Closer together: Anten Mills volunteers recognized for community building
By: Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: BarrieToday.com, April 22, 2025
Standing near the doorway of the Anten Mills Community Centre, Dennis Gannon smiles warmly and welcomes the guests as they arrive.
He knows each of them by name and he knows what they’ve done to earn an invitation to the evening’s festivities – a dinner honouring the community’s volunteers.
“That’s Kevin and Heather,” said Gannon, pointing to the couple. “He used to be a part of the group that looked after the rink.
“That’s Stephanie and Dave. Stephanie was part of the board but had to step away, but she’s still involved in the pancake breakfast.”
There’s no stopping him.
“That’s Rosyln, she changes the sign on Wilson Road, organizes the annual food and craft fair every autumn and she’s working on the 150th anniversary committee, too,” he said.
“Over there is Judy and Andy. They’ve been here for years and Judy’s part of the 150th team, too.”
So it goes for the next 10 or 15 minutes as the nearly 50 honoured guests, from a dozen and a half local families, file into the community centre, mixing and mingling before the evening’s main course – a pasta and meatball dinner – is served up by important local politicians who are introduced by their first names only: Jenny and Doug. (Jenny is Springwater Township Mayor Jennifer Coughlin and Doug is the Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte federal Conservative candidate Doug Shipley.)
Hosted by the Anten Mills Community Recreation Association (CRA), the dinner is a thank-you to the volunteers who have donated their time and skills for the betterment of this community of 800 or so residents, located about 15 minutes north of Barrie.
It doesn’t matter if the gift was a couple of hours of shovelling snow off the outdoor rink or setting up the pylons for the annual Rabbit Run, each volunteer is made to feel special, their contribution vital to the community’s success.
“We invited some people to dinner who said they didn’t feel they deserved to be invited because they didn’t make a huge contribution,” Gannon said. “I had to remind them that even if they only spent an hour or two helping with the Easter egg hunt or the witches walk or whatever, they did do something and we appreciate that.
“It’s all about developing a sense of community and they’re part of that,” he added.
It’s the first time the Anten Mills CRA has hosted an event to acknowledge the volunteers’ efforts, something Gannon believes is long overdue.
“The township acknowledges the various community recreation associations across the township,” Gannon said. “This dinner acknowledges those who do all of the work.”
Started in 1971, the Anten Mills CRA has endured both good times and bad.
At one point, Gannon said, the organization was close to calling it quits because it couldn’t rally enough volunteers.
That’s all changed in recent years, he added, noting new residents have injected fresh passion into the program.
“We’re a retirement community of sorts, but a growing family community of sorts as well,” Gannon said. “We’ve found we can blend those together and that’s really working well.”
He introduced a reporter to Matt Cruise.
Cruise and his family moved to Anten Mills about seven years ago from Honey Harbour to be closer to work.
Over the past couple of winters, his young children were spending every night at the skating rink. He said he’d go over and shovel the rink, but he wasn’t really involved with the startup or the regular flooding.
That changed last year.
“When I found out that nobody was going to do it – get the rink ready and commit to flooding it – I couldn’t say no,” Cruise said while his wife and two children enjoyed dinner and cookies. “Show me how to do it and I’ll do it.
“I have no problem helping out, especially since my kids are using it every night,” he added.
Since taking over the rink beat, Cruise and his family have ingrained themselves in the community and increased their social circle, becoming friends with other like-minded folks.
“I’ve known a few people here, but I’ve got to know a lot more while doing this,” he said. “There are a lot of good people who come out and offer to help.
“It’s a pretty neat community and I think it’s pretty rare,” he added.
Asked if he was happy living in Anten Mills, Cruise could barely contain his enthusiasm.
“Happy would be an understatement,” he said. “I never, ever want to leave this community, thanks very much. It’s perfect.”
GHIBB Avenue The Wagners
By Brian Keyes
The name Ghibb Avenue is a name based on an acronym of the first letter from all the first names in Glen & Irene Wagner’s family.Glen (Dad),Heather(Daughter), Irene (Mom), Brad (Son) and Brian (son) = Ghibb!
Glen & Irene Wagner and their two boys came from Norfolk County located along Lake Erie to Anten Mills in 1965. Daughter Heather was born 2 months after they arrived in the community. Glen & Irene had come to join Glen’s brother Ron to operate Wagner Pulpwood Industries. Irene’s parents Ken & Phyllis Muth moved to Anten Mills later and lived in the white house on Wilson at the end of Ghibb (1106 Wilson). Glen & Irene built a new house in the Pinery on 6 acres they had bought from Lawrence Scott that they accessed by a laneway from the junction of Pineview & Lawrence. The school bus-stop was at the corner of Lawrence and Pineview much as it is today! Daughter Heather Wagner-Kenney was in the first Kindergarten class at Minesing Public School that was actually held in the Anglican church in Minesing as the classroom was not ready. The Wagner home (38 Lawrence) was the place to be for local children as it featured a backyard rink and lots of snowmobiling in the winter plus trails to explore in the summer.
Glen and Ron introduced modern forestry equipment combined with the maturing Simcoe County Forests to harvest a supply of pulpwood. Harvesting trees was part of the thinning process to manage the forests. Pulpwood was transported via the local railway from Hendrie Station to be processed at a mill in Thorold Ontario. Forestry officials worked with Wagner Industries to identify the trees/forests to be harvested and seasonal employees from Quebec provided the labour force. Robert (Bob) Ritchie from Elmvale was the foreman for Wagners. The shop/yard for the business stood just north of Glen & Irene’s new house.
From 1964 through 1972 the Wagners purchased 36 acres from various landowners adjacent to the Scott subdivision. Once the land was cleared, streets were built and municipal wells were drilled with a new pump house. Streets constructed included McLaughlin and Ghibb plus extensions for Luella/Lawrence to Ghibb. Ghibb ended first at Luella and later at Lawrence. It is noteworthy that this was the first municipal water supply in the village as the Scott subdivision (Lawrence, Luella, Peacher, Pineview, Wilson, Alexander & Horseshoe were all on private wells).Ghibb Ave. was extended to Alexander in later years. Wagner Park was built next to the pump house and Glen Wagner donated the playground equipment. After the collapse of the front yard of the Corby Adams house at Lake Hendrie (Golf Course Rd) in Sept 1981, ground excavated from the Wagner subdivision was used to backfill and support the house.
Glen was an avid gardener, Florida snowbird and private pilot with his own float plane. The float plane was used to access a cottage at Orr Lake and later a cottage on an island in Georgian Bay. He also had a hunt camp in Gogama north of Sudbury that he could fly into. Glen supported the community as the first vice-president of the Anten Mills Community Association. He was the convener for rink maintenance organizing snow removal & flooding. The 1970s community association organized costumed Hallowe’en dances and a Winter carnival/parade at the rink/community centre. A mock Grey Cup football game between married and single men was held by the community association. That evening featured a dance with a ‘Miss’ Grey Cup contest. The buxom contestants were dressed up participants of the football game.
If your new neighbour arrives in the village and asks you the origin of the name Ghibb Ave, now you know the rest of the story!
ANTEN MILLS – by Dennis Gannon
A question certainly on many minds is when will we finally have Spring and some consistent nice weather? This past several weeks has been a yo-yo, cool, wet, cool, hot, wild winds and cool again. Hopefully May will bring us more Spring-like weather with seasonal temperatures.
Last weekend with the assistance of the volunteer firefighters from Springwater Station 3 Minesing, the Christmas lights on the tree at the community centre were taken down. A thank you to the department and the firefighters who looked after getting the lights off the tree. Taking the lights off usually prolongs their life span. Unfortunately the ice storm did a number on the strings and quite a few were broken along with limbs on the tree. An inspection of the lights will need to be done in the early fall to see how many can be saved and a call out may be needed to seek financial donations to help replace the lights.
The Anten Mills Celebrates 150 had a very successful meeting recently. There was great discussion about how the afternoon will celebrate our 150th anniversary and how the community could be involved. Of course there will be an official opening ceremony and there are activities and displays taking place all around the community centre. What the committee thought would be wonderful is to showcase local talent through a variety type show in the afternoon on stage under the pavilion. Anten Mills is home to many talented people and the committee would be happy to have you demonstrate that talent. If you can sing,dance,play a musical instrument, are a magician or card artist please consider being part of the variety show. You can learn more by reaching out to the committee by email at antenmills150@gmail.com.
As with any large event there are costs associated with hosting it. One of the projects is the creation of a souvenir booklet. Brian Keyes has been doing significant research about our past 150 years and the booklet will contain all of his printed stories along with other interesting facts. There are rentals of equipment needed for the day and other hard and soft costs. In order to cover the costs the committee is looking for sponsors. Each sponsor will receive either a quarter, half or full page celebratory advertisement in the booklet depending on the tier of sponsorship they select. For those who might want to donate to the event but not look for advertising they can make a donation and have their name added on the donor’s page. Heather is reaching out to the community members and should you wish more details feel free to reach out by email at antenmills150@gmail.com. The committee wants to make this a special day and each and every donation is greatly appreciated.
There have been a number of requests about a community wide garage sale. Karis will be setting up a contact page in the very near future. The suggested date this year is Saturday, June 14. More details will be posted on the Anten Mills Community Bulletin Facebook page.
The administrators and moderators of the Facebook page have been diligent in approving posts and new members. It’s important that anyone wanting to join the group reads, understands and acknowledges the rules. That goes for those being invited by members. It is interesting to see how many potential scammers are attempting to join the group. If you are looking to post or join please read the rules as the admins review each request.
For those who frequent the trails and paths in the County forest note that ATVs and dirt bikes are again permitted in the forest along their approved trails. Those who ride please remember that the forest is a shared area for hikers as well. Parents are requested to discuss the operation of those motorized vehicles with their family members particularly to avoid riding in the community parks or the rail trail where they are strictly prohibited. Recreational activities are great and we must remember to share our responsibility.
This past Sunday was the Hospice Simcoe Hike for Hospice. Congratulations go out to Marjan Deller for her outstanding fundraising as she collected over $25 thousand dollars in donations. Two other residents made great contributions through their fundraising and the community salutes Rachel and Joan who were in the top ten individual fundraisers. A thanks goes out to all who contributed to this wonderful charity.
Brian’s story this week is on the Wagner family and their contribution to the community. Check it out and learn more about Ghibb St.
This Sunday is Mother’s Day. Thank you to all the wonderful mothers and grandmothers in our community for all that you have done in raising your families. We collectively celebrate you and appreciate all you do. Happy Mother’s Day.
That’s it for this week. As always, THANKS for READING, BE WELL and STAY SAFE.