District 3 Coun. Maddie Charlton asked for a way on Tuesday to boost funding for the South Shore Transition House Association. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)

Thirty-four community groups in Queens County will be getting almost $150,000 in funding from the municipality, but one councillor worried on Tuesday that one organization wasn’t getting enough.

The Region of Queens approves funding requests each year from non-profit groups for operational, capital or event funding through its community investment fund.

Groups have to meet various criteria to be approved for funding. Eighteen groups applied for funding of more than $1,000. Another 16 applied for help under $1,000. Council must approve all requests over $1,000. Staff alone can assess and approve those requests under $1,000.

The South Shore Transition House Association asked for $5,000 so that the Bridgewater-based Harbour House can help clients in Queens County from a more secure location in Liverpool. 

Stephanie Sereda, the region’s community development co-ordinator, explained the association’s request to councillors.

“They currently have been in the Liverpool area serving clients for two years from a location that is just not secure. They have requested that they can find a safe and secure space, this would cover rent, transportation to and from for their clients.

“This would be for Queens County residents who are experiencing domestic violence to go and receive counselling and support and they’re brought in from all corners of Queens to the Liverpool area to this particular location. … But the space is very public and it’s a very private matter. They’re just hoping to continue to support in a better location.”

But because the organization’s cash assets made up more than half of their operating budget, they were eligible for only $1,250 under the community investment fund. The amount that can be awarded to an organization is reduced if its bank balance or assets are above a certain threshold.

Some other organizations were also not awarded all the funding they requested.

District 3 Coun. Maddie Charlton asked if there was any way to make an exception to the policy to ensure the transition house association got its full funding request.

“I want to see this request considered to be supported in the full amount because I think it’s important that women in Queens County have access to a resource like this in Queens County and they don’t have to go elsewhere.”

Charlton wanted to see the motion amended. 

Other councillors, however, said that while they support more funding for the organization, they couldn’t support going against the policy.

District 6 Coun. David Brown said he would support a standalone request, but he wouldn’t support changing the policy in this case.

“This is a very worthwhile cause but we have to have some consistency in how we deal with things. We can’t decide that one area or group is not as deserving as another area or group. I think that’s a slippery slope we go down.

“But if we decide we want to give more to this organization, it’s a very good organization, we have that option at a later time and in my mind, that’s the best way to go today.”

Mayor Darlene Norman said that she couldn’t amend the motion, because it would be a substantive change and it would be out of order. Norman suggested that Charlton make a motion at a future meeting that council fund the remaining $3,750 requested.

“This council does highly support South Shore Transition House and the outreach they provide for the women in Queens but this council wishes to keep in check with the policy that we’ve developed.”

In the end, councillors voted to support the recommendation to give the South Shore Transition House Association $1,250. 

Councillors approved all funding requests recommended by staff, for a total of $147,858.64.

Here are the organizations awarded more than $1,000 in funding through the Region of Queens community investment fund.

Operating investment funds (for eligible operating expenses up to the amount stated)

• CJQC Radio Society (QCCR) – $5,000
• Queens County Museum – $10,000
• South Queens Chamber of Commerce – $5,000
• Queens County Fair Association – $10,000
• North Queens Heritage Society – $1,125
• South Shore Transition House Association – $1,250
• Mersey Point Community Association – $10,000
• The Friends of Carroll Baker Society – $4,847.50
• Coastal Queens Place – $5,000
• Queens County Blades – $5,000
• Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute – $5,900
• Friends of Hank Snow Society – $10,000
• North Queens Board of Trade – $10,000

Capital investment funds

• Seaside Recreation and Community Centre Association – $33,723.64
• Liverpool Baseball Club – $1,025
• Westfield Community Center Society – $23,197.50

Event investment funds

• Native Council of Nova Scotia – $2,300
• Privateer Days Commission – $3,400

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Stephanie Sereda, community development co-ordinator for the Region of Queens, organized the Light Up Queens Winter Night Festival. (Rick Conrad photo)

Hundreds of people flocked to the Liverpool waterfront on Saturday evening for the first Light Up Queens Winter Night Festival.

Organize by the Region of Queens, it was a free, all-ages event designed to showcase local culture and to help people shake off the last of the winter doldrums.

Here are some of the sounds from the evening and some of the people enjoying the festivities.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen by using the play button below. And scroll down for more photos.

Diane Warner, Teresa Whynot, Kayla Mansfield and Michelle Roy cook up some lusknikn and blueberry tea at the Light Up Queens Winter Night Festival. It was one of the many activities or cultural demonstrations at the festival. (Rick Conrad photo)

Dozens of families took a chance to fly a kite on Saturday night with TideKite. People could also make their own kites. (Rick Conrad photo)

Hundreds turned out to the Liverpool waterfront on Saturday for the Light Up Queens Winter Night Festival. (Rick Conrad photo)

Liverpool Visitor Information Centre. Photo courtesy Region of Queens Municipality

By Rick Conrad

The Region of Queens is planning a nighttime outdoor party in February and everyone is invited.

Mayor Darlene Norman says the Light Up Queens Winter Night Festival is a free event and open to everyone. It will be held in Centennial Park on the Liverpool waterfront, next to the Visitor Information Centre.

“It is to bring fun, happiness, community, good times all together at a time in the year that is dismal and dark,” Norman said Tuesday. “So it would focus on diversity and culture. It’s planned to be a fun, free night involving all ages.”

Light Up Queens is scheduled for Sat., Feb. 24 from 5:30 to 9:30 pm.

Co-ordinating with the Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl, the event will feature more than 30 stations around the park, offering various artistic, cultural and winter-related activities. The Visitor Information Centre will be open, where there will be a pop-up restaurant, which will also be the site for the event’s “chowder house”, where they’ll be selling fresh seafood chowder.

TideKite, which has hosted a few kite-flying demonstrations in the park, will be on site flying special kites that light up in the dark. And they’ll offer a kite-making workshop.

Bridgewater’s DJ Danimal will be providing the music.

The Royal Canadian Legion across from the park will host a makers’ market featuring local artisans and vendors. 

There will be other snacks available at the park, as well as hot drinks.

“So if you don’t want to do something physical, then maybe you want to go sit in one of the community tents and talk about night spirits,” Norman says. “There are all sorts of aspects. And everything is accessible for all of our people.

“It’s an event that’s for young, old, and in between.” 

Warming tents or huts will be set up in the park. Free hats and coats will be available for those who need them. And the region will have their Mobi-Mats in the park to help those with mobility issues navigate the winter conditions.

“The idea was we wanted to make this as inclusive as we could,” Norman said. “And as we all know, inclusion also often hinges on a  person’s financial ability to take part in things.”

The region is footing the $17,000 bill for the event. And Norman says they hope it will become an annual thing.

The region wanted to time the event for the opening weekend of the musical Follies at the Astor Theatre. And Norman says she hopes it will be a boon for local businesses, who are being encouraged to stay open that evening.

Stephanie Sereda, the region’s community development coordinator, came up with the idea. She says it’s been great to see how everybody has come together in such a short time to help get it off the ground. 

“It’s just been a beautiful collaborative effort and everyone’s excited and given the short time frame we’re really happy to leverage the big hearts and passion of Queens.”

Sereda and Norman said the region will be releasing more details in the next few weeks. People should follow the Queens Coast Life Facebook page for more information. They hope the weather co-operates, but if it doesn’t, the event will be rescheduled.

“We just have to hope for that beautiful February night,” Norman said.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Photo courtesy Stephanie Sereda

An entrepreneur is moving their idea to support local artisans from Liverpool to Hunt’s Point in time for the Christmas season.

Stephanie Sereda had intended to open an artist’s collective shop as part of her plan to buy the United Church in Liverpool.

When that sale fell through, she began looking for a new location and landed in Hunt’s Point.

Sereda says the spot she’s found is ideal to capture the attention of shoppers during the holidays.

“Picture a holiday, like a Hallmark holiday shop downtown on those little whimsical downtowns, that’s what it looks like. It’s all beautifully festive and then we’re also going to have coffee, tea or mulled cider and we have Queens Coast trading company doing our beautiful teas,” said Sereda. “Also, we’re going to have desserts, so cupcakes and cakes and rum balls and sugar cookies and so they can sip and stroll and just get caught up in the spirit of Christmas.”

Sereda wants to support artists by giving them another venue to sell their work without needing to be present which is why she opened Hunt’s Point for the Holidays.

After putting out the call on social media offering space to artisans the pop-up shop features the talents of 26 artists from the region and across the Atlantic provinces.

“Part of me thinks I’m a little bit crazy and the other part of me thinks, well, we’ll just throw it out there and see. It’s unbelievable because I’ve sold out of vendors,” said Sereda. “That was my biggest fear, opening up a shop and not having anything in it.”

Sereda says she still gets calls from people wishing she had opened the Liverpool location.

While she is disappointed she couldn’t make it work, the pop-up shop is a version of what she had in mind for the United church.

“It was quite crushing because I felt we were so welcomed. The committee that was in charge of the decommissioning process and getting the right person in there, they were so embracing of the idea, and I think it was a perfect alignment with what they had envisioned,” said Sereda. “But you know, in a perfect world at the end of the day, because I have such a high bar of what I want to deliver if I couldn’t financially pull it off it was just best to not, you know? And I would hate to have started it and not have been able to follow through and then had to sell it or something.”

Sereda says the Hunt’s Point for the Holidays pop-up shop will be a good pilot and a fresh opportunity to see if there is an appetite for a venue like this in Queens.

“My hope and dream is to be able to ultimately land on a venue where I can do multipurpose things like this but also have, like I’m a foodie too, so to have really nice cultivated food and connectivity and engagement and experiential things for people in the community.”

Hunt’s Point for the Holiday will be open every Saturday and Sunday leading into Christmas beginning this weekend.

More information can be found on their Facebook page.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.

Zion United Church. Photo Ed Halverson

Liverpool’s Zion United Church is back on the market.

A deal that had been in place to sell to Stephanie Sereda fell through when closing conditions couldn’t be met.

Chair of the church’s closure working group Ray Baker explains.

“It was on the very last possible day, the last few hours and they had to withdraw their offer in that their financial conditions failed them,” said Baker. “Up until then they’d indicated that that wasn’t a problem but apparently it turned out to be, so that was unfortunate.”

Sereda says she and her husband did everything they could to make it work.

But after doing due diligence they discovered renovations and operational costs for the church greatly exceeded initial projections.

Baker says they’ve already had a couple of offers since the for sale sign was placed on the lawn but haven’t yet sealed a deal.

The congregation were excited about Sereda’s plans to convert the church into a cultural centre and year-round maker’s market.

Baker says they would love to find another buyer who would put the building to public use.

“If the community came up with a plan where it was going to become some type of a community centre, a library or something, we’d probably be interested in doing a deal to keep the old church as a viable option within the community. But that hasn’t happened yet but we’ve got our fingers crossed,” said Baker.

One of the obstacles to selling was the cemetery located behind Zion United Church.

But Baker says a society has been established that will use the perpetual care fund and ongoing maintenance fees to keep up not just the cemetery adjacent to the church but two other cemeteries in Liverpool for which the United Church is responsible.

Baker says the church is in a good location, has a great working kitchen and is structurally sound thanks to the recently installed roof.

He’s optimistic a new buyer will emerge soon and the Zion United Church will continue to serve the people of Liverpool.

“We have hope that over the coming months, if not weeks we get another offer that meets that end.”

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.

Zion United Church. Photo Ed Halverson

The Zion United Church in Liverpool is a step closer to finding a new owner.

Chair of the church’s closure working group Ray Baker says after discussing it amongst themselves, the group brought Stephanie Sereda’s bid to the whole congregation for consideration.

Baker says the Zion congregation liked what they heard.

“It had people smiling and nodding their heads,” said Baker. “She talked about it, from her perspective, it not being just a business, but it was a passion project.”

Sereda plans to convert the church into a cultural centre, operating the lower level as a year-round maker’s market where artisans can showcase and sell their work.

She sees the upper level being used as a cultural and event space.

The congregation was also impressed with Sereda’s intentions to preserve the history of Zion United church, from the stained glass in the windows to asking if the church would be willing to loan church artifacts to be displayed for visitors.

“Keeping in mind it’s a sad and emotional time for the congregation, but to know that the transition would be something where they continue to see the church benefit the community as a whole is just amazing,” said Baker.

The congregation’s recommendation to sell Zion United to Sereda now goes to the United Church of Canada Regional Council 15 office for approval.

Baker says if permission is granted in a reasonable amount of time the church could be in new hands by May.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.

Zion United Church. Photo Ed Halverson

Zion United Church in Liverpool has another potential buyer.

Stephanie Sereda hopes to transform the church into a year-round makers market and event space.

Sereda and her husband moved from Ontario to make Western Head their home in the fall.

She says the opportunity to take a decommissioned church into a community and cultural space is a dream come true.

“A big part of it was also things we would do for the community,” said Sereda. “Because I’m an events planner by nature I like to create opportunities for people to connect and engage.”

Sereda sees the church as a place where anything is possible.

“I think the part that appeals to me the most is it’s a flagship building in our community. It’s been around since the 1800s, it tells a story and I’d like to preserve as much of that story as possible in what we’re going to do with it.”

Sereda joins Xaver Varnus as the two potential suiters looking at the church, at this point.

Varnus wishes to move the pipe organ from Varnus Hall in Brooklyn, established in the former Pilgrim United Church, to the Zion United Church.

Moving the venue would allow him to increase capacity to 300 audience members.

The Zion United Church will be listed this week and all offers will be reviewed by the closure working group headed up by Ray Baker.

Baker says the working group will then present the offers to the congregation to vote on who will get to purchase the church.

“It’s not necessarily the offer that comes in with the greatest monetary value,” said Baker. “That is an important factor but more important is also what the future use of the church would be. We’d like it to continue to be an area where we support the community.”

Baker is pleased both expressions of interest in the church are community focussed, but says any recommendation made by the congregation about the sale will need to be approved by Regional Council 15 of the United Church in Halifax.

“If we have a good offer financially, and a good reason for selecting a particular buyer I’m pretty confident that they will approve it.”

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.