A Life That's Good Phil Main

It's been a popular spot for a very long time. People stopped at the corner of Queen Street and Dinsley in Blyth, as far back as 172 years ago! This week we're going to chat about some of the history of this iconic place, a place that's had a few official names over the years but few, if any of us, know or have ever used those names.

Manager Ang Cullen joins us to talk past, present and future of the legendary Blyth Inn, or let's just call it what we've always called it ... The Boot!

We realize that we featured Blyth Festival in episode 2 of our 65 show adventure, but some things are so great you just have to go back and check in again. This time, artistic Director Gil Garratt tells us about the history of the theatre itself, it's mission and the new Harvest Stage. After that, a brief synopsis of 6 exciting plays coming to Blyth this summer as we all celebrate 50 seasons.

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Since 1975, the Blyth Festival Theatre has put all Canadians and certainly rural Canadians centre stage, telling our stories, sharing our history, and celebrating our way of life.

The Blyth Festival has always remained true to its original mandate: To produce and present the best in Canadian storytelling.

I've been very lucky in my career to meet and interview a lot of well known people, so why was I so nervous about this one? Perhaps it's because, as the bassist for Gordon Lightfoot for 55 years, Rick Haynes has been an integral part of the soundtrack of my life.



In this episode:

* Being a career musician was not the plan

* An encounter with Duane Eddy

* Who was Gordon Lightfoot to Rick?

* Musicians & Chemistry

* Gord's legacy

* The Lightfoot Band

* Rick's favourite Lightfoot song



So grateful to have had this opportunity. The Lightfoot Band plays Blyth Memorial Hall on Friday, April 26th, 2024.

Milli had an idea to create a few podcasts under the sub-heading of "Pockets of Peace." To seek out some hidden, peaceful gems in Midwestern Ontario and I loved the idea. I'm sure it's no coincidence that the first place we thought of was Bayfield Lavender.

We'd set out on a bit of a photo adventure one day last summer and through a series of fortunate events, ended up at this beautiful oasis just outside of Bayfield on Porter's Hill Line. We could feel the anxiety leaving our bodies as we strolled about this peaceful, sustainable, small scale lavender farm.

We're excited to share it with you today as we sit down for a chat with owner operator, farmer, creator ... Gemma James Smith.

When we set out on this journey more than a year ago, we thought we would be focussing on a lot of places and things that we find amazing about Midwestern Ontario and we hope we're doing that to some extent. What it seems to have evolved into though, is a podcast that's more about people.

We say often that everybody has a story and we've come to love the stories.

In this episode, we chat with a guy who stepped into a very difficult role last year after the town of Goderich lost it's second mayor in as many years.

Trevor Bazinet joins us to chat about that journey, his life in Goderich, family, friends and his meeting and friendship with hockey great Guy Lafleur.

Also, do yourself a favour and don't miss "The Fast Five" at the end of the show where Ally Anderson confesses her morbid fear of ... yarn.

Husband, father, farmer, mayor, author, writer, playwright, broadcaster, storyteller ... Just a few of the things our guest has been called in his life. Dave Scott is also known as a man who loves his hometown of Seaforth.

In this episode, we will chat about the Scott family legacy in the Seaforth area, a couple of books he's written on his passion for hockey, old plowing matches, his friendship with Stompin Tom and the highly successful play that came out of that and a new podcast we're all working on together called - "All Roads Lead Home" - for Seaforth Homecoming 2025.