Doors Open 2009

Several hundred people visited the cottage on Saturday 23 May and Sunday 24 May during the Doors Open event this year.
Our restored Tollhouse/museum was open, staffed by our hard working volunteers. One of the activities was a limerick contest on the subject of roads or tolls. Here are the results of the contest:

Winners of the 2009 Limerick Contest!

The struggle for immortality through attempting "deathless art" in the form of poetry is over for this year at the Cottage. On the subject of either tolls or roads, there were more entries on Sunday 24 May, than on the preceding Saturday. The judge, Professor David Latham of York University, had some difficulty in selecting winners because some entries did not follow the essential rhyme scheme of a limerick or, in one case, repeated the same word ('great Limerick art' never repeats itself.) There was only one winner for Saturday, and four for Sunday, as follows:

In the region of York, home to me,
Runs a highway that charges a fee.
With the taxes we pay
And the traffic delay
You would think we could drive on it free.
-----Rod Weir of Thornhill (First prize $15)

A tollkeeper on Davenport Road
Would charge farmers so much per load,
But the farmers soon found
A free way around
And soon no more tolls were bestowed.
-----Barbara Evans of Toronto (Second Prize $10)

A man going out for a stroll
Came up to a quite pricey toll.
He looked left and right
And with no one in sight
Hopped over, and finished his stroll.
---Jeremy Federico of Brampton (Second prize $10 -Saturday)

The Davenport tollkeeper, Harry.
Came from Ward's Island by ferry.
He took up his post
Saying, "This is the most,
As long as the wagons don't tarry".
-----Valerie Sonstenes, Gabriola Island, B.C. (Third prize $5)

There was an old tree of white pine
That was clearly in rapid decline;
They cut the boards straight
For the tollkeeper's gate,
And everything turned out just fine.
------Manfred Schurzke of Toronto (Third prize $5)

The cheques have been sent to the winners, and their original submissions will be kept in a binder in the Tollkeeper's Cottage to inspire new literary gems for next year.

     Thanks for Your Support!