Bells Corners Fun Days, part 1

Was the Lynwood Park Fun Day fun?

Yes! Even Sue Wright, our community police officer, had fun rocking to DJ Tristan Maack’s reggae beat.

Attendance was WAY down from previous years – marketing efforts were pretty minimal. But many people jammed into the western end of the park.

A few local residents got flyers in their mailboxes, and there were a couple of real estate sandwich boards illegally placed on medians and pedestrian islands along the strip, but our Bells Corners community associations rely primarily on closed Facebook sites for marketing.

Cst. Wright led the bike parade in her cruiser while LVCA honcho Mike brought up the rear in his van.

The dozen or so cyclists in the parade had LOTS of protection from speeding traffic.

I was hoping Cst. Lamarre would show up with the heritage Nepean cruiser, but no such luck.

The Bosnian dancers seemed to be having fun.

They use the “community” building every Friday. The yoga people are the biggest tenants, followed by Girl Guides Canada, the semi-private tennis club, Coffee & Company home caregivers and “private” parties.

All of these groups pay different rents, as determined by the secretive Lynwood Village Community Association (LVCA) board, ranging from FREE for LVCA insiders running private businesses to the full rate suggested by the City (around $50/hr).

LVCA, like the Westcliffe Estates Community Association, is awash in cash. Bells Corners community association Fun Days usually break even thanks to “sponsorships/partnerships” and generous funding from the taxpayer, local big box chain stores, real estate agents, financial advisors, politicians and home daycare providers.



The bike rodeo run by the City of Ottawa was AWESOME even if only two (!) cyclists took part.

Too bad, a lost opportunity. But it was too noisy near the building, the generators and the DJ to instruct kids on bike safety, so the CAN-BIKE instructor was shuttled off to the basketball court to sit alone in the sun.

LVCA vice-president Casey probably paid for the bouncy castle and its noisy generators.

The weather was PERFECT for the wet events.


This local celebrity manned the fire hose for Tristan.

He earned community service hours for doing the grunt work for Tristan.

Rick showed up late, after almost everyone had left. He wasn’t sure what to make of Tristan’s buddy.

His employee Nancy put in a long day face painting and advertising her boss.

Rick and Nancy discuss which photo to use on twitter while Mark chows down on some pineapple.

Here’s what they went with.

The talent show gave this woman a chance to plug her business.

At the FAMSAC table Erin was getting the kids to make honey-nut Cheerios birdfeeders. I don’t know much about birds, but wouldn’t they be better off eating insects?

Erin has formed a mutually beneficial BCR “partnership” with Tristan.

Unelected WECA board member/community scold Catherine Gardener was peddling her snake oil and offering free candy to kids.

Unelected WECA board member Terrlyn, a fervent Rick Chiarelli booster, had one of her underlings peddling her thirty-one bags.

Home-based business or pyramid scheme?

Tristan’s $20 t-shirts were NOT selling like hotcakes.

He’s going to have to lean on the business people who hammer BCR with ads to buy his excess stock. Or he can look for other ways of monetizing his private Facebook site – maybe selling off admin status to generous local “philanthropists.”

It would be a lot simpler (and more honest) to just charge businesses for advertising and drop the pretense that BCR (or the “community” associations) “belong to the community.” Okay, enough “politics” for now – I’ll continue the story in Bells Corners Fun Days, part 2.

This dog howled his approval after his breezy ride along Ridgefield to Lynwood Park.

I probably gave at least a hundred passengers a ride during the four-hour event.

I have WAY more photos of bike-taxi passengers having fun – I’ll post more tomorrow in part 2.

The heads provided a lot of laughter and some puzzlement.

This guy hesitated between the two bearded heads before putting Tom back in the bag.

A good beard trumps good hair, which is why Mulcair is ahead of both Trudeau and Harper in the polls.

If Tristan’s father-in-law Phil Brown ran in Bells Corners I’d probably vote for him. But I heard a rumour that he’ll be working for the Liberals in Kanata.

The pedicab operators in the market are Tom-friendly.

Alex Cullen is a big Tom fan too.

These local residents missed the Fun Day but they consoled themselves with a steak dinner at Trevor’s Butchery.

These people were surprised when I told them a Pizza Hut would be opening next to Quizno’s.

They have a good product at a fair price, so they should be all right, but it seems to me that Bells Corners has a glut of places to eat.

East Side Mario’s business is booming. The rooftop patio is awesome and often features live entertainment and an open mic.

This talented couple played last night – hope they come again on Tuesday for the karaoke/open mic party.

Snow White, attracted by the half-price appetizers and the fun atmosphere, will probably be making an appearance.

Tune in tomorrow for more Fun Day photos and the latest Bells Corners news.