The Our Town - Clarenville Blog by Paul Tilley

Winter is GREAT in Clarenville -  Well it''s the start season in Clarenville.  We're very proud of our witer recreational opportunities and with our community within 2 hours of over 70% of the population in the province we are in an ideal, easily accessible spot for almost everybody.   Over's the winter I'll be adding to this but for now here's a taste of what we have to offer!   Look for #gottaloveourwinter on Twitter and follow all of the various social media feeds.   As well be sure to like us on Facebook - Our Town Clarenville   www.facebook.com/ourtownclarenville Events Eat the Hill - Clarenville's first cullinary event - Feb. 9 & 10! Cross Country Skiing Video Tours: Our New Ski Groomer Part 1 - Trail Tour    Part 2 - Trail Tour Summit Trail to Bare Pond Trail Night Skiing on the lighted Harry's Loop Trail Down Hill Skiing Snowmobiling

Random Thoughts...: Write a Song for the 2014 NL Winter Games! : How difficult can it be to write a song? Well, there's only one way to find out! The 2014 NL Winter Games Clarenville Host Committee is se...

It may sound odd, but the time has come for this community to ask for less of a service.   Specifically, we need less garbage collection.   We need action on reducing the amount of garbage that we throw out each week – because our learned wastefulness will soon hit us hard in the pocketbook. Councillor Rod Nicholl raised the issue of waste reduction during a meeting of Council last Nov 20.   ( November 20, 2012 listen beginning at the 2:00 minute mark)   Nichol pointed out that with the reformatting of how garbage is handled in NL, Clarenville taxpayers who have gotten used to twice weekly and unlimited volume of garbage collection, will soon have to pay for collection by the tonne – this will mean big bills if our wasteful habits continue.   (Government is closing dumps and all garbage will be moved to one of three dumps across the island – Clarenville’s will be headed for St. John's/Robin Hood Bay).   Nicholl argued that the Town should develop and communicate a strategy n

Random Thoughts...: Tea and Pee Clarenville : The east entrance to Clarenville has always been nondescript. A winding road without curb, gutter or sidewalks between the Irving Gas Statio...

Today, Councillor John Pickett spoke to the monthly meeting of the Clarenville Chamber of Commerce.   His topic dealt with the 2013 Town of Clarenville Budget that he presented to Council this past December. Below is a video of   his presentation. I published the details when the budget was first delivered - see HERE Have a look at Coun. Pickett's presentation:

Eat The Hill is a winter foodabration!  Eat the Hill will be Clarenville’s first Culinary Festival and is taking place on the weekend of February 9 and 10, 2013 at Clarenville's White Hills Resort as a kick off to our 25th winter carnival . This 2 day foodie weekend will bring local chefs together to create some mouth-watering culinary treats.  Here's what to expect: Saturday, February 9th During the Day Enjoy the slopes and trails on Saturday with a full day pass for White Hills, eastern Newfoundland’s premier winter destination! As your day of skiing or snowboarding winds down head into the town and enjoy some of Clarenville’s outstanding locally owned shops. 7 Chefs - 6 Courses ​Then get ready as the evening begins... your chefs have been working tirelessly to produce an amazing 6 course meal; each chef will create a course using local ingredients. Dinner will begin at 7:30, the bar will open 30 minutes prior.  Meet the Chefs HERE After the meal, the eve

Ok, you may be new to Clarenville, or you may be away or you may just not be aware or you may just want to know...This post is for you - read on. There's a lot of great winter opportunities shaping up in our town this winter and we want you to be part of it.  Let me just speak of a few that I know of so far - in the order of when they are happening: WHITE HILLS opening this Coming weekend - Click to play information video CARIBOUS No lockout here! Clarenville's beloved hockey is on the ice this coming weekend.  Get your tickets at the Events Centre.    SNOWSHOEING Snowshoeing is gaining in popularity and some new trails that lead to some breathtaking destinations are being developed.  Just this morning I was involved in breaking a trail to Arron's Lookout.  Arron's Lookout is the bald hill that you can on the 90 degree turn see as you drive into White Hills.  This is a 4 km round trip from the Lee Churchill Chalet and it takes you through woods, across b

(I always find Barbara Dean Simmons Editorials in the   Packet though provoking. In this week's Packet see argues that governments should get on-the-ball with new technology (See: To 2013...and Beyond)  .  I want to take that a step further in relation to Clarenville)    Happy New Year everyone! When I arrived here in Clarenville twenty one years ago, the first person that I met at the College, where I work, was then Principal Steve Quinton.  Steve began to tell me about how he and a group of progressive individuals had lobbied to make Clarenville a hub in the technological revolution.  Shortly after that our campus was hooked to a brand new fibre optic network that connected Clarenville to the world at then’ blazing’ speeds  – through that innovation and initiative we (the Campus and the Town) gained a reputation for practical application of technology. Today we take it all pretty much for granted – we all connect to the internet and use it without a thought.   Techn

Random Thoughts...: My 2013 Wish For You: The Next Municipal Election : I have a New Year's wish for you. It's 2013 and that means there will be municipal elections in a little over 8 months. Wait! Don't stop r...

Clarenville has had a lot of great community building activities during 2012 that we can all be proud of.     There were two common elements in each one of these activities:   They were led by people who saw the opportunity and “dared to do”.    And secondly, the people of Clarenville – the essential ingredient - got involved in making the ideas a success. As people who are out there looking for a place to live and grow their families see this sort of community spirit in Clarenville our reputation as THE PLACE to live will only grow.   Kudos to you all.          

Today, the concept of dressing up to disguise one’s identity and then barging into other people’s houses as a Mummer, is something that most law abiding people would simply no longer do.   But it was fun.   Almost all of us who grew up in here in Nl have seen the classic Mummers episode from Land and Sea .   If you have not seen that episode you have certainly heard Simini’s Mummers Song. T he episode and the song that inspired it arguably  saved mummering from extinction.  Three years ago, The good folks in St. John’s hatched a plan that captured the fun of mummering while at the same time keeping people from being arrested.   The St. John’s Mummers festival has been a phenomenal, family friendly success.     http://mummersfestival.ca/ This was just enough inspiration for Lisa Browne to dare to try it here in Clarenville.   She convinced Rotary, me and many others that this could and would work here, so we decided a few months ago to give it a try. We promoted it with poste

It's budget time again in Clarenville. Here is my account of the budget presentation: Here's the Packet's link to AUDIO of the Budget Council meeting What is a Budget anyway? Each year, governments and organizations plan their expenditures and their revenues for the coming year.    The budget process forces the planning process and, in theory, it improves how and where money is spent.    On December 11, Con. John Pickett, Chair of the Finance committee of Council for the Town of Clarenville presented the 2013 Budget to a public meeting of Council.   What follows is an unofficial   summary of the 2013 budget presentation.     The Opportunities and Challenges of Growth: Clarenville Statistics ·          Clarenville’s population has grown by 14% in the past 5 years.   This makes us one of the fastest growing towns in the province with an official 2011 population of 6,036 people.   See: http://ourtownclarenville.blogspot.ca/2012/02/clarenville-grows-144-in-5-years.