Ontario's artisanal cheese scene is flourishing. From Oxford County to Prince Edward County, the cheesemakers of our province are transforming local milk into wheels, wedges, and logs that are as inventive as they are delicious. Nutty Goudas. Caramelly Leicesters. Creamy Bries. Squeaky curds. And oh, so many more.
Some summers are measured in months. Ours are measured in festivals. Meadows (Fergus) in June. Hillside (Guelph) in July. Riverfest (Elora) in August. And, nestled perfectly between Hillside and Riverfest, the Fergus Scottish Festival & Highland Games – a weekend that feels a lot like Scotland, without the cost of cross-Atlantic travel.
We've been tight with the crew at Elora Brewing Co since the doors of this regional gem first swung open just over a decade ago. In fact, more than a few early issues of TOQUE were dreamt up over pints of 'Elora Borealis' at the far end of the brewery's long wooden bar. A lot has changed since then – at the brewery and at TOQUE – so we figured it was time to reconnect with old friends.
‘I feel as though the weight of the world has just been lifted from my shoulders,’ I say to Liz with a chuckle, dropping my well-traveled Filson luggage onto the cool, poured concrete floor. I exhale, take a slow look around, and then step fully into the spacious, design-forward oasis. It’s the peacefulness of the space that hits me first: it’s utterly serene, as though the entire suite has been acoustically tuned to quiet my thoughts.
I tend to think of hotel lobby bars as exotic sanctuaries: places where shrewd deals are made, great novels are written, stolen glances are met, and fashionable strangers – international jet-setters fresh off flights from distant ports of call – might be seen quietly sipping stiff drinks in dimly-lit corners.
Friday afternoons in the summertime are made for getting out of town: for leaving work early, hitting the open road, and – several hours later – arriving at some idyllic slice of Canadiana for a weekend of great food, cold drinks and, perhaps most importantly, time in nature with loved ones. In theory, at least. The reality tends to go a bit differently. Taking hours to pack the car. The awful traffic heading north.
‘I think I spot the trailhead this way,’ Liz calls to me from the edge of a tree-lined glade – anticipation in her voice. Our three-year-old husky, Ellie, and four-year-old malamute, Mot, pull at their leads – enthusiastically ‘encouraging’ her toward the entrance of the route. Leaving behind the tasting room and bottle shop that had lured me inside, I jog across the gravel parking lot toward this most photogenic threesome – juggling a tall can of McQuade’s Black Current Cider in one hand, a neat stainless tumbler filled with ‘non-alc’ rosé in the other, and my camera and lenses somewhere in between.
SUMMER’S HERE – WHICH MEANS THAT FESTIVAL SEASON IS UPON US. WHILE OUR REGION PLAYS HOST TO A MYRIAD OF ARTS AND CULTURE EVENTS ALL THROUGH THESE WARMER MONTHS, THERE’S ONE THREE-DAY PARTY THAT’S ESPECIALLY DEAR TO MY HEART: RIVERFEST ELORA. THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL – WHICH TAKES PLACE AUGUST EIGHTEENTH THROUGH TWENTIETH AT ELORA’S BISSELL PARK AND FEATURES SUCH HEADLINERS AS METRIC, FEIST, THE REKLAWS, AND (WAY) MORE – PROMISES TO BE A TRIUMPH.
'It’s like we’re floating above the town,’ I hear myself say as Renate and I settle into a couple of outdoor loungers positioned under a large wooden pergola on the third-storey terrace, ‘completely above the fray.’ From our perch in the sky I can see much of Elora – laid out below us like some sort of playful tableau.
WE’VE NEVER DONE ONE OF THESE BEFORE: AN ISSUE DEVOTED TO OUR REGION’S 'CHANGEMAKERS'. FRANKLY, WE’VE NEVER REALLY FELT THE NEED. AFTER ALL, THE TOQUE TEAM HAS ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT THE FOLKS FEATURED IN EACH ISSUE OF THIS MAGAZINE ARE CHANGEMAKERS IN THEIR OWN RIGHT: PATHFINDING RESTAURANTEURS WHO FOCUS ON SUSTAINABLY-SOURCED INGREDIENTS; TRAILBLAZING BUSINESS OWNERS WHO PRIORITIZE PEOPLE AT LEAST AS MUCH AS PROFIT; PURPOSEFUL CRAFTSFOLK WHO EMPHASIZE QUALITY OVER QUANTITY; ACTIVIST VISIONARIES WHO DEVOTE THEIR LIVES TO RESOLVING OUR COMMUNITIES’ COMPLEX CHALLENGES.
‘This one’s gotta be my favourite,’ I exclaim to my fiancé Liz as I finish taking a sip of the third – and final – cocktail that’s included in my flight of gin and tonics. I look down at my notes to see what’s got me so excited. Citrus pink gin with orange tonic. Refreshing. Bright. Like summer in a glass. ‘Ya – I like this even more than the one with dry gin and cucumber lime tonic,’ I proclaim.
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.
