Ryan Chelak, Oakville & Mississauga Real Estate Broker ~ Luxury Homes & Condos

Bronte Creek Provincial Park is hosting their annual Maple Syrup Festival beginning February 28, 2009, and the following weekends in March and daily on March break from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (March 16- 20^th).

"Being apart of co-ordinating the Maple Syrup Festival has been an amazing experience. The park is a truly enchanting place to be and it is the perfect place to host a maple syrup festival. The festival is traditional

and incorporates maple sugar demonstrations, delicious

pancakes, historical buildings, wagon rides, artifacts and on-going activities that are high quality for a low cost." - Angela Vincent, Assistant Event Coordinator

Guests of the Maple Syrup Festival will be treated to free wagon rides that take you to a heated pancake house where you can enjoy fresh pancakes with pure maple syrup and your choice of crisp bacon or our famous sausages. Guided tours of Maple Lane, watch demonstrations by 1890's costumed interpreters of how to make maple sugar, explore artifacts from the 1890's in the MapleMuseum.

Adults and children have plenty to see and do. Play the sap lid game, try to carry buckets of sap with the neck yoke, and complete the maple passport. Explore the 100-year-old Spruce Lane Farmhouse, take pictures of wildlife and our beautiful scenery, and visit our candy shanty and Gift Shoppe.

For more information about the park programs and tours please call 905-827-6911 ext 228. On-line information available atwww.BronteCreek.org

The Maple Syrup Festival takes place in the Day-use area of Bronte Creek ProvincialPark. It's just north of the QEW on Burloak Drive, between Oakville and Burlington (Exit 109). Once in the park please follow the signs placed for your convenience.

Breakfast is big business in Oakville! When popular breakfast places like Cora's regularly have lines out of the resataurant and down the plaza walkway there must be room for competition.

It looks like they will soon have it, Denny's - The American Institution is coming to Oakville. Taking up home where the Golden Griddle was for years, renovations are underway.

As a father of young children, Denny's has always been a favorite stop for my family when travelling in the U.S. They have a kid friendly menu with healthy options for those of us who do not want 'fries with that'.

The new location is located at Trafalgar Village Mall across from the Home Depot. There has been a fair bit of turn over for this piece of real estate. Still trying to find its identity, yet anchored by No Frills, Home Depot and Tim Horton's I would have to think that Denny's will be here for years to come.

Anyone else who has lived in Oakville for the last few years will share in the hope that there is a silver lining after years of frustration and time wasted on the QEW.  As a long time resident of Oakville, I can remember the days when you could enjoy quick travel times between Ford Drive and Third Line on the Oakville section of the Q.E.W.

OK, maybe not all the time - there was still rush hour, but you could count on decent traffic at other times of the day.  For the last couple years though, it hasn't mattered whether is was morning, noon or night on this stretch of highway.  Not helping things has been the constant construction, demolition and now finally reconstruction of the Fourth Line overpass bridge, reconstruction and expansion of the Third Line exits and now what I hope is the final stages of QEW expansion.

 I found this very cool animation on You Tube.  It shows the pre- construction view of this section of the QEW, then takes you through a computer animation of the expansion and final rendering of what we can expect.

I am sure all residents or future residents of Oakville would agree that we all hope this will help the traffic situation through Oakville.  I for one think it can only help.  With the recent rapid growth in homes in north Oakville, Glen Abbey and Joshua Creek it has put a strain on our transportation systems.  Dundas (Hwy 5.) has become a much more travelled section of road and is also undergoing expansion between Neyagawa and Third Line.

The last five years have witnessed a great boom in Oakville's Real Estate population and I am looking forward to the next five being less stressful when it comes to our highway travel.