While not a newcomer to Trent University, I am brand new to Peterborough. I graduated in early July from Trent’s Durham campus, where I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, and moved here with my partner and loyal husky Otis Sledding to obtain my master's degree in Cultural Studies. When we arrived in April, I was full of vigour, piss and vinegar, excited and so nervous with a touch of “holy crap is this really my reality now?!” While the GTA most certainly has its spatterings of awesome, I have been chomping at the proverbial bit to escape for 20-some-odd years. Peterborough marks the start of a new adventure, a new chapter, and a stepping stone to all my dreams coming true. 

Gross. Trite. Cliché. I know, forgive me. 

Since arriving, I have connected with academic colleagues and mentors, local artists, musicians, old friends, new friends, and all that the Peterpatch has to offer. It is interesting to me that many of the locals I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with seem to gripe about this town? (City? I can’t bring myself to call Peterborough a city…). Regardless, while I can certainly relate to loathing the place you grew up in as a teen and young adult—all the memories, good, bad and ugly, facing you on every street corner—as a newcomer, I see nothing but loveliness in every gathering and every long winding road. As I said to my partner quite recently while enjoying some lunch on a patio with the aforementioned pupper, “we live in friggin’ cottage country!”

The three of us have spent our days here wandering, exploring, and taking in all that is new, fascinating, and even unsightly. I have already been fortunate enough to forge new friendships, explore new career opportunities, and begin to carve out my place here. So what have I learned in my short time here? While my first instinct would be to just rattle off all the places I think worthy of noting, I think some more depth and explanation is necessary (as do my editors).

Trent Radio is the coolest. Period. Full stop. I will not accept any arguments to the contrary. Fight me. It is a community-based radio station that allows folks to self-produce and broadcast their own shows through its airwaves as long as they follow the simple rules of playing no hits, being interesting and individualistic, and, of course, not being a hateful jerk on-air.  I found the best version of myself there and hope to continue to do so throughout my time here, and will always, always cherish the things I’ve learned and the brilliant people who help me along my way.

There is water EVERYWHERE. It is amazing. Turtle Island, Beavermead Beach, Little Lake, the Otonabee River, Rice Lake. Holy moly, do I love this aspect of my new home. As a gal who grew up on her Dad’s bass boat, it is the holy grail of summertime amazingness. Also, to that end, bridges. Apparently, Peterborough rivals my family’s hometown of Pittsburgh, PA (the city with the most bridges in the WORLD next to Venice, Italy) for bridges. Pretty rad. Even further to that, the lift locks. Peterborough boasts an incredible number of locks in the Trent-Severn system and enables boaters to go pretty dang near everywhere and anywhere they like. As per Parks Canada, the Peterborough Lift Lock National Historic Site of Canada “...opened in 1904, with a lift of 19.8 metres, this is the highest hydraulic lift lock in the world and the first of two built in North America, both on the Trent-Severn Waterway.”

There are a million places (okay, perhaps I’m exaggerating just a TOUCH) to eat, drink, and be merry. St Veronus is the place for a mile-long list of beer and schnitzel. Yum. Bijoux Bar, owned by the same folks as St Veronus, is my new fave hangout; the owners and staff alike are cool as hell, there’s vinyl nights, poetry and DJ nights, and just dang good vibes. Love You, Mean It is the spot for a boujie date night or dinner with pals/family, a wine list to die for and a weekend brunch that will send you blissfully back to bed in a glorious carb-filled haze. The Pig’s Ear Tavern re-exists, another staple in downtown Peterborough, reopened, and it hosts and boasts loads of great bands, open mics and Labatt 50 in droves. Jethro’s is a place copied and pasted from any one of several amazing live music venues that line Broadway Street in Nashville, the Vegas of Tennessee. 

The art, music and theatre scene here is exceptional. Not only is there a good assortment of venues, The Venue, Gordon Best Theatre, Market Hall, Sadlier House, and the Jalynn Bennett Amphitheatre at Traill College, to name but a few, but also theatre companies like Electric City Players who continue to bang out brilliant plays that boast a local cast and crew. I was lucky enough to see their first two productions at Market Hall, ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Twelfth Night or What You Will’. I can’t recommend their productions enough. I have also been lucky enough to see such acts as the infamous B.A. Johnston, Halluci Nation, Babe Chorus, as well as go to events by the local and popular group of DJs Otonabee Beats.

The First Friday art crawl is not to be missed. Peterborough seems to come alive on a hot summer evening. Restaurants for eating, snacking, and communing. There are spaces to see art, and connect with peers, and local businesses that care about community and making memories with their patrons, where you don’t feel like just a possible sale but a rare feeling of kinship. 

The seasonal markets, the downtown farmer’s market, the neighbourhood market, the punk rock flea market, just to name a few, are outstanding. You can find pretty well anything your heart could or would desire, as well as things you didn’t even realize you wanted or needed. The local farms are also amazing. Between them and the farmer’s markets, I don’t recall the last time I was in the actual grocery store. Farms and butchers abound all over Kawartha County for all your carnivorous needs. 

From farmers, vendors and shop/restaurant owners to artists, production companies and patrons alike,  this place fosters a community of people who care about human beings across the board. I have met so many amazing folks who are and have been championing human rights in all forms. Though it seems city hall wants to pass bills to dehumanize and remove necessary spaces (public library cuts come to mind…) any and all of the folks I have met here are ones who wholeheartedly believe in kindness, compassion and the simple belief that we are all just people trying to exist in a fucked up world. 

This place I now call home is a wonderful gem; so brilliant, vibrant and lovely. I find new things to explore and adore daily. While eating a meal on a patio on the infamous Hunter Street this evening, I looked around and smiled to myself, basking in the bustling streets, busy vendors, and general good vibes. Yes, Peterborough has its issues. Yes, I see them and hope to join in the echoing chorus that calls out the wrongs, injustices, and failings, but, at least for today, I choose to see the beauty. A city or town is not just a collection of moving parts; it is a tapestry of humanity. From what I’ve seen so far, Peterborough has that tapestry down to an art.