COVER STORY

I couldn’t think of a better cover story for our annual Health & Wellness edition than to feature a community-driven raffle in support of the new Markdale Hospital.

There’s a lot in that sentence to unpack.

Let’s get started :)

First, this raffle initiative was started by one person; David Sadowski. You may recognize that name from a story we featured a few months ago. Dave is the co-owner of Burger Guru - which will be opening soon in a permanent location, taking the space of The Restaurant on Highway 10 just south of Grey Road 4 in Flesherton.

Dave pounded the pavement across Grey Highlands for months asking local business owners for donations in order to raise funds for the new Markdale Hospital. I actually heard about the raffle when I bumped into him at the loading docks behind the Huron Bay Co-Op in Markdale a while back. I was so impressed by his initiative that I offered up some space in the magazine to promote the raffle and agreed to donate some Tractor Toques from Grey County Apparel Company. It wasn’t until we were chatting about the raffle in the following weeks that I started to connect the dots on how big of an undertaking this was for Dave and how much work he was doing to help others in our community. It was then that I decided to make him, and the raffle, the cover story for our Health & Wellness edition.

A little bit about Dave Sadowski...

From what I can tell, and I’ve done some extensive research here, the man is a skilled chef. The Burger Guru became a go-to for Mama Country and I since it opened and right up until it closed - its temporary location, that is. Dave is also a humble man. He doesn’t strike me as egotistical in any way, even though he has reason to be simply based on the food he creates. He’s also a relatively new resident of Grey Highlands.

So what inspires someone who, at the best of times, is an extremely busy entrepreneur to go out of his way to drum up donations in support of his local hospital?

“Well, I’ve always just liked to give as much as I can,” Dave explains. “So I originally thought of just raffling off a gift card for the Burger Guru to help raise some money for the hospital since I figured I could, so why not? Then I started thinking, why not start asking around? I feel everyone always talks about how good it was here back in the day. I started realizing this was because people gave back to their communities more. So I just feel that those with the power to make change should and that we make the community we want to live in. The new hospital will make a drastic change for the better in this community and I’d like to support it the best I can.”

Wow.

The world needs more people like Dave Sadowski.

Also impressive is the extent of the generosity among our local business community here in Grey Highlands. The list of participating local businesses keeps growing, but at the time of publishing, it includes the following:

• Susan’s Delicatessen: $50 Gift Card • Marilynne: $100 Gift Card • Goodfellas Pizza: 2 Large Pizzas + 6 Toppings ($25 value) • Elfwork Studios/Wareham Forge • The Bakery Flesherton: $75 Gift Basket • Highland Grounds: Two $25 Gift Card • Huron Bay Co-Op: Two $50 Gift Card • Steven’s Restaurant : $50 Gift Card • The Market Shoppe: $50 Gift Card • The Barrhead: $100 Gift Card • Bowlers BJJ: One Free Month + Uniform ($100 value) • Nicole Carter Massage Therapist: Free 60 minute Massage ($90 value) • Artemesia Cheese & Fine Foods: $25 Gift Card • Eco-Refillary: $25 Gift Card • Markdale Computers: $35 Mouse • Markdale Golf & Curling Club: 4 Person Golf Package ($150 value)

• Barkhouse Pet: $50 Gift Card • Peek Through My Window- $25 Gift Card • Markdale Flowers: $45 Gift Basket • Markdale Foodland $25 Gift Basket • Savvy: $150 Gift Card • Flesherton Home Hardware: $100 Home Appliance • Crossroads Cannabis: Five $85 Gift Baskets & $50 Gift Card • Barbara Pearn Art: Cardinal Painting ($85 value) • Carquest Markdale: $70 Gift Basket • Garage13: $70 Gift Card & $60 Painting • Higginson Farm: $50 Gift Card • RWB Farms: Meat Package with Ham Steaks, Peameal, Pork Chops & Sausage ($120 value) • Mullin’s Pet Store: $50 Gift Card • Allan’s Garage: Car Wash Kit ($30 value) • Markdale Chiropractic: $120 Gift Card • Relive Retreat: 1 free night ($230 value) • Markdale Vet: Gift Basket ($100 value) • Markdale LCBO: $25 Gift Card • Hair Garage: $75 Gift Basket • Ginne’s Groom Room: 2 Nail Clippings ($20 value) • IDA/Flesherton Pharmacy • Colton’s Garage: $50 Off Next Oil Change • Brilliant Bread: Two $25 Gift Cards • TimberMart: $30 Gift Basket ($30 value) • Bernard’s Quality Cars: $50 Gift Basket • Jolley’s Dairy Bar & Video: 10 Free Scoops ($40 value) • Peasemarsh Farm Catering: $150 Gift Card The Burger Guru’s DAVID SADOWSKI

• Sideroad Farms: Two $100 Gift Cards • Leela’s Villa Inn: 1 Free Night Stay ($80 value) • Nicol Insurance: $30 Gift Basket • Ideal Supply: $100 Gift Bag • Black Market Produce: $100 Gift Card • Kim’s Place: Two $25 Gift Cards • The Flying Chestnut: $100 Gift Certificate • Grist Mill Winery: A free Batch of Wine ($249 value) • Johnson & Schwass PC: $125 Gift Basket • Sparlings: $50 Gift Basket • Vie Taekwondo: $100 Gift Card • Mark Murakami: $50 Gift card for The Bakery, Flesherton • The Bicycle Café • Allison Electrical Services: Five 500ml Bottles of Maple Syrup • Grey County Apparel Company: 5 Tractor Toques ($175 value)

The date for the raffle has yet to be set but you can find out more by checking out Burger Guru’s Facebook page: www. facebook.com/tburgerguru

Kudos to Dave Sadowski of the Burger Guru for his hard work in spearheading this raffle and to all the local businesses throughout Grey Highlands and beyond for their donations and support of the new Markdale Hospital.

Maybe the “good ol’ days” are still ahead.

Find Burger Enlightenment at The Burger Guru’s new, permanent location is opening this month at 774107 HWY 10, Flesherton. Now serving Breakfast.

I apologize up front for once again mining personal history this month instead of profiling a Flesherton area artist or cultural collaborator, but as some of you may know, I am working out of town until the end of December.

For this installment, I offer a story nearly a halfcentury in the making, one which not only shows the relationship between an artist and his work, but also illustrates the interconnectivity between artists. Just as writers are also readers, so artists influence, and are influenced by, their colleagues.

I lived in Victoria, B.C. through most of the ‘80’s, in the home of a couple who would become two of my dearest friends: John, an actor and children’s bookstore owner who performed in my first stage play, “Ties” and his vivacious wife Andrea, who was a curator at the provincial museum and her husband’s biggest fan. When Andrea was studying at Queen’s, she had occasion to correspond with Andrew Wyeth, the great American artist, and the Father of Contemporary Realism. Mr. Wyeth, hailing from a generation that responded to correspondence, sent her a handwritten reply. She framed the letter and encased the handwritten envelope on the back of the frame, and it hung unobtrusively in the house the whole time I lived there. Among the things Mr. Wyeth wrote in the letter was a discussion of his occasional encounter with the Canadian painter, Alex Colville. He expressed his great admiration for the Canadian’s work, and the favourable impression he had following their meeting.

When Andrea died in the late 1990’s, my friend John entrusted me with the letter as a suitable memento of my friendship with his wife. The letter hung in my home office in Ancaster and later in Priceville, where Mary-Jo and I moved in 2012. That year my sister, Mary Margaret Land (Curtis), herself an artist living in P.E.I, was in Ontario visiting family. Following a discussion of the letter, she mentioned she had heard that Alex Colville had recently suffered from a health setback, and then wondered if he was aware of the esteem in which he was held by Andrew Wyeth. She asked if she might borrow it, and when I agreed to give it to her, she vowed to make every effort to get it to the Canadian icon. She took it as carry-on on the plane back to PEI.

Some months later, she called to tell me that she made the journey from Charlottetown to Wolfville, Nova Scotia to have tea with Alex Colville and his wife, Rhoda. Despite his being a quiet humble man, upon his reading of the letter, Alex Colville was clearly moved, particularly when Wyeth referred to the artist’s “deep emotional involvement with his land, his people, and what he has to say about it.” Ever gracious, Alex complimented Mary Margaret on her painting, “Remembering Home”, which he liked. My sister will always remember the afternoon with the artist and his wife, as well as her role in bringing the words of Andrew Wyeth to him. Alex Colville died the following year.

This past summer, my guardianship of the letter came to an end. I returned to Victoria to visit my friend John and brought back the letter. It now hangs in the home of his son, Rory. Although I no longer possess the artifact which underwent such an unusual journey, I cannot look at an image created by the legendary great American artist, his Canadian colleague, or even my sister, for that matter, without recalling my wonderful friend, Andrea, and the peculiar circumstances by which we all came together.

KEVIN ARTHUR LAND

Kevin Arthur Land is a playwright, screenwriter, arts educator, and the owner of Speaking Volumes Books and Audio in Flesherton.

SPEAKING VOLUMES BOOKS & AUDIO 12 Toronto Road, Flesherton kevinarthurland@gmail.com kevinarthurland.ca

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