All Aboard! Get ready to ride the rails this summer as the Sleepy Hollow Railroad gets rolling once again. Located at 334 Metcalfe Street, West, the beloved community at- traction will open for the season on July 5 and offer rides for kids of all ages every Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm, weather permitting. The ride is free, but donations are welcome and encouraged. Sleepy Hollow is a 7.5-inch gauge miniature railway that kids and
ern Ontario in the name, we hope to attract more people to join,” he adds. The Southern Ontario Live Steamers started with four volun- teers in their first year and has grown into a club with around 20 members. “We have three members who are actual railway employees. The rest are railway enthusiasts and spouses who love to volunteer,” says Chad. Besides running the train on Saturdays, the club does most of the track maintenance. They also attend local model train shows to spread the word about the Sleepy Hollow Railroad, and they host a couple of special community events in the fall. If you’re looking for a great family outing during the summer, climb aboard the Sleepy Hollow Railway. Sleepy Hollow Rail- road operates every Saturday during July and August, depend- ing on volunteer availability and cooperative weather. For more information, find the Southern Ontario Live Steamers on Facebook at www.facebook.com/southernontariolivesteam- ers or email southernontariolivesteamers@gmail.com. Photos courtesy of the Southern Ontario Live Steamers Karen accepts cash donations only. Each donation allows you to enter your name to win several door prizes. After the art show, Karen donates the money electronically and posts the confirma - tion letter on her Instagram account. The Open Studio Art Show includes an indoor exhibit of Karen’s art. Weather permitting, she also will have an exhibit outside and a painting table where you can feed your inner artist. For more information, visit www.karencaughlinstudio.ca.
adults can ride along an almost 1,000-foot track. Owned by the Strathroy-Caradoc Municipality, the Southern Ontario Live Steamers (formerly the Strathroy Model Railroad Engineers) have operated the railroad on Saturdays since 2019. The Sleepy Hollow Railroad was privately owned and given to the Municipality many years ago. The Municipality moved the train to its current location in 2014 and built a railway-themed park around it. The storage shed and workshop were modelled loosely on Strathroy’s old Grand Trunk Railway train station that burned down in 2004. In 2019, Anthony Clark, a Strathroy resident who is a CN em- ployee and model train enthusiast, noticed the track was not operating. He contacted the Municipality to find out why and learned they no longer had the volunteers to run it. “Anthony asked if I wanted to play with some big model trains,” laughs Chad Smith, a founding member of the club. “When he explained the situation, I was on board.” When asked about the club's name change, Chad explains that they became a registered non-profit organization recently, and the new name better reflects the hobby at its heart. “With South -
Feeding the Inner Artist and the Community For six years, artist Karen Caughlin has opened her studio to the community to ex- plore art and help feed people struggling with food insecurity. Located at 351 Adelaide Street in Strathroy, Karen’s annual Open Studio Art Show and Sale is on June 20 from 4 to 8 pm and from
Saturday, June 21 to Sunday, June 22, from 11 am to 5 pm. The event is free for everyone. However, Karen hopes that peo - ple coming to see her work will donate their loonies and toonies to the Salvation Army and Strathroy Community and Family Services Food Bank. “At some point in our lives, someone we know has experienced financial loss so significant that putting food on the table is chal - lenging,” explains Karen about why she hosts this fundraiser each year. “Cash donations to the Food Bank allow them to buy what they need.”
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Hometown Strathroy-Caradoc June 2025
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