The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, June 15, 2012 · 18 By John Bkila OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakville Family Ribfest is coming soon Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr, and gaining their support, Simpson said the club then undertook the task of finding an appropriate location -- approaching the president of Sheridan College's Oakville campus, Jeff Zabudsky, who was in favour of hosting the inaugural ribfest. Simpson said the Rotary club decided to go with a location like Sheridan College over a more wide-open area, like Coronation Park, for several reasons, but mainly because of transportation -- explaining that getting to the ribfest at Sheridan is going to be a lot easier for a lot more people. "The Sheridan parking lot on Trafalgar can hold approximately 1,200 vehicles and there is also an additional parking for 700-800 cars (on the campus grounds), which doesn't exist at Coronation Park," Simpson said. "It's more centrally located, the exposure is great because it's right on Trafalgar Road, which is more of a thoroughfare than Lakeshore Road and Sheridan has a dedicated bus loop too... that doesn't exist at Coronation... it's a traffic night- With only a week to go, Oakville Family Ribfest organizers are busy putting on the final touches for the inaugural event. Although the ribfest model itself is not a new concept, it is new to Oakville, says Brian Simpson, president of the Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar, which is putting on the event. "There are probably about 20-25 ribfests in Ontario and most are run by Rotary clubs," he said. "The idea was not new, but we were just looking for something new to do." One of the things that Rotary clubs do, explained Simpson, is embark on various fundraisers so that the net proceeds generated from those events can be used to fund youth-, community-, and international-based activities. "Really, we were looking for an opportunity to increase our ability to serve our community, youth and international projects, on a grander scale." After taking the idea of a ribfest to Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn and "The idea was not new, but we were just looking for something new to do." Brian Simpson, president Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar mare." Simpson said another reason the Rotary decided to choose Sheridan as the ribfest's location was to showcase the college, which seemed to fit nicely with the numerous youth initiatives all three Oakville Rotary clubs help fund, including $40,000 in bursaries and scholarships given to high school students moving onto postsecondary education. "The college is internationallyrenowned for the students it turns out, particularly from its animation program, but it's virtually locally unknown. It's an interest- ing dichotomy," Simpson said. All of the net proceeds from the Oakville Family Ribfest will go towards Rotary initiatives with the largest portion committed to the new Oakville hospital, said Simpson. "All rotary clubs get a lot of requests. What we do is assess each of those requests, like United Way would do... and then try to make a judgment on need," he explained. "We don't just write cheques. But what we do try to emphasize locally are those agencies in need that are not otherwise supported by the United Way of Oakville, most nota- bly food banks." Internationally, the Oakville Rotary clubs also finance such things as wells to provide clean water, fund polio vaccinations and provide mosquito nets to prevent the spread of malaria. The Oakville Family Ribfest runs next weekend from June 22-24 at Sheridan College's Oakville campus at 1430 Trafalgar Rd.. In addition to on-site parking, a free ribfest shuttle bus service will run back and forth from the west end of the Oakville GO Station (Lyons Lane entrance) to the Ribfest, with stops at Town Hall for those parking there. "We are also just so grateful for the help and support we've received from the community and feel a sense of responsibility to deliver the best event to honour the many individuals and sponsors who helped make it happen, including MINI Oakville by Budds, the First Ontario Credit Union, Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Region," said Simpson. For more information, visit www.oakvillefamilyribfest.com. Conditioning Starting As L ow A s As Low As per month Central Air 3 Month deferred hd eferred payment plan OAC. ef · 24/7 EMERGENCY SERVICE · LOCAL SERVICE IS BETTER SERV VICE SERVICE 2012 Equipped To Service All Makes & Brands of Heating & Cooling Products 905.549.4616 · Shiptons.ca FAMILY OWNED & OPERA TED SINCE 1924 SHIPTON'S, DOING IT RIGHT FOR OVER 88 YEARS