PODCAST · society
The Opeongo Line
by Scholar-Gypsy
Dedicated to investigating and preserving the unique culture and heritage of the Madawaska and Opeongo River Valleys in Eastern Ontario.
Episodes
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Dr. Martin J. Maloney, MP
One of the great legendary characters of the Upper Ottawa Valley, Dr. Martin J. Maloney was not only a much-loved local physician from 1898 to 1953, he was both a stellar member of the federal Parliament from 1925 to 1935 and the father of Ontario's first Ombudsman and the Ontario cabinet…
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Madawaska Valley Township All-Candidate's Meeting
Every four years, the Township of Madawaska Valley must elect a new municipal council to serve its local needs. Last night, both candidates for mayor and all ten candidates seeking one of the four council seats met face to face with well over 200 local voters. Organized by the Madawaska Valley...
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A Municipal Primer
Given that all of Ontario goes to the polls this month to elect a new roster of municipal politicians to govern local jurisdiction for another four years, it's time to talk local democracy. And who better to explain all the ins and outs of local politics than The Local host, Sean Conway, as he...
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The Eganville Leader
In 1902 The Eganville Leader was founded and 124 years later has become undoubtedly the best community newspaper in all of Canada and the largest paid-circulation weekly in Ontario. But this past February, The Leader almost ceased publication. Last Sunday, The Bromley Historical Society decided…
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The Yak and His Renfrew County Political Heritage
Last Sunday at the Bromley Historical Society, John Yakabuski gave undoubtedly one of the best political speeches ever heard in Osceola, if not possibly in the rest of Canada. With consummate humour yet shrewd insight, Mr. Yakabuski opened a window on his unique political heritage and eventual…
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From Skead's Road to Sunset Boulevard
Local historian Mark Woermke presents some fascinating new research into a frontier family who once called the Bark Lake Settlement their home in the latter half of the 19th Century. For nearly ten years, the Cuthertsons kept a stopping place at Bark Lake, about ten kilometres west of present-day...
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Some Curious Algonquin History
Recently, former Algonquin First Nation Chief Kirby J. Whiteduck spoke to the Bromley Historical Society near the very place where, in 1613 Samuel de Champlain, once met the famous one-eyed Algonquin Chief Tessouat. It was there that Champlain, as representative of his 17th Century French…
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19th Century German Methodists of Renfrew County
Local historian Mark Woermke presented an intriguing look at the curious religious history of Renfrew Country when he gave a talk recently at the Upper Ottawa Valley Heritage Centre in Pembroke. His original research and entertaining anecdotes certainly provided his live audience with new…
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The Tragedy of William J. Thurston
Late one summer evening in 1909 twenty-year old William J. Thurston was hard at work, busily stoking the steam engine of a train passing along the north shore of Carson Lake. It was part of the Grand Trunk Railroad running between Ottawa and Parry Sound. But that mixed train of passengers and...
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The O'Choir Boys
Under the able direction of Peter Glofcheskie, The O'Choir Boys sing their hearts out in honour of St. Patrick's Day. Their acapella performance includes a wide variety of religious and secular songs; everything from Amazing Grace to What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor, with 'Danny Boy' and 'The...
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Ghost Riders of the Opeongo - Act One
It's late one night in the Spring of 1933 as the scheduled Opeongo Line train arrives six hours overdue at the old Barry's Bay Train station but that's not the only problem it's six weary passengers will have to face before morning. The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present a local adaptation of…
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Ghost Riders of the Opeongo - Act Two
The plot thickens as the passengers now face the unimaginable as they hunker down in the old Barry's Bay train station, some more nervous than others.
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Ghost Riders of the Opeongo: Act Three
Our play about what happened one night in the Spring of 1933 at the Barry's Bay Train Station comes to its inevitable if unexpected end.
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A Primer on Renfrew County Council History
When Sean Conway, the host of "The Local" got together recently with his old friend, Michael Johnson, the former Chief Administrative Officer of Renfrew County, more than a few great stories were told. There's the one about the gallows in the county jail, and the one about the first female Warden...
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Boxing Day Elsewhere
Four members of the Opeongo Readers' Theatre are here again to help you enjoy the quietude of another relaxing Boxing Day with some stories and verse from places around the world where Boxing Day isn't celebrated but where celebrations by any other name often take place.
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Christmas Old Style
The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present their annual Christmas show. This year it includes everything from a very funny story set on the Irish Sea to a unique verse composed back here in Canada by Lucy Maud Montgomery -- all in hopes of helping you kick-start a very Merry Christmas.
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Eddie Francis at the Station
Inducted into the Ottawa Valley Country Music Hall of Fame last year Eddie Francis is a well-know local musician who hails from Combermere. In an exclusive performance at the old train Station in Barry's Bay, Eddie recounts a time when he was sixteen and took a train from that very station to a...
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Meet Me At The Station
Mark Woermke and The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present a new version of his beloved street play, Meet Me At The Station, only this time it's in the form of an old-time radio play set in Barry's Bay in 1944.
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Limericks Galore
In honour of St. Patrick's Day, the Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents a show with over 200 limericks -- some pure nonsense, some Irish, some geographic, some dealing in romance and marriage, some risqué but not rude, and some that are simply tongue-twisters -- but none mad, bad, or dangerous to...
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Love is in the Air
In honour of St. Valentine's Day, The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents three one-act plays -- all very short conversations about the love between a man and a woman. Somewhat quirky dialogues, they sound very 21st Century though they were all written over a hundred years ago.
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The Mayor's 2025 Levee
For the past few years, the host of The Opeongo Line's "Local", Sean Conway, has sat down with the Mayor of the Township of Madawaska Valley, Mark Willmer, to talk about what the municipal government has had to deal with over the past year and what it faces in the coming year. This year was no...
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Koledy from Canada's Oldest Polish-Kashub Settlement - 1st Set
Again this year, we are proud to present the Wilno Heritage Society Community Choir as they sing Koledy - a traditional evening of Polish, Latin and English Christmas Carols. The choir has more than three dozen members and is made up of mostly senior citizens of Polish-Kashub heritage who have...
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Koledy from Canada's Oldest Polish-Kashub Settlement - 2nd Set
Again this year we are proud to present the Wilno Heritage Society Community Choir as they present Koledy - a traditional evening of Polish, Latin and English Christmas Carols. The choir has more than three dozen members and is made up of mostly senior citizens of Polish-Kashub heritage who have...
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The Joys of Christmas
Whatever Christmas means to people, whether Christian or otherwise, whether fervently religious or occasionally spiritual, there's a undeniable joy and intentional good will to the season that is undeniable. The Opeongo Readers' Theatre attempt to explain what that is so.
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A Rose for Cathy
The Opeongo Readers' Theatre celebrates the artistic life and theatrical talent of Cathy Chapeskie, one of its own, who passed away recently. An early and regular contributor, Cathy Chapeskie leaves an impressive record of her work with the ORT. This show includes three of her best performances.
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The Angels of Arbor Vitae
A Halloween story that can be listened to the whole year through or for as many scary, romantic nights as you can handle. Angels of Arbor Vitae is no ordinary story. Part fictional horror, part local history, and certainly part unrequited romance, it's something you'll not soon forget.
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Barry's Bay Over 100 Years Ago
In celebration of the 130th Anniversary of the coming of the OA & PS Railway to Barry's Bay in 1894, Theresa Prince, a Stationkeeper, re-enacts a farm girl's stroll down the main street of Barry's Bay as she visits local merchants from well over one hundred years ago.
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The Station Agents of Barry's Bay
Mark Woermke celebrates the 130th Anniversary of the Barry's Bay Train Station, built in 1894, by giving a talk, detailing the history of its station agents who once worked there. His presentation was followed by a general discussion with the audience, with many sharing their own intriguing stories.
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Remembering the Wolves I
In the autumn of 1967, Madawaska Valley District High School first opened its doors in Barry's Bay, and so too did the history of one of that school's most famous sports teams, the MVDHS Wolves. It was a Junior "B" hockey team that within four years won everything there was to win in eastern...
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Remembering the Wolves II
In the autumn of 1967 Madawaska Valley District High School first opened its doors in Barry's Bay, and so too did the history of one of that school's most famous sports teams, the MVDHS Wolves. It was a Junior "B" hockey team that within four years won everything there was to win in eastern...
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St. Patrick's Day with Percy French
William Percy French was born in County Roscommon in 1854 and grew up to become one of Ireland's most successful songwriters. At times wildly comedic and genuinely funny; at other times surprisingly warm and inspirational. The Opeongo Readers' Theatre were so taken by him, some of them break out...
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Famous Love Letters
In honour of St. Valentine's Day, The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents nineteen of the world's greatest love letters, famously written by men and women in the heat of passion. From the sublime to the ridiculous, it's a show destined to be better than anything you will ever see printed on a pink...
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Martha & Stella's Kitchen Party
Martha Linton and Stella Yeretch, two local musicians born and raised in the Upper Madawaska Valley, were recorded in the mid-20th Century, singing old folksongs in both English and their native Polish-Kashub. Martha passed away in 2009 and Stella in 1996, but those recordings demonstrate their...
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The Mayor’s Levee 2024
Sean Conway, host of "The Local" chats again this year with Madawaska Valley Township Mayor Mark Willmer about the challenges and opportunities that engaged him throughout 2023. As well, the Mayor discusses new challenges and opportunities heading his way in 2024 - everything from new development...
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Koledy Atop Shrine Hill
The Wilno Heritage Society Community Choir celebrate Koledy a choral selection of Christmas Carols brought over to Canada beginning in 1858 when their ancestors left their homeland in Kashubia, a region of Poland, and settled in the Upper Madawaska River Valley, centred on Wilno, Ontario. With a...
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A Christmas Carol
The Opeongo Readers' Theatre offers up its annual Christmas show, this year a collection of five short stories with an equal number of short lyric poems, all often forgotten classics but all intended to keep at bay that blue, blue, blue Christmas that Elvis often used to sing about at this time…
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Yakabuski Hardware
Yakabuski Hardware happily served Barry's Bay and its surrounding area from 1918 until 2001. Karen Yakabuski, Roseanne Visutski and John Yakabuski chat with Sean Conway about the life and times of one of the Upper Madawaska Valley's most unique family businesses.
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Yakabuski Hardware II
Yakabuski Hardware happily served Barry's Bay and its surrounding area from 1918 until 2001. Karen Yakabuski, Roseanne Visutski and John Yakabuski chat with Sean Conway about the life and times of one of the Upper Madawaska Valley's most unique family businesses.
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Algonquin’s Robin Hood I
The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents the story of Archie Belaney, a 17-year-old Englishman who first came to Canada in 1906 and where he reinvented himself as 'Grey Owl, an Indigenous environmentalist and friend of all forest animals. His story of cultural identify theft reads like Robin Hood.
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Algonquin’s Robin Hood II
The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents the story of Archie Belaney, a 17-year-old Englishman who first came to Canada in 1906 and where he reinvented himself as 'Grey Owl, an Indigenous environmentalist and friend of all forest animals. His story of cultural identify theft reads like Robin Hood.
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The Mystery of Skead’s Oak
Cathy Chapeskie reads a new, original short story for Halloween. It's based on a February 21st 1873 news story found in the Chicago Tribune that spoke of a horrific incident it claimed happened near Barry's Bay. A story best understood as partly true and party fiction.
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A Choir for the Ages
The Wilno Heritage Society Community Choir ‘Celebrating Polish Hymns’ has nearly 40-members but it's like no other choir anywhere in Canada, and perhaps the world. Made up of senior citizens, some well into their eighties, it gave its first remarkable public performance recently atop Shrine Hill...
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Bounty of the Bonnechere I
A new chapter of the Opeongo Readers' Theatre's gives a rousing history of Eganville and the Bonnechere River Valley in the 19th Century. From the fur trading post established among the Algonquins of Golden Lake in 1825 to some wild and crazy happenings in 1899, the history of the Bonnechere is...
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Bounty of the Bonnechere II
A new chapter of the Opeongo Readers' Theatre's gives a rousing history of Eganville and the Bonnechere River Valley in the 19th Century. From the fur trading post established among the Algonquins of Golden Lake in 1825 to some wild and crazy happenings in 1899, the history of the Bonnechere is...
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A Polish-Kashub Celebration
In an annual salute to our largest founding local culture, the Opeongo Line offers up two authentic voices -- one male; one female, one sadly no longer with us, and one still working hard to preserve our local heritage and cultural identity. In their own unique ways, Annie Shulist (nee Yantha)…
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Opeongo Heritage Cup - Women’s Championship Game
The Opeongo Line proudly presents Mary Blank and Marie Villeneuve as the provide for the first time ever, the play-by-play and colour commentary for the 2023 Opeongo Heritage Cup Women's Championship game between the Kashubian Griffins and the German Black Eagles. Not to be missed!
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The Opeongo Heritage Cup
The Upper Madawaska Valley's premium hockey tournament returns this Spring for the first time in three years and "The Local's" host, Sean Conway, sits down with Dave Shulist, Marie Villeneuve and Dan Conway to talk about how it all came about in 2006 and why it's about more than just hockey.
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Father O’Flynn’s Irish Wit
The Opeongo Readers' Theatre are back again to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the dry wit and easy humour of Father O'Flynn, the fictional creation of Alfred Perceval Graves, the comical son of a Protestant Bishop of Limerick who knew a thing or two about Irish humour.
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Stationkeepers MV Kitchen Party
A rousing Sunday afternoon celebration as the Stationkeepers MV reopen its Barry's Bay Railway Museum with the joyous sounds of the Yo-Yo Mammas and the Stationkeeper Singers as they entertain an enthusiastic audience with local and Canadian fiddle classics.
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Pike-pole Sketches on the Madawaska
The Opeongo Readers' Theatre proudly presents the world premiere of Sir Gilbert Parker's long-lost 'Pike-pole Sketches on the Madawaska,' four short-stories written in the 1880s about some imaginary folks who once worked upon one of the great rivers of the Ottawa Valley.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Opeongo Line have?
The Opeongo Line currently has 171 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Opeongo Line about?
Dedicated to investigating and preserving the unique culture and heritage of the Madawaska and Opeongo River Valleys in Eastern Ontario.
How often does The Opeongo Line release new episodes?
The Opeongo Line publishes regularly with 171 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Opeongo Line?
You can listen to The Opeongo Line on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Opeongo Line?
The Opeongo Line is created and hosted by Scholar-Gypsy.
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