every local shop?
This idea has been sitting on our back burner for a while. Before we take it any further, we want your gut check.
Picture one digital punch card that works at shops all over Grey-Bruce. Grab your coffee, tap your phone on a little stand by the till, and the punch lands on your card. No app to download. No paper cards going through the wash. Each shop picks its own reward, and every card lives in one spot on your phone.
Right now it's just an idea. We haven't pitched it to a single shop yet, and we're not going to until we know you'd actually use it.
So tell us. If you're in, click the link, drop your town and the spots you'd want on it. If enough of you say yes, we'll start knocking on doors, beginning in the towns with the most signups. Takes 20 seconds.
Full Weekly Calendar
Community Calendar
Our Community Calendar covers Grey & Bruce Counties. It's a large area, so if we missed an event we are sorry, we will do better next time!
670-plus events across Grey and Bruce this week. Shiverton turns Tiverton into a Halloween day on Saturday, Art in the Valley fills the Kimberley hall with 12 local artists, and PA Day Friday means scarecrow-making and pumpkin parties at libraries all over both counties. All-candidates meetings keep rolling ahead of the October 26 election.
It all lives on the map. Open it, find your town, tap a pin, see what's close. Same events, way less scrolling.
3 more worth getting off the couch for:
Mean Girls The Musical — Chesley, Fri Oct 16 to Sun Oct 25 at the Bijou. The Chesley Community Players take on Regina George. Friday and Sunday this weekend are going fast. From about $12.
Ghost Walk with Barb — Annan, Sundays in October, 11 AM. Murder, mayhem and sailors' ghosts on a walk through the Coffin Ridge vineyard, with a wine stop in the woods. $20 plus tax. Rain cancels.
Haunt at Harrison — Owen Sound, Oct 23-25. Mark it now. Scare trails, a lantern walk through the forest, a haunted house and haunted mini putt in Harrison Park. Daytime festival on the weekend is free. Supports Special Olympics.
Foodie Flash
Kin's Social - Kincardine
There's a restaurant in Kincardine that puts butter chicken on fries.
Kin's Social cooks Indian and Mexican under one roof, and the menu refuses to pick a side. Butter chicken shows up as a curry, in tacos, in a burrito, and poured over spicy fries as a poutine.
Start with the Lasooni Gobi, crispy Hakka-style cauliflower, for $11.45. Then the butter chicken, $18.95, with naan. Those two are what reviewers bring up most. Got a crowd? Get the Trash Can Nachos for $25.99. They come to the table in a can.
Our favourite line on the menu belongs to the "Owner's Favourite" chaat. The whole description reads "Order to know more."
Breakfast is the sleeper. Wednesday to Sunday, every breakfast comes with two cups of coffee and fresh fruit, no extra charge. The Farmers Choice is three eggs, two pancakes or French toast, and two meats for $19.
One planning note: Dinner is 4 to 8, Tuesday to Sunday. Breakfast runs Wednesday to Sunday mornings.
Curry season is open. Get the butter chicken, and steal a fry off somebody's poutine.
Community Bulletin
Quick hits from around Grey-Bruce
Rocky's back, and he's still a good boy
Meet Rocky, a 3-year-old Rottweiler and Mastiff cross at the Grey Bruce Animal Shelter. His adoption didn't work out, so he's back looking for the right fit. He's friendly with people, picky about other dogs and cats, and he's got energy to burn, so he needs regular exercise and a home where people are around most of the time. The shelter recommends big-dog experience. Call 519-372-1911 to book a visit.
Missed the Shop Small Guide?
Last week we sent out 69 little shops across Grey-Bruce, every one nominated by you and every one independent. If it got buried under the Thanksgiving leftovers, grab the guide here. Christmas shopping starts sooner than you think.
Led Zeppelin IV, five weeks out
On November 20, local musicians play Led Zeppelin IV front to back at Walkerton's Victoria Jubilee Hall. Tickets are $30, cash only, and sold in person in Walkerton and Mildmay. Can't get to a store this week? Grey Bruce Live will email you when tickets are running low.
Want your thing in next week's Bulletin? Reply to this email.
Hidden Gem of the week
Gibson's Pure Honey - Chatsworth
On Highway 6 in Chatsworth, there's a honey store where you bring your own jar and fill it from a tap.
It all started on a construction job. The boss, Walter Jennen, kept bees, and he took one of his workers under his wing. That worker went from one hive to four, then 12, then 30, then 80. The family moved from Owen Sound to a farm in Chatsworth to make room. Today they run around 450 hives.
On their website, she sums up who does what: "He is truly the beekeeper and I am the keeper of the beekeeper."
The store opened in 2015. Inside there are 14 flavours of honey, beeswax candles and gift baskets, and lately a whole lot of fresh honeycomb. Bring a jar or a pail, fill up at the honey tap, and pay by the pound.
People keep coming back to the same things. The honey tastings. An owner who'll answer every bee question you've got. And the goats.
They're open every day from 9 to 6, Sundays included, right through to January 10. Tuck that away for the Christmas list.
Bring the biggest jar you own.
Know a hidden spot that you want to share? Reply to this email and let us know!
Poll of the week
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Thanks for spending a few minutes with us.
If one of today's events sparks a little adventure, hit reply and tell us how it went, we love hearing your stories.
Forward the Buzz: Know a friend who's always asking, "What's happening this weekend?" Pass this email along and help them get in the loop.
Catch you next Tuesday with a fresh batch of local events, hidden gems, and small-town surprises.
Stay curious,
— Cody & The GB Buzz Team
P.S. Quick reminder of how the Buzz works: nobody pays to be a Foodie Flash or a Hidden Gem, ever. Those spots are earned, not sold. The clearly marked sponsor spots are what pay for the rest, and a couple open up every month. Fall is booking now. Want your business in front of 8,000+ neighbours across Grey-Bruce? Hit reply and I'll send you what's available.