Written & researched by Trish Crowe-Grande, OMAH History Committee ChairThe Mariposa Folk Festival was spearheaded by Ruth Jones, an Orillia resident and significant figure in the folk music movement, who rallied her local community and Toronto contacts to bring...

Written & researched by Trish Crowe-Grande and Cliff WhitfieldIn 1949, Harry Peacock, a member of the Orillia Kiltie Band, decided to leave the Kilties to start up a brass-band in Orillia. In the 1950s, Mr. Peacock, along with his band committee, secured the...

With an Introduction by Fred Blair, Genealogist and Family HistorianThe Cracked Bell Caper of 1900 is a part of Orillia history worth retelling. On December 24, 1956, the Orillia Packet and Times published some recollections by either Alan or Heber Greene, both sons...

Written & researched by Trish Crowe-Grande, History Committee Chair and Cliff Whitfield, Guest ContributorIn the late 1800s, it was common to gather at Orillia’s Civic Park (now Couchiching Beach Park) and listen to the Orillia Citizens Band, where hundreds of...

By Mary Ann Grant, OMAH History CommitteeEvery year in February, which is Black History Month, the History Committee at the Orillia Museum of Art & History (OMAH) takes time to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions made by Black Canadians, and to learn about...

Who owned the Peter Street South cemetery? Your first thoughts might be that this was the St. James’ Church Cemetery, but that cemetery was about two blocks further north on the southeast corner of Peter Street and Coldwater Road. On June 19, 1873, the following...