July 18, 2025

July 18, 2025 5:55 am Published by Chris McLeod

July 18th is the 199th day of the year. There are 166 days remaining until the end of the year.

Blenheim CherryFest began yesterday. Cherryfest is one of Chatham-Kent’s longest-running and oldest festivals. It’s been a yearly tradition since the ’80s.

The Canadian National Cherry Pit Spit trophy will be awarded on Saturday afternoon. The Pit Spit tryouts are today from noon-2 p.m. and the competition takes place at 1:30 tomorrow. Anyone is welcome to come out and give it a shot.

The Canadian National Pit Spit Championship was brought to Canada in 1983 by several local (CK) farmers and citizens. It has been held in various locations in CK ever since!

For a full schedule of events go to the Cherry Fest Facebook page.

Donors are needed!

There’s a blood donor clinic tomorrow at the Portuguese-Canadian Social Club 10:30 to 2:30 p.m.

No walk-in appointments are available. Book your appointment at Blood.ca, call 1-888-2-DONATE or use the apps.

Today is Healthy Parks Healthy People Day.

Everyone is invited to enjoy free day-use at all Ontario Provincial Parks on today.

Healthy Parks, Healthy People Day is an annual celebration of the benefits of time spent outdoors. Spending time in nature is good for our physical and mental health.

The Blue Jays and Tigers are back on the field tonight after the MLB All Star Break.

The Jays are at home to play the San Francisco Giants at the Rogers Centre. The Tigers are in Texas to play the Rangers. Toronto is in Detroit for the only time next weekend.

Heads up if you’re headed to a Jays game this weekend, The Honda Indy is this weekend. Festivities kick off on today with the main race happening on Sunday. That means a large stretch of Lake Shore Boulevard West and surrounding streets will be closed adding to a headache that is Toronto traffic.

The Chatham-Kent Barnstormers have now lost 4 in a row, losing to the Kitchener Panthers 10-9 last night on the road. The Barnstormers play the league leading Welland Jackfish on the road Saturday.

The Chatham-Kent Barnstormers will be well represented at the IBL All-Star Game in Hamilton this weekend.

Second baseman Evan Morrison and pitcher Garrett Day were named as starters. Mitsuki Fukuda, Sadler Goodwin, Spencer Marcus and Yuri O’Connor Yokoyama are reserves. The All-Star selections were determined through a combination of fan and media votes.

They’ll take the field for the All-Star Showdown in Hamilton Stadium on Sunday.

The Barnstormers are back home on Tuesday to play the London Majors at 7:35.