Orillia Ontario

The city of Orillia and the Chamber of Commerce run and maintain the Port of Orillia Marina – and what a wonderful job they do! Everything is first rate from the staff to the shower/restroom facilities to the picnic areas to the quality of the docks AND MOST OF ALL, the internet connection was reliable and free of charge. In addition, if one pays for two nights in the marina, then the third night is free. So we took advantage of the long stay so that Mark can rest and relax for a couple of days.

Sharing the same birth year as Canada, Orillia was originally incorporated as a village in 1867. The history of the area dates back at least 4,000 years ago as archaeologists have uncovered evidence of the Huron and Iroquois peoples in the area. In addition, numerous sites have been discovered which were camps used by Native Americans for hundreds of years for trading, hunting, and fishing.



Immediately upon arrival, we were invited to dinner to meet fellow Loopers which was organized by our non-Looper friends Sally and Ron aboard Summer Star. We spent the evening getting acquainted with the crew of Quixote and Salt Shaker, with Sally and Ron being the perfect host and hostess. I inquired about mariner Frankie the dog, and he is doing fine. He still gets a little overheated and agitated but he will be home soon where I am sure he will rebound to his old darling self once he is on land.

We set out Thursday afternoon to explore and we found the entire town of Orillia to be charming, quant and welcoming. The two main streets are lively and filled with small shops and boutiques. This whole area is full of cottages so many of the stores catered to the cottagers with merchandise that was cute, functional and very expensive. It was fun to window shop but most items were totally out of my price range.

At first we thought it was odd that the town’s Christmas decorations were still on display because Orillia seemed like a town that stayed on top of its maintenance, then we discovered that the week before our arrival, Orillia had a huge summer festival entitled Christmas in July when the entire town was decorated.

All around the town we found Guitars on Parade which were decorated and painted by local artists or children’s groups.

However, there was one shop that both Captain Mark and I fell in love with…it was the Mariposa Market. Upstairs was a wonderful deli/bakery filled with the most delicious smells of fresh baked breads, chocolate cakes and just about every conceivable dessert. I think I gained at least 15 pounds just walking the aisles looking at all the goodies trying to decide on only ONE item to purchase. I settled on the Cranberry-Walnut bread while Captain Mark got a pound of fudge and a chocolate cupcake. Downstairs was an authentic old fashioned general store with all sorts of local items like Orillia honey, dip mixes and baking items. I am such a sucker for regional items that I had to get a jar of Blueberry jam and a yummy butter spread for my Cranberry-Walnut bread.