New Hamburg

It's that time of year again... time to start work on your entry for the 2009 Gingerbread Contest. For all of the rules and official contact information, check out the Indy blog at:

http://nhindependent.wordpress.com/2009-gingerbread-contest/

This will be our 5th year entering the contest. It's great to work with the family on a project from design to completion, and it's great to see all the creations that other people can come up with.

This year's theme is "Santa's Workshop".

Cross-posted story from WWBA

For the third time in less than a year, residents of New Hamburg have been hit by serious flooding of the Nith River. Similar to the flooding in April 2008, the water reached a Level 2 status according to the Grand River Conservation Authority... luckily not as serious as the levels reached in December 2008.

For some short videos and photos, check out this set on Flickr:

Nith River Flood in New Hamburg - Feb 2009

I've written a quick story for the WWBA on some more recent flooding in New Hamburg along the Nith River.

You can check out my photos here.

I saw a lot of people taking pictures out there. Leave a comment here or at the WWBA if you have some more that you want to share.

Update (2008/12/30):
The New Hamburg Independent blog has some more photos:
http://nhindependent.wordpress.com/2008/12/30/new-hamburg-flood-photos/
http://nhindependent.wordpress.com/2008/12/30/new-hamburg-flood-photos-2/

Update (2009/01/05):
The New Hamburg Board of Trade has setup a flood relief fund. Please contribute if you can. For more information, visit http://www.nhbot.ca/news-flood.shtml.

The New Hamburg Gingerbread Festival theme has just been announced for 2008 in the New Hamburg Independent. The theme is:

"Christmas Movies"

Be sure to read the writeup in the New Hamburg Independent for details. If you have any questions, you can call the Gingerbread Hotline at 519-662-1082 ext. 61, or Kathryn Ritz at 662-2960.

Our family has entered the contest for the past 2 years and it's been a blast.

Update 2008/11/18: I'd like to encourage groups and organizations to enter as well as families and individuals. It's a great opportunity for school classes to get involved with the community (I know at least one class from Forest Glen Public School entered last year).

I also need to add a slight correction. The name of the contest is actually the "Wilmot Gingerbread House Contest 2008".

Update 2008/12/10: The NH Independent has a list of the winners and their blog has photos. Our entry for The Spark Centre got the winning nod in the VIP category. Yay!