2017 Orillia Museum of Art & History Award, Historical Publications and/or Research — Winner The history of Orillia, told through the stories of its people, bringing to life the community’s heritage and significance. The Orillia Spirit: Muddling through Canada’s first, and hilarious, experiment with daylight savings time, Mayor “Daylight Bill” Frost had it. Creating his own money and dreaming a drainage ditch would become a tourist attraction, Mayor Ben Johnson had it. Taking his town’s electric company by force, Mayor J.B. Tudhope had it. Inventing early forms of medicare and the first RVs, dreaming of universities and folk festivals, battling for decades over liquor and rinks, ordinary people had it. Something about the place immortalized in Stephen Leacock’s classic Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town has always inspired its people to reach for their dreams. Turn-of-the-twentieth-century leaders coined the phrase “the Orillia Spirit” to describe their drive to make the town a social, moral, and economic leader of Canada. The results have been comic, tragic, and heroic, as shown in this colourful history of Orillia.

Something about Orillia, immortalized in Stephen Leacock’s classic Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, has always inspired its people to reach for their dreams. The results have been comic, tragic, and heroic, as shown in this colourful history of Orillia.

Shiver as you read a selection of authentic ghost stories brought to life by author Terry Boyle in this third volume of the Haunted Ontario series.

Ghost hunter Terry Boyle brings you this three-ebook bundle of the bestselling Haunted Ontario books, conjuring up an eerie treasury of paranormal locales. Join Terry as he investigates apparitions at the former Swastika Hotel in Muskoka, poltergeists in Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum, and a whole village of spooks roaming the buildings of Black Creek Pioneer Village. With a list of addresses, phone numbers, and websites for each location, Terry Boyle invites all ghost enthusiasts along for the adventure. Feeling brave? You might just want to stop and visit some ghosts on your next trip. Includes: Haunted Ontario 4 Haunted Ontario 3 Haunted Ontario

Local author Dennis Rizzo tells the fascinating and diverse history of Orillia, Ontario. First populated by the Huron, Iroquois and Chippewa Nations, Orillia is now a well-loved, year-round recreation destination. Its history is deeply tied to its water. Situated in the narrows where Lake Simcoe flows into Lake Couchiching, Orillia was a gathering place for centuries before Europeans used it to bring furs to market. Sir John Simcoe, first governor of Upper Canada, fostered permanent settlement of the area. A gateway to the Muskoka region, it has been home to lumber, manufacturing, and artistic endeavours. Today, summer cottagers and winter athletes alike enjoy the Sunshine City and its more than twenty annual festivals. Local author Dennis Rizzo tells the fascinating and diverse history of Orillia, Ontario.

Set in the fictional landscape of Mariposa on the shores of Lake Wissanotti in Missinaba County, Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town is an affectionate satire of small town life. This series of humourous connected sketches about graft, high finance, religion, love and romance is, on one level, an intimate, comic portrait of town life and local politics. On another level, the narrative is a powerful commentary on the workings of community values and on Canada’s place within the British Empire. The Broadview edition includes a critical introduction, thorough annotation, a list of textual variants, and a range of contextual materials, including Leacock’s stage adaptation of Sunshine Sketches.

Terry Boyle is an incomparable observer of Ontario’s charming side, and its ghostly shadows. Presented here are five of his must-read guides for Ontarians everywhere interested in getting off the beaten track. Includes: Discover Ontario Hidden Ontario Haunted Ontario Haunted Ontario 3 Haunted Ontario 4