The Our Town - Clarenville Blog by Paul Tilley

Clarenville is gearing for the Kraft Celebration Tour coming to our town and our province!  We want to invite everyone to take part in the celebration and the live NL broadcast of SPORTSNET from Clarenville.  (If you can't come we'll have pictures on our companion Facebook page). So if you live in Clarenville - head down to the SHORELINE MARKET on the waterfront next Saturday (Aug 18). If you are not from Clarenville, here's your opportunity to visit - we'd love to see you!      YOU HELPED US GET HERE AND NOW TSN & CLARENVILLE ARE INVITING YOU TO COME OUT TO THE KRAFT CELEBRATION TOUR 10 in 10's CLARENVILLE STOP on SATURDAY, AUGUST 18th! This Community Celebration is taking place in Clarenville on the Waterfront at the SHORELINE PARK on Marine Drive from 5:30 - 9:00pm.  It's going to be a great evening featuring the LIVE BROADCAST of TSN Sports Centre, hosted by Jay Onr ait & Dan O'Toole from 7:30-8:30. Before the broadcast there wil

This photo is of the former Clarenville Primary School.  You can't quite make out the graffiti on the door which says Welcome to Hell.  Perhaps the artist doesn't realize that it's no longer operating as a school. As I passed by it today, I wondered about the status of the building. It has been closed for over a year now. I assume it is considered an asset of the provincial government but I wonder about its future. It certainly can't be left to rot or left to be the target of vandals. While travelling through Ontario recently with the Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference , I toured the Rexdale Community Hub . The community of Rexdale is a priority neighbourhood of the City of Toronto.  The Hub is housed in a renovated school. It houses about 11 social agencies, including a women's centre, medical clinic, family resource centre and employment centre. It also includes a gym with hopes to soon include a community kitchen. It was a pricey ventur

People dumping trash wherever they choose. It’s an old story and one that we see evidence of all too often.   Every once in a while such a mindless trashing gets reported to the authorities, and even more rare is that sometimes it is so heinous and so bold that such a blatant offence gets reported in the media.   This latest case of “dumping stupidity” managed to make it through all three stages - I‘m glad it did and I feel that that‘s a very positive sign.  (see the PACKET “In your own backyard” by Ross Mair Aug 2, 2012 ) This dumping got noticed, it got reported and it written up in the local paper.  Many people are now aware of it and with any luck the perpetrator is feeling pretty ashamed. It’s a sign that as a town we are moving forward in developing a stronger notion of community pride.  The the Town too has to be commended for acting so quickly to get the mess cleaned up. So yes there was bad - but the good that came out of it far outstripped the crime.  It’s a win for C

Have you noticed the price of houses in Clarenville.   Prices are bumping into the stratosphere and this s taking a bigger bite out of every new buyer's budget.   If you are of limited financial means this this means that buying a house is becoming next to impossible and renting is becoming a major challenge. So what are we to do as a community? That's the question that the Town has posed and has generally it has been answerd by saying that the the market dictates price and if the price is too high there is little that the Town can do. A role for the Town? The Town's municipal plan clearly spells out a role of the Town.  Corner Brook  has the workings of a potential model for Clarenville.   That city provides non-profit organization's who are involved in developing affordable housing tax relief....if the Town of Clarenville sees a role for itself, this may be an idea worth pursuing here.    

I've been doing a lot of beating around over the summer, walking, running, driving and the like and I have come across a bunch of things that caught my eye that I think add greatly to the value of the town (Potential),  can be improved with minimal effort (Real) and that are downright scary (Life).  Here's what I saw: POTENTIAL Outstanding Community Involvement - The Kraft TSN Celebration Tour.  Clarenville won this competition with over 350,000 votes.  If ever person that voted, voted an average of 100 times that would mean that 3,500 people and businesses were engaged.  In fact Clarenville had the highest vote total in Canada!!  Now, if we can get that many engaged for the opportunity to win $25,000 and an hour of national TV coverage, surely we should be able to get as many involved in other critically important town issues - like voting. Dog poop on the trails is one of the banes of my, and many others, walking existence.  I was so glad to see this disp

Ahh the Newfoundland Kitchen party was alive and well at the Clarenville Events Centre this week as we began Clarenville Days 2012 Enjoy! Goowiddy Adam Randell Accordion Time Bond Peddle Evelyn Avery Curtis and Joseph Blackmore Darryl Duke Fireworks

Monday marked the beginning of Clarenville Day's here in Clarenville.  Clarenville Days is a week long celebration of what we have in Clarenville.  Last evening we celebrated what could be. After a year long development process, last night the Town unveiled its new branding strategy and logo - Real - Life - Potential . Pilot Communications designed the logo, slogan and the marketing material including a new town website ( www.clarenville.net   ) that you will see compliment the branding strategy.  kudos to them for suggesting such a  bold move and kudos to the Town Council for buying into it. (The degree to which we see the town buy-in and live up to the "Brand Promise" remains to bee seen - I am watching to see real change - See my previous post on this  http://ourtownclarenville.blogspot.ca/2012/04/sizzle-steak-brand-aid-for-clarenville.html  ).   The new logo is a complete departure from the traditional wheel and goose logos that we have seen in the past.