The Great Ontario Communities Series (Perth)

During the past few years Judi and I have visited almost 150 Ontario community festivals and events. The majority have been planned and managed by dedicated community volunteers. As a salute to these wonderful communities and their hard-working residents, I will be writing a series of blogs entitled “Great Ontario Communities”. These blogs describe the communities we have visited and will tell you about some of the interesting things we have experienced and the people we have met. The fourteenth article is about Perth which is located about an hour southwest of Ottawa and is considered one of the prettiest towns in Ontario.

PERTH - I can’t count the number of times we have passed through the northern portion of Perth and have never taken the time to stop and visit this beautiful historic town and its rich architecture.  Located in Eastern Ontario at the Tray River flowing through it, Perth is considered to be the “Prettiest Town in Ontario” … “Eastern Ontario’s exciting get-away destination”.  When we finally took the time to actually divert from Hwy. #7 into the downtown area, we were amazed at what was to be found.  The plain buildings and open roads turned into tree lined streets with charming century old homes.  The downtown business area was even more amazing.  Quaint shops housed in historic stone quarried buildings all bring to life the history of the town.  In researching Perth’s past, we found that Perth will turn 200 on April 18^th, 2016.  It was April 18^th, 1816 when Perth was established as a military settlement with lands obtained from the Algonkians.  Throughout its 200 years, Perth has grown and prospered.  It claims a number of interesting historic fact of events such as Eastern Ontario’s first newspaper (Bathurst Independent Newspaper), producing the World’s Biggest Cheese, Canada’s “last fatal duel”.  Now Perth is known as “The Big Town of Festivals”.  Perth boasts of such festivals as the Festival of Maples, Stewart Park MusicFest, Perth Fair to name a few.  There are also a number of wonderful attractions in Perth including the Conlon Farm (an amazing recreational facility), a busy farmers market, a cheese factory, the Perth Wildlife Reserve, the Perth Museum and much more.  So, if you are driving one day along Hwy. #7 near Perth and are looking for a memorable adventure, take the to find out more about Perth.  You may want to visit their website which is full of interesting facts, and details of things to do and see at.