Fenelon Falls, Ontario
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fenelon Falls is a small town in Ontario, Canada. Known as the "Jewel of the Kawarthas," it has a population of 1,800 and is now amalgamated into the administrative city of Kawartha Lakes. Fenelon Falls is home to lock 34 on the Trent-Severn Waterway between Sturgeon Lake and Cameron lake. It is primarily a tourist town and so is most active during the summer season. The main street of Fenelon Falls is called Colborne Street.
The eponymous falls are hidden from public view, but are easily viewed from a nearby restaurant, or perfectly from the boardwalk below the falls which follows a path to the end of the island and back around to the locks on the other side. There is a main road that goes over the river, but that is just upstream. The town elders did not want to move the road to offer a more prominent scenic view because of the potential cost.
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[edit] History
The village of Fenelon Falls was incorporated in 1874. In 1876, the Victoria Railway reached Fenelon Falls. In 1885 construction of the lock between Cameron and Sturgeon lake began.
- One theory says the community was named for Father Fenelon, a Sulpician missionary
[edit] Education
[edit] Facts and figures
- The Fenelon Falls Gazette was the local newspaper, established in 1873 by E.D. Hand. It was last printed in December 2004.
- The Central Ontario Visitor (another local publication) was printed and released weekly with the Fenelon Falls Gazette between the months of May through October from 1985 to 1999.
- Fenelon's Falls now power a hydro-electric dam, which diverts some of the falls' flow.
- Fenelon Falls is home to a night-time Santa Claus Parade.
- Fenelon's Canada Day festivities and fireworks displays are held at Garnet Graham Park.
- Fenelon Falls hosted the annual "Ride for Sight" a number of years at the Fenelon Fair Grounds, the last being 1998.
- The Fenelon Agricultural Fair is held annually at the Fenelon Fair Grounds in mid-August.
- In addition to the Fenelon Agicultural Fair, the Fenelon Falls Agricultural Society hosts an array of events at the fair grounds annually over the summer months, including a Car Show, Steam Show, Jamboree and Art Festival.
- The Fenelon Falls Museum, open seasonally between May and October, is housed in the 1837 squared-timber home of James Wallis. Virtual Museum.ca, <http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/PM.cgi?prov=Ontario&LM=Events&terms=*&LANG=English&start=1&scope=Events&AP=M_E_display&Page=ACMSI.html>
- In 2001, [1] Fenelon Falls played host to an episode of the OLN Reality Series "Drifters: The Water Wars" as they passed through the Trent-Severn Waterway.[2]
