I love this video with Steve Weese.  It highlights so many of the great companies in this area.  Some have been here for a century, others are new but providing global services and employing hundreds of people and their families.

A small place with a really big heart! The Goodwin Learning Centre, is NOT your typical private school. The word
private is very misleading when applied to this small education school in the local town of Brighton. It consists of
less than 40 students, grade levels from JK to 8. Operating on a minimal level of staff, who have opted to follow the
strong and positive beliefs of this school in lieu of standard teaching salaries, to provide amazing and dedicated
success not only to enrich the students, but contribute back to local and global communities.

Sponsor the Small School with a Big Heart!

The school relies on tuition funds solely in which the past two years the hovering recession has had a major impact
on enrollment. As well, any sponsorship from local businesses has fallen short, as smaller community businesses
are not able to assist as in previous years as they work thru the slow economic times themselves.

If you wish to support this unique and positive school, please reach out to them at:

http://goodwinlearningcentre.ca/contact.php

I love this video, it shows so much of things to do in Belleville and the Quinte area.  Fishing, Boating, Festivals and Concerts.

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Planning to have an annual dinner with our friends, we decided to try out one of the restaurants featured in County.licious.

Our choice was Claramount Inn and Restaurant .  And what a great choice it was!!  You can see the pics below from the meal but it was truely a great meal.

Thanks Claramount!

The first round of the 2012 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest was held this past weekend in Tweed, Canada. Matt Dowsett was the first Elvis tribute artist to qualify for Semifinals - Round One of the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest that will be held in Memphis during Elvis Week 2012, the 35th anniversary.The competition started Friday night with 31 Elvis Tribute Artists (ETAs) who started arriving at approximately 1 p.m. that afternoon from as far away as Florida.

Matt is proud to carry on Elvis' legacy and feels that Elvis was a truly amazing and inspiration person and performer. He says he is truly humbled and in awe of this opportunity to represent Tweed at the 2012 contest.

There will never be another Elvis Presley, but we always like to bring the magic back and experience it again and again. And this is something our very own Matt Dowsett, from Belleville is very good at. We should be proud of him!

So far the month of August has been really great & fun! There were lots of music and dancing in Downtown Belleville with the annual Belleville Idol competition and the first ever street dance (that's going to happen anually too), which ran from Campbell Street to Victoria Avenue.

It was really great to see a lot of people having fun, dancing along the music of the local band, The Reason. With all the positive feedback that the organizers got from the crowd, the free street dance will return next year and will go on an hour longer.

As for the Belleville Idol, this year's musical-talent contest had three age categories - 8-13, 14-19 & 20-plus. The winner, 16-year-old Savannah Rae got the opportunity to record her own original songs at Pinnacle Music Studios, a professional photography session with Stephanie Tratter & an RCI Gift Certificate for a week of vacation anywhere in the world. What a great way to showcase our local talents and giving free fun for everyone.

Downtown Belleville has experienced really amazing things this summer and it's not over yet.

The Quinte Humane Society has been actively involved in lending a helping hand whenever the need arose.

Coming August 18th, 2011, they will be holding a fund raising event at Ramada Inn for the benefit of the homeless animals in our community.

Let's help our furry friends and have a great night with loads of fun with comedian Jeff West, great food & of course that good feeling of being able to help and support our furry friends.

I was walking downtown and it looks like the big sidewalk sale is ramping up. So if you're looking for something fun to do head downtown and have some fun.

Ok, if you miss this on Canada you missed a real treat, we tried to capture as much as we could, but let's face they were pretty small way up in the sky.

It was a perfect Canada Day with great fireworks, and lot's of sun!!  I hope everyone else had as much fun as we did!

Well it was a little rainy, ok a lot rainy, but the brave men made the walk and not one of them dropped out.

Congratulations with everyone at the event, although we don't have the final number we understand Walk a Mile and the Yard Sale generated over $20,000.00 for both the Shelter Foundation and Three Oaks!

Congrats to Evelyn Throop for winning our Gift basket this year at the Quinte Home Builders Association - Quinte Home and Renovations Show.

We had a blast and hope to see everyone there again next year!

We took time this week to head on down to Zwick's Park, Belleville, ON to check out the new construction.  Take a look at what we saw!

Walk A Mile in Her Shoes® combines big hearts with big feet and brings the whole community together for a great cause. The event premise is simple: men walk down Front Street, Belleville in women’s shoes, raising eyebrows and funds in support of The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation and Three Oaks: Quinte’s Shelter for Women and their children.

There is an old saying “You can’t really understand another person’s experience until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.”  This international men’s march asks men to literally walk one mile (or in our case one kilometre) in women’s high heeled shoes.  It’s not easy walking in these shoes, but it’s fun and gets the community aware of and talking about something that’s really difficult to talk about:  violence (physical, verbal and sexual assault) against women.

It demonstrates that men are willing and able to be courageous partners with women in making the world a safer place.  Someone you know or care about may have been or may become the victim of violence.

Funds raised by participating in Walk A Mile in Her Shoes® will support local programs that will help the lives of women and girls forever.

Info - Registration - Sponsor pkg

Tomorrow or depending on when you read this, which might be today, is the "Savour the Chill" soup contest downtown.

It's suppose to be nice, but not too warm, making it perfect for soup!  So head down to the downtown and vote for your favourite.  I hear they have fireworks too.

Royal LePage Family and Friends Skating Party on Family Day

Monday, February 21^st (Family Day)

1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Trenton Community Gardens – Rink # 1

8 Couch Crescent, Trenton

We hope you can join us with your family and friends at this event.  (This is not a client appreciation event.)

This is a pot-luck event.  Please bring a snack to share.  Hot chocolate and coffee will be provided.  Skating is optional!  You can just stop by and enjoy mingling with fellow Royal LePage, Dominion Lending, Empire Threatre and Café e co-workers and their family and friends if you don’t want to skate.

This Team Tara had the chance to be in the Santa Claus Parade! Every kids dream. We took one of the Beetles and covered it with lights and decoration, ready to have a blast!

Here's the photos and a short video of the actual parade.  We had lot's of fun seeing all the kids, and we know there must be few arms sore from all the punch buggy punches we witnessed.  Thanks to everyone who cheered at the little Christmas Bug as it went by.  We'll definitely see you next year.

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We had a chance to head up to Lake on the Mountain to check out the view and then have dinner at The Inn.

We started off looking at the view over the bluff looking down on the Glenora Ferry.  Then headed over to take a look at the mystery lake itself.  According to the information at the lake there are several theories about how and why the lake is there.  I personally am voting for,  "the alien's needed a swimming pool" theory.

After a nice walk around, looking at the fall colours, checking out the lake and the bay, we went inside and enjoyed an amazing dinner.  Take look at the video, and get out there an enjoy our community!

Video:

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of the City of Belleville, and many of our Chamber Members, we are able to offer all attractions, entertainment, admission and parking FREE! This year's great food offering is Woo-Doggy Chili served in a Yorkshire Bowl for only $2. Beverages will also be available onsite.

A jam packed afternoon of fun with something for all ages ... horse drawn wagon rides, mechanical bull ride, cow milking simulator, arts, crafts, games, children's entertainment, bluegrass/country music, balloon art, pie eating contests, seed spitting contests, pumpkin fun AND a display of vehicles and equipment from the following City Departments (Environmental & Operational Services, Fire & Emergency Services, Recreation, Culture & Community Services) and The Belleville Police Services.

We spent some time at the Amazing Graze Alpaca Farm feeding the Alpacas, or accurately Tom feed them and I watched. Watch the video below.

If you've never been there you really need to go out there. I added the map this post if you want to head and see them.  Anyway we had blast out there, super fun with the kids and lots of great Alpaca products!

$20,000.00 was raised for the Women's Shelter Foundation at our "All You Need is Love" benefit concert on September 10th in the Empire Square. Over 2500 people showed up to support this great event.

Way to go Belleville!

Tara Lyons was a guest on the Classic Hits 95.5 morning show with Mark Philbin and Kathleen Rankine.  Tara was talking about the Wendy's Belleville Salad day fund raiser for the upcoming "End Breast Cancer Walk".  Belleville's local Wendy's was donating $2.00 for every dinner salad sold for the day to team "Firmly Supported"

If you wish to donate or support Tara and Team Firmly Supported simply visit their website(www.firmlysupported.ca) and make a donation!

You can also listen to the interview InterviewSaladDay.

Here's a quick video of Waupoos Marina, it's located on the south east side of Prince Edward County, right next door to the Waupoos Winery.

It's a great little harbour for those looking for a stop over heading to Kingston.