Haliburton

[vaneramos]

Haliburton village is odd. I could make it sound pretty, set on the edge of a lake with a small mountain behind, but the town itself lacks the esthetic charm of other cottage country centres like Bracebridge or Dorset. The buildings are squat and dumpy, tired windows squaring off across the street, with a sparkling corporate Rexall Drugs at the main intersection. You can park for free all day at the foot of the hill, or pay $1 an hour for a space in front of the stores. Even Head Lake would not win any landscape beauty contests; just a flat pan of water with a highway running around the edge. Somebody erected a disproportionately large, grotesque fountain to distract from the lake.

Haliburton occupies a highway bottleneck between east and west. Rush hour is absurd. The town must have been a nowhere crossroads until weekend cottagers started commuting a few decades ago. Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven would not have found much to paint here, but somehow the place attracted a decent fine arts college.

Two places in town offer good selections of yarn. The basics are available at Marty's Health Foods. JanKnit's Studio stocks a tempting collection of supposedly higher-end products, however Noro Silk Garden is a dollar cheaper there. The stores are practically kitty-corner at the main intersection, near Rexall Drugs and the liquor store. It is the centre for addiction.