Regular readers know we've been unapologetic Willibald groupies since day one – following the arc of this inspired operation from its humble beginnings when, nearly a decade ago, brothers Jordan and Nolan van der Heyden, alongside childhood friend Cam Formica, launched a small-batch distillery on a bucolic farm on the outskirts of Ayr.
I'm a sucker for multi-tools. They colonize my life the way good gear should: a cycling tool in every bike bag, a handful of Swiss Army knives rattling in kitchen drawers, and at least two larger multi-tools permanently stationed in my Land Cruiser – one in the centre console, another tucked into a rear compartment beside a plug-in pump (for inflating river tubes in warmer months) and a heavy-duty tow strap (for hauling neighbours out of snowbanks when winter tightens its grip).
Our region is bursting at the seams with old factories — surviving monuments to a time when this area of Southwestern Ontario was a manufacturing powerhouse of the Commonwealth. And while many of these industrial icons have, predictably, been reborn as condos and tech offices, others have taken on new life as warm, welcoming, customer-facing spaces: restaurants, cafés, boutiques — and breweries.
In early September, on what turned out to be the first glorious ‘sweater weather’ weekend of the season, Willibald Farm Distillery & Brewery hosted its inaugural charity car show: Willibald Motorfest.
‘I’m so excited for this first bite,’ Cai announces as she slices her spoon through a thick layer of emmental and into the steaming broth below – a wonderful mélange of rich meat stock, gently fried onion, and sourdough crouton. I am not surprised that she’s pumped. After all, I’ve heard Cai wax poetic about french onion soup for years.
CAMBRIDGE IS WELL ON ITS WAY TO BECOMING OUR REGION’S PREEMINENT WEDDING DESTINATION – AND WORD IS GETTING OUT. THIS SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE. AFTER ALL, THIS IDYLLIC EUROPEAN- ESQUE CITY THAT’S BUILT UP AROUND THE BANKS OF THE MIGHTY GRAND RIVER BOASTS A PLETHORA OF THE KEY INGREDIENTS THAT COUPLES IN LOVE ARE SEARCHING FOR WHEN PLANNING AND LIVING OUT THE DAY OF THEIR DREAMS.
‘When Graham and I first opened Monigram a dozen years ago,’ Monica tells me while she and I sip americanos in the coffee shop’s teeming back office – surrounded by bags of house-roasted beans, stacks of packaged paper cups, and other Monigram-branded paraphernalia – ‘almost everyone told us that no business could survive this far past Main Street.’ She pauses for a few seconds (something that folks who know Monica will tell you she’s rarely prone to do) before adding, with deliberation: ‘We begged to differ.’
IMAGINE YOURSELF SIPPING MORNING CAPPUCCINOS ON MAIN STREET WITH A DAILY PAPER. HUNTING FOR FASHIONABLE HOUSEWARE ITEMS AT THE MOST CHARMING LIFESTYLE BOUTIQUE. SHOPPING FOR BREEZY SUMMER DRESSES WHILE ENJOYING A GLASS (OR TWO) OF BUBBLY. SEARCHING OUT THE PERFECT BOUQUET AT THE CUTEST LOCAL FLORIST. CAPPING OFF THE DAY WITH FRESH OYSTERS AND A GLASS OF MUSCADET AT A LOVELY FOUR- SEATER OVERLOOKING THE MIGHTY GRAND.
IF YOU HAVEN’T STOPPED BY WILLIBALD FARM DISTILLERY & BREWERY RECENTLY, YOU’RE OVERDUE FOR A VISIT. CHEF BRIAN MCCOURT’S NEW MENU – WHICH RELIES HEAVILY ON SEASONAL LOCAL INGREDIENTS – IS AMONG THE MOST DELICIOUS IN THE REGION. PORK AND BEEF (FOR THE PASTAS AND BURGERS) FROM AYRSYDE FARMS.
‘It’s a sunny afternoon, sometime in the famously un-wintery month of February, when I find myself at one of the region’s newest – and quite possibly most aesthetically-pleasing – coffeeshops, Disko Coffee, chatting with owner Arman Duggal about the inspiration(s) behind his captivating vision-turned-reality.
Travel tends to sharpen taste. It introduces new ideas, uncovers unforeseen obsessions, and offers the occasional epiphany – nudging your sense of beauty and your grasp of craftsmanship in new directions. For Ryan LeClair, founder of Makoto Watch Company out of London, Ontario, it was travel – and specifically a trip to Japan – that transformed his infatuation with watch collecting into his initiation of a brand built on craft, restraint, and everyday practicality.
Almost nothing we carry defines us more clearly than the books in our bags: tactile objects filled with ideas and stories – testimonies to time well spent. They tag along with us, mark our days, and shape the rhythm of how we move through the world. In Uptown Waterloo, three long-standing independent bookstores – Carry-On Comics & Books (46 years young), Words Worth Books (42 years), and Old Goat Books (25 years) – offer distinct ways to build this bracket of everyday carry: a nostalgia-driven comic haven built for the thrill of discovery, a curated literary hub grounded in conversation, and a densely-packed used bookstore where the search is part of the reward. Together, these enduring fixtures map a reading life – charting not just what we read, but how we come to find it.
In my line of work – as writer, photographer, editor, regional explorer – EDC isn't a trend. It's infrastructure. Most days I'm in motion: tracing backroads toward a brewhouse, mapping my way to an artist's studio, or sliding into the corner of a coffee shop where I turn field notes into final copy and RAW files into photographs that will pop on paper. My office is wherever I set my bag down. My tools make it possible.
Stratford – and, by extension, Perth County – lends itself to takeaway. A coffee to carry, a sandwich in hand, something sweet tucked alongside – then out into the streets for window shopping, into the theatres for a performance, or down to the riverbank for a nosh.
