
Port Colborne library invites residents to ‘dream big' for unique borrowing contest
Have you ever want to try something out before deciding whether to buy it?
Now just might be your chance.
Port Colborne Public Library is encouraging residents to get creative this month as part of a community contest which could see their dream item added to the shelves.
Running until May 30, the My Dream Borrow contest invites locals to submit ideas for unique items they'd like to borrow from the library.
The winning suggestion will become part of the library's Library of Things collection, and the person behind it will get to borrow it first.
'There are many items people want to try once or use occasionally, but might not wants to buy,' said library chief executive officer Rachel Tkachuk. 'We're asking our community to dream big and tell us what they'd love to see added to our library.'
The Library of Things is a growing collection of non-traditional items that can be borrowed free of charge for a one-week period. Current offerings include snowshoes, pickleball sets, gardening tool kits, light therapy lamps and colour-blind corrective glasses.
Tkachuk said the contest is meant to keep the library responsive to community needs in a fun and imaginative way.
'Libraries are always trying to connect people with the resources they need, and this contest is a fun and creative way to stay responsive to what our community values and wants to explore,' she said.
Some early suggestions have already come in, including a VCR, dehumidifier, metal detector and a dog agility kit.
Ballots can be submitted at the library, city hall, Vale Health and Wellness Centre or by email at
library@portcolborne.ca
.
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3 days ago
Appreciation: The Panthers set their own path to a 2nd consecutive Stanley Cup
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But you have to call them back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, an absolutely absurd development for a franchise that spent most of its first three decades unable to win anything but now simply cannot lose. Final score: Panthers 5, Edmonton 1. Final score of the series: Panthers 4, Oilers 2. The result: Another Cup, and a team that won't be forgotten. 'It's incredible. It's a feeling you can't really describe,' Marchand said. 'Seeing the family and everyone up there and everyone that supported me and helped me get to this point, words can't put this into reality how great it feels. Such an incredible group.' South Florida was a football town when the Miami Dolphins reigned 50 years ago, then became a basketball town when the Miami Heat started winning championships, and it's always been a baseball town because of the area's strong Latino culture. But now, it's a hockey town. The Panthers never had any doubt that they would repeat as Stanley Cup champions. 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They went to the final in 2023 and got rolled by Vegas. Back to the final they went in 2024, nearly blowing a 3-0 lead before beating Edmonton for the franchise's first title. This season, there were injuries and suspensions and trades to deal with. But there was no doubt. Maurice said all that mattered was getting into the playoffs healthy. He was right. Tkachuk came back despite a torn adductor in time for Game 1 of the playoffs. Aaron Ekblad was back from a 20-game suspension for taking a banned substance in time for Game 3 of Round 1. The Panthers kept getting stronger and stronger, all the way to the end. They have a player in captain Aleksander Barkov who rarely says anything, just leads by example. They have a goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky who never takes credit for wins, and whose many quirks include not getting any haircuts during the season. They have a coach in Maurice whose claims to fame include overzealous coffee consumption and copious swearing. 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4 days ago
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Appreciation: The Panthers set their own path to a 2nd consecutive Stanley Cup
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But you have to call them back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, an absolutely absurd development for a franchise that spent most of its first three decades unable to win anything but now simply cannot lose. Final score: Panthers 5, Edmonton 1. Final score of the series: Panthers 4, Oilers 2. The result: Another Cup, and a team that won't be forgotten. 'It's incredible. It's a feeling you can't really describe,' Marchand said. 'Seeing the family and everyone up there and everyone that supported me and helped me get to this point, words can't put this into reality how great it feels. Such an incredible group.' South Florida was a football town when the Miami Dolphins reigned 50 years ago, then became a basketball town when the Miami Heat started winning championships, and it's always been a baseball town because of the area's strong Latino culture. But now, it's a hockey town. The Panthers never had any doubt that they would repeat as Stanley Cup champions. They didn't care what the regular season results were, nor did they care about their seeding, nor did they care that they were going to have to start every playoff series on the road and probably had the most difficult of all possible paths: in-state rival Tampa Bay in Round 1, a now-or-never Toronto team in Round 2, a tough-as-nails Carolina team for the Eastern Conference title, and after all that, Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers were waiting to avenge their loss in last year's Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning were overmatched. The Maple Leafs wore down. The Hurricanes couldn't keep up. And the Oilers, after a year of studying, had even fewer answers for the big test. 'We've got to be a dynasty now,' Tkachuk said. 'It's three years in a row, finals, two championships. This team is so special. Stanley Cup champion. This never gets old.' Everything changed for Florida in July 2022 when general manager Bill Zito shocked everybody by swinging a trade with Calgary for Tkachuk. They went to the final in 2023 and got rolled by Vegas. Back to the final they went in 2024, nearly blowing a 3-0 lead before beating Edmonton for the franchise's first title. This season, there were injuries and suspensions and trades to deal with. But there was no doubt. Maurice said all that mattered was getting into the playoffs healthy. He was right. Tkachuk came back despite a torn adductor in time for Game 1 of the playoffs. Aaron Ekblad was back from a 20-game suspension for taking a banned substance in time for Game 3 of Round 1. The Panthers kept getting stronger and stronger, all the way to the end. They have a player in captain Aleksander Barkov who rarely says anything, just leads by example. They have a goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky who never takes credit for wins, and whose many quirks include not getting any haircuts during the season. They have a coach in Maurice whose claims to fame include overzealous coffee consumption and copious swearing. They did not care who got the credit for anything, because it was a team built for just one thing — winning the Cup, something that required everyone on the roster to do something big at the right time. That's exactly what happened. And when the Cup was awarded to Barkov, who accepted it as captain, he didn't hand it to Marchand or Tkachuk or Bobrovsky or playoffs MVP Sam Bennett. He handed it to Nate Schmidt, because Schmidt — who paid for all those Blizzards, by the way — hadn't won a Cup before. And Schmidt handed it to another first-timer, Seth Jones, another late-season trade addition. And so on, and so on, and so on. The last on-ice act of the season was the epitome of what sort of team it was. Backup goalie Vitek Vanecek got to hoist it before most of the regulars; Vanecek, it should be noted, didn't play one second in these playoffs, and the Panthers could not have cared less. He was part of it. He earned his lap with the Cup. 'These men just love one another,' Maurice said. 'That's the only way to explain it.' There's a parade in a few days, and then free agency is coming. Bennett could be moving on. Marchand might not stay. Ekblad's future is the source of speculation. The salary cap is the salary cap and everybody can't be kept. But it sounds like Florida will try to keep as much of this team together as possible. 'We're going to enjoy this together,' Bobrovsky said. 'And then, we'll go back to work.'