MUST ADAPT
Hats off to Belleville Transit for adapting to COVID. Rather than running almost-empty buses on pre-existing schedules, the city uses an app called Pantonium that automatically allocates buses to customer needs. The whole idea is to reduce wait times, keep buses from overcrowding, and serve the community’s essential workers at critical times with fewer vehicles, all crucial features during pandemic times. And it seems to be working. Ridership and efficiency are on their way up.
MUST GO ZERO
You fill your blue box every week, but have you considered reducing the plastic you bring home in the first place? Some local shops are making it easier to join the zero-waste movement by providing all-natural products and bring-your-own-container shopping. Check them out – the next generation will thank you.
Architectsdaughter.ca/collections/all
letsgozerowaste.com/places/zero-waste-store/
earth2uproducts.com
themarketsmor.com
goodplace.ca
MUST HOPE
The artist with a canvas and the potter holding a lump of clay have worked in isolation for the past year, hoping the time will soon come when their work can be seen – not on a computer screen but by human eyes.
Belleville’s J.M. Parrott Gallery hopes to open its doors to the public this May with the Quinte Arts Council’s biennial juried show and sale. Expressions will shine a spotlight on a broad spectrum of work created by talented artists from across the region, bringing a breath of spring air to the gallery after a long winter. If COVID restrictions interfere with plans for in-person attendance, the show will go virtual but hope springs eternal.
Expressions
May 6 – June 3
J.M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville
quinteartscouncil.org/programs-services/gallery/2021-expressions
MUST TAP IN
While we may be missing out on Maple in the County or the pancake breakfast at Warkworth’s Maple Syrup Festival this year, local sugar shacks are still operating at full steam. There are over three dozen sap-to-syrup producers in Watershed country. You can pick up a bottle or two of liquid gold at farmers’ markets, roadside stands or by ordering online.
For locations, recipes and even maple nutrition tips, check out ontariomaple.com.
MUST TUNE IN
It’s true, Watershed is on the radio! We have teamed up with The New Classical 103.1FM to create a series of sixty-second radio spots – “Watershed Moments” – that inform and update you about the people, places and happenings in our region. We’re excited to have found a new way to connect to the community and bring you our words surrounded by The New Classical 103.1FM’s sublime environment of fine music. Stay tuned.
MUST VIEW
Tired of watching Netflix in your pyjamas? Film Access Northumberland (FAN), known for its annual Eye2Eye International Film Festival, wants to connect you to an outdoor evening of film followed by a Q&A session with the stars under the stars – including Christina Jennings, executive producer of Murdoch Mysteries – in Cobourg’s Victoria Park. For those movie buffs still at home in your loungewear, the event will be live-streamed.
