Tell me about Owen Sound

[Everrgreen]

Hello!

My husband and I are going to be moving to Owen Sound within the next few weeks and I would love to know more about the area! I would also be interested to know if there are any good mdc-ish mom groups - or other mom/baby activities.

Thanks!!

[BaBaBa]

I'm 45 minutes south of Owen Sound (east of Durham) but we do go to Owen Sound from time to time.
They have a great Farmers Market and nearby Meaford also has a 100 mile market.
There's got to be a crunchy element there ... I just haven't connected with it.
Oh, and Rocky Raccoon is a great restaurant. I highly recommend it. There's also an Indian restaurant there which is not common in these parts.
Here's a link to the newspaper http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/Default.aspx
I'll be following this thread to see if I learn anything. ..
Where are you coming from?
Feel free to PM me

[luna-belle]

I'm far from Owen Sound but my FIL lives in Oliphant and works in Owen Sound. Sauble beach is really close and it's the best fresh water beach in Canada apparently - could be Ontario but I think it's Canada. We spend a lot of time at Sauble beach and the little hidden beachs found along the shore there. I love our summer visits to the area. It's a beautiful area.

[the_lissa]

My in laws live there and the family cottage is just outside of town. It is beautiful, but way too small for my tastes.

I have a great friend up there I met on mdc actually.

I think Durham has the closest LLL.

You definitely need a car living there.

[chezlyryan]

There is also Port Elgin for a great beach, the Keady Market in the summer is super fun, and I think Storybook Park is near there.

[the_lissa]

Oh yeah the Keady market is great.

[Tizzy]

Second (third?) the Keady market
Lots of snow in Owen Sound...there is a CSA south on the highway near Durham. I don't go up that way often enough to know of anything specific that might be of interest. There's a used childrens clothing store downtown that sometimes has good deals.
The Chi Chi Man ferry docks there over the winter which is great fun to show the kids.
I've heard Oliphant has excellent kid-friendly beaches where you can drive your car right up to the beach (handy if you have a lot of stuff to lug around!).
Otherwise...it's very snowy

[luna-belle]

Originally Posted by Little grey mare

Second (third?) the Keady market
Lots of snow in Owen Sound...there is a CSA south on the highway near Durham. I don't go up that way often enough to know of anything specific that might be of interest. There's a used childrens clothing store downtown that sometimes has good deals.
The Chi Chi Man ferry docks there over the winter which is great fun to show the kids.
I've heard Oliphant has excellent kid-friendly beaches where you can drive your car right up to the beach (handy if you have a lot of stuff to lug around!).
Otherwise...it's very snowy

You must be talking about lonely island. My fav...

[Everrgreen]

Thanks everyone for the info so far! Keep it coming

BaBaBa - I'm coming from Belleville Ontario

[momtoalexsarah]

We are just South of Owen Sound (north of Markdale). I definatly recommend Keady market in the summer, but get there VERY early or it is a zoo. If you are into organic meats then send me a PM once you get settled, we grow certified organic beef, pork,chicken, turkey and a few eggs. I sell by the half and pieces.

[Sage.Naissance]

I grew up in Owen Sound and am slowly retrospectively working on diminshing my contempt for the area. Its geographically AMAZING. The niagra escarpment is so beautiful. I have a cottage in Oliphant and it is a wonderful place (I am not so hot on sauble beach to kitchy and beachy and touristy). Fresh apples from meaford in the Autumn are amazing. There is a crunchy community there to tap into its just going to take some looking.
Definitely check out the farmers market, the bean cellar, the tom thompson art gallert(tonnes of fun stuff for little guys there)... Check out Southampton and durham for neat little nearby towns. I dont know about mamas groups. There is a crunchy community but there is also a lot of mental illness, alcoholism, drug abuse, poverty and crime. I HATED the place when I was a teenager, but I've definitely come to see its merits as an adult. My parents still live there. I am also definitely a city dweller, so that is part of my prejudice.

By the way I will be doing a low-cost doula training there this summer if anyone is interested!
Best wishes and I hope you enjoy it.

[chezlyryan]

there is also an apple orchard near Tara that I highly recommend. I also heard that their diagnostics department has some of the provinces shortest wait times, but I heard that from a Grey-Bruce resident and they may be biased. Ditto with not a lot of stuff for teens to do and there is a lot of teen drinking.

[Sage.Naissance]

Originally Posted by chezlyryan

there is also an apple orchard near Tara that I highly recommend. I also heard that their diagnostics department has some of the provinces shortest wait times, but I heard that from a Grey-Bruce resident and they may be biased. Ditto with not a lot of stuff for teens to do and there is a lot of teen drinking.

What apple orchard are you referring to? i grew up in Tara and we used to steal apples from this orchard across the river on these few fringe trees that werent sprayed (organic kids before we knew better). But I would be curious to know what you are referring to! Its kind of fun to talk about Tara on here. I grew up there until I was 13...

[pippasmum]

My in-laws are up there and it is a beautiful place. Not the most progressive, though...
Brotkorb bakery has some lovely bread and it a nice place to go for coffee, I'm with everyone else, I love the Keady Market in summer, apples from Grandma Lamb's on Highway 10, there's a fun little ice cream place on Hwy 10 coming into town, lots of lovely places to walk/hike if you are into that...we can never go without running our dogs in Harrison Park/Inglis Falls. Have fun!

[chezlyryan]

I couldn't tell you where the orchad is, the owner of the resturant told me how to get there. It is 5 min out of town on the way to Port Elgin/Southampton. If you pass the white shed you have gone too far. I can't remember highway numbers.

[yogal]

ok well theres a burger king and a canadian tire there and its 20 minutes from Wiarton the home of the famous groundhog Wiarton Willie who i guess didn't see his shadow this groundhog's day!

thats all i know i hope that helps
it probably wont.

[yogal]

oh i know another thing... its close to the bruce peninsula and thats a beautiful place.

[BaBaBa]

I think the hospital has actually had some terrible under staffing problems which led to the Emergency department being closed intermittently last year.

Do you like folk music? There's a great folk festival, Summerfolk and also a Celtic festival but I think it's been struggling to keep afloat.

[BaBaBa]

Soooo.....
Have you moved yet?
Let us know

[BekahMomToOliver]

I'm from Meaford. Welcome to the area!

There's definitely a budding 'crunchy' movement, but it's only kind of picked up in the last year or two. Kaedy is awesome, the 100 Mile Market is great, we also have alot of great parades and community events coming up in the area over the Holiday season. And the midwifery group up here is well-established and FANTASTIC.

For specifically mom/baby stuff, we have your standard Early Years centres, and the libraries often have some good stuff going on. The Owen Sound library is pretty nice, from what I've seen. Some great kid's stores there too, "Wee Kid Zone" has great 2nd hand stuff.
I haven't met a whole lot of really 'crunchy' mom's yet, unfortunately. I'm always on the lookout though!
Hope the move went well!