April 17, 2025
April 17th is the 107th day of the year. There are 258 days remaining until the end of the year.
Tomorrow is Good Friday, a stat holiday across Ontario.
Garbage and recycling pick up for those scheduled on Friday will be done on Saturday instead.
Next week’s schedule is unchanged.
A couple of holiday notices for the long weekend:
- Municipal offices, including service counters, will be closed for the Easter holidays on Friday, April 18th and Monday, April 21st.
- All arenas will be closed on Friday. Only open for scheduled rentals.
- The Blenheim Gable Rees Rotary Pool and the Wallaceburg Sydenham Pool are both closed on Friday, April 18th, Sunday April 20th & Monday, April 21st. Both pools are open for regular hours on Saturday, April 19th.
- The LCBO and The Beer Store are closed Friday.
- Costco is closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday in Ontario.
The 45th federal election will be held on April 28th.
Advanced polls will open tomorrow until Monday. 9 a.m. until 9 p.m.
If you’re registered to vote, you should have received a voter information card in the mail by April 11. Bring this card with you, along with accepted ID, when you head to the ballot box. For your location, check your voter information card or use Elections Canada’s Voter Information Service.
The Chatham Maroons will play the St. Marys Lincolns in the GOJHL Western Conference Championships. Game 1 is tonight in St. Marys.
Full schedule:
Game 1: St. Marys, Thursday, April 17th 7:30 p.m.
Game 2: Chatham, Sunday, April 20th 7 p.m.
Game 3: St. Marys, Tuesday, April 22nd 7:30 p.m.
Game 4: Chatham, Thursday, April 24th 7;30 p.m.
Game 5: St. Marys, Friday, April 25th, 7:30 p.m.*
Game 6: Chatham, Sunday, April 27th, 7 p.m.*
Game 7: St. Marys, Tuesday, April 29th, 7:30 p.m.*
*if necessary
One month from today: the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers will play their first home game of 2025.
The Barnstormers will open their second IBL season at home vs the Kitchener Panthers at Fergie Jenkins Field.
The team is planning an exhibition game a week before, with no admission for fans.
Happy (early) 420!
420 is an international celebration on the 20th day of the fourth month, during which people come together to consume cannabis and advocate for its legalization.
Why 420? One popular rumour is that “420” is the code police officers use to signal to each other that marijuana smoking is taking place. Another theory tries to attribute the date to a Bob Dylan song.
Another explanation comes from the Cannabis Museum in Oakland, California: 420 started as a secret code among high schoolers in the early 1970s who would often meet at 4:20p.m. to get high. For them, it was an ideal time: They were out of school but their parents still weren’t home, giving them a window of unsupervised freedom. The code gradually spread across California and beyond — and now it’s celebrated every year.
