From the Town's social media:

The northern portion of the George Douglas trail between Highway 10/First Street and Canadian Tire has now reopened.

We appreciate your patience as we prepared the trail for our community’s use.

Hey! I've been looking for electrolysis treatments that are somewhat nearby, and discovered that there's a place in town that offers it. Has anyone here used their services, and if so, how were they? Thanks in advance!

Today members of the Urban Harvest program and myself visited a private orchard in Mulmur.

In two hours, we were able to harvest 888 lbs of apples and deliver them to the Orangeville Food Bank

It's amazing to see how much food can be grown and harvested on one acre.

My deepest appreciation to everyone who donated their time and energy this morning to help provide locally grown fruit to the Orangeville Food Bank

We're very fortunate to live in a community full of caring people.

Thank you.

Looking to pick up used and or broken Consoles or computers,

Will pay for modern consoles.
Doorside pickup i will drive to YOU!
Modern consoles:
PS4 — $50 *
PS5 — $200 *
Series S — $110 *
Series X — $200 *
Switch 1 — $60 *
Switch Lite — $40 *
Switch OLED — $80 *

Desktop — Price varies.
Laptop — Price varies.

* If the console does not turn on, prices paid will be halfed.

Hi everyone,

At 44 John Street sits a towering 120+ Year Old Red Oak; it is truly a beauty. The arborist responsible for maintaining the trees in this area has said the "split" in the middle has gotten worse over the past few years.

This tree was supposed to come down on August 27th, 2026, but was postponed. After looking at Google Street View, I noticed that since 2011 (as far back as I can go), the crack is virtually unchanged.

This tree has been this way for 15 Years, through all kinds of inclement weather, ice storms, and wind storms.

Please read the petition, and if it suits you, show some support.

Thanks for your time.

https://citizen.on.ca/food-banks-vending-machine-program-surpasses-25000-meals-since-inception/

August 27, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

The Orangeville Food Bank’s community vending machine program has grown to three locations across Dufferin County, distributing more than 25,000 meals since its 2023 launch and drawing interest from food banks outside the region.

The machines, which offer meals and snacks prepared in the food bank’s community kitchen for 25 cents each, now operate at the Mill Street branch of the Orangeville Public Library and the Grand Valley Library. Since its launch, the program has expanded from one to three vending machines and now distributes roughly 11,000 snacks and meals per year.

The first machine was up and running in June 2023 at Orangeville Town Hall before moving to its permanent home at the Mill Street Library that November, following the branch’s renovation. Since then, the network has expanded twice over.

The program’s growth has caught the attention of food banks outside Dufferin County. Representatives from North York Harvest Food Bank recently visited Orangeville to learn how the model works.

“Our shift in focus became food to the people, not people to the food,” said Heather Hayes, executive director of the Orangeville Food Bank.

She said the vending machines are built on the same principle underpinning the food bank’s other community partnerships: removing any sense of division between who needs support and who doesn’t.

The 25-cent meals are available to everyone.

“We didn’t want an us versus them mentality,” Hayes said. “We wanted a we’re all us [mentality].”

Hayes said that philosophy shapes who the food bank hopes will use the machines.

“One of the things that we’ve noticed is people make an assumption that only certain kinds of people access the vending machine, or only certain people access the food bank,” Hayes said. “We now actually put out food for our volunteers and our staff, because food insecurity is something you can’t see in somebody.”

She said making the machines available to the wider community — not just food bank clients — has been central to reducing stigma.

“There are lots of great conversations that happen when all kinds of people come together to eat food together, whether it is sitting at a table or grabbing it from a vending machine,” Hayes said.

Laura Warner, CEO of the Orangeville Public Library, said the vending machine partnership was unlike anything she had encountered elsewhere in her career.

“The food bank vending machine is not something I’ve ever seen in another library I’ve worked in,” Warner said. “I love any opportunity where there are those relationships already with the community.”

Hayes said the vending machines complement the food bank’s broader mission of meeting people where they are, rather than requiring multiple trips across town.

I ask as part of a linguistic study covering this topic!

Examples could include things like Tottendot, Shelly/Shelbyville, O'ville or 'The Mountain' (never mind how common they are)...

https://citizen.on.ca/orangeville-clerk-certifies-25-candidates-running-in-fall-municipal-election/
August 27, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Twenty-five candidates have been certified to run in Orangeville’s municipal election, including five mayoral candidates and 18 people seeking one of five council seats.

Former mayors Sandy Brown and Jeremy Williams put their names forward, along with former councillor Nick Garisto and incumbent Mayor Lisa Post. Christopher DeCastro is also seeking the mayor position this fall.

Sheila K. Hall and incumbent Todd Taylor are seeking the deputy mayor position.

Incumbent councillors Joe Andrews, Tess Prendergast, Debbie Sherwood, and Rick Stevens are looking to keep their positions on council, while Andy Macintosh won’t be seeking re-election.

Boubah Bah, Austin Cotton, Carrie-Anne DeCaprio, Michelle Hartley, Tricia Herbert, Paul Hinsperger, James Jackson, Viktor Karklins, Lindsay Lupton, Vivian Petho, Sandra Pratt, Bryna Sabourin, Matthew Smith, and Rob Woon-Fat are each competing for one of five councillor roles.

The nomination period for potential candidates closed on Aug. 21.

Voter list revisions will be accepted until Sept. 1, and municipal election information letters will be mailed out by the end of September.

Online voting for the election opens on Oct. 9, and advanced voting days will take place on Oct. 10 and 18.

Election day is Oct. 26.

https://citizen.on.ca/affordable-housing-definition-to-be-determined-as-town-looks-to-update-official-plan/

August 27, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

As municipalities grow and change, so too must their Official Plans evolve with them.

Michael Matthys, the principal at WW+P Architects and Planners, told Orangeville council during a special meeting on Aug. 24 that Official Plans must be updated to respond to changing needs, priorities, and provincial policy directions.

As such, Orangeville is taking a hard look at its plan to ensure it will reflect the community’s character and vision into the future. Many things have changed since the plan was last considered.

“There’s new realities, new challenges, and opportunities that are confronting Orangeville today,” Matthys said. “And the review and update of the Official Plan is an opportunity to recognize those and kind of marshal our resources as we move forward.”

The plan was last updated in 2009. The current review will be done in four stages.

The opening phase looked at the municipality’s employment land strategy, residential strategy, commercial land use strategy, natural heritage system strategy, and policy gaps.

That phase was pretty much a checklist to set off in a direction.

The second phase, which is underway, will weigh directions and recommendations for further land use and mapping analysis. The town’s priorities will be confirmed with the public and with council.

“A little bit deeper dive on some of the key issues and matters that we identified in Phase 1,” Matthys said.

Orangeville resident Matthew Smith asked if it is best practice to rezone the northwest part of the town to residential land from employment land.

“Especially considering we’re kind of, in my words, starved for industrial land,” he said. “Should we really be removing that from the zoning and converting it to residential zoning?”

Brandon Ward, the town’s planning manager, said it is a practice that is expected to happen through the current process.

“We’ve had a consultant team not only with the growth management study but also now with the Official Plan review,” Ward said. “Both came to the same conclusion regarding those lands.”

He said Orangeville does indeed need future employment land, but those rezoned areas are not realistic to meet the need.

“There is a lot of merit to redesignate them,” Ward said. “In doing so, you achieve other objectives.”

Another necessary objective is to establish land for housing development, he said.

Councillor Joe Andrews asked the consultant whether the updated Official Plan will include a definition of affordable housing.

Matthys said there is no concise definition yet, but there remains work to be done.

“From our perspective, it makes sense to index it to income,” he said. “And how much is a percentage of your income do you want to be spending on affordable housing.”

Matthys said the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation uses 30 per cent of income as the benchmark.

“There’s different ways of looking at it depending on local income level,” he said. “In some areas, 30 per cent is still not realistic.”

“I think it is very difficult for us to define it here at a local level yet,” Andrews said. “It is the individuals, the consumer who will determine the affordability as well.”

Hey everyone! I’m looking to get a tattoo in the Orangeville area and would love some recommendations.
I’m especially interested in an artist that provides great customer service, takes their time, and pays close attention to detail.

Quality and making sure the design is done properly are more important to me than price.

For those who’ve gotten tattoos locally:
Who would you recommend?
How was the overall service and experience?
How was the artist with attention to detail?
How was the aftercare guidance?
Would love to hear about your experiences and see any recommendations. Thanks community 🙏

Need some guidance on finding a home even for rent

Traffic calming and pedestrian safety are two topics which are brought up a lot when I speak with residents. People are concerned about safety when simply walking across a street.

Kids should be safe when walking to school.

Fortunately, we have an option to help improve safety in our community: Raised pedestrian crossings. Sometimes referred to as continuous sidewalks.

They're similar to speed bumps; Think of them more of a "table" rather than a bump. They're wide enough for people to comfortably walk on. The height of the crossing is the same as the sidewalk, allowing for a steady flow across a road, from sidewalk to sidewalk.

They are strategically placed on residential streets at stop signs and mid-block crossings, such as for a school (see photo) or a park, or where a trail crossing will exist (see photo), like we will soon see with the rail trail cross Church St.

They prioritize pedestrians on residential streets. They communicate to drivers they are approaching a space for people walking.

A report for the Oregon Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration found a “statistically significant reduction in speeds”

https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi...

They have been approved by the Province for use in Ontario and are becoming increasingly common in North America. The Provincial government offers them as solution as a replacement for speed cameras when that program was discontinued.

https://www.ontario.ca/page/reducing-speeding-real-time

Two main criticisms of these will be snow removal and emergency vehicles.

As I mentioned above, they have already been studied, approved and are in use in Ontario.

One such example is in a suburb of Ottawa, Orleans. It receives more snow than Orangeville does. The crossing is used where a trail meets a road and an elementary school is on the other side (see photo). The Ottawa location took traffic calming one step further by narrowing a lane approaching the crossing.

An interesting note about Orleans; They removed the yellow posts in the middle of the road (which the Town just installed) in favour of the raised crossing (see photo).

We shouldn’t be implementing something other municipalities have already removed.

A study from the Quebec Ministry of Transportation says in 79% of cases, there was no deterioration (damages) from snow removal operation and 71% of cases did not pose any problems with snow removal

https://nacto.org/wp-content/uploads/Berthod-C.-2011.pdf

I’ve had the unfortunate experience of visiting Humber River hospital lately. There are raised crossings within the property and ambulances travel over them (see photo)

The various reports I've read recommend consultation with local emergency services before placement however the reports still recommend their implementation.

I feel this is worth a formal discussion at a future meeting in the next term of council, which I hope to be a part of.

Some of the images used are from Google Streetview. I used Microsoft Copilot AI to draw the crossings for sake of discussion.

I'm happy to chat about this

Thanks for reading.

Looking for something to do on Sunday August 30? The Brampton Steelheads are playing their first preseason game at the CAA Centre on August 30 at 4pm against the North Bay Battalion. 

This is the perfect opportunity to watch the only hockey game in August! Get your first look at the Steelheads before they kick off their 2026-2027 regular season. Tickets are starting as low as $15! Purchase yours today using the link below. 

Link to Tickets: https://www.ticketmaster.ca/preseason-brampton-steelheads-v-north-bay-brampton-ontario-08-30-2026/event/100064FFFE3FE5C0 

Hey everyone! I’m 22M and recently moved to Orangeville. Looking for some fun things to do in my free time and hopefully meet some new people/make some friends along the way!
I’m into hiking, technology, random/stupid science facts, and honestly just learning about cool things 😂
Any recommendations for things to do around here or good ways to meet people?

Tonight I attended the public meeting about the Town of Orangeville Official Plan review.

I was one of two councillor candidates in attendance, not including the incumbents.

I asked a question regarding the recommendation to remove the employment land designation for the lands in the NW part of Town and change them to residential.

My question is at 37 min 15 seconds

https://youtu.be/K8Ct18Dq3kU?t=2235

I asked if it's a normal practice to do so, especially considering we have a shortage of employment land in town.

Staff said it's expected to happen through a process like this. Staff recognized the need for employment land but said the land isn't realistic to achieve the demand of employment. Staff went on to say they can be used to achieve the housing demand.

I don't disagree they can achieve housing however in my opinion, we shouldn't be quick to rezone them.

The employment land discussion from the consultant can be seen starting at 17 min 45 seconds

https://youtu.be/K8Ct18Dq3kU?t=1067

The consultant said there's a lack of highway access as one of the reasons to rezone.

If we look at the large tire warehouse on 2nd Line, they are in a similar situation in terms of highway access. When I commute into the office in the morning on Hwy 10, I often see their trucks headed south; Highway access doesn't seem to be a barrier for them.

Appx 85% of tax revenue is from residential sources, 10% commercial and 5% industrial. If we ever want to take the burden off the residential portion, we need to have more revenue from the other sources.

I'd like to see more discussion around this in the future.

Our family enjoyed our lunch at Pia's On Broadway. Crispy bacon, fresh cut fries and homemade bread/buns.

Hey everyone! I run a small web design business based in Ontario and I'm currently looking to take on a few more projects.

I build websites for small businesses that need their first site or want to redesign an outdated one. I can handle the design, development, mobile optimization, contact/quote forms, basic SEO, domain setup, hosting and launch.

Websites currently start at $700 CAD, depending on the size and features needed.

You can check out my work here: infawebdesign.com

If you own a business and want a new website or want me to take a look at your current one, feel free to DM me. I can give you a rough quote pretty quickly.

Thanks!

The demand is already there for increased GO bus service, but that can only do so much. with the Bolton line being planned out and terminating at the edge of Bolton, the town really has to push for it to reach here. Ever since the OBRY got torn up and turned into a rail trail, Orangeville’s been forsakened to exist without proper rail service. This can change. write to your MPP to tell them that.

On Monday August 24, a special public meeting will be held to summarize the outcomes of phase 1 of the Town of Orangeville's Official Plan (OP) Review project.

An Official Plan covers policies regarding land use in the present and in the future. It helps to coordinate growth to align with the needs of our community

https://www.ontario.ca/.../citizens-guide.../official-plans

Phase 1 consists of five studies:

•Employment Land Strategy

•Residential Strategy

•Commercial Land Use Strategy

•Natural Heritage System Strategy

•Policy Gaps + Conformity Update

The studies also involved consultation with Focus Group meetings with various stakeholders and a meeting with the Steering Committee, of which I am a member.

Of note, page 8 from the presentation indicates a lack of shovel-ready highway accessible lands to meet the needs of medium or larger scale employers.

Also from the same page, it states when Orangeville's municipal boundary expands, additional employment lands should be designated

The attached Public Meeting Cover Sheet does an excellent job of providing information about the findings

https://pub-orangeville.escribemeetings.com/filestream...

The presentation is available here:

https://pub-orangeville.escribemeetings.com/filestream...

Information about the Official Plan can be found here:

https://www.orangeville.ca/.../doing.../official-plan.aspx

From the Town's social media:

Pump track update:

Grab your helmets and get those wheels ready! The pump track is now open to the public.

There is still some work to be done, including:

• shade structures
• garden (spring 2027)
• signage
• bench (provided by Lions Club)
• bicycle repair station
• bike rack

This park is a shared space—be safe, be respectful and help keep it enjoyable for everyone.

Some rules to keep in mind:

• helmets are required
• adult supervision recommended for children 10 and under
• look before you jump
• follow the arrows to enter or exit the track

Motorized vehicles, including e-scooters and e-bikes are not permitted.

Let’s roll Orangeville

https://citizen.on.ca/food-bank-shelves-show-gaps-as-summer-donations-lag-ahead-of-critical-fall-stretch/

August 20, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

As Orangeville Food Bank shelves thin out heading into September, executive director Heather Hayes says the items missing most aren’t always what people expect.

“Hygiene products are always a struggle,” Hayes said. “So are cleaning products. If you didn’t have money for food, hygiene products are slightly lower on that list. And if you didn’t have money for hygiene products, you probably don’t have money for cleaning products, and a lot of people miss that.”

Hayes said the shortage extends to basic cooking staples; items she describes as essential but easy for donors to overlook.

“If I look out at the shelves right now, there are six bottles of oil on the shelf for 1,600 people rolling through the food bank, and I have one bottle of mustard and two bottles of ketchup, one jar of mayonnaise,” Hayes said.

“Everything has a cost to it… condiments, spices, oils — they all are integral to making something taste good or being able to cook something. There’s no entree that you make starts without a fat. It just doesn’t exist, whether it’s coconut oil, ghee, olive oil or butter. We don’t get any of those kinds of things.”

Hayes said the food bank sees donations decline predictably each summer, a pattern that makes the weeks ahead especially important.

“We tend to fall off people’s radars during the summer,” Hayes said. “You get busy, you’re out to the cottage, that kind of thing. But as September rolls around, our programs are really critical to making sure that everybody’s got the food they need.”

She said the food bank is looking for donations across the board as the season turns.

“We’re open to anything,” Hayes said. “Come on down.”

Volunteers with the Urban Harvest program and myself spent around 1.5 hours picking apples from the community orchard. We were able to harvest 173 lbs of locally grown food.

I brought the apples to the Orangeville Food Bank before it closed.

When I got back home, there was even a bag of kale waiting for me at my door. A kind resident delivered it today while I was out.

Moving to orangeville from Spain how is it living in orangeville for housing jobs schools

Any best schools for kids french schools or non French schools

This helicopter has been circling the town all day. It's starting to get very annoying.

If there is something going on that's one thing, but if this is just some private pilot/trainer then fly-off.

(Shakes fist at clouds)