8,000 handmade poppies. One town hall. 🌺

Ajax Superstar is a free night that's all about the town's youth talent: bands, dance crews, vocalists and solo acts. It's Saturday, November 14, 6 to 9pm, at the Ajax Centre for the Arts (78 Church St. S.). Seats are first come, first served, so if you've got a performer in the family (or you just like cheering), get there early.

Source: Town of Ajax

Brock's two Legions are each hosting a Veterans Dinner 🌺 on Saturday, November 7. In Beaverton it's 5pm at Legion Branch 135. Tickets for everyone else are at the branch, or call Heather Hoover at 705-341-3213. In Cannington it's 5:30pm at Legion Branch 186. Call 705-432-8653. At both, veterans are free, "as always."

If there's a veteran in your life, Saturday is a good night to take them out. And if you'd like to know the names on Cannington's cenotaph, the Cannington & Area Historical Society is giving a talk about the local people who served and died in both world wars and Korea, Sunday, November 8 at 2pm at the Cannington Baptist Church Auditorium. Speaker is Roger Holliday.

Source: Township of Brock · Cannington & Area Historical Society

Meet Sugar and Spice. They're identical twin Angora goats, born July 3, 2024, on Becky Visser's farm in Bowmanville, and they're the 2026 Royal Ambassadors for the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. This morning they rode the GO train from Scarborough to Union Station to kick things off. (We'd love to know who got the window seat.)

The twins first charmed the crowds at last year's Royal, where they competed in the Youth Goat Show, and the fair's staff never forgot them. Angora goats grow mohair, the soft, shiny fibre that ends up in sweaters, blankets and fine yarn, and they're sheared twice a year. Becky only brought Angoras to the farm in 2023, alongside the family's sheep.

The 104th Royal runs Friday, November 6 to Sunday, November 15 at Exhibition Place in Toronto. GO sells a combined Royal admission and transit pass, so you can take the train in, just like the goats. Go say hi. They'll be the curly ones.

▶️ You’ll love this video ⬇️

Source: The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair · Daily Durham

Oshawa's Walk of Fame inducts its class of 2026 at a gala tonight (Thursday, November 5) at the Jubilee Pavilion. Which, if you know the brothers' story, is the right room: the brothers' father, Owen, ran the pavilion back when the boys were growing up in Oshawa.

Going in: brothers Dennis Edmonton, better known as Mars Bonfire, who wrote Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild," and the late Jerry Edmonton, Steppenwolf's drummer. Clean-energy scientist Dr. Donald Sadoway, who grew up here before becoming an MIT professor. The Auxiliary of Lakeridge Health Oshawa, whose volunteers have been making up the hospital's difference since 1907, when Adelaide McLaughlin and a group of women raised $1,000 to buy the land to build one. And Olympic gold medallist Allysha Chapman: bronze in Rio, gold in Tokyo, nearly 100 caps for Canada. We told you her story a few weeks ago, and you can read it here.

Their stones go into the sidewalk at King and Simcoe in June ‘27. The next time you're downtown, look down.

▶️ Found a short doc of the Brothers on YouTube ⬇️

Source: Oshawa Walk of Fame · Allysha Chapman · Daily Durham

On Sunday, November 8, from 1 to 2pm, Pickering's Girl Guides (Community 22, the 21st Pickering Embers) will walk through Erskine Cemetery in Dunbarton and place a poppy 🌺 on the headstone of every veteran buried there. It's part of No Stone Left Alone, a program that gets kids doing the remembering themselves, one name and one poppy at a time. The cemetery is at the northwest corner of Finch Avenue and Fairport Road. You're welcome to come and watch.

Source: Veterans Affairs Canada · No Stone Left Alone

Marco Mazzarolo started at Herrington's Quality Butchers as a high school job. He went off to study public health and worked for a while as a health inspector, but he missed the hands-on work and came back to the counter. Now, at 24, he's been named Ontario's Finest Butcher for 2026 by Meat and Poultry Ontario.

He beat 10 other butchers from across the province. The first round was three cuts in 30 minutes. In the final, he built a display he called "grilling around the globe," cutting each piece the way a different country would grill it. Some of it came from his own family: his dad immigrated from Argentina.

Here's the kicker. His boss, owner Brent Herrington, won the same title in 2019, and he's the one who encouraged Marco to enter. That makes Herrington's one of just three businesses in Ontario with more than one winner on staff. "You're kind of making people's dinners," Marco says, "and it's very rewarding when a customer is happy." Next time you're picking up steaks for the weekend, you'll know who to ask.

Source: DurhamRegion.com

Kyler Lauder is on Canada Red at the U17 World Hockey Challenge in Oakville. Canada Red dropped its opener 5-1 to Finland, then came back to beat the United States 6-4 on Monday, with Lauder scoring. Today (Thursday) at 3:30pm, they play Sweden in the quarterfinal. Canada has won gold at the last three of these tournaments.

He wasn't the only local on a world stage this week. Travis Altmann of Seagrave just played rugby sevens for Canada at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal. He scored a try in a 40-0 win over the host country, and Canada finished fourth.

Source: The Uxbridge Cosmos · OHL · Chatham Daily News · Rugby Canada · BC Rugby News

The Durham Climate Forum is Saturday, November 14, 10am to 2pm, at Durham Region Headquarters (605 Rossland Rd. E., Whitby). It's free and family-friendly, and the theme is practical: what a changing climate means close to home, and what you can do about it. More than 25 local organizations will be there, you can take an electric vehicle for a test drive, and the speakers include Chief Kelly LaRocca of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation, Ewa Jackson of ICLEI Canada, Brent Kopperson of Windfall Ecology Centre, Tara Zupancic of the Region's Health Department and Jennifer Taves of the TRCA. Register online, it's free.

Source: Region of Durham · Registration

Wednesday is Remembrance Day 🌺 , and there's a ceremony close to every home in Durham. Here's where to stand for the silence at 11, plus a few ways to remember before then.

- 🎖️ Newtonville (Clarington): 10:30am, Newtonville Cenotaph

- 🕌 Baitul Mahdi Mosque, Pickering: 1:15pm, the Muslim community's Remembrance commemoration (3505 Salem Rd.)

- (Brock's veterans dinners are up in the Eight)

- 🎖️ Tyrone (Clarington): 9:30am, Tyrone Community Centre

- 🎖️ Orono (Clarington): 1:15pm, parade from Rebekah Lodge on Church St. N. to the cenotaph

- 🪶 Whitby: 11am, Indigenous Remembrance Day Service, Whitby Public Library (405 Dundas St. W.)

- 🎻 Uxbridge: 7:30pm, "Remember Them" memorial concert, St. Paul's Anglican (59 Toronto St. S.). Orpheus Symphonietta plays Haydn and Beethoven. $30, kids and students free

- Ajax: 10:45am, Legion, 111 Hunt St.

- Beaverton: parade 10:30am from Fire Station 183 (Bay St.) to the cenotaph

- Bowmanville: parade 10:30am from the Legion to Veterans' Square beside Town Hall. King St. is closed between Ontario and Temperance, 9:30am to 12:30pm

- Cannington: 8am sunrise service at the Legion (72 Peace St.), then the cenotaph ceremony at 11am, with refreshments after in the Legion Hall

- Newcastle: 10:30am, cenotaph. King Ave. is closed between Baldwin and Mill

- Oshawa: parade 10:25am from the R.S. McLaughlin Armoury, ceremony 10:45am at the Memorial Park cenotaph (110 Simcoe St. S.). Legion Branch 43 marks 100 years of service this year

- Pickering: 10:45am parade and ceremony, Pickering Cenotaph, One The Esplanade

- Port Perry: procession 10:30am from the Scugog library along Queen St., ceremony 10:45am at the cenotaph (181 Perry St.)

- Sunderland: 10:15am service at Legion Branch 141, parade to the cenotaph at 11am (120 River St.), then lunch at the Legion

- Uxbridge: veterans' parade 10:30am near the Music Hall, ceremony about 10:45am at the cenotaph (Toronto and Brock Sts.)

- Whitby: 10am, Whitby Legion, 109 Dundas St. E.

Source: Durham Radio News · Township of Brock · Municipality of Clarington · City of Oshawa

📚 Know a high school student who loves books? Brock Township Public Library is hiring a Student Library Assistant at the Sunderland branch. It's for students 14 and up, $18.75 an hour, about 10 hours a week, permanent part-time starting in December. Apply by noon on November 13 to [email protected].

Source: Brock Township Public Library

🌟 Uxbridge's Optimist Club is starting a Junior Optimists section for kids in Grades 5 to 8. They'll meet 4 to 5pm on the first Wednesday of each month at Game Juice Cafe on Bascom St. There's an open house tonight (Thursday), 7:30 to 9pm, at the Uxbridge library. Contact Miranda Sarosi through the club.

Source: The Uxbridge Cosmos

🚒 Brock Township is recruiting paid on-call volunteer firefighters for all three of its stations: Sunderland, Cannington and Beaverton. It pays $17.95 to $25.36 an hour, depending on calls, training and qualifications. You'll respond to everything from medical calls and crashes to grass fires, gas leaks, and ice and water rescues, so expect training, and a pager that can go off at any hour. You need to be 18 or older, with a G licence, a Grade 12 diploma, a clean vulnerable sector check, and you must live or work within 10 minutes of your station. Send a resume and cover letter to [email protected] by 4:30pm, Monday, November 23.

Source: Township of Brock · Daily Durham

Run a Durham group that needs hands? Hit reply and we'll put the word out.

💜 Saturday, Nov 7, 1pm (doors at noon): K-Pop Dreamworld, Tribute Communities Centre, Oshawa. A big K-pop tribute show built on KPop Demon Hunters, BTS and BLACKPINK. If your house has been singing "Golden" on repeat, this is your matinee. Tickets from $76.25.

Source: Tribute Communities Centre

🎁 Saturday, Nov 7, 10am to 3pm: Holly Jolly Holiday Market, Uxbridge Arena. Free, with 40-plus vendors, elves, hot chocolate and a silent auction. It raises money for Vocally Inspired Performers.

Source: Sideroads of Scugog

🛍️ Got a closet full of reusable grocery bags? Simcoe Hall Settlement House in Oshawa needs them to pack holiday food hampers for local families this Christmas. Drop them off at 387 Simcoe St. S., 9am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.

Source: Durham Radio News

👮 It's Crime Prevention Week, and Durham police have a booth at the Shops at Pickering City Centre (1355 Kingston Rd.) through Friday, 10am to 9pm, on the main level near the food court escalators. Use Entrance 2 on the north side. Stop by for tips on cyber crime, retail theft and keeping your home and family safe.

Source: Daily Durham

♿ The Lucy Maud Montgomery Society of Ontario has won a Region of Durham Accessibility Award, one of eight winners picked from 41 nominees. The award recognizes years of work making the Leaskdale Manse National Historic Site easier for everyone to enjoy, including a new sidewalk leading to Wynn Walters' "Maud in the Garden" statue and outdoor history panels set at accessible heights. "It is very heartening to realize that our efforts are indeed noticed," says the society's Melanie Whitfield.

Source: The Uxbridge Cosmos

🐾 Remember the new Uxbridge-Scugog Animal Shelter, the one 16 years in the making? Construction is underway at 5500 Lakeridge Rd., and now you can help pay for it. You can give any amount up to $2,500, just say how much you'd like to donate, and there are bigger sponsorship and naming opportunities too, for the shelter and for the new Uxbridge Aquatic and Sports Complex, which will replace North Durham's only indoor pool. For the shelter, email [email protected] or call 905-852-9181 ext. 228.

Source: Township of Uxbridge · Durham Radio News

🚔 Durham police handed out their big awards on Oct. 22 at the 23rd annual Police Appreciation Dinner and Awards Night, themed "Heart of the Badge." Derek Williams won the Dave Selby Award for helping build the Community Camera Program, now more than 300 cameras across the Region. Constable Stefanie Puckrin won the Mike Ewles Community Builder Award for years spent supporting youth, older adults and vulnerable neighbours. Retired Constable Heather Adams took the Kevin McAlpine Lifetime Achievement Award. Over 23 years, the dinner has raised more than $1.5 million for outreach programs, and this year's money goes to Victim Services of Durham Region.

Source: Durham Radio News

🪔 Ajax lit up for Durham's first Diwali festival. On October 24, the inaugural Durham Diwali Festival at J. Clarke Richardson Sports Complex ended with a 300-drone show that drew an Om symbol, Ganesha and a Canadian flag in the sky. A student team from the DDSB's Hindu Affinity Network ran the volunteers and looked after the seniors.

Source: Frequency News