It is difficult to gather a group together on a summer Saturday, but the Mayor’s Competition has been successful. From left: North Dundas Mayor Tony Fraser, South Dundas Mayor Jason Broad, North Stormont Mayor François Landry, North Glengarry Mayor Jamie MacDonald, South Glengarry Deputy Mayor and SDG Warden Martin Lang. Absent: South Stormont Mayor Brian McGillis. Tinkess Photo

WINCHESTER – The first victory on Sat., June 14 came when Mother Nature provided warm weather and sunny skies for the second annual Mayors Challenge which this year was held at Winchester’s 100 Club Park, on Main St. in Winchester.

The second victory would come later, during the cornhole competition, which resulted in Community Food Share Dundas and North Stormont receiving a donation of $600 from the winning mayor.

This is the second year for the event. In 2024 the competition was held as a disc golf challenge in South Mountain at Rick Cauvier Memorial Park, but this year the Mayors of the six municipalities in SDG chose to compete in a friendly, but highly competitive game of cornhole.

The group was one Mayor short, as South Stormont Mayor Brian McGillis was unable to attend. His spot was filled by event organizer Lisa Devereaux, customer service specialist in Development Services for the Township of North Dundas.

Also competing in the event were North Dundas Mayor Tony Fraser, South Dundas Mayor Jason Broad, North Stormont Mayor François Landry, Deputy Mayor Martin Lang, representing South Glengarry, and North Glengarry Mayor Jamie MacDonald.

Each of the Mayor0s agreed to put $100 on the line with the competition winner donating the prize to the charity of their It quickly became apparent that Mayor Broad had played the game before, as he took the early lead and never looked back, eventually being declared the winner by his colleagues, with Community Food Share and the people they serve being the true winners.

Following the competition Mayor Fraser summed up the competition succinctly.

“Thanks to the mayors and the warden from SDG for coming out and

supporting the southeast Ontario Parks and Recreation Association activity day, which is cornhole,” said Mayor Fraser.  “Some of us demonstrated our abilities, and only one had any ability…”

Mayor Broad acknowledged that getting everyone together on a Saturday in June isn’t easy, but it is important. “Our schedules are busy, but you know it’s important for our communities and North Dundas, who organizes and Parks and Rec. Fair to say that probably in all the municipalities, Parks and Rec is probably the biggest budgets. You don’t have a lot of exterior funding like roads department has, you know, a lot of different funding. Infrastructure has funding. But Parks and Rec is important. Free Play is important. And think the Mayors just feel it’s important to get together and show how important recreation is.”

Jane Schoones, team lead at Community Food Share explained how important unexpected donations such as the $600 received from the Mayors really is. “Well, it’s really important because we just did a large fill the bag event, and it’s fantastic, but food just keeps going off the shelves faster than it’s coming in,” said Schoones. “The demand continues to grow. I was looking at our numbers from this year and last year. They’re comparable, but it is what it is, and every dollar counts.”

As much fun as it was, the Cornhole competition wasn’t the only thing happening at 100 Club Park.

  • The North Dundas fire prevention team was present to educate and hand out fire safety swag, as well as having their 1953 pumper on display.
  • SDG will had a library table
  • SDG tourism had a table
  • There was face painting is sponsored by Lactalis.
  • The Bubble Guy and lots of bubbles were sponsored by Lactalis.
  • Dairy Fest will had a table
  • The Winchester pickleball club was set up in the arena and were providing demonstrations and tutorial.
  • Community Food Share had a table with information and were accepting monetary donations.
  • The Winchester Lions Club had the barbecue fired up and were accepting voluntary donations. (hot dogs and water were free)
  • Dundas dairy producers were providing educational information and handing out free ice cream bars.

The Township of North Dundas also had a swag and information table, with a cornhole set that was donated by Lactalis that was drawn for (no charge for entering the draw.)

The curling club will also have an information table, and their inflatable curling rink for anyone who wants to give it a try.

All the day’s events were in support of the Southeast Ontario Recreation Association and promoting recreational activities and outdoor health.

Last year it was disc golf, this year corn hole, who knows what they will come up with next year?