Today will be yesterday tomorrow: And when our children’s children are celebrating their history they will be making much of the ways we did things back in the nineteen seventies. Just as we carefully preserve old things used by our pioneer ancestors, they will cherish the household articles which seem commonplace to us today.

But more than that, they will also be studying our accounts of what we did, how we planned for our future, and for theirs. Whatever this County is like in another 50 years will depend largely on the things we do about it today.

It’s a good thing to review all the past glories of this County but at the same time we should be putting the same kind of energy into planning for the future. Some parts of Canada have long range plans to purify the waters, plans which will take ten to twenty years. We have pure water now, but we have no plan to keep it that way, in fact daily it is becoming impure because there is no plan.

Shouldn’t we be doing more than just sitting back and allowing this to happen?

Otter Lake centennial plans unroll with only a few hitches: In 1876 when the one hundred years of unity between the townships of Leslie, Clapham and Huddersfield began, nobody worried about such things as power strikes because there was no electricity. But in the enlightened year of 1976, the striking hydro workers almost scuppered the talent contest and caused a lot of general confusion during the celebrations when a power failure was left untended.

However, with only one light made possible by an auxiliary power supply, and no loudspeakers in operation, the singers and dancers did their things Sunday night and step-dancing Ward Schwartz was named the overall winner.

The centennial plans seemed almost jinxed from the start but due to a great deal of advance planning they are going along in fine style. On Thursday, the SAO had intended to hold their official opening of Leslie Park but due to hydro disconnections they had to postpone it until this week. On Thursday however, a number of people journeyed over to the park, having read about the official opening. They didn’t see any ceremony but they were afforded an advance view of the park.

On Thursday night the wiener roast and the fireworks were carried out as scheduled and enjoyed by a large crowd. The fiddling and square dance competitions started two hours late due to the late arrival of the musicians but eventually after a grand night of old time music the Ostrom brothers of Bryson were named first and second best fiddlers of the County and “The Unknowns” of Otter Lake were winners of the square dance contest.

Sunday turned out to be a splendid day for a parade and there were 92 entries and hundreds of visitors lined the streets to see the entire parade go first in one direction then loop around a return for a second view.