| A
little bit about Acton
Acton is a great
little Town of approximately 10,000 people. It was amalgamated with the
Town of Georgetown and incorporated as the Town of Halton Hills.
Neighbouring towns
and cities include Brampton, Milton, Erin and Rockwood.
Acton is nice
because it is just small enough to be a close community with a nice mix
of residential, commercial and industrial so that you can live in work
in the area. We also have elementary and high schools here. You can always
walk to anywhere you want in town.
What makes Acton
perfect is Fairy Lake in Prospect Park which is great for sports,
sightseeing or just relaxing.
GTA
Located within
the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) Acton is part of the Region of Halton. It
is a typical small town in Ontario and probably the last one left in the
GTA. The main street is made up of the old commercial buildings with the
store on the bottom and apartments up top.
STORES
It has some great
stores including Judy's Country Reflections (Gift Shoppe at 39 Mill St
E 519-853-1996) and Blue Springs Flowers and the famous Acton Olde
Hide House - still open despite their recent financial problems.
Acton and the
Olde Hide House are forever joined because of their advertising slogan
"It's worth the drive to Acton." Every time that you mention that
you are from Acton someone has to say "is it worth the drive?" A nice
thing about the Olde Hide House is that they have a complimentary refreshment
stand located next to their indoor children's playground - note these have
been closed off as part of the recent changes as they undergo their liquidation
sale.
There are a few
historic buildings around including the old town hall and some semi-detached
homes built in the early 1880's. View some pictures on this page.
We have arenas,
parks, Sobeys grocery store, McDonalds and the important stores - LCBO
and the Beer Store. You can see pictures and locations of the stores on
this page.
GROWTH
There was very
little growth in the town for so long due to problems with infrastructure
supplies. However they have finally allowed some development to occur and
Sobeys (former IGA) built along Highway 7 just on the east side of the
Town (see a panorama
photo of this area). Several residential subdivisions soon followed
in the area.
Ann works for
Sobeys and we have posted some pictures of some of the previous parties/events
at my.fotopic.net.
GO TRANSIT
(Public transportation)
We used to have
a GO train stop for awhile but they took it away (maybe one day we will
get it back). However we are still served by GO
TRANSIT and you can get to Georgetown or Toronto by catching the
GO bus in Acton (stops along Highway 25 and Highway 7) and then get on
the GO train in Georgetown
(line D in green).
The Georgetown
line GO train goes through Halton, into Brampton then into Toronto with
a final stop at Union Station. The total bus/train trip takes 1.5 hours
and is available twice in the morning.
From Union Station
you can take the TTC or walk through Toronto (above ground or through the
PATH underground system - which is great in winter). The PATH system
is great, it takes about 30 minutes to walk underground from Union Station
to the Eaton Centre. Don't forget to print and take the map of the PATH
system or you will get lost!
ATTRACTIONS
In the fall we
have a fair and a Leathertown festival and during the summer we enjoy Canada
Day celebrations along with the Saturday "Trunk Sale" held in the parking
lot of the Olde Hide House. For more event information see below.
Acton also has
a library, arena and swimming pool (in MSB School on Acton Blvd).
There is also
an outdoor children's swimming pool in Prospect Park next to the boat house
(cost is $1 a child) - a great way to beat the summer heat and have some
fun. I understand that the outdoor pool will be replaced with a splash
pad.
Within Prospect
Park the Town has added a Rotary
Club Bandshell. A new multi-use community building has also been built
by the Acton Agricultural Society (Dufferin
Aggregates contributed $200,000 to the Acton Agricultural Society’s
“It’s More than Fair Campaign” to aid the construction). This will provide
space for the Fall Fair, community groups and events and provide indoor
soccer locations for the Acton and Georgetown Soccer Clubs.
A sports
action park (skateboard) park has also been added to the Acton Arena
property - see a video here.
And so close to
us are many great Towns, Cities, attractions, parks and conservation areas.
Some of our favourite places are Rockwood Conservation Area, the Bruce
trail, the Elora Gorge, Burlington beach and Niagara Falls. Of course we
go into Toronto quite often for the excitement and for the biking.
NIAGARA
ESCARPMENT
Located high above
the rest of Ontario on top of the Niagara
escarpment we seem to get a lot more snow than surronding areas (like
Milton). The escarpment is a large elevated formation or ridge running
through Ontario and along the edges are some great waterfalls (some of
which we have visited).
To get into Acton
you have to drive up the escarpment. In fact we are so high up we like
to think of Georgetown as "lower Acton." Some of the roads up the escarpment
are pretty exciting to drive on - our favourite is Appleby Line. No trucks
or buses are allowed on the route and if you drive it you will know why.
EVENTS
2008 - Acton's
Trunk Sale starts up again on the weekend after the May long weekend
and continues until the weekend before Thanksgiving. Located right beside
the Olde Hide House. The trunk sale is on most Saturdays from 8 am to 1
pm during the summer months. It costs about $10 to bring in your car and
sell items from your trunk - more information can be found at (519) 853-4299.
Acton will hold
the "Taste of Acton" on Saturday June 14, 2008 presented by the
Acton BIA. The event will be in downtown Acton (Mill Street from Main to
John Streets will be closed) and will run from noon to 4 PM. The planned
activities are a classic car show, walking tours, sidewalk sales and sampling
of food from Acton Restaurants. Come on down and enjoy the day!
During Canada
Day celebrations (July 1) Acton put on a great day of entertainment
at the Fairy Lake park. Canada Day July 1, 2006 in Acton started at 6:00
PM with some local singers taking part in "Acton Idol", country singer
Alysha Brooke and some comedians providing a great afternoon of entertainment
in Prospect Park. Later in the evening the Firefighters performed their
annual fireworks display (no admission charge - donate at the gate). At
10 PM the Halton Hills Fire Department put on some great fireworks. See
pictures here.
We also couldn't
wait for the Leathertown Festival to come to town.The Leathertown
Festival, scheduled for Sunday August 10, 2008, is held in downtown Acton
from 11 AM to 5 PM. See
some festival pictures here.
The Acton
Fall Fair will rolled into town on the September 19 weekend (Friday
to Sunday - 19, 20 and 21, 2008), located within Prospect Park the Fair
is worth the drive from the Hide House to the Park. The 2006 theme was
"MOOving ON!" Call 519-853-4699 for more information regarding the Fair.
Here are some of my pictures
from the previous Fairs.
The Santa Clause
parade is scheduled for Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 1:00 pm. For
past parade pictures see here
and here.
The Acton BIA holds a great Old Fashioned Christmas in downtown Acton on
Saturday December 6, 2008 - come out for some hot chocolate and a horse
drawn wagon ride.
You can find more
event (official time and dates) information on the Acton
BIA (business improvement association) website.
MAYOR AND
MP
Doing an excellent
job supporting the event in 2005 were our elected officials including Mayor
Rick Bonnette (left) and Member of Parliment (Wellington-Halton
Hills) Mike Chong, M.P.
For more Acton
information, including a store index along Highway 7 and photos of Acton
please go here.
If you have
an Acton store or restaurant and would like additional information and
pictures to be shown on this website please do not hesitate to contact
me. I can drop by and gather photos and information. |
