Head to Italy With Peterborough and the Kawartha Chamber of Commerce After Partnership With Marlin Travel

In a partnership with Marlin Travel, the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce is offering members and non-members to the take in the authentic flavours of northern Italy this fall, announced on Tuesday.

Photo courtesy of the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber is hosting a nine-day trip to Italy from Oct. 3 to 11.

The trip provides guests with premium accommodations, a chance to try some authentic Italian cuisine and an opportunity to see northern Italy with local colleagues and friends.

The Spotlight on Northern Italy trip includes:

• Try some tiramisu in its hometown of Treviso

• Take in the romance of Romeo and Juliet in Verona

• Check out the glass-blowing foundries of Murano, a city with 1,500 years of glassmaking history

• Take a gondola cruise through Venice

• Trace the steps of Ernest Hemingway through the artist hilltop haven of Asolo

• Journey through the rolling hills of the Prosecco region and visit a local vineyard

• Take a cable car ride through the picturesque Dolomite Mountains

• Enjoy some Grappa (grape-based pomace brandy) in the quaint town of Bassano del Grappa

The trip includes transportation from Peterborough and flights to and from Italy. The vacation package offers a competitive travel protection plan for $499.

Book by March 4 to guarantee availability at the best rates according to the Chamber.

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Peterborough Police Release October Traffic Initiative Results

During October, the Peterborough Police Service Traffic Unit released its Traffic Initiative results that focused on the Big Four driving offences.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The offences are as follows:

• Aggressive Driving

• Impaired Driving

• Distracted Driving

• Seatbelt Offences

Here are the results from the October initiative:

• Cellphone infractions - 35

• Follow too close - 1

• Seatbelts - 6

• Careless Driving -14

• Turn not safe - 8

During November, the Traffic Services Unit will focus on stop signs and stop light infractions.  

Peterborough Police Service reminds the public always to drive safely and according to road and weather conditions. Traffic complaints can be made online through the Online Reporting Portal.

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BST Vacations Announces Its 2024 Lineup of Nine Travel Destinations

BST Vacations (Blowes & Stewart Travel Group Ltd) has released its 2024 lineup of destinations for its Peterborough Departures program with nine destinations.

FIle Photo.

In 2024 BST Vacations will be travelling to:

• Charleston, S.C.

• St. John’s, Nfld

• Memphis, Tenn.

• Quebec City, Que.

• Montreal, Que.

• Niagara-on-the-Lake, Southern Ont.

• Île du Havre aux Maisons, Magdalen Islands

• Five nights in New York City OR a five-night cruise to Bermuda on NCL Joy embarking from NYC.

October of 2024 marks a decade since the first Peterborough Charter. In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the departure program, BST is heading back to New York City and passengers will be able to choose their adventure and enjoy five nights in NYC or enjoy a five-night hosted cruise to Bermuda embarking from NYC on a Norwegian Cruise Lines Ship, Joy. The cruise will be hosted by Scott Stewart, President of BST Vacations and Dana Empey, Vice President of BST Vacations.

“We are pleased to be able to continue to grow the charter program and to try new things,” said Scott Stewart, President of BST Vacations. “None of this would be possible without the support from the community and our past passengers, and for that we are so grateful.

Food and beverages are included in the flight and are all locally sourced. Continental breakfast and in-flight meals are hand-picked and made to order the morning of the flight by Sobeys Catering department on Lansdowne Street. Spirits and beer on board are from local distilleries and craft brewers.

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Transportation Tomorrow Survey Letters To Be Mailed To Selected Peterborough Households

Peterborough households are asked to participate in the Transportation Tomorrow Survey this fall regarding the travel habits and preferences of residents in the Greater Golden Horseshoe and surrounding areas.

File photo.

Randomly-selected households will receive an invitation letter that will provide them with a secure access code and more information about the survey.

Results will help local and regional governments, as well as the province and transit agencies, make transportation planning and investment decisions.

The Transportation Tomorrow Survey is jointly undertaken by 25 funding agencies, including the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), Metrolinx, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and municipalities across the study area.

Canadian-based research firm R.A. Malatest and Associates Ltd. will conduct the survey on behalf of the participating agencies including the City of Peterborough. The survey has been administered every five years since 1986. 

“The Travel Tomorrow Survey data provides City planners information about existing travel patterns and helps plan for future mobility needs for the City,” said Vinod Soman, City of Peterborough senior transportation project manager. “We encourage residents to participate in the survey.”

Survey questions will focus on trip information for each household member including origin, destination, time, reason for travel, mode of transportation and some basic demographic questions.

Residents that did not make any trips can still participate in the survey, and all survey responses will remain anonymous.

The study runs from the fall of 2022 until spring of 2023 and the results will be released in 2024.

Participation in the survey is voluntary, and households can participate by accessing the project website at TTS2022.ca or by calling the survey hotline at 1-877-216-7786.

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Blowes And Stewart Travel Group Celebrates Their Second Peterborough Departure

Blowes and Stewart Travel Group embarked on their second departure of 2022 from Peterborough to Nashville, last week.

When guests arrived to the Peterborough Airport on Thursday morning their bags were taken straight from their car, passports were checked and security precautions taken quickly. Travelers were able to park their vehicle on site and board the plane.

After a smooth takeoff passengers were served complimentary drink and food from local Peterborough businesses.

Beer came from The Publican house, spirits from Blacks Distillery and a light lunch from Sobeys.

Upon arrival to Nashville, travelers boarded a bus that took them directly to their hotel.

BST offered travelers the option to partake in exclusive group tours during their trip. Options included day trips to The Grand Ole Opry, The Jack Daniels Distillery and The Hermitage. Those that decided not to take advantage of these excursions explored the city at their own pace, with BST representatives at the hotel to answer any questions.

After four days in Music City, a bus picked travelers up at their hotel and took them directly to their gate at the Nashville Airport.

Blowes & Stewart Travel Group will return to Nashville from Peterborough Sept. 15 - 18.

Their next open Peterborough Departure is to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, followed by trips to Las Vegas and Georgia.

For more details, prices and dates visit bstvacations.ca/2022-departures/.

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Peterborough Woman Living And Working In Ukraine Now Safe In Ireland Reflects On The Beauty of Kyiv And Worries About The Country She Called Home

Born and raised in Peterborough, Ciara Shaughnessy was living and working in Kyiv, Ukraine until the threat of a Russian invasion led her and her husband to find safety in Ireland just weeks before Russia’s first attack.

Ciara and her husband in front of the National Opera House in Kyiv, across from their apartment. Ciara is wearing a Vyshvanka, a traditional Ukrainian dress known for it’s embroidery. Photo courtesy of Ciara Shaugnessy.

Shaughnessy, a teacher who has lived and worked in countries like the United Arab Emirates and Japan, moved to Ukraine to work and build a life in July 2021.

Together, she and her husband lived in the Golden Gate neighbourhood. This was the main gate in the 11th-century fortifications of Kyiv, the capital of Kievan Rus.

“I had the privilege of experiencing what it was like to live in beautiful Kyiv,” said Shaughnessy. “It’s a city full of culture and amazing restaurants, music and generosity. There are buskers in the streets at any moment, in any sort of weather. The parks come alive, there are lovely string lights everywhere. It’s just a really romantic place.”

Ukraine’s Independence Monument in central Kyiv at sunrise one day before Vladimir Putin gave the order for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Photo by Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images.

While living in Kyiv, Shaughnessy discovered through a regular check-up that she had thyroid cancer.

“Part of a routine checkup in Ukraine is a thyroid scan. These haven’t been part of regular checkups I’ve had before - including any in Canada,” she said. “It was just a regular checkup and they found a nodule. After a biopsy, we found out it was a tumour.”

She credits Ukrainian doctors with saving her life.

“They literally saved my life. I received the treatment I needed and then in three weeks I had to evacuate,” explained Shaughnessy. “If I didn't move to Ukraine, I don’t think the cancer would have been found. I worry about the people who helped me receive the treatment and care I needed.”

She received radioactive iodine treatment in Kyiv in December and is now cancer-free.

Shaughnessy says that to her knowledge much of the medical team that helped her through her diagnosis are still in Kyiv. 

Emergency personnel amid building debris from a missile strike in the Lobanovsky district on Feb. 26, 2022, in Kiev, Ukraine. Photo by Laurent Van Der Stockt, Getty Images News, Getty Images.

Shaughnessy and her husband, who is from Ireland, learned about the Russian troops surrounding the Ukrainian borders and decided on Jan. 26 that it may be in their best interest to leave Ukraine and fly to Ireland.

On Feb. 24, Russia launched their invasion of Ukraine, including Ukraine's capital Kyiv, where many of Shaughnessy’s friends, colleagues and students still lived.

“We may have been some of the first ex-pats to leave. Many might have thought that we were jumping the gun,” she said. “No one thought that war could come to Kyiv or any of the major cities - even though we had been seeing troops build up around the border and it was unnerving. Everyone believed that the West or NATO would step in before it came to this.”

When they left she continued to teach online and initially assumed this would last a month or so.

Every day, although she is now safe, she still gets alerts of incoming air raids and warnings to her cell phone telling her to enter a bomb shelter and she worries for her colleagues and friends still in Kyiv.

“It’s terrifying. My Ukrainian colleagues who didn’t or couldn’t leave are sleeping in bomb shelters and underground metro stations. Their children are sleeping in the kind of condition you couldn’t imagine,” she said. “Russian forces are killing children. They fired at the main television tower in Kyiv and the city’s main Holocaust memorial. This is a 15-minute drive from our home. I don’t have to experience this terror first hand. I can feel this anxiety now and tell you how horrible it is but I have not been in the shoes of the Ukrainians who are experiencing this now with babies and with husbands who are fighting. They’re prepared to lose their lives because they love their country.”

Shaughnessy says while the Ukrainian people are resilient, they need backing from the rest of the world to restore peace in their country. She suggests a direct donation to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). NBU has decided to open a special fundraising account to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“I have friends with cuts on their hands from making Molotov Cocktails in order to defend themselves, friends that need to take sleeping pills to get an hour of sleep. I’m trying to live with the fact that I was privileged enough to leave, and my friends might die, their children might die. It’s not right,” said Shaughnessy. “This is a gorgeous city that I was planning a life in. It was very safe walking through the streets every day. We’d go to cafes, bazaars and parks - it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. I look at the streets now after the invasion. This city is suffering.”

She does not know when but Shaughnessy hopes to be able to return to Kyiv and help the Ukrainians rebuild their lives.

“Ukrainians truly live in the moment and I am often in awe of that. As Canadians, I feel like we’re always planning our futures - fixing the house or saving for retirement,” said Shaughnessy “Ukrainians, perhaps due to their history and the threat of yet another Russian invasion, are forced to seize the day. Walking in the street you notice how alive, joyful and in the moment these people are - just being with their friends or partners. It’s the most beautiful thing you could ever imagine. These people are incredibly important to me.”

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BST Vacations Roll the Dice and Add Las Vegas to Their 2022 Peterborough Departures Lineup

Blowes and Stewart Travel Group Ltd (BST Vacations) has announced that travelers can hit the strip in Las Vegas as part of their 2022 Peterborough Departures lineup.

In October 2022 BST Vacations will be heading to Las Vegas, flying from the Peterborough Airport.

“Vegas has been a destination that our clients have been asking us to travel to for years. We are so happy that this is finally coming to fruition and we are able to fly there as part of our Peterborough Departures program,” said Scott Stewart, President of BST Vacations. “The pandemic forced us to cancel our 2020 and 2021 departures so we are very excited to be able to have such a robust lineup for 2022.”

BST Vacations recently entered into an agreement for their Departures with Canadian North, an airline based in Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This agreement is what has made further reaching destinations possible, as BST will be using Canadian North’s 737-700 Aircraft for the charter.

The trip to Las Vegas is for 3 nights/4 days and passengers will stay at the Planet Hollywood Resort. Overlooking the Las Vegas Strip, this sprawling high-rise casino resort is in the heart of the action and offers plenty of options for dining, entertainment, and gambling.

Las Vegas is one of eight departures BST Vacations is operating out of the Peterborough Airport in 2022. Other destinations include St. John’s, Newfoundland (sold out); Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; Nashville, Tennessee (2 departures – limited space); New Orleans, Louisiana (limited space); Savannah, Georgia; & Atlantic City, New Jersey.

For full details on this or any of the departures, visit the BST Vacations website here.

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Destinations for Peterborough Departures 2022 Announced by Blowes and Stewart Travel Group

After having no departures from 2020-2021, Blowes and Stewart Travel Group announced their lineup of destinations for Peterborough Departures 2022 on Sunday.

Image Courtesy of Blowes and Stewart Travel Group.

In 2022, they will be offering departures from Peterborough to St. John’s, Nfld.; Cape Breton, N. S.; Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans, La.; Savannah, Ga.; and Atlantic City, N. J.

All trips will be three days and include a round-trip ticket and accommodations. To view all travel options, click here.

“The travel industry was one of the hardest-hit sectors during the pandemic so to still be here and still able to continue with our Charter Program is a huge win for us,” says Scott Stewart, BST Vacations president. “We are so grateful for the community support we have received over the pandemic, and we look forward to welcoming our clients back on our charters in 2022 and exploring with them again.”

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been new safety measures introduced such as contactless check-in from passengers vehicle, proper queue spacing, sanitization packages provided to travelers and COVID-19 screening prior to departure.

There is also a new registration process that will make booking more streamlined and efficient for passengers. Once passengers register, a BST Vacations representative will contact them to review the booking, collect a deposit and discuss insurance options.

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A Huge Family Of Peterborough Sicilians Are In Sicily Right Now For Joe & Sam Ferreri

Joe Ferreri came to Canada in 1952 from the small town of Santa Ninfa, Sicily in Italy. His brother Sam arrived three years later in 1955. Both became iconic barbers in the Peterborough area—Joe becoming a household name in Lakefield, Sam in nearby Bridgenorth.

The brothers have both returned on separate occasions to visit their hometown once, but never together. Until now, that is. Both are in Santa Ninfa for a visit and have had a beautiful community welcome. It's turned into a huge Peterborough Sicilian reunion party, with 22 people travelling there from the area to join them. 

Sam and Joe together in Sicily (the picture in back is their grandfather Giuseppe Ferreri)

The Peterborough contingent includes the likes of Michelle Ferreri and her husband Adriano (he now runs the barbershop in Bridgenorth that his Uncle Sam had, and Adriano's brother Phil runs the Lakefield one that their dad Joe had); Silvia Ferreri from Pensieri Shoes in downtown Peterborough; Anna Lisa Ferreri from the Pasta Shop on Sherbrooke St., and many more.

Group shot in Sicily

There is singing and dancing and a great feast is happening at a restaurant in Santa Ninfa called Castillo Di Rampinzeri as the family tells stories and reminisces...

Adriano digs into a delicious pizza

And, of course, there is ocean time with Grandpa Ferreri and the grandchildren...

Life is a beautiful journey and Joe and Sam Ferreri embody that.

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