Eric Bunnell's People: Elgin County Heritage Centre offers a 'Jumbo' keepsake |
Share this Story : The Sarnia Observer Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr
Eric Bunnell's People: Elgin County Heritage Centre offers a 'Jumbo' keepsake
The 36-page, full-colour catalogue of the exhibition also includes some bonus material
Elephants may never forget. But human memory, well, it’s hardly perfect.
But as the Jumbomania exhibition at the Elgin County Heritage Centre enters its final weeks — the show closes March 21 — the museum has now stocked a keepsake to remember what may be its best-attended attraction in recent memory.
Eric Bunnell's People: Elgin County Heritage Centre offers a 'Jumbo' keepsake Back to video
A 36-page, full-colour catalogue of the exhibition with more than 165 photographs was delivered Tuesday this week from the printer.
It’s not only a memento of the show, says Jumbomania curator Dariusz Korbiel, who estimates he spent “well over 300 hours” creating the book. There’s more.
“There’s bonus material that’s not in the exhibition,” he says. “You’ll have to get the catalogue to find out.”
Priced at $19.99 plus tax, the catalogue adds to a store of Jumbomania souvenirs created for the exhibition and available at the heritage centre. Most popular so far, key chains and fridge magnets, says museum assistant Ally Shelly, an admitted magnet collector. (“It’ll be a sad day if I get a fridge that’s not magnetic,” she asides.)
The heritage centre currently is open winter hours, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday to Friday, but also will open Saturdays — March 14 and March 21 — during March Break to offer special activities for kids and Elgin County Museum’s green screen attraction, which allows visitors to be inserted into historical Jumbo photographs.
Following Jumbomania, the heritage centre will install Eyes on the Skies, a travelling exhibition from Ingenium, Ottawa, about Canadian air traffic control.
(Full disclosure: Some guy named Bunnell is listed as a Jumbomania catalogue contributor.)
New beginning for the Lucky Kitchen
Ying Chau fled the burning building into a cold December morning wearing only her nightclothes.
“My friends say, ‘Are you OK?’ I say, ‘OK!’
“Then we quickly finish the hospital for checkups.
“Then we go to the store . . . we all go to the store — hurry up! — it was so cold. They don’t have jackets. No jackets.”
And then — hurry up, again! — to rebuild from scratch the landmark St. Thomas Chinese restaurant that Ying has owned since 1999 but was destroyed in a Dec. 18 fire.
But little less than two months later, just like the legendary Phoenix, the Lucky Kitchen has risen from the ashes of that devastating blaze. The three-storey building on Talbot Street was so damaged that it was pulled down the next day, with what was left of its contents still inside.
Relocated to a Homedale Plaza storefront, where a brand-new kitchen was built in a vacant retail outlet, the New Lucky Kitchen opened its doors in mid-February for takeout and delivery. (Lost in the fire was the old restaurant’s dinner buffet.)
“It was lots of work!”
St. Thomas likes its Canadian-Chinese food, such as sweet and sour chicken, lo mein noodles, egg rolls and spring rolls, and Ying, who likes running a resto in a friendly, small town, says customers are returning.
“So far, we are very appreciative of the customers in St. Thomas. They know what has happened and they have come back.
“I’m very appreciative of it.”
The keynote speaker is to be CFL great Michael “Pinball” Clemons, and St. Thomas and District Chamber of Commerce promises its coming Impact Awards evening is going to live up to the special guest’s well-known nickname.
The theme of the April 17 celebration at the Joe Thornton Community Centre, where the Impact awards will recognize business excellence in the community, is Level Up: The Impact Arcade.
And part of the fun will be arcade games.
Lindsey Massecar, chamber event and experience manager, says, “There were not any pinball machines available from the supplier, but we do have other retro gaming options!”
Since retiring from sport, Clemons — called Pinball for his agility on the field — has become known nationwide as a speaker “for his unstoppable positivity, legendary athletic career, and transformative leadership,” chamber officials said. “Pinball brings a message that resonates deeply with today’s business community.”
Tickets for the do are available online at stthomaschamber.on.ca.
The halls are alive with the sounds of music, these days at the Grand Theatre.
In the main auditorium of the London playhouse, Piaf/Dietrich brings very much to life the story of a very real friendship between two of the very most iconic singers of their time, Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich.
This is a jukebox musical full of their anthems, but to dismiss it as such would be a real disservice to a rich, heartfelt production and its two very vocally able stars, Deborah Hay and Terra C. MacLeod.
From the get-go when they duet La Vie en rose to start the show, the evening — directed by Rachel Peake, the Grand’s artistic director — raises goose bumps! The two leads positively are mistresses of their craft: Hay absolutely wears Piaf’s pains, both physical and mental, while MacLeod gives us Dietrich’s sultry German-accented persona — and then builds it by singing a Piaf song in French.
Meanwhile, it’s a whole different world downstairs in the Grand’s studio theatre, where a touring show from New Zealand has set up shop. Literally.
It’s Mrs. Krishnan’s Party, 75 minutes of non-stop smiles and chuckles — but spiced, also, just like the dahl that is cooked on stage and later served to the audience. (I’m sensitive to one of the ingredients — while I love onions, they don’t return my affection — but I do have on good authority the lentil stew was “wonderful.”)
Mrs. Krishnan is a widowed convenience store owner at a crossroad whose boarder, James, a university student also adrift, organizes a party in the shop’s back room to celebrate a Hindu harvest festival. And audience members are the guests in this very interactive evening. (The actors are Kalyani Nagarajan and Justin Rogers.)
Be prepared for fun. Frolic. Food. Oh, all dished with a good dash of festive Bollywood flavour!
Both productions on stage through March 7. Click to grandtheatre.com.
Closer to home, the 2026 edition of the St. Thomas Music Festival wraps this Friday with an evening of major awards competition, starting at 7 p.m. at Central United Church. The young musicians are the top talents of the festival.
Admission is by donation in support of the long-running festival, now in its 72nd year and under sponsorship of St. Thomas Christian Church.
As they do every year, faithful around the globe will gather this year on the first Friday of March for World Day of Prayer, a global ecumenical movement led by Christian women.
The theme of this year’s gathering is “I Will Give You Rest: Come.” The service written by the World Day of Prayer Committee of Nigeria is an invitation drawn from the Book of Matthew to find rest from the heavy burdens of the world in God.
Locally, World Day of Prayer 2026 is to be celebrated at 2 p.m. March 6 at Central United.
I sure hope spring is just around the corner. The season is due 10:46 a.m. on March 20.
But the Weather Network, purveyors of prognostication to this publication, says we’re just gonna have to be patient waiting for springlike weather, even though Friday’s early forecast calls for a balmy 9 C. (What weather! That’s after a cold weather alert for overnight Wednesday this week into Thursday.)
“Winter started early, and it does not appear to be in a hurry to leave as a sluggish start to spring is expected,” the Weather Network said Wednesday, announcing its spring forecast for Ontario.
“Periods of mild spring weather are still expected, but warm weather will lack commitment through March and well into April. It appears that the mild spells will be offset by periods of colder weather.
‘This should extend the ski season, but it could also delay the start of the growing season.”
I’m taking solace that when we set our clocks ahead next weekend, that’ll mean one less hour of this winter.
And not to rush things, but it’s good to hear from Dan Simpson that organizers are ramping up again for the 2026 iteration of St. Anne’s Community Festival, saved last year from cancellation by an influx of new volunteers.
This corner will return.
ericbunnellspeople@gmail.com
Share this Story : The Sarnia Observer Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.