In the 1970s, there was not much in Orangeville — a few shops with a variety of goods, very little in the way of diversion. Fast forward to 2009, when Orangeville is a hub, a veritable boom town of provisions.

It is not simply that there is now a super variety of choice, but that so much of it is grown, made, created quite nearby or at least in Ontario; in other words, purchasing from the collection of the many fine, unique and special products available here in the local shops also supports local producers, artists and companies.

Harmony Whole Foods Market, on First Street, is a great example of a local merchant, working on the one hand with local, or at least Ontario-based, farmers, artisans and craftsmen and local consumers. Where they stock items and goods coming from abroad, they support fair trade producers, helping to combat poverty, child slavery and so forth.

Beating the drum of environmental common sense, Nicky French said, on behalf of Harmony, "We have worked hard developing relationships with local growers so that, as much as possible we buy from them. Once the winter ends the harvest of lettuce for example, we can still get squash, carrots and apples until the stock runs out. We do everything we can to buy locally."

A local shop offering not local, but the best of British goods is Blighty's, also on First Street just behind that Tim Horton's. John Corby used a

package" he received when the company he worked for in Mississauga did a downsizing exercise to open his shop in 2005. He saw a need for a local shop that would cater to the British-connected population of the region. Now, no one needs to go to Brampton or Mississauga for their special Christmas Cadbury treats. Or any other specifically British goodies that do not taste quite the same without one of those familiar labels from "back home".

Says Mr. Corby, "I rarely leave Orangeville to shop. Everything is here."

There is so much about Orangeville that is unique and its main street, Broadway, must rank among one of the most unusual in Canada. What an interesting collection of shops there is in this short stretch of pavement. There was not room to list them all, but, while they are all very interesting, here are notes about a few.

The most recently opened is Pia's Bakery. Now in business for merely a few weeks, Pia's offers a range of freshly madeon the-premises goodies, both savoury and sweet. The bread, quiches and desserts are sometimes different but always delectable. Pia herself runs the place.

"We are closed on Sundays," she said. "Some people were annoyed about this but it is our way." Meanwhile, she is very proud of their beautiful productions.

Aardvark Music is another new business — opened for just a year — on Broadway. Coowner Perry Joseph told me that vinyl is back, much to my amusement. He said, "Artists are actually recording on vinyl again — a much thicker and better vinyl, of course.

Aardvark is many things beside a record shop; it is an art gallery, a meeting place and a small venue for performances. There is a tremendous collaboration with and encouragement for local songsters and song writers. A great deal connected to music and, not just music, but other branches of art, is for sale at the Aardvark shop.

Tickets are for sale at Theatre Orangeville. Tickets to the current production of A Christmas Story, starring some of your favourite kids and welcoming back some of your favourite actors. Further, though, there are tickets to a whole season of theatrical productions, concerts and performances to fill the year. Naturally, there are gift certificates of entertainment that, really, covers a wide range of high quality talent on the Opera House stage.

Lunch. There are such a large number of eateries all over Orangeville: we must really love our food.

Once again, a relatively new face in town, quite near to the theatre is Cafe Bella. Pizza, as well as pasta and soup, nice paninis, fresh salads, delicious muffins and all kinds of drinks, perfect for recovering from the toils of shopping. Frank and Denise Pesce turned retirement into this business.

Frank said, "I haven't done any training; I just like to cook with good ingredients."

Noinkee's, located just off Broadway beside the Salvation Army Thrift Store, is owned by Miyeko Simons, who's of Japanese and Irish heritage. It has a range of the beautiful and largely organic: cotton goods, creams, bath products, cosmetics and jewellery. Ms. Simons also buys many of her products from local artisans, like the hand cut soaps and the jewellery.

She has been in the retail business all her working life and wanted to work at last for herself. She is concerned with quality. "What you miss in the box stores is the personal experience. You get buy things more cheaply but not with the same quality. When you buy good quality, you get what you pay for."

Ashop with more age on it is Readers' Choice, having been on Broadway for 12 years. "You could, literally, do all your Christmas shopping right in this store," said the enthusiastic shop keeper, who has worked for the shop off and on for the whole time.

"We have every kind of book for every taste, religion, and age — young to senior — just everybody."

The big advantage to shop- ping in Readers' Choice is the price of the books. By and large they are recycled, although some are new, but the prices are always lower. New titles, old titles, books about every sort of subject, fiction and non-

As she said, "There is nothing in here but books; even the games are developmental and have books in them."

The most well aged shop on the strip is probably Glasscraft, wherein a wondrous selection of things made of glass is for sale. There are lots of stained glass items which the owners mostly make themselves. Mae Adler, co-owner with her husband, told me they have been in Orangeville 27 years, having started out on Mill Street and moved to their present location on Broadway in 1986. Their son, Nathan, does some of the glass work as well, he and his father both went to OCAD to study painting, sculpture and glass work.

Glass blower Katherine Thomson whose glass blowing is sold at Dragonfly, also produces some of the stained glass work at Glasscraft.

There are many, many other glass things, like drinking glasses, figurines, trinkets, which the Adlers bring in from other sources. All are lovely and many are different from what one would find at regular department stores.

These are just a few of the delightful shops in Orangeville that are owned by the people who run them, that use the produce, work and talent from the local area. Go for a walk yourself and discover what you don't already know about this fascinating little "burg".

The prices are fair, the quality is superior and the people are part of your community.