The Opeongo Line

One of the great legendary characters of the Upper Ottawa Valley, Dr. Martin J. Maloney was not only a much-loved local physician from 1898 to 1953, he was both a stellar member of the federal Parliament from 1925 to 1935 and the father of Ontario's first Ombudsman and the Ontario cabinet minister who laid the corner stone at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in Barry's Bay. His granddaughter, Julie M...

Every four years, the Township of Madawaska Valley must elect a new municipal council to serve its local needs. Last night, both candidates for mayor and all ten candidates seeking one of the four council seats met face to face with well over 200 local voters. Organized by the Madawaska Valley Public library and moderated by Sean Conway much was said and undoubtedly many voting decisions were cons...

Given that all of Ontario goes to the polls this month to elect a new roster of municipal politicians to govern local jurisdiction for another four years, it's time to talk local democracy.  And who better to explain all the ins and outs of local politics than The Local host, Sean Conway, as he engages in a wide-ranging discussion with Michael Johnson, a former chief administrative officer for Ren...

In 1902 The Eganville Leader was founded and 124 years later has become undoubtedly the best community newspaper in all of Canada and the largest paid-circulation weekly in Ontario. But this past February, The Leader almost ceased publication. Last Sunday, The Bromley Historical Society decided to find out what happened and so invited past and present Leader staff, along with it's current publishe...

Last Sunday at the Bromley Historical Society, John Yakabuski gave undoubtedly one of the best political speeches ever heard in Osceola, if not possibly in the rest of Canada. With consummate humour yet shrewd insight, Mr. Yakabuski opened a window on his unique political heritage and eventual rise to power as one of Ontario Premier Doug Ford's formative cabinet ministers. He also shed considerabl...

Local historian Mark Woermke presents some fascinating new research into a frontier family who once called the Bark Lake Settlement their home in the latter half of the 19th Century. For nearly ten years, the Cuthertsons kept a stopping place at Bark Lake, about ten kilometres west of present-day Barry's Bay. But one of that Cuthbertson clan would eventually end up in Hollywood early in the 20th C...

Recently, former Algonquin First Nation Chief Kirby J. Whiteduck spoke to the Bromley Historical Society near the very place where, in 1613 Samuel de Champlain, once met the famous one-eyed Algonquin Chief Tessouat. It was there that Champlain, as representative of his 17th Century French Colonial government, first negotiated with the somewhat resistant Algonquin Chief. And yet what happened to th...

Local historian Mark Woermke presented an intriguing look at the curious religious history of Renfrew Country when he gave a talk recently at the Upper Ottawa Valley Heritage Centre in Pembroke. His original research and entertaining anecdotes certainly provided his live audience with new insights but best of all, Mr. Woermke brought that unique 19th Century cultural history of Renfrew County to l...

Late one summer evening in 1909 twenty-year old William J. Thurston was hard at work, busily stoking the steam engine of a train passing along the north shore of Carson Lake. It was part of the Grand Trunk Railroad running between Ottawa and Parry Sound. But that mixed train of passengers and freight never got more than six kilometres west of Barry's Bay when something happened to end Mr. Thurston...

Under the able direction of Peter Glofcheskie, The O'Choir Boys sing their hearts out in honour of St. Patrick's Day. Their acapella performance includes a wide variety of religious and secular songs; everything from Amazing Grace to What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor, with 'Danny Boy' and 'The Fields of Athenry' thrown in for good measure!

It's late one night in the Spring of 1933 as the scheduled Opeongo Line train arrives six hours overdue at the old Barry's Bay Train station but that's not the only problem it's six weary passengers will have to face before morning. The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present a local adaptation of Arnold Ridley's 1923 stage hit, The Ghost Train.  

The plot thickens as the passengers now face the unimaginable as they hunker down in the old Barry's Bay train station, some more nervous than others.

Our play about what happened one night in the Spring of 1933 at the Barry's Bay Train Station comes to its inevitable if unexpected end. 

When Sean Conway, the host of "The Local" got together recently with his old friend, Michael Johnson, the former Chief Administrative Officer of Renfrew County, more than a few great stories were told. There's the one about the gallows in the county jail, and the one about the first female Warden and, of course, the one about when Mr. Johnson nearly drowned while working on the last log drive near...

Four members of the Opeongo Readers' Theatre are here again to help you enjoy the quietude of another relaxing Boxing Day with some stories and verse from places around the world where Boxing Day isn't celebrated but where celebrations by any other name often take place. 

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present their annual Christmas show. This year it includes everything from a very funny story set on the Irish Sea to a unique verse composed back here in Canada by Lucy Maud Montgomery -- all in hopes of helping you kick-start a very Merry Christmas.

Inducted into the Ottawa Valley Country Music Hall of Fame last year Eddie Francis is a well-know local musician who hails from Combermere. In an exclusive performance at the old train Station in Barry's Bay, Eddie recounts a time when he was sixteen and took a train from that very station to a meeting in Wheeling, West Virginia. He also sings more than a handful of his original songs inspired by...

Mark Woermke and The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present a new version of his beloved street play, Meet Me At The Station, only this time it's in the form of an old-time radio play set in Barry's Bay in 1944.

In honour of St. Patrick's Day, the Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents a show with over 200 limericks -- some pure nonsense, some Irish, some geographic, some dealing in romance and marriage, some risqué but not rude, and some that are simply tongue-twisters -- but none mad, bad, or dangerous to know.  

In honour of St. Valentine's Day, The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents three one-act plays -- all very short conversations about the love between a man and a woman. Somewhat quirky dialogues, they sound very 21st Century though they were all written over a hundred years ago.

For the past few years, the host of The Opeongo Line's "Local", Sean Conway, has sat down with the Mayor of the Township of Madawaska Valley, Mark Willmer, to talk about what the municipal government has had to deal with over the past year and what it faces in the coming year. This year was no different. Join us now for a very interesting conversation about the local politics and economic fortunes...

Again this year, we are proud to present the Wilno Heritage Society Community Choir as they sing Koledy - a traditional evening of Polish, Latin and English Christmas Carols. The choir has more than three dozen members and is made up of mostly senior citizens of Polish-Kashub heritage who have grown up in the area singing these songs since childhood.

Again this year we are proud to present the Wilno Heritage Society Community Choir as they present Koledy - a traditional evening of Polish, Latin and English Christmas Carols. The choir has more than three dozen members and is made up of mostly senior citizens of Polish-Kashub heritage who have grown up in the area singing these songs since childhood.

Whatever Christmas means to people, whether Christian or otherwise, whether fervently religious or occasionally spiritual, there's a undeniable joy and intentional good will to the season that is undeniable. The Opeongo Readers' Theatre attempt to explain what that is so.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre celebrates the artistic life and theatrical talent of Cathy Chapeskie, one of its own, who passed away recently. An early and regular contributor, Cathy Chapeskie leaves an impressive record of her work with the ORT. This show includes three of her best performances.