The Opeongo Line

Back in the Day host Martina Coulas talks with William J. Goulet, a young man who arrived from Eganville in the early 1960s and established Barry's Bay's first funeral home. And when Bill wasn't getting ready for the next funeral, working in a hardware store, checking hydro meters, driving ambulance, or working for the school board, every Saturday night he was dancing up a storm down at the Lakeside Pavilion. 

'The Local' host Sean Conway chats with Joshua Blank, author of "Stills in the Hills: Moonshine Memories from Around Canada's First Polish Kashub Community," an award-winning article about illegal moonshine made in the Wilno hills.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present The Boogie Man, or what happens one summer afternoon in 1897 when Biddy Culhane, a milk-maid from Maynooth meets Taig Harrington, a shepherd from Douglas in the OA & PS Train Station in Killaloe. Performed by Kristin Marchand, Lynn Stewart and Jeff Bowman.

In the first of a two-part series about John S.J. Watson, the much-fabled founder of Rockingham, Lesley Betts and Mark Woermke of The Opeongo Readers' Theatre reveal new documentary evidence about Watson's exotic life prior to emigrating to Canada where he built one of the most progressive 19th century villages in all of Renfrew County.

During the Second World War, Theresa Prince was born near Barry's Bay on a small, hard-scrabble farm with no electricity, no indoor plumbing and no easy chance to live out her dreams.  Yet her story is more than just about her irrepressible courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. It's really a story about the heart and soul of our local culture and heritage. 

Four short stories taken from James Joyce's The Dubliners: Araby, Eveline, The Boarding House and Counterparts, each one a revelation, if not an epiphany.  Read by Jeff Bowman, Cathy Chapeskie, Lynn Stewart and Mark Woermke of The Opeongo Readers' Theatre.

A special Canada Day celebration with Arthur Milnes, a curious Canadian, who regales us with a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at our Canadian Prime Ministers and other world leaders. 

A special Canada Day celebration with Arthur Milnes, a curious Canadian, who regales us with a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at our Canadian Prime Ministers and other world leaders.  

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present three oral histories collected in the Upper Madawaska Valley in the early 1990s. They include Rose Burchat Chapeskie (1909-2000), Evelyn Hildebrandt Villeneuve (1919-2002) and Bernice O'Grady Billings (1926-2005).

Jeff Bowman, Kristin Marchand and Mark Woermke perform three classic ghost stories as The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents Saki's Open Window, Edgar Allan Poe's Tell-tale Heart and W.W. Jacobs' Monkey's Paw.