The Opeongo Line

Jeff Bowman, Cathy Chapeskie, Karen Filipkowski and Lynn Stewart, all members of the Opeongo Readers' Theatre present a 200-year-old story, somewhat true and sometimes fiction, of Archibald McNab, Renfrew County's very own feudal countryman of Robbie Burns.

In honour of a very old Canadian tradition established in 1646, the new Mayor of the Township of Madawaska Valley, Mark Willmer, sat down with Opeongo Line host, Sean Conway, on this New Years Day and discussed matters of municipal interest.

The Opeongo Line's annual Christmas show with Jeff Bowman, Cathy Chapeskie, Karen and Rob Filipkowski, Carol and Brian Peterson, Lynn Stewart and Mark Woermke, all members of the Opeongo Readers' Theatre. This year they present eight short stories, all about Christmas in Canada, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. 

The Opeongo Line's annual Christmas show with Jeff Bowman, Cathy Chapeskie, Karen and Rob Filipkowski, Carol and Brian Peterson, Lynn Stewart and Mark Woermke, all members of the Opeongo Readers' Theatre. This year they present eight short stories, all about Christmas in Canada, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. 

Three personal essays written and read by Barry Conway including "On McAuley Lake Road," "The Back Forty." and "The Big Eddy," all memoirs of growing up in the Upper Madawaska and Opeongo River Valleys in the 1960s.

The Bromley Historical Society hosted Sean Conway, a former Ontario cabinet minister, who spoke in Cobden recently about the federal election of 1917 and the atypical results in Renfrew County due to the Conscription issue.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present its annual Halloween show including an ancient tract about Irish Banshees, a wild story about a town drunk who dies and comes back to run for office, a curious tale of Siberian magic and,  finally, a disturbing story about our local area's most haunted places, Reds and Buck Hill.

Anne K. Wilde brings us a special Thanksgiving gift, a unique hour of Algonquin songs, folktales and legends provided by several Indigenous women who live along the York River in the Hastings Highlands near Algonquin Park.

The first part of the second Township of Madawaska Valley's All Candidates meeting held at the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 406, in Barry's Bay, Ontario on Sunday, September 25th to sort out who will be the next mayor of the township and who will be elected to the four council seats. This event was sponsored by the Valley Gazette and moderated by its publisher, Michel Lavigne.

The second part of the second Township of Madawaska Valley's All Candidates meeting held at the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 406, in Barry's Bay on Sunday, September 25th to sort out who will be the next mayor of the township and who will be elected to the four council seats. This event was sponsored by the Valley Gazette and moderated by its publisher, Michel Lavigne.

The first part of the Township of Madawaska Valley's All Candidate’s debate was held at the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 406, in Barry’s Bay on Tuesday evening, September 13th, to sort out who will be the next mayor of the township and who will be elected to the four council seats. The debate was moderated by Sean Conway.

The second part of the Township of Madawaska Valley's All Candidate’s debate was held at the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 406, in Barry’s Bay on Tuesday evening, September 13th, to sort out who will be the next mayor of the township and who will be elected to the four council seats. The debate was moderated by Sean Conway.

To honour the Madonna House's 75th Anniversary this year, Mary Davis, Mary-Lynn Murray and Christina Milan discuss their history and deep commitment to the continued existence of this very unique lay apostolate established by Catherine and Eddie Doherty along the Madawaska River in Combermere, ON in 1947.

In celebration of the return of the 'Irish Gathering' festival in Killaloe  ON after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic, the Opeongo Readers' Theatre kick off the shenanigans and malarkey that go on all weekend long. Here's Nicole Zummach, Jane Corbett, Kristin Marchand and Rob Filipkowski with an unforgettable evening of stories and verse.

In celebration of the return of the 'Irish Gathering' festival in Killaloe  ON after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic, the Opeongo Readers' Theatre kick off the shenanigans and malarkey that go on all weekend long. Here's Nicole Zummach, Jane Corbett, Kristin Marchand and Rob Filipkowski with an unforgettable evening of stories and verse.

Back in the Day host, Martina Coulas, interviews Robbie Hanna Anderman about his more than fifty years living on Morninglory Farm in the Wilno Hills. A story of grit and determination, music and art, it's a remarkable memoir like no other.

Back in the Day host, Martina Coulas, interviews Robbie Hanna Anderman about his more than fifty years living on Morninglory Farm in the Wilno Hills. A story of grit and determination, music and art, it's a remarkable memoir like no other.

Back in the Day host, Martina Coulas, interviews Robbie Hanna Anderman about his more than fifty years living on Morninglory Farm in the Wilno Hills. A story of grit and determination I, music and art, it's a remarkable memoir like no other.

Taken from a recording of a live Opeongo Readers' Theatre show performed on August 27th, 2018 in Whitney, ON, this show includes rare readings drawn from early local history including an 1819 trip down the York, an 1829 exploration of  the Opeongo, and David Thompson's 1837 journal of charting the Madawaska. 

Taken from an audio vault of 2018 live performances by the Opeongo Readers' Theatre, this show presents Thomas G. Devine's "On the Opeongo Line," "The Shanty Teamsters Marseillaise," "A Wesleyan Methodist's Ride Through Rockingham," and "The 1874 Inspection of the Bark Lake School."

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents the curious story behind the founding of Algonquin Provincial Park. Lesley Betts, Lynn Stewart and Jeff Bowman perform the original writings of two very different men who shared the same wilderness dream.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre honour three local women -- Helen Dombroski, Teresa Beanish, and Mary Cybulski -- who all made significant contributions to the economic growth of the Upper Madawaska Valley, but whose lives should also remind us of the significant cultural contribution made by local people of Polish-Kashub heritage. 

Born in the Wilno hills on November 12th, 1927, Agnes Coulas was in grade school when her mother died and yet she also unexpectedly met the love of her life, Stanley Chippior, at a church bazaar shortly after he returned from the Second World War. But if there's one thing she knows for certain after nearly 95 years of living, it's to take life as it comes. She chats with 'Back in the Day' host, Ma...

Born in 1880, Thomas Patrick Murray not only witnessed the coming of the OA & PS Railroad to Barry's Bay in 1894, he helped build it. Tom's great grandson, Graham Conway, performs a one-man show of Tom reliving those early years in his own words.

Thomas Patrick French was no ordinary man who came to Renfrew County in 1855. He was the Crown Land Agent charged with bringing hundreds, if not thousands, of immigrants to settle on free farm land along the newly opened Opeongo Colonization Road. It's was no ordinary job and he was no ordinary man from County Mayo.