Barrie Advance - Photo Galleries

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Community Photo Galleries

Honouring those who served and sacrificed
Veterans, cadets and citizens of Barrie gathered along Dunlop Street and at the Cenotaph Sunday afternoon for a special parade and memorial service to commemorate the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War. [more]

Lots of sweet sounds at Barrie Kiwanis Festival
The 25th annual Barrie Kiwanis Music Festival features performers from across Simcoe County competing in the fifth largest festival of its kind in the province. More than 3,000 competitors will be performing in front of world-class adjudicators over the three-week festival. For tickets and a schedule, go to www.barriemusicfestival.com or call 726-1764. [more]

A Simply Spectacular Show
The Barrie Molson Centre was centre stage for the Barrie Skating Club’s 57th-Annual Ice Spectacular. Featuring world champion Jeff Buttle and silver pairs medallists Karen Routhier and Eric Saucke-Lasalle, the show featured scores from the year’s box office hits, such as Bee Movie, Hairspray, Across the Universe and many more. More than 300 skaters between the ages of four and 19 took to the ice performing for a packed house both in the afternoon and evening shows. [more]

Games at Borden
The Ontario Winter Games were held last week, with events hosted at Base Borden including table tennis, synchronized swimming, gymnastics, and squash. Over 3500 people were involved in the Games, which are held every two years, and have athletes between the ages of 10 and 22 competing in 23 different sports. [more]

Good old-time fun
The Oldtimers Hockey Challenge made its annual trip to Barrie recently, raising thousands of dollars for the Ontario Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics. A team of former NHL players, as well a few special guests, took on a team of local law enforcement officers in a spirited game. [more]

Colts notch two wins out of three
The Barrie Colts played three games last weekend in OHL action, winning home dates Thursday and Saturday, and dropping a 2-1 road decision to the Sudbury Wolves on Saturday night. Thursday, the Colts trounced the visiting Owen Sound Attack 5-2, and beat the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors 4-1 on Saturday at the Barrie Molson Centre. With the four points, Barrie now sits fifth in the Eastern Conference. [more]

Looking for a bite
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Colts nosed out by Knights
The Barrie Colts went toe-to-toe with the London Knights, one of the OHL's best team. Despite a hard battle, the Colts came out on the short end of the scoresheet 1-0. [more]

Scotiabank opens with a flourish
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Police probe finding of human remains
Barrie Police sprang into action early Sunday afternoon, after reports of unidentified human remains in the Johnson's Beach area of east-end Barrie. A police command post had been set up on the scene and remained there throughout Monday. The remains were sent to the Centre for Forensic Science in Toronto for identification. [more]

Going toe-to-toe for a worthy cause
Barrie Firefighters and Barrie Police battled cancer by battling each other Tuesday night. The American Gladiator-style grudge match at the Roxx Night Club, co-ordinated by the Barrie Police and the Canadian Cancer Society Barrie branch, raised more than $1500. “It was a great success, a lot of fun, and we are looking for next year's event to be even bigger and better,” said the event’s co-ordinator, Keri Crosby. “We can't thank our sponsors enough and the Roxx’s management in particular.” Participants from the Barrie Police Services included, John Lamont, Jamie Westcott, Matt Abofs, Andy MacDonald, Peter Dewsnap and Mel Palma. They were matched up against firefighters Mark Hancock, Rudy Kliewer, Rob Casey, Chris Ivany, Jeff Van Daalen and Mike Eveleigh. [more]

Get set for MASH BASH
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Barrie gets crushed
Trevor Hurst and his bandmates in Econoline Crush rocked the house at The Foundation on Wednesday night, as the band held a special CD release party at the local club. Ignite is the band’s first CD in eight years, and features the lead-off single Dirty, as well as Psychotic and Hole in My Heart. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/econolinecrush2007 [more]

TiFT teaches crowd to whistle
Theatre supporters gathered Saturday for the Canadian premiere of the Sondheim show, Anyone Can Whistle [more]

Theatre supporters lift TIFT
Georgian College was home to a stunning guest list of theatre supporters Friday night for the Talk Is Free Theatre debut of Anyone can Whistle. The guest list included Barrie’s MPP, provincial Culture Minister Aileen Carroll. The Talk Is Free Theatre hosted the opening night gala for the Canadian professional premier of the 1964 musical that was first produced on Broadway. The return of this legendary musical is an exclusive milestone for the theatre group, being the only group in the country to bring this whimsical story back to life. In honour of the event, emceed by K.C Colby of the A Channel and Barrie Advance publisher Joe Anderson, guests were treated with speeches from the show's director Richard Ouzounian, artistic producer Arkady Spivak as well as a generous cheque presentation of $10,000 from the Geranium Corporation in support of ongoing TIFT developments and projects, including a proposed theatre at the Big Bay Resort development in Innisfil. After the three course meal, guests were directed to the Gryphon Theatre, to see the debut performance of Anyone Can Whistle. [more]

Happy 2008!
Barrie welcomed the New Year with a variety of fun activities [more]

GO returns to Barrie
Commuters, politicians, merchants and environmentalists all had a reason to celebrate Monday, with the return of GO Train service to Barrie after more than a decade [more]

Fire destroys downtown businesses
Fire crews continued to douse the site of a fire in Barrie’s Five Points Friday morning. Barrie residents came down to see the destruction that was left when the blaze ripped through buildings on the North West corner of Bayfield and Dunlop Streets. The fire destroyed approximately eight businesses and left many homeless. [more]

Downtown disaster
An historic part of Barrie was ripped apart by fire Thursday night and Friday morning. Barrie Advance photographer Stan Howe and reporter Laurie Watt provided us with photos of rescue efforts as morning followed night [more]

Fire at Five Points
Disaster befell an historic portion of Barrie's downtown Thursday night and Friday morning. Numerous 911 calls began filtering in around 11:30 regarding an explosion and fire at the Royal Thai Restaurant at Dunlop and Bayfield Streets, in what the city calls The Five Points. The callers also reported that the windows had been blown out of the restaurant. Barrie Police, Barrie Fire and Georgian Ambulance all responded to the call. The evacuation included tenants from the second floor apartments above the storefronts. The evacuees were brought to a temporary shelter set up in the Central United Church at Toronto Street and Ross Street. Much of the downtown remained closed to traffic well into Friday morning. Reporter Jim Barber captured these dramatic photos of efforts to quell the flames. Look for video on this site shortly. [more]