- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor
Throughout the spring we'll be hosting little wagon walking tours of different neighbourhoods in our city. April 8 is the next one, starting at 1 at the Eastridge School parking lot on 8th St E to tour the sites for new housing development - over 2000 proposed units so far.
Our first tour was April 1, and this is what we saw and discussed. April 8 we went up to the southeast corner of the city.
This week, Saturday, April 15, we'll go up and down Alpha Street, discovering why this old street needs rebuilding and what the challenges are going to be. We'll meet at 
6th Ave. W and Alpha at 1 p.m. and head UP hill, and if you'd rather walk DOWNhill, meet me at the top (you won't be disappointed in a Cash Town burger, beef or Beyond, before or after) and we'll head DOWNhill at 2 p.m.
On the tours I'll be sharing some things I've learned over the twenty-eight and a bit years I have lived in Owen Sound, starting as a young mom with a pre-schooler and continuing to learn every day as an old age pensioner.
People talk to me and write to me. People who have lived here all their lives tell me why they never left. People who grew up here and came back, or who chose Owen Sound, like we did, to take a job or raise their children. They tell me what they love, what they miss, and what they'd like to see changed or fixed, and why.
Years writing a weekly column in the Sun Times and then writing for the Owen Sound Hub took me to hundreds of committee and council meetings, as well as hundreds more public consultations, clubs, rallies, protests and all-candidates meetings. I listened, I asked questions and I wondered “why not?
Come along and we'll talk about some of these things for an hour or so while we walk. We'll see some places that are familiar and some you may see for the first time from a new perspective.
It's free, no registration, and it's rain or shine.
Why a little wagon? The wagon represents strollers, bundle buggies, toddlers, support dogs, mobility devices - everything people take with them as they get around town as “Pedestrians”. If we want a walkable city, we have to accommodate more than a single pair of strong, healthy, adult legs.
(And the wagon carries a bucket because I can't resist picking up litter. You're welcome to join me for more of the Butt Blitz following the tour.)
If you need more information, contact me on Messenger, or at [email protected]
