On Sunday, November 13, 2011, musician Matthew Hussey, backed by duo Yellow Bird & The Open Cages, performed a benefit concert for a living room concert in the home of Debbie Carroll and Bill Menzel. The enthusiastic audience of 36 generously donated $937 which has been earmarked for the Edge Fund’s first Essence & Environment project, and will cover the cost of replacing approximately 16 trees lost on private properties during the tornado.

Riverview House Concerts

A Riverview House Concert is a group of up to 30 or so new and old friends who gather together for a live, intimate music event. We pool donations in order to make this happen. We invite you to come hear some of the planet’s best instrumentalists and songwriters. Live. In a living room. Music, friends, coffee, tea & cookies.

Click here for more information

Mark Hussey (Edgefund), Jody Armstead (Goderich Trees Project), Matthew Hussey (Musician), Debbie Carroll (Riverview House Concerts)
PHOTO by Bill Menzel

We started a Tree registry to discern exactly what was lost and have facilitated that through a hard copy that can be picked up and dropped off at the East Street Train Station. People can also call 211 to let us know.  211 forwards that information to goderichtrees@gmail.com which is also the email account where we are fielding questions as to where people can donate.

Further, we are in contact with tree experts that wish to help with this endeavor and also people that can make it happen with donations, know how and equipment. We expect this project to continue for the next 5 years if necessary appreciating that homeowners are in different processes of their own rebuilds.  The last thing we would do is put a mature tree on a property before the heavy equipment has left.

While every effort is being made to accommodate request, registration does NOT imply a tree is forth coming. The project is also only open to private property owners.

For More Information visit www.goderichtrees.wordpress.com

DONATE TO GODERICH TREES PROJECT: donations will generate matching funds from EDGEFUND

PLEASE FILL IN THE “NOTES” FIELD: ENVIRONMENT: GODERICH TREES to ensure your donation is earmarked for this project.

The weather that day was a little restless. I spent the afternoon doing some cleaning, lots of walking around Benmiller and visiting my brother-in-law at his cottage by the Maitland River.  I decided without much forethought to head to Goderich with my two Jack Russell terriers to pick up a hamburger at Harvey’s and fuel my car. The time was about 2:50 pm.  After those errands, I decided to head to Little Bowl and visit my sister. During that visit, the hail and tornado came with a force I still see, hear and feel in my nightmares. It became readily apparent that Goderich was hard hit. I was so shocked by the aftermath, I didn’t even think of Benmiller. My husband, who was working near Tiverton, asked by cell phone, that I check out our property in Benmiller. To my dismay, Benmiller was closed by then by the police. I ran across the field and to my horror, our trailer was destroyed, bottomless and upside down over the riverbank. Hundreds of trees were down everywhere and I could barely get access. A glance across the river indicated that my sister and her husband lost thousands of trees. I felt with a sinking feeling that the tornado split and hit both sides of the river.

My first thought was of all of my husband’s hard work… for nothing. I was then saddened for our loss and knew that without the trees, our retreat would never be the same. My second realization was that I came very close to losing my life in the trailer and I still wonder what made me leave in time to escape such destruction. I often leave our much-loved dogs to nap in the trailer when I go out to shop so the vision of finding them twisted among the rubble was unspeakable.

Thanks to many helping hands, the debris and many trees have been cleared up. Our trailer remains have been hauled up the steep riverbank and burned. Things look much better than they did late August 21 and we have many people to thank for that transformation. And I still have my hard-working husband, my two wonderful children and our faithful Jack Russells.

By Roxanne Kernighan-Melick

Thanks for caring and for providing the forum to tell my story.

This was the video trailer that screened at the Out of The Storm festival on October 8th. Please feel free to embed and share. The full length documentary will be available sometime in the new year. If you want to contribute specifically to the documentary project please donate to “EdgeFund Culture” and fill in the notes field with “documentary”.

There have been some beautiful October weekends in Goderich, but this Thanksgiving weekend has got to be one of the best we’ve ever seen.

Thousands of people jammed the south side of the Square October 8 for what turned out to be an amazing thirteen hours of music, food and fun.

With headliner Matt Good, Arkells and The Salads capping off the day-long festival,  music fans came out in full force, and the weather couldn’t have been more cooperative. 

With temperatures in the 20s all day under beautiful bright blue skies, the outdoor festival gave locals and tourists the perfect reason to get out of the house and enjoy the holiday weekend in a town where Mother Nature hasn’t been so kind in recent months.

Art, children’s activities, local food vendors and of course, a beer garden sat on the edge of stage boasting an incredible musical lineup that featured great local acts and top Canadian talent.

Before Matt Good, Arkells and The Salads with Choclair tore up the stage, Goderich played host to so many other great bands who went out of their way to join us. Serena Ryder, Maestro Fresh Wes, Downchild Blues Band, Dylan Wickens, Texas Flood, Rick Taylor, Taheny and Stacey, The Light Division, Breaching Vista, Moondog Uproar and a surprise midnight acoustic set from Alex and Will of Ill Scarlet kept the audience going all day long, acts bouncing from stage to stage with zero downtime and an incredible set-up with crystal clear sound and video thanks to the generosity of Palmer Audio in Cambridge.

There are so many people who contributed to this, the first Out of the Storm – sponsors, donors, volunteers and local businesses who kicked in so much time, money and material to make it all work so smoothly. Which it did beyond all predictions.

As members of the Out of the Storm committee, we at the EdgeFund want to thank everyone involved and especially, all those who bought tickets and turned up to enjoy it. Let’s see if we can do it again some time!

We’ll have a photo album up (with video) as soon as we can get it all together, but for now, here’s a short video a concertgoer put up on Youtube – The Salads with Choclair playing Get Loose

Doors Open:1:00PM

To Be Announced

Courthouse Square – Historic Downtown Goderich
Downtown Goderich, Goderich, ON

Cut Off for Advance Ticket Sales:
Friday, October 7, 2011 11:59 PM

Support the town of Goderich while enjoying an awesome day of fun, food and music! Join us in the heart of Goderich… in the heart of the tornado destruction… in the heart of the community-based effort to rise up out of the storm! While it is expected that demand for tickets will be high, space and time limits admissions to 6,000.

A portion of the “red zone” inhabitants will have the opportunity to attend the event for free. This is a Licensed event. Rain or Shine. Limited seating available and lawn chains welcome.

12 hours of continuous entertainment – to be announced.

On-site food vendors, fund-raising merchandise and silent auction planned.

Help Goderich… out of the storm.

*Proceeds going to the Goderich and Area Disaster Relief Fund. Funds raised will be matched (2 to 1 ratio) by the Province of Ontario.

ALL TICKETS ARE NON-REFUNDABLE. Visit www.outofthestorm.net for more information and regular event updates.

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE AT TICKETSCENE

COST: $45.00 – children under 12 free if accompanied by an adult.

1 Court House Square –County Court House (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE windows
2 Court House Square (in HCD)
4 Court House Square (in HCD)
8 Court House Square (in HCD)
10 Court House Square (in HCD)
12-14 Court House Square (in HCD)
16 Court House Square (in HCD)
18 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE windows
24 Court House Square (in HCD)
30 Court House Square (in HCD)
32 Court House Square (in HCD)
34 Court House Square (in HCD)
36-38 Court House Square (in HCD)
40 Court House Square (in HCD)
44 Court House Square (in HCD)
48-52 Court House Square (in HCD)
54 Court House Square (in HCD)
56 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE roof
58 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE collapsed wall
68 Court House Square (in HCD)
70 Court House Square (in HCD)
72 Court House Square (in HCD)
74 Court House Square (in HCD)
76 Court House Square (in HCD)
80 Court House Square (in HCD)
92 Court House Square –Bedford Hotel (in HCD)
104 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE
106 Court House Square (in HCD)
108 Court House Square (in HCD)
112-114 Court House Square –oldest building on Sq (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE roof
116 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE roof
120 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE roof and cornice
122 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE roof and cornice
124 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE windows
128 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE
138 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE
140 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE
142 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE
144-146 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE
148 Court House Square (in HCD)
150 Court House Square (in HCD) TORNADO DAMAGE roof and cornice
158 Court House Square (in HCD)
162 Court House Square (in HCD)
164 Court House Square (in HCD)
166 Court House Square (in HCD)
168 Court House Square (in HCD)
172 Court House Square –destroyed by fire 2004 (in HCD)

More photos by Brendan Buckley

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