Davies: 2024 in review

(Editor’s note: Our usual practice is to make links in our stories open in a new window, but because there are so many links below, and we’re still on holiday, these ones will open in the same window, so be prepared to use your back button)

My first column in 2024 was a review of 2023, and my second column in 2024 (and now it’s leaked in to the New Year) will be another year in review column.

In between there’s been a lot of silence from me (in our editorial section anyway). A record-breaking performance on my part. Never before have I gone so long without sharing my opinion. You’re welcome.

And with all the craziness, and turmoil, and anger in the world, never have I felt like writing a column less. From Schoolio, to Remove all Doubt, to I don’t even remember what I called the one in Cobden, to Indubitably, there’s no shortage of fodder. I just have no desire to type up an opinion, marry it, and threaten to fight anyone who disagrees with it. I mean, what’s the point?

I get it. From occasionally reading The Citizen or Sun editorial sections, or happening on some of the 23 hours of opinion that now makes up one day of Fox News or CNN, I am supposed to be committed to my opinion. To believe it to be 100 per cent correct and to be ready to climb that mountain for it. To shout down all dissenters, because if their opinion is different, they are wrong and so is everything they stand for.

How does one generate that kind of fervor? Should Justin Trudeau go? Probably. Should Pierre Poilievre be the person to replace him? Maybe, but I doubt it. I don’t know.

On top of that, no political party has paid West Carleton Online enough to help shape our opinion.

So, here we are. But I have to get fired up about something. Generate some conflict somewhere, which in turn will generate some clicks. We just got to get those clicks. Because for those who don’t know, it’s those clicks (read pageviews) that generate our advertising revenue.

In 2024, West Carleton Online generated clicks as we never have before. West Carleton Online received 377,633 pageviews in 2024. That’s roughly 127,000 pageviews more than our next best year. And at an average of two minutes and 18 seconds per pageview, those visitors are reading whatever page they’re visiting.

I really should take more advantage of that.

But I guess the point is, picking our top stories of 2024 is more reader driven than ever. Our readers love controversy, conflict and cantankerous (sorry, we needed another C word) people. Stories containing those three Cs (in spirit anyway) really move the needle. Doesn’t mean those readers are right though. So, we’ll have a look at some of my favourites too.

The Number One most clicked on West Carleton Online story of 2024 was Ottawa Christmas parades and market schedule (2,499 pageviews, Nov. 14)). Hmm, hard to generate much controversy with that story. We can’t even fall back on the trope society is trying to remove the term Christmas from the holidays. I mean, it’s right in the headline. Maybe Number Two will be fierier.

Number Two was a big story in Ottawa. City wide. Police briefs: West Ottawa murder considered femicide, Back to school tips, Renfrew home invasion (2,348 pageviews, Aug. 26). This was the first time the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) used the term femicide in a murder investigation, and Corkery has the terrible infamy of being the location to that tragedy. People were less interested in the follow up to the femicide of Jennifer Edomonds-Zabarylo – a woman loved by her friends and family – but support for Zabarylo would come in the form of a different story at Number Five.

The Number Three story of the year was a weather story: Deluge of rain swamps West Carleton with 2,271 pageviews (Aug. 10). No surprise, a story about flooding was clickbait on West Carleton Online. What was surprising about this story was the location and the date. West Carleton is no stranger to flooding this last half decade. I personally may have written more flooding stories than any other type in my illustrious career. But this flood story happened in August and in Carp. Don’t worry though, I have it from a very good source climate change isn’t real.

And speaking of stories that double as emotional triggers, our Number Four story of 2024 wasn’t even about West Carleton. Tornado warning for Lanark Count July 24 (2,189 pageviews, July 24). From this time (or more accurately 2018) to the end of time, West Carleton people will click on headlines with the word ‘tornado’ in it.

Even with a tool like Google Analytics, the stats are sometime skewed. The four stories above were of city-wide interest and were no doubt searched on Google during the time immediately following publication by residents across Ottawa.

Local stories did make the list. Number Five was clicked often no doubt by West Carleton’s community spirt and its residents who are always ready to help anyway they can. Two recent WC tragedies raising funds (1,742 pageviews, Sept. 10) focused on two families who lost loved ones tragically early and the community that attempted to raise funds to help support those loved ones left behind.

West Carleton lost a legend in 2024, and that story came in at Number Six. World War Two hero, WC legend Roly Armitage passes at 99 (1,737 pageviews, June 20) For 99 years Dr. Roland ‘Roly’ Armitage spent time saving the world, leading the community and looking after horses. Of course, the loss of West Carleton’s most interesting man was big news in 2024.

A fringe sport in most of the world, our Number Seven story of 2024 will come as no surprise to regular West Carleton Online readers, because this community loves it some fastball. Carp Shootout kicks off elite level fastball in WC tomorrow (1,389 pageviews, July 18).

Every year a version of our Number Eight story hits the Top 10. We are, guaranteed, the only media outlet to cover Carp Fair Drive-In Bingo, and every year I field calls from people across the city right in to Gatineau from people looking for information on it and mistakenly calling me. Hey CAS, I think it’s time to advertise, because I practically work for you anyways. Carp Fair Drive-In Bingo five nights this July (1,260 pageviews, June 26).

Last fall, Kinburn and the West Carleton horse community lost centuries of history in a barn fire. This Number Nine story attracted more pageviews than the plethora of house fires in the community this year. Kinburn’s Smith loses barn, antiques to fire (1,104 pageviews, Oct. 28). The city media, which originally covered the event in a small way, quickly picked up on our story and expanded their coverage after the fact, because we were the only media outlet that actually knew what was in that barn at the time of the fire. We were inside that barn less than a year before the fire, and I grew up not too far from Clem on a horse farm as well. Those other media outlets also missed out on the truly great stories that emerged from the ashes after the fire as well. The community that helped 87-year-old Clem clean up after the fire, and the Smith family that thanked them for that help in true Kinburn style – a party at the community centre. This in my mind is why community journalism is so important. Sure, we cover the national and provincial news, politics, the emergency and breaking news, but most importantly, we share lots and lots of stories about the people that make up our community.

Speaking of national political news, sometimes community journalism is a precursor to the national vibe (as the kids say). We don’t do polling at West Carleton Online, but the statistics we get here through Google Analytics sometimes shine a light on the future, much more accurately than, as it turns out, polling does. In the case of Number 10, perhaps that story’s popularity is giving us a little insight on what to expect from the upcoming 2025 federal election. We don’t need Ipsos when we have our readers and a way of tracking what they’re reading on West Carleton Online. Way back on Feb. 2 we published Kung wins well-attended K-C Conservative nomination (1,066 pageviews). People weren’t talking about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plummeting popularity back then.

Not like the pundits are now. But the most well-attended Kanata-Carleton Conservative nomination meeting in decades, for a party that lost its way in West Carleton recently after more than 100 years of domination in the riding, is certainly a sign of something. Let’s find out what happens in 2025 together.

The publisher’s favourites

Early in this column, I joked about the readers being wrong. Believe me, that was a joke, and I am certainly not kowtowing now. A lesson I learned long ago from one of the Ottawa Valley’s best mayors also works here. Back in 2010 (or so) while working at the Cobden Sun I had the distinct pleasure of covering Admaston-Bromley Township Mayor Raye-Anne Briscoe. Despite the tiny size of her community, Briscoe got things done. If she wanted the head of Hydro One to explain something to council, the head of Hydro One showed up. And that Hydro One executive (in this specific case) didn’t say anything Briscoe didn’t already know long before he showed up to the firing line.

If you couldn’t find Briscoe at town hall, perhaps in the mayor’s seat wheeled over by the door so she could lean her head out and have a puff (at this time she was battling sciatica pain, something just this week I am now discovering how intensely painful it is) you could find her at her home, in her well-worn Easy Boy chair, with a stack of newspapers on one side and her phone on the other side on one of those little phone tables they used to make before science learned how to cut the chord, an ashtray on the arm rest, making things happen for her community.

The long-serving mayor said something about voters that has stuck with me going on 15 years now, and I’m someone who often forgets someone’s name one minute after they have told it to me. During one interview or another, Briscoe told me “even when voters are wrong, they’re right.”

We’ve seen that countless times in countless recent elections in countless jurisdictions. Maybe even in the recent U.S. election. But it’s also true for West Carleton Online readers. The reality is, I might think there are better stories published within our pages that didn’t make the Top 10, but the truth is I’m wrong and you’re right.

In 2024, West Carleton Online published nearly 1,600 stories. Let’s have a look at some of my favourites anyway, in chronological order. We’ll avoid stories we already referenced above.

January

A chilly Buckham’s Bay plunge. It was the coldest day of the year, and a bunch of Constance Bay maniacs chose to jump through a hole in the ice to the Ottawa River during peak ice fishing season.

As Taj Mahal sings in his song Fishin’ Blues, “big fish bites if ya got a good bait.” Allegedly this practice is for health reasons.

I alluded to it earlier in the column and I am a believer in climate change and a believer that eight billion industrialized humans can indeed have an influence on climate change.

Last year a lot of our outdoor winter stories, from the Carp Winter Carnival (Feb. 12) to the West Carleton Outdoor Hockey League to our annual ice fishing derbies to the Old Sled Run, focused on the challenge of hosting winter events in spring-like weather.

But none of these stories focused on the political side of the issue, just on how these volunteer organizers can make these event happen for their community, because that’s the goal no matter the weather.

February

I had no idea Canadian legend Toller Cranston spent so much time in West Carleton (Feb. 21).

Thousands say goodbye to ‘Mr. Arnprior’ (Feb. 26).

The passing of longtime Arnprior recreation director Glenn Arthur was, obviously, more of an Arnprior story, but Arnprior is where I now call home, and I knew Glenn for more than 20 years.

Arthur, lovingly referred to as Mr. Arnprior, lived up to the personality with his kindness and his humour and drew more than 600 people to his memorial service.

March

Carp Commons celebrates five years March 1 (March 4). This story makes my list purely for financial reasons. West Carleton Online’s goal has always been to be subscriber driven. In the biz, we reporters are very fond of saying ‘follow the money.’ In the world of failing trust in media companies, that’s true for us too. We work for whomever pays our bills. So, if our revenue comes from our subscribers…well, you get it.

Of course, we would be long gone if it wasn’t for our advertisers and these guys have been with us every month since Day 1. In that time, we have gone from roughly 12,000 monthly pageviews to roughly 40,000 monthly pageviews in 2024. Thank you to Carp Commons and every single one of our advertisers past and present.

Speaking of fringe sports, broomball has a long history in West Carleton. I remember my mom used to coach, or play, I don’t remember that part, on the outdoor rink in Kinburn back in the ‘70s. Fitzroy Harbour’s George Wilson, 81, has a long history of refereeing the sport and still does (March 12). While it might seem pretty sexist to speak to a man about the history of ladies’ broomball in West Carleton, in our defence, it was his daughter’s story idea.

Patrick Rupert and his very young son were very new to Carp when fire destroyed their rental and everything they owned in it (March 13). The young man who had already faced many challenges in life, faced this one with positivity and with the support of a community that came to his aid. I’m always amazed when someone is willing to talk to the media immediately after a tragic, life-altering event. I sure as heck wouldn’t. Rupert did it with a smile on his face and positivity in his voice.

I grew up just down the road from the Galetta Lawn Bowls. This year the facility closed after 32 years (March 28) after the club, the Galetta Community Association and the City of Ottawa could not come to an arrangement to keep the facility, run and enjoyed mostly by area seniors, going. This place was a gem, I loved covering it and photographing the athletes, as well as sitting around and chatting with those who played and volunteered. It’s a lot of work to maintain grass suitable for lawn bowling. The club even produced athletes who qualified for national championships. In this case, longtime Galetta resident and former club greenskeeper David Jefferies who competed against players more than half his age.

April

Starting in 2018, it has been some very challenging years for Dunrobin royalty the Muldoons. Adele and Leo Muldoon are as well known as anyone in West Carleton.

I first met Adele way back in the early days of my journalism career, when she ran in the first election for a Ward 5 councillor roughly two years after amalgamation as West Carleton’s last mayor and first councillor (Dwight Eastman) was not seeking re-election. Muldoon would fall just a handful of votes short, behind Eli El-Chantiry who would go on to serve for nearly 20 years. In 2024, the Muldoons lost their barn in a March 25 grass fire, and Adele agreed to speak to West Carleton Online April 4 to tell the community “Leo and I are doing well and thankful the fire did not reach the house.” Less that two months later West Carleton would lose another legend as Leo would pass at the age of 83.

We love Carp Fair Ladies Night. We get there early, so as not to distract from too much of the fun by waving a camera in people’s faces while they party. And while there are obvious benefits to covering an event where you are one of very few men at a party with more than 1,200 women, the best part are the ‘fits (as the kids say). Those in attendance put their imagination to work and come up with incredible costumes for the event which of course results in incredible photos for West Carleton Online, and last year’s April 12 event was no exception. Take this for what you will, but we’ve never been to Carp Fair Men’s Night.

A fence erected on a Constance Bay beach this spring literally and figuratively divided a community. And still does. That short fence was good for three West Carleton Online stories and one letter, and we could of easily stretched it out a few more.

We do dozens and dozens of business profiles in a year, and each and every one of them are interesting to me. I can relate. Never has it been tougher to operate a small business in a small community as it is now. But Giacinto’s Barbershop in Carp (April 22) sticks out to me, because West Carleton Online first started talking to young business owner Andrew Papadopoli about his dream in the spring of 2023.

We ran in to Papadopoli off and on before and after that, and to be able to cover his grand opening after witnessing his challenges getting to that point firsthand was especially gratifying. We hope all West Carleton’s businesses find success in 2025, because there is something to be said about a person who chooses to limit their revenue stream by providing a needed service in a lightly populated area.

May

West Carleton has faced more than its fair share of natural disasters over the last handful of years.

Surprisingly, none of those disasters have been wildfire.

That has more to do with luck than anything else the WCDR said during a May 8 wildfire info session.

We do lots of stories of West Carleton residents finding their way through high level hockey, from the world’s biggest leagues such as the NHL, AHL and NCAA (as well as covering local teams like the Carleton Place Canadians, senior A Arnprior Rivermen, Ottawa Valley Titans, Silver Seven, West Carleton Warriors and Crusaders), but this year we got to speak to a Kinburn native who has played professional soccer in some of the sport’s historic hotspots.

This year, Kinburn’s Kris Twardek came home to play for Atlético Ottawa and he told us about that experience last May.

June

We love anniversary stories here at West Carleton Online, and we know all to well maintaining a relationship that survives the test of time is no easy feat, so you bet we covered the 70th anniversary of Galetta’s famous Wallaces last June. the Wallaces are well known in Galetta, but if you don’t know them, you probably at least know their CN Tower they erected decades ago to fly a flag their daughter gave them easily visible on the Village of Galetta’s main drag.

Carp’s Will Batley is really, really fast.

Last June he proved he’s the fastest teenager in Ontario.

Corkery’s Andrea Conahan-Cruz was named Miss Teenage Ottawa last spring and on June 5, she told us it takes more than just a pretty face to wear the sash.

July

On July 3, Coun. Clarke Kelly was involved in an altercation with the daycare he shares his constituency office with, and it created the kind of media publicity he definitely did not want. By the end of the day, Kelly had spoke to pretty much every media outlet in Ottawa about the squabble.

When the integrity commissioner ruled Kelly contravened the code of conduct governing city councillors last November, we were the only media outlet Kelly spoke with.

Hot on the heels of that city-wide media storm, West Carleton was front and centre in the City of Ottawa media again as Diagolon’s Road Rage Terror Tour, branded as a “neo-Nazi speaking tour,” arrived in Carp, after quietly renting the Carp Agricultural Hall unbeknownst to the Carp Agricultural Society.

We were the only media outlet that dropped by. We did not enter (these groups generally don’t like people with cameras around their neck), but did note the attendees were exceptional at parking.

Earlier in the column we mentioned the death of World War Two hero and West Carleton legend Dr. Roly Armitage – a no doubter Top 10 story of the year. On July 13, West Carleton Online attended Armitage’s service which was, of course, packed with war heroes, politicians, farmers and musicians.

On July 22, the PGA Tour Americas Commissionaires Ottawa Open returned to Dunrobin’s Eagle Creek for year two of three. We’re surprised such an impressive event, probably the largest, most international event to be held in West Carleton ever, doesn’t attract more fans. I’m a golfer (by definition only) and many of my friends are golfers, and West Carleton is full of golf courses, so we expected to see more fans than we did, but we’ve had a lot of fun covering this event the last couple of years. We’ve also had a bit of fun getting to play the course for free in the media tournament as well. A West Carleton Online reporter’s salary doesn’t quite afford us the privilege of playing Eagle Creek on the reg (as the kids say).

West Carleton’s volunteer community associations are always coming up with great new ways to bring community together, and this year the Galetta Community Association debuted the Great Galetta Gathering on July 27.

Fitzroy Harbour and Constance Bay Catholic priest Father John Orban received a new calling this summer heading to Manotick, but before he left, he sat down with West Carleton Online to talk about his time in West Carleton July 31.

August

Farming is big in West Carleton and so is sweet corn, so every once in a while it’s fun to ring in the sweet corn season and talk kernels with Brian Hudson (Aug. 1).

Also, in the month of August, one of Canada’s most polarizing figures visited one of West Carleton’s most polarizing figures. Freedom Convoy (accused) leader Tamara Lich visited MacLaren’s Landing at former MPP Jack MacLaren’s famous barn.

While I don’t agree with all their politics (and let’s be clear, West Carleton Online’s job is not to just publish stories about people we agree with), it was an interesting listen, and for those who don’t remember (the award is no longer given), way back in roughly 2003, MacLaren was named the West Carleton Volunteer of the Year for good reason (yep, I covered that story too, for the West Carleton Review).

Carp hosted the U20 Canadian Fast Pitch Championship this summer, and underdog host team, the West Carleton Electric would surprise and delight on day one (Aug. 20) of the tournament.

September

Arnprior residents quickly mobilized when a piece of land bordering on the community’s historic old growth forest known as The Grove went up for sale, gathering Sept. 7 to see how they could stop the deal.

They weren’t successful in stopping the sale of the land by the Galilee Centre to a group of developers known as Cavanaugh Communities, but they are still battling.

One of West Carleton Online’s most important additions near the end of 2023 was freelance reporter Nonie Smart who took to the stars in 2024, reporting on a number of interstellar happenings in and around the Ottawa Valley.

On Sept. 14 she attended the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada’s Carp star party.

The 161st Carp Fair was huge!

October

On Oct. 5, the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada hosted an emergency drill with 200 members from across Canada in Constance Bay, and we tagged along.

2024 was a horrible year to be a small business owner in the Ottawa Valley. Pakenham’s Doug Cavanagh spoke to West Carleton Online on Oct. 3 after he suddenly found himself locked out of his own business, the Kenwood Athletic Club in Arnprior.

While we were a bit late on this story publishing in October, at the end of September West Carleton lost a second former mayor (Dr. Roly Armitage also served as West Carleton mayor) in 2024 as Frank Marchington passed away at 95.

The West Carleton Wolverines U12 team did something no other Wolverines tackle football team has done in the club’s nearly 30-year history – they went undefeated in the regular season. A little later that month (Oct. 16), the club honoured long-serving president Andy McArdle who stepped down after 25 years of keeping football alive in West Carleton.

The heart of the Dunrobin Community Association’s Cooking/Life Skills Class, Tracy Taffinder was honoured on the program’s 10th anniversary. A mom who brings her child from Centrepoint to participate, told us how much the program means to her and her son.

November

Years in the planning, hundreds of rural residents, including many from West Carleton, descended on Nepean to take part in the Rural Summit Nov. 2.

In November, in an effort to support West Carleton’s small businesses, reporter Nonie Smart kicked off West Carleton Online’s first ever holiday shopping guide – a five part series featuring many of the community’s unique businesses (including us).

In November, the city’s Transportation committee announced West Carleton’s first automated speed trap system (photo radar) was coming to Dunrobin.

Dunrobin’s Dorothy Richardson will bury us all as the longtime Active Seniors Exercise Class participant celebrated her 90th birthday Nov. 18.

Woodlawn’s Josh Langford, 18, is on the path to the 2026 winter Olympics after being named to the national bobsleigh team in November.

December

In late November, a mysterious sign stating MacHardy Road would close Dec. 1 appeared on the only road in and out of Marshall Bay. It wasn’t put there by the city or Marshall Bay residents. Those same residents eventually found out it was put there by a neighbouring landowner. They weren’t too happy about it and they spoke to us about it on Dec. 4.

The Dunrobin Women’s Institute knows how to do it. Whether 150 show up or 20, the Dunrobin Tree Lighting (Dec. 2) is always a fun, festive event and the unofficial kick-off to Christmas in West Carleton.

Perhaps not ideal, this year all three West Carleton area Santa Claus parades happened on the same day (Dec. 7) making for a very busy travel day for the Big Jolly Red Guy, so we rolled all of them in to one story.

The city is looking at buying a chunk of property near Fitzroy Harbour. On Dec. 5, Coun. Clarke Kelly told us why he was opposed to the approximately $2 million deal.

More than a year-and-a-half behind schedule, on Dec. 16 city staff finally shared the reason why the Corkery Community Centre expansion was still not finished.

Earlier that same day (Dec. 16) Coun. Clarke Kelly told us about all the goodies in store for Ward 5 coming out of the 2025 budget to the tune of roughly $40 million.

Thank you to all West Carleton Online supporters and we can’t wait to see what happens in 2025.