This week has great things to do for you and your family.

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🧬 A 17-year-old from Kitchener just won a national science award for solving a 35-year-old flaw in hospital equipment that puts darker-skinned patients at risk. Read

🏠 A new 24/7 staffed home just opened in Kitchener for people with developmental disabilities who've spent years stuck in hospital. Read

🐟 A Cambridge fish and chip institution is turning 30 this weekend and they're celebrating with free cake, ice cream and giveaways. Read

🌿 Waterloo just spent $1.5 million to buy 50 hectares of protected green space so 15,000 kids a year can keep learning in nature. Read

💃 Guelph's 28th annual dance festival is taking over parks, gardens and stages across the city for three days in June. Read

🌻 Waterloo just became the first city in the region to let people with hidden disabilities identify themselves with a simple sunflower lanyard. Read

🏆 Cambridge just handed out its Business Excellence Awards & here are the local businesses and people the community voted most worth celebrating. Read

In the spring of 1800, two brothers-in-law left Franklin County, Pennsylvania with their families and headed north. Joseph Schoerg and Samuel Betzner had actually set out in 1799, stopped at the Twenty near Jordan, decided the land there wasn't right, and wintered in Niagara before continuing on. By spring they found what they were looking for: land along the Grand River, dense forest, good soil. They were the first white settlers in what would become Waterloo County. Other Mennonite families followed from Pennsylvania. Within a few years a community had taken root on land that had previously been Six Nations territory, purchased from Joseph Brant's offer in 1798.

By the early twentieth century, the city of Berlin, that’s what Kitchener was still called, had become known as the German Capital of Canada. Then the First World War arrived, and being German in Ontario became something to apologize for. The city renamed itself after a British field marshal in 1916. Neighbours who had lived beside each other for generations found themselves on opposing sides of a question no one had asked a decade earlier.

The tower was conceived by William Henry Breithaupt specifically to heal those wounds. A memorial to the Pennsylvania-German pioneers, to say plainly: this is where we come from, and we are not ashamed of it. The Waterloo County Pioneer's Association commissioned architect William Langton to design it, and it was built from fieldstone in 1925-26, the same stone the pioneers had cleared from their fields by hand. A Conestoga wagon weathervane sits on top. The eight-sided observation deck references true north and the Grand River Trail the settlers walked in. It was inaugurated on August 23, 1926.

D.N. Panabaker, president of the Waterloo Historical Society and the man most responsible for getting the tower built, gave the dedication speech that day. Years later, he fell forty feet from the observation deck and died in hospital in Galt. He was 70. He was conscious when found but said he could not explain how it happened. No inquest was held.

For many years the tower appeared in the masthead of the Waterloo Region Record. It's a Federal Heritage Building now, owned by Parks Canada, sitting on Lookout Lane off Pioneer Tower Road in Kitchener's south end, overlooking the Grand River about where Schoerg and Betzner first made camp. The observation deck is currently closed. The small cemetery beside it holds the Schoerg and Betzner families, the graves marked with fieldstone.

I've driven past that tower my whole life without knowing any of this. The man who built it to remind people where they came from is buried in its shadow. The fieldstone walls are the same kind of stone the first settlers cleared to plant their first crops. Everything about it is deliberate. It's worth stopping for.

The grounds are open, free, and a short walk from the parking lot at 300 Lookout Lane. The Walter Bean Grand River Trail runs alongside it if you want to make an afternoon of it.

What does this puzzle mean?

We had one winner last week Cheryl Brown but so many of you were close. This is one is easier lets who’s the fastest!

House of the week: This cozy 6200 sq feet house

Fundraisers : 🚗 Legacy Spring Open – Auto Show Fundraiser | Sat, Jun 6 | 12:00pm – 5:00pm at Graffiti Market, 137 Glasgow St, Kitchener. A charity Show & Shine supporting children's cancer care with awards, vendors, live DJ, and BBQ. Free to attend. All ages.

Adopt Me 🐾 : Hudson the dog and Mable the cat

got an event to share? SUBMIT EVENT

⚾ Kitchener Panthers vs. Hamilton Cardinals | Thu, Jun 4 | 7:05pm at Jack Couch Park, 400 East Ave, Kitchener. IBL baseball under the lights. Tickets required.

🎧 Open Ears Festival of Music & Sound | Thu–Sun, Jun 4–7 | Various venues across Kitchener-Waterloo. One of KW's most distinctive festivals — indie classical, electroacoustic, sound installations, and improvised music in everything from concert halls to unexpected spaces. Mix of free and ticketed events.

🎤 Lavender Fizz Comedy Open Mic | Thu, Jun 4 | Doors 6:30pm, show 7:00pm at TWB Co-operative Brewing, 300 Mill St, Kitchener. A 2SLGBTQIA+, women & non-binary comedy open mic hosted by Sarah Thompson. Sign-up at 6:45pm, first-come first-served. Free — pay what you can.

🎻 Spring Concert 2026 | Fri, Jun 5 | 7:00pm at Kitchener Mennonite Brethren Church, 19 Ottawa St N, Kitchener. Karen Reed Fiddle Orchestra and Karen Reed & Crossbow — foot-stomping fiddle tunes, step dancing, and soul-stirring melodies. All ages. Tickets required.

🚚 Pride Stables Annual Food Truck Rally | Fri, Jun 5 | 4:00pm – 8:00pm at Pride Stables, 584 Pioneer Tower Rd, Kitchener. Fo' Cheezy, Beavertails, Wing Monster, and Siggi's on site plus pony rides, raffle, and a duck pond prize game. Free to attend. Cash for activities.

🎉 Centreville-Chicopee Community Centre Grand Opening | Sat, Jun 6 | 1pm – 4pm at Centreville-Chicopee Community Centre, 141 Morgan Ave, Kitchener. The new outdoor splashpad, playground, and basketball court officially open with ribbon cutting, character meet & greets, live music, games, and snacks. Free.

🏳️‍🌈 tri-Pride: Pride in the Park – Summerfest 2026 | Sat, Jun 6 | 12:00pm at Victoria Park, Kitchener. The longest-running Pride Festival in the region celebrates its 30th anniversary. A community celebration by and for the tri-cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge. Free.

♿ National AccessAbility Week Tradeshow & Conference | Mon–Tue, Jun 1–2 | Mon 11am-7pm, Tue 10am–4pm at Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum, 10 Huron Rd, Kitchener. Innovators, professionals, and experts showcasing products and services for people with disabilities, workshops, mobility clinic, product testing, and panel presentations. Free. Pre-registration required.

🎪 Family Splash Jam | Every Tuesday Jun 2 – Jul 28 | 4:00pm – 7:00pm at Carl Zehr Square, Kitchener. Weekly summer family hangout with live kid-friendly music, splash pad, balloon twisting, glitter tattoos, face painting, and games. Free.

🥋 GMA Championships 2026 | Sat, Jun 6 | 8:00am at Conestoga College Doon Campus, 299 Doon Valley Dr, Kitchener. Open martial arts tournament for all styles and ranks, age-specific divisions, black belt Grand Champion ring, and participation medals for all 10 & under competitors. Free parking. Pre-registration required.

💃 Dance It Off Tuesdays | Every Tuesday, Jun – Aug | 7:00pm – 10:00pm at Waterloo Public Square, 75 King St S, Waterloo. Local groups lead free drop-in dance sessions all summer long. All skill levels welcome. Free.

💃 Latin Music on Queen | Sat, Jun 6 | 6:00pm – 10:30pm at Downtown Hespeler, 5 Queen St E, Cambridge. Free outdoor salsa, bachata, and merengue dancing in the street. All skill levels welcome. All ages. Free.

💃 TIMELESS: Music that Moves Us | Sat, Jun 6 | 6:30pm at Centre In The Square, Kitchener. Davenport Dance Project's annual showcase, from the tiniest tots to senior dancers, celebrating the music that has shaped generations. Tickets required.

🌸 Kitchener in Bloom June Garden Party | Sat, Jun 6 | 10:00am – 12:00pm at Doon Pioneer Park Community Garden, Kitchener. Snacks, fun activities, and exploring a beautiful community garden. No registration required. Free.

🎹 Nevin Campbell's "Dave Brubeck Tribute" | Fri, Jun 5 | 8:00pm at The Jazz Room, Waterloo.

🎵 Angela Verbrugge from BC | Sat, Jun 6 | 8:00pm at The Jazz Room, Waterloo.

🎸 Napalm Death | Wed, Jun 3 | 7:30pm at Maxwell's Concerts & Events, Waterloo.

🎸 Lansdowne – Wish You Well World Tour | Fri, Jun 5 | 8:00pm at Maxwell's Concerts & Events, Waterloo.

🎵 Throwback Mash-up: 90s & 2000s Video Dance Party | Sat, Jun 6 | Doors 8:30pm at Maxwell's Concerts & Events, Waterloo.

🎸 Western Swing Authority with Jon Knight | Thu, Jun 4 | Doors 6:00pm, show 7:00pm at Room 47, Waterloo.

🎸 The Almost Hip – A Tribute to Tragically Hip | Fri, Jun 5 | Doors 7:00pm, show 8:00pm at Room 47, Waterloo.

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